There’s something inherently attractive about a railway along water, be it a river, pond, lake or the sea.
SBB’s line along Lake Geneva is a fine example of waterside running. Not only does the lake exhibit wonderful aqua hues, but is surrounded by vineyards, snow capped Alpine peaks and other beautiful scenery.
The trick is finding locations where you can place a train with the water in a pleasing composition.
Easier said than done.
I’d found this location at St. Saphorin by searching the internet and studying Google maps. Last week, Denis McCabe and I arrived by train and made the short walk from St. Saphorin station to a foot bridge designed to grant access to the lakefront for bathers.
Not only did SBB provide transport, but fielded a nice variety of trains. About every five to ten minutes something came rolling along. Below is a sample.
This view is from the road side. I’ve opted to cross-light the train in order to better feature Lake Geneva. If you look carefully, You’ll see the foot bridge in the distance that was the vantage of the other images in this sequence.Looking east toward St. Saphorin Station, I made this view of an SBB tilting train coming from Milan via Brig.Just because the water is there, doesn’t mean it has to appear in the all the photos. I like this trailing view of an SBB locomotive hauled passenger train. Exposed with my FujiFilm X-T1.The classic view; an SBB freight rolls east along the lake. I’m looking toward the station at Rivaz, Switzerland.For the passage of a local train, I opted for this wide-angle water-level view.A westward freight made for some hard lighting, but the scenery compensates for the dark front on the locomotive.
Again back in Gottmadingen, the station is east of Schaffhausen, not west, so the trains were on the line between Schaffhausen and Singen, heading east towards Singen and possibly on towards Konstanz or coming from that direction. The German line from Schaffhausen to Basel on the north bank of the Rheinos still diesel while the Swiss route is quite roundabout. So what were the workings/? Most fascinating!
Michael Walsh on said:
The link with the May 14, 2014 feature on Gottmadingen brought back memories. I spent about 10 weeks in that town in 1964. Summer engineering experience. In those days, the Schaffhausen line was not electrified, and there were no Swiss trains that I observed.
My photos were made compass west of Singen.
Again back in Gottmadingen, the station is east of Schaffhausen, not west, so the trains were on the line between Schaffhausen and Singen, heading east towards Singen and possibly on towards Konstanz or coming from that direction. The German line from Schaffhausen to Basel on the north bank of the Rheinos still diesel while the Swiss route is quite roundabout. So what were the workings/? Most fascinating!
The link with the May 14, 2014 feature on Gottmadingen brought back memories. I spent about 10 weeks in that town in 1964. Summer engineering experience. In those days, the Schaffhausen line was not electrified, and there were no Swiss trains that I observed.