Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

LX38 is ready. Boarding will start in a few minutes. My luggage is filled with goodies... ... and it is impossible to take photos of the plane after arrival in San Francisco. Oh well. You'll have to live without the arrival photo.

... until next time.

We took the boat from Luzern to Weggis. The sky was still quite overcast when we arrived. However, during the hike from Weggis along the lake to Herrewald and Roehrli, the sun came out. So beautiful up here ... and so green. Lunch was on the patio of Hotel Friedheim in Weggis. What a view. The food was good, too, and they handled our unannounced group quite gracefully. "Hey look, california wine!" This looks a little bit more inviting than Sushi Kalifornia . The view was a little bit clearer as we got ready for the boat trip back to Luzern.

I know what you're thinking: "Huh? He's halfway around the world, and eating a BURGER????" Well,  ... yes. And this Kraut Burger at Korner was fantastic. A little bit on the messy end, along with the slightly too greasy fries, but very yummy.

Time for some coffee and Hefezopf, while I browse through photos and videos from the steam train trip , and get some serious work done.

[ Schnaaggi Schaaggi posts ] Not having any plans for the weekend, Tristan and I agreed to meet up in Zurich-Wiedikon for a steam train ride organized by the Zuricher Museumsbahn down to Sihlbrugg and back with a long layover in Sihlwald. This route mostly follows the SZU Sihltalbahn (S4) with exception of the tunnel between Wiedikon and Bahnhof Giesshuebel, which gets used only by occasional freight trains coming up this route and on to bypass Zurich main station. Arrival in Sihlwald. The grill is ready to feed hungry travelers. Most of the trip leads through suburbs of Zurich, and, while nice, is actually not that impressive (well, with the exception that we are RIDING IN A STEAM TRAIN! YAY!) It gets pretty between Langnau-Glattikon and Sihlwald, and really scenic between Sihlwald and Sihlbrugg. Sihlbrugg is a junction with the regular main line that runs south from Zurich along Lake Zurich via Thalwil to Zug and Luzern. Early in the video Schnaaggi Schaaggi is running around our t...

[ Schnaaggi Schaaggi posts ] The steam train of Museumsbahn Zurich "Schnaaggi Schaaggi" made it's first trip this year while I was in Zurich. I missed the chance to ride the train the last couple years, but this time the stars aligned.

[ Schnaaggi Schaaggi posts ] It's the last Sunday of the month. It's time for Schnaaggi-Schaaggi to ride the Sihlbahn from Zurich - Wiedikon to Sihlbrugg. I took quite a bit of video and many photos.

Tonight I wandered by the tram depot at Bahnhof Wiedikon. It's Saturday evening, and apparently many trams are out on the tracks ferrying people around Zurich. That's an unusual tram behind the parked cars. I wonder what it is for ... Speaking of parked cars. I guess these belong to tram drivers? Who else would leave their cars between parked trams?

Sign at one of the many, many coiffeur studios in Zurich "Hubba, hubba" in a store for second hand "Moderne Trivialliteratur"

Tonight Balazs invited me to an operating session on his office layout. I wrote about an earlier version of this layout before . The last train of the day has arrived in a staging siding on the window sill. The siding is named after the software engineer whose desk is right next to it By necessity this layout is purely operations oriented, uses sectional track on office furniture and window sills. It packs a lot of fun into a minimal amount of space. Balazs and Isabella added humorous touches by naming the various trains, stations and industries after work-related tools and processes. E.g. a train might come from staging ("The Internets" or "Offsite"), travel across the layout past the loop with a village on a glass shelf ("Glastown Loop"), have work to do at some industries named after product areas or source code revision tools we use daily, loop across the layout past the Godzilla figurine ("Godzilla Loop") and terminate at the central yard (...

[More Verkehrshaus posts] We've all seen the drawings of how a steam engine works. ... At the Verkehrshaus they took an actual steam engine, cut it open, and explain it on the real thing. Nice.

[More Verkehrshaus posts] Switzerland started electrification of their railways much earlier than the rest of Europe, so not surprisingly there is a wide selection of early heavy electric locomotives at the Verkehrshaus. This early generation electric switcher locomotive used a single, large electric motor which is connected directly to the side rods by a diagonal rod. Notice the various counter weights on the axles. A few years later, when the Ce6/8 II was built, technology had advanced quite a bit. The heaviest part of an electric locomotive is the transformer used for conversion of catenary voltage to something more agreeable for the electric traction motors. In the "Crocodile" design the transformer sits on the bridge frame in the middle of the locomotive, while the motors and supporting electric are in the narrow hoods whose trucks are short-coupled under the bridge frame.This arrangement contributes to the Crocodiles excellent ability to navigate tight curves in the Sw...

[More Verkehrshaus posts] Standing in the pit below the tender of Nr. 2965 I finally really understood how the linkage works so that brake shoes grab a wheel from both sides as the linkage is actuated by the brake cylinder. There's nothing better to really understand than looking at the original. As I was under the locomotive marveling at the construction I noticed the odd arrangement of drive axle number 2. It's a cranked axle. Here's a picture of cranked axle outside the locomotive.   Cranked axles are used on steam locomotives that have cylinders inside the frame in addition to the easily visible outside cylinders connected to the driver rods driving the wheels. The pistons of the inside cylinders connect to the cranked axle. Other examples of locomotives with inside cylinders are the German BR18.3 (for balanced moving weights at higher speeds) and BR44 (for more pulling power). Cranked axle with cylinders and pistons inside the locomotive frame. Looking towards the fron...