Ancient Tank Engines on the Swiss Main Line in the Snow

This past weekend the Railway Touring Company (from Kings Lynn) organised a main line steam tour in the Emmental region of Switzerland. This area lies in the footfills of the Alps and has a lot of rolling hills, which were covered by a fresh and big dump of snow. The snow dropped on Saturday, the main line day-trip ran on Sunday with the ancient 0-6-0 tank engine No. 3 "Langnau", which was built in 1881.

Before this year, "Langnau" last steamed in 1970, then was mothballed and later exhibited at the Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus) in Luzern until 2024. It's boiler had gotten a major refit in the late 1960s and therefore the engine was found in such a good condition, that when the museum had to make space for other display items, the locomotive was deemed suitable for a return to steam! As such it steamed for the first time in decades in spring 2025. A bit like a long-static 19th century engine from the Great Hall in York suddenly emerging in steam at the main station next door.

On Sunday November 23rd "Langnau" was joined by fellow 0-6-0 tank Nr. 1 "Lise" of 1908 vintage. As "Langnau" does not have an air pump for braking, it always has to be paired with another piloting steam engine that does have an air pump.

The following footage shows these typical Swiss tank engines going about their business on the busy Swiss main line in the snow this past Sunday on the route Konolfingen - Langnau - Sumiswald - Ramsei - Konolfingen, all just a bit east of Bern.

In the era of climate change, it's also unusual for the Swiss lower elevations to already have that much snow cover in late November, so nature created a perfect Winter Wonderland for the steam railway.

Swiss Steam and Vintage Electrics in the Snow - Ee 3/3 Elektro-Oldtimer von Sumiswald nach Wasen - YouTube

 

Fabulous!