Driver’s Eye View (Switzerland) - Noiraigue to Saint-Sulpice (Neuchâtel) with Vapeur Val-de-Travers

Today we set off from our Solothurn Hotel for the town’s station to catch a train to visit a railway that was new to me, the “Vapeur Val-de-Travers”, a heritage railway and museum based in Saint-Sulpice (Neuchâtel). The company operates historic steam, diesel and electric trains in the Val-de-Travers, on the disused Saint-Sulpice - Fleurier line, it also operates special trains the regional line to Neuchâtel via Travers. Once again the exceptionally hot weather caused a steam ban to be imposed, but undeterred the company operated our train using a rare steeple cab electric locomotive ‘Be 4/4 from RVT-Historique’. We travelled from Neuchâtel to Noiraigue on a scheduled regional train where our special charter train formed of electric locomotive Be 4/4 No.RVT 1 and a short rake of period carriages was waiting to take us on to Saint-Sulpice. The crew kindly allowed me to mount a camera on their locomotive offering viewers the rare opportunity to see the route from the driver’s point of view. Our train was hauled the last mile or so into the museum complex by a diesel powered maintenance vehicle as the overhead catenary finished at Fleurier station. Once in the museum we were able to wander freely around the fascinating array of exhibits, consisting of all kinds of locomotives and rolling stock.

Track gauge - standard gauge 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm).

Filmed 22nd July 2022

This visit was part of the Railway Touring Company’s 2022 “Alpine Steam Express” Tour. To find out more about future European tours, please click on this link - https://www.railwaytouring.net/europe