At the large model railroad museum of Porsche, one of the finest model railways in the world is installed. The model railway layout presents three countries, namely Germany, Austria and Switzerland on 340 square meters. Pilentum had already made some cab ride videos with model trains at the Germany model railroad layout and at the Austria model railway display, but in this video our train travels through the wonderful railway world of the Gotthard Railway in Switzerland - and this model world is absolutely fascinating.
With our Swiss locomotive, in which the camera is installed, we are going to discover 950 meters of Märklin railway tracks in HO scale. We are crossing 185 points or switches and we are passing 34 signals. During our train journey we will meet a lot of other train sets. Furthermore, we travel through the famous Gotthard Mountains. Our model train has to overcome a height difference of up to 3 meters by driving many track spirals or helices. We are going to reach three major railway stations in Switzerland, where passenger trains and freight trains are waiting for their departure. In addition, we are going to see famous buildings in Switzerland, for example, castles, cities and bridges.
The special design of this miniature world and its layout makes it possible that several loops can be traveled by model trains. Therefore, our Swiss loco drives alternately in the southern Switzerland (“Bellinzona Railway Station”) as well as in the northern Switzerland (“Göschenen Railway Station” and “Wassen Railway Station”). Several times we will meet the “Crocodile” electric locomotive and the class Re 620 or class Re 6/6 locos, one of the most famous locomotives of the Swiss Railways.
Our cab ride trip begins near the city of Wassen in Switzerland. On the left side of the railway line we see the church built in the style of the Baroque style of architecture. A little bit later we are reaching the Wassen Railway Station. After passing the tunnel, our locomotive reaches the Göschenen Railway Station. Above the railway station we can see the famous Bietschtal railroad bridge. After some circles we arrive at the Wassen Railway Station again. A few minutes later, after driving through some tunnels, we arrive at the Göschenen Railway Station in another direction of travel.
After that, our train goes in the southern part of Switzerland and we reach the Bellinzona Railway Station. The station has more than nine platforms. Many passengers are waiting for their trains. While our locomotive has to wait in front of a red signal, we can see the massive mountains of Switzerland in the background. These scale model mountains have a height of more than four meters in 1/87 scale. Now, our loco is climbing up the mountains. The train rides on the first level - approximately 1.5 meters above the ground - and we see the big construction site for the highway bridge. A little bit later the train rides on the second level - approximately 2.5 meters above the ground - and we are directly below the highway bridge. After passing through the last helix our model train rides at the highest point of the model railway layout. From now on, our train is going downhill again. Our journey continues in the opposite direction of travel. However, we change the route, because we additionally drive on the small branch line inside the Swiss canton of Ticino. At the end of this video, our train drives into the very large shadow station or hidden yard.
Please, enjoy this video and take a look at Pilentum’s multilingual web site on www.pilentum.org or visit the picture gallery on www.pilentum.de - thank you.