Steam in Switzerland

[Fenway]

The former SNCF locomotive 141 R 568 (a 1945 Baldwin built 2-8-2 for the reconstruction of France, after WWII) was steamed successfully in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in mid March and also completed a successfully a program of various trial runs about 10 days ago. The 568 is of course noteworthy as it is British-owned by William Cook Rail (William Cook Holdings), which incidentally was also the primary sponsor of the A1 newbuild in Darlington. Here some general information links:

http://www.william-cook.co.uk/products1.asp?ID=7


And then some pictures of the recent steaming under the following link:


http://www.eurosteam.blogspot.com/

 

[Teaboy1]

By thunder......she's a big 'un!! Looks remarkable like a SAR 25 NC to the un-trained eye! Is it an oil-burner?? I doubt if the Swiss would allow a coal-fired machine to generally pollute the place and drop smuts on the local populace! Nice to see a good steam site web-page that covers a lot of events in the EU. Good site to visit.

 

[Nigel Gresley]

The 241 R is based in Brugg between Zürich and Basle. http://www.mikado1244.ch/html/english.html1244. She is not only very big but also the loudest steam engine that I can remember.

Also noteworthy is another ex SNCF giant, 241 A 65 whose depot is at a place called Full close to the Rhine on Switzerland's border with Germany. This is the largest hand coaled steam loco in the world. At the end of this month, she will be double heading a special with 241 P 17, a visitor from France, between Geneva and Full which should be a spectacular sight ! http://www.241a65.ch/