Poschiavo & Bernina Express

Poschiavo Station and the Bernina Express Return to Home Page Return to Swiss Index Page

We arrived a Poschiavo after lunch on a coolish and wet Thursday 6th June. Not that a little rain would dampen the spirits when we were about to have a trip on a famous train in Switzerland. There was plenty of time to wait for the Bernina Express. In the meantime the first train to arrive was a pulled by two electric multiple unit power cars Nos 51 and 45.
This was the 14.25 Poschiavo to St Moritz train, arriving there at 16.07. The timetable where this information is gleaned from is another Swiss Railway Company the international SBB CFF FFS company. Click the link to get to the web page that allows you to do a timetable search. Sorry a 'journey plan' as Network Rail call it!
The yellow carriages on the left of this film were added to the train in the video below.

As noted above the last carriage of the train in the video above is the 14.25 train to St Moritz and it is about to have the two open yellow observation coaches added the little orange 'thing' in the above video on the left is the shunting engine doing the work. Interesting to note the clunking noise when the observation car connects to the train is in a fairly universal language heard on railways across the world! However the station announcer is probably talking in German even though Poschiavo is in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland
Although the weather wasn't cold it had a tendency to do everything wet from a slight drizzle to a heavy shower. This didn't seem to bother the few prospective passengers who boarded the observation coaches in a hurry. It should of course be noted that the coaches had no windows and very little roof.

Another train arrives at the same time as the 14.25 to St Moritz awaits in the platform. This is the 14.37 train from Poschiavo to Tirano. It has to be born in mind that the tracks outside the stations are mainly single track so the stations are at least dual tracked to allow for passing places.

The Bernina Express we caught was the 14.53 from Poschiavo arriving in Tiefencastel as 17.33 and is detailed on the timetable as train number 950. Click the link to access the Rhaetian Railway English website for full details of the full years train timetable and maps of the various routes.

This particular Bernina Express commenced its journey in Tirano departing 14.15 and terminated at Chur (pronounced Kooer) at 18.29. The engine substituted for the EMU's numbers 52 & 47 at Pontresina was the '600' Class engine number 618. This is pictured at Tiefencastel with the driver as well below.
As the man in the orange boiler suit completes coupling the observation coaches our coach returns to the station after a refuelling trip. Having ensured we caught the Bernina Express the coach departed for Tiefencastel to collect us and take us back to Savignon where we were staying overnight.

A wet Poschiavo station on the afternoon of Thursday 5 July 2006 A view of the limited marshalling yard and what appear to be track laying / repairing machines

The maintenance shed at Porschiavo with a shunting engine / wagon turntable in the foreground. Don't seem to have made a note of the number of the engines in view. The above is the on train map of the route of our journey from Porschiavo (at 1014 metres above sea level) up to a maximum of 2253 metres above sea level at Ospizio Bernina. and back down to 884 metres at Tiefencastel

Hmm! Looks fairly steep and twisty to me. Especially when you look back at the snow protection tunnel that you were in a very short time ago!

You may well ask who the reprobate sitting on the left is. How come the Swiss Rhaetian Railway let him in a posh coach like the one above. Note the panoramic windows that allow you to look upwards as well as out. They were also fitted with electric blinds that you could operate to raise and lower. Despite the apparent width of the coach it should be noted this is a 1 metre gauge track they run on.

End of the trip. No. 618 waits for the all clear to depart and the driver waves bye bye!

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	We arrived a Poschiavo after lunch on a coolish and wet Thursday 6th June. Not that a little rain would dampen the spirits when we were about to have a trip on a famous train in Switzerland. There was plenty of time to wait for the Bernina Express. In the meantime the first train to arrive was a pulled by two electric multiple unit power cars Nos 51 and 45. This was the 14.25 Poschiavo to St Moritz train, arriving there at 16.07. The timetable where this information is gleaned from is another Swiss Railway Company the international SBB CFF FFS company. Click the link to get to the web page that allows you to do a timetable search. Sorry a 'journey plan' as Network Rail call it! The yellow carriages on the left of this film were added to the train in the video below.
As noted above the last carriage of the train in the video above is the 14.25 train to St Moritz and it is about to have the two open yellow observation coaches added the little orange 'thing' in the above video on the left is the shunting engine doing the work. Interesting to note the clunking noise when the observation car connects to the train is in a fairly universal language heard on railways across the world! However the station announcer is probably talking in German even though Poschiavo is in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland Although the weather wasn't cold it had a tendency to do everything wet from a slight drizzle to a heavy shower. This didn't seem to bother the few prospective passengers who boarded the observation coaches in a hurry. It should of course be noted that the coaches had no windows and very little roof.
	Another train arrives at the same time as the 14.25 to St Moritz awaits in the platform. This is the 14.37 train from Poschiavo to Tirano. It has to be born in mind that the tracks outside the stations are mainly single track so the stations are at least dual tracked to allow for passing places.
The Bernina Express we caught was the 14.53 from Poschiavo arriving in Tiefencastel as 17.33 and is detailed on the timetable as train number 950. Click the link to access the Rhaetian Railway English website for full details of the full years train timetable and maps of the various routes. This particular Bernina Express commenced its journey in Tirano departing 14.15 and terminated at Chur (pronounced Kooer) at 18.29. The engine substituted for the EMU's numbers 52 & 47 at Pontresina was the '600' Class engine number 618. This is pictured at Tiefencastel with the driver as well below. As the man in the orange boiler suit completes coupling the observation coaches our coach returns to the station after a refuelling trip. Having ensured we caught the Bernina Express the coach departed for Tiefencastel to collect us and take us back to Savignon where we were staying overnight.

A wet Poschiavo station on the afternoon of Thursday 5 July 2006	A view of the limited marshalling yard and what appear to be track laying / repairing machines

The maintenance shed at Porschiavo with a shunting engine / wagon turntable in the foreground. Don't seem to have made a note of the number of the engines in view.	The above is the on train map of the route of our journey from Porschiavo (at 1014 metres above sea level) up to a maximum of 2253 metres above sea level at Ospizio Bernina. and back down to 884 metres at Tiefencastel

Hmm! Looks fairly steep and twisty to me. Especially when you look back at the snow protection tunnel that you were in a very short time ago!

You may well ask who the reprobate sitting on the left is. How come the Swiss Rhaetian Railway let him in a posh coach like the one above. Note the panoramic windows that allow you to look upwards as well as out. They were also fitted with electric blinds that you could operate to raise and lower. Despite the apparent width of the coach it should be noted this is a 1 metre gauge track they run on.

End of the trip. No. 618 waits for the all clear to depart and the driver waves bye bye!
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