Little Trains to Faraway Places

10. New Trains, Old Boats in Switzerland (1994)

he Fr ench doors of my upper-floor room at Montreux’s Hotel Suisse-Majestic framed a slate gray, rain-swept Lake Geneva, also called Lac Léman. With the September dusk, the water was darkening, and a chill was in the air. Far down the lake, two clusters of lights materialized. Slowly, the bright pinpoints became a pair of lanky white paddle steamers churning toward me in stately fashion, with deck and saloon lights festively ablaze. The first—La Suisse, on a dinner cruise—whistled a throaty salute as she passed. The second, Italie, eased up to the landing below myperch.Althoughshehadthesamegraceful,traditionalprofileasLa Suisse, her honking horn gave away her secret: her steam plant had been replaced by diesel engines. I had arrived from Lausanne a few hours earlier aboard sister sidewheelerMontreux ,builtin 1904,theoldestboatinthefleetofeighttraditional steamers. (The newest dates from 1927.) In spite of this antiquity, when I boarded I felt the unwelcome rumble and growl underfoot that said “diesel.” At that time, in 1994, the fleet of the Compagnie Generale de Navigation sur le Lac Léman comprised (in addition to some modern diesel vessels) four steam-powered boats and four converted paddle steamers. (Since then, mirabile dictu, the Montreux has been converted back to steam propulsion.) new trains, old boats in switzerland • T 10 Book 1.indb 113 2/16/10 8:50:03 AM l i t t l e t r a i n s t o f a r a w a y p l a c e s . 114 . Although I’d hoped for a steamboat, I knew I’d soon have the chance to sail aboard steam-powered craft on other lakes. Meanwhile, I walked along rain-slicked streets to dinner at the Caveau duMuseum,acheery,bustlingbistrointhebasementofathirteenth-century monastery, now a museum. Fondue and raclette filled the cozy room with a fromagefragrance.Montreuxhasawonderfulcompactness,wedgedbetween the shore of Lake Geneva and the Vaudois Alps. In addition to having its own attractions, the city is a gateway to great places. For example, I was headed to the summit of the Rothorn, elevation 7,710 feet—an easy one-day trip, although I would use two boats and four trains, two of them narrow-gauge, to get there. The back door of the Suisse-Majestic was just a block from the boat landing , while the front door was right across from the train station, which serves not only the Swiss Federal Railway’s main line from Geneva to Italy via Brig and the Simplon Tunnel but also two narrow-gauge mountain railways: the Chemin de Fer Montreux-Glion-Rochers-de-Nayes, a rack-and-pinion line built in 2-foot 71/2-inch gauge, and the meter-gauge mixed rack and adhesion Montreux-Oberland Bernois. The MOB’s most important route is its 37-mile line up and over the mountains to Zweisimmen, where it connects with a branch of the standard-gauge Berne Lötschberg Simplon Railway for a 22mile run to Spiez. Though the MOB’s trains are narrow-gauge, they’re anything but oldfashioned . In fact, my train, the Crystal Panoramic Express, roughly a year old at the time, had a decidedly space-age sleekness to it. Electric-powered (900 volts D.C. in this case) like most Swiss trains, the Crystal Panoramic Express positioned its locomotive in the middle of the train, a most unusual practice, making it literally bidirectional. At both ends were cars with broad, high, wrap-around windshields. With the engineer sequestered in an overhead control cab, the glass-enclosed forward space on the main level was available for two rows of passenger seating—the place to be. These fore and aft cars also featured stylish bar-lounges with sofas and club chairs, while traditional coach-style seating filled the train’s other two cars. All had dome-style skylights for brightness and viewing. But I was happy to have snagged one of the forward seats as the train eased away from Montreux’s station and zigzagged up the mountainside behind the city. It was another rainy day, but long, spidery wipers swept the splatters off the windshield. Now Lake Geneva was on the left, now on the right, now on the left again as tracks hoisted our streamlined blue-and-white train ever higher above water and cityscape. We soon overtook a local that had left Montreux a few minutes ahead of us (an admirable, leisurely ride in its own right, with windows that could be opened...