zscalegallery.com: Ae 6/6

Let's Go On The Ae 6/6

Ae 6/6

I had the chance to ride with my friend (who is an engine driver for SBB) on a Ae 6/6 SBB cargo locomotive. Our job was to bring some container cars from the Swiss Parcel Service to the French part of Switzerland. I hope you enjoy the short story and the pictures

While waiting for my friend in Olten train station (near where I live), I tested my camera equipment :)

Actually Olten is not a big train station but an important node for trains in Switzerland and you can see the German ICE or the TGV from France very often during the day. The first row of pictures above showing a regional train (which stops at every train station), a Swiss Inter City Express (ICE) from Bombardier, a typical Re 460 in front of some double stock passenger cars and another freshly painted Re 460 acting as a helper between some passenger cars.

On the lower row can you see part of the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) Security system who stops the whole train if something is wrong. The small item on the inner side of the track counts the axles. When a train passes by then all axles will be counted and if the train passes the next "axle counter" then the system verifies if all axles are still remaining. If not then you have lost some cars on the track and the signals will turn red. There is also a photo from a 28 ton diesel tractors with 850 horsepower and the last photos shows on the left side a Re 6/6 with more then 10,000 PS (horsepower) and on the right side "our" Ae 6/6 with almost 6,000 PS, 45 years old and near 9 million kilometers on the back.

At this time the weather was not very good and it starts raining. In the pictures you can see a part of the SBB Bautechnik Center Hägendorf where they produce almost 500 turnouts (wyes) per year and the container cars who are waiting for us. The second row of pictures show a typical April weather in Switzerland, it's 20 minutes later as we driving near the Biel Lake, the sun comes out and after less then two hours we arrived at our destination the Postterminal in Daillens (French part of Switzerland near Lausanne).

There are some detail pictures from inside the locomotive like the motor who spend almost 1,000 PS (horsepower) per axle and parts of the electricity. The lower pictures shows the Castle Grandson (more then 1000 years old) and the beautiful area around the City Neuenburg and Yverdon.

These last few pictures are also from the areas around Biel, Neuenburg and Yverdon, beautiful places and good wine! Finally some photos from a very popular modern tractor AM 843 MAK 1700 who has a weight of 80
tons and 2000 horsepower (diesel electric).

Good bye and I hope you've enjoyed the little trip!