The BlonayâÂÂChamby Museum Railway (, BC) is a short steep but adhesion worked metre gauge heritage railway operated as part of the BlonayâÂÂChamby Railway Museum using vintage steam and electric locomotives and rolling stock. It uses the BlonayâÂÂChamby railway line, originally built by the Chemins de fer électriques Veveysans. It is rail-connected at both ends: at its upper terminus, Chamby Station on the MontreuxâÂÂLenk im Simmental line and at the lower end, Blonay station on the VeveyâÂÂLes Pléiades railway line operated by Transports MontreuxâÂÂVeveyâÂÂRiviera.
History and aims
The BlonayâÂÂChamby Railway and Museum was opened in 1968 with the aims of operating the metre gauge railway line from Blonay to Chamby and in doing so preserving railway equipment of technical or historic value. For this purpose the BlonayâÂÂChamby Railway built two motive power and carriage depots at Chaulin, a short distance from its upper terminus. They house what is generally regarded as the largest and most representative collection of preservation metre gauge rolling stock in the world.
The museum line
The BlonayâÂÂChamby Museum Railway is a railway preservation group staffed entirely by volunteers who operate trains each Saturday and Sunday between May and October. Vintage steam and electric hauled trains depart from Blonay and climb over Lake Geneva and the Alps. After reversing at or just before Chamby, the trains terminate at the museum site, where visitors can explore stationary exhibits.
A further part of the remit of the preservation group is the encouragement of local and regional tourism and tourist traffic on adjacent lines. The services from Blonay to Chamby and back are included in the Swiss National Railways Timetable.
The museum collection
As of autumn 2021 was home to over 70 items of rolling stock, listed below:
Steam locomotives
Steam railway locomotives
Steam tramway locomotives
Electric locomotives, railcars and trams
Locomotives
Railcars
Trams
Passenger coaches
Railway passenger coaches
Tramway passenger coaches
Post and baggage coach
Goods wagons
Diesel locomotives, shunters and maintenance vehicles
Rotary snowplough
Service coach and wagons
Loaned-out rolling stock
Former rolling stock
Notes
Abbreviations for Rolling stock manufacturers
- BBC : Brown, Boveri & Cie, Zurich
- CIE : Compagnie de l'Industrie ÃÂlectrique, Geneva
- EAG : Elektrizitätsgesellschaft Alioth, Basel
- MFE : Maschinenfabrik Esslingen
- MFO : Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon, Zurich
- MGK : Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe
- MTM : Maquinista Terrestre y MarÃÂtima, Barcelona
- O&K : Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin
- Rat : Rathgeber, Munich
- SAAS : Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron, Geneva
- SIG : Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (Swiss Industrial Company)
- SLM : Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik, Winterthur (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works)
- SACM : Elsässische Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Grafenstaden (Grafenstaden Alsatian Engineering Company)
- SEG : Süddeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (South German Railway Company), Darmstadt
- SWS : Schweizerische Wagons- und Aufzügefabrik AG Schlieren-Zürich (Swiss Wagon and Lift company)
Abberviations for Steam locomotive cylinders
- OC : Cylinders outside frames
- IC : Cylinders inside frames
See also
Literature
- Sébastien Jarne, Le chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby, tiré àpart du livre ë Voies étroites de Veveyse et de Gruyère û, édition Chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby, Lausanne, éd. 2, 1991, 56 p.
- José Banaudo and Alex Rieben, àla découverte du Chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby, ÃÂdition du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 1992, .
- Peter Willen, Lokomotiven und Triebwagen der Schweizer Bahnen, volume 2, Privatbahnen Westschweiz und Wallis. Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich, 1977, .
- Alain Candellero, Charles-Maurice Emery, Brice Maillard and Nicolas Regamey, 40 ans de musée vivant, Chemin de fer musée Blonay-Chamby 1968âÂÂ2008, édition Chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby, Lausanne, avril 2008, 32 p.
- Alain Castella and Charles-Maurice Emery: Faire la Voie, Chemin de fer-Musée Blonay-Chamby, Département de la formation, de la jeunesse et de la culture (DFJC) â Service des affaires culturelles (SERAC) of Canton de Vaud, Lausanne, 2010
- Michel Grandguillaume, Gérald Hadorn, Sébastien Jarne, Jean-Louis Rochaix, François Ramstein: Voies étroites de Veveyse et de Gruyère. Bureau vaudois d'addresses (BVA), Lausanne 1984,
References
External links