Swiss Railways

[90019]

Next month I'm going to be in Geneva for 3 days on a school physics trip to CERN, and we have the sunday to do whatever we want, and I'd like to spend part of the day filming and photting the railways

Essentially;
Does anyone have any advice for seeing the railway there?
Where's the best place to go to see them? (I'll check where we're staying)
Does anyone know of any places good for lineside footage?
Can you just walk onto the platforms, or do you need a ticket?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance
Dan

 

[D841]

Geneva Cornavin station is a border point, so there are (or were) controls to pass to access some of the platforms (for trains to and from France). It might be that that has changed since the Swiss signed up to Schengen, I don't know. You can access the other platforms, and those on all domestic stations, without a ticket. You'll get both French and Swiss locos (and units e.g. TGVs) there, but I don't think it's that good a station for photting or filming.

If I were you, I'd get a train to Nyon, on the main line to Lausanne, and film from the platforms there. Some trains stop there, many pass straight through, and there's a private railway whose stock you can film too - the same applies further along the route, at Morges.

HTH.

 

[90019]

Thank you, I'll look into that

One more question;
Will I see any double decker stock there?

 

[33056]

Will I see any double decker stock there?

Yes, you will see plenty. The majority of the internal Swiss ICs in that area are DD stock (can't say for anything that comes over the border from France).

Geneva is not an area that I am very familiar with so can't suggest any photting / spotting locations, but it might be worth a trip to one of the smaller stations between there and Lausanne if you are allowed to stray that far.

 

[90019]

Yes, you will see plenty. The majority of the internal Swiss ICs in that area are DD stock (can't say for anything that comes over the border from France).

Geneva is not an area that I am very familiar with so can't suggest any photting / spotting locations, but it might be worth a trip to one of the smaller stations between there and Lausanne if you are allowed to stray that far.

Hopefully I will be able to get to a smaller station

I knew that there's a fair bit of DD stock, but i didnt think it was that much, tbh.
However, it's good to know that I'll probably see some, because i really like them (especially want to phot an Re 450 if I can )

 

[33056]

Don't you mean an Re460 ? Re450s only work on the Zürich S Bahn system.

 

[90019]

Don't you mean an Re460 ? Re450s only work on the Zürich S Bahn system.

Oops

Yeah, that's the one

Also, I love the way those locos look like they've been lowered, compared to UK ones

 

[D841]

Thank you, I'll look into that

One more question;
Will I see any double decker stock there?

Yes, some of the IC/IR trains are DD stock. You'll also get SBB ICN tilting units, and Cisalpino stock on trains to and from Italy.

The reason I suggested Nyon is that it's the first main station out of Geneva on the way to Lausanne. As such, it has more than two platforms, so your photting possibilities are better than at a smaller station. Also, the NStCM narrow gauge trains vary the scene a bit.

Morges is the next main station towards Lausanne. The situation is similar to Nyon, but when I was there a couple of months ago, there was a BAM loco on freight in the station (standard gauge wagons on narrow gauge bogie sets) as well as the BAM units.