Farewell to the Swiss Alpine classic, Ae 6/6 !

[Nozomi4ever]

Hi guys,

With the economic downturn of the past few years, the Ae 6/6 locomotives, which had been expected to remain in service until 2014, are being withdrawn from service earlier than planned. Many of the loks are now heading for the scrap yards. A few locomotives have been saved as "historic" locomotives and a small number are likely to remain as reserve locomotives, but the lok's heyday has definitely come and gone. Today, of the original 120 (11401-11520), only 40 of the Ae 6/6 are still in operation.

 

The Ae 6/6 was introduced in 1952 and rapidly became the darling of the SBB, replacing the Ae 4/6 and Crocodile on the Gotthard route. With the introduction of the Re 6/6 and Re 4/4II and III, the Ae 6/6's operating area changed from the Gotthard to freight trains in the flatlands. The Ae 6/6 was not capable of multiple unit control, which hastened it's replacement on the Gotthard route.

So farewell to the mighty Ae 6/6 class...

Here 's some video and news report of it.. (Painful to watch aworkhorse being scrapped lol!)

http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=705f4666-5c27-4837-82d8-fb1a36c5c1df

http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/Das-schmerzt-im-Herzen-eines-SBBFans/story/10788226

[quinntopia]

Ugh...those videos were pretty disturbing.  Hard to believe that is the method to get the most out of recycling these machines in this day and age.  Beyond that, its always a little sad to see a 'classic' end up that way.

[cteno4]

sad to see. thats the usual modern recycle, hydraulic shears and torches to get bite sized chunks, then into the shredder to get small bits you can then separate the metallic from the organics some then off to the furnace... i guess i watch too much discovery channel... guess its evolution.

 

good some have been put aside as historic ones for preservation.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[westfalen]

The cutting torch will soon be a museum piece.

 

I saw a lot of these locos when I visited Switzerland in 2008, I stayed at Erstfeld at the base of Gotthard Pass for a few nights and saw them working in twos and threes. I was surprised to see so many still in service, like going to the U.S. and finding the class one railroads still using F units. At least it looks like someone has 'saved' the Swiss coat of arms from the front of the engine being scrapped.

[quinntopia]

I saw a lot of these locos when I visited Switzerland in 2008, I stayed at Erstfeld at the base of Gotthard Pass for a few nights and saw them working in twos and threes. I was surprised to see so many still in service, like going to the U.S. and finding the class one railroads still using F units. At least it looks like someone has 'saved' the Swiss coat of arms from the front of the engine being scrapped.

 

Westfalen you touch on something that is amazing to me.  One thing that's become clearly evident to me is the 'service years' for European locomotives versus the US.  That SNCF is just now (apparantly?) phasing out the CC72000 - a six axle diesel built in the late '60s/'70's (I believe) is remarkable...this would be equivalent to U36C's or C628's running in the US!  That some of the NOHAB diesels still run on the private roads is exactly like still seeing F' units in real service in the US!  I also think that ACTS is still running those Baldwin made 1200 class electrics from the 50's in the Netherlands!  Imagine if Amtrak were still running ex=New Haven EP5's? 

 

Okay, my little 'rant' is through.

[Martijn Meerts]

There are still some 1200's around in private companies yes. Amazing machines really, always loved seeing, hearing and feeling them rumble by on stations. Very heavy and robust machines :)

[brill27mcb]

I saw a lot of these locos when I visited Switzerland in 2008, I stayed at Erstfeld at the base of Gotthard Pass for a few nights and saw them working in twos and threes. I was surprised to see so many still in service, like going to the U.S. and finding the class one railroads still using F units. At least it looks like someone has 'saved' the Swiss coat of arms from the front of the engine being scrapped.

 

Westfalen you touch on something that is amazing to me.  One thing that's become clearly evident to me is the 'service years' for European locomotives versus the US.   That SNCF is just now (apparantly?) phasing out the CC72000 - a six axle diesel built in the late '60s/'70's (I believe) is remarkable...this would be equivalent to U36C's or C628's running in the US!  That some of the NOHAB diesels still run on the private roads is exactly like still seeing F' units in real service in the US!  I also think that ACTS is still running those Baldwin made 1200 class electrics from the 50's in the Netherlands!  Imagine if Amtrak were still running ex=New Haven EP5's? 

 

Okay, my little 'rant' is through.

 

One of our Euro-phile club members likened these Swiss electrics (and the fondness for them) to the classic U.S. GG-1 electrics, which also had a very remarkable service life. What finally ended the GG-1's career was a combination of cascading metal fatigue cracks in the large cast subframes and the now-illegal PCBs in the transformer coolant oil.

 

Rich K.

[ToniBabelony]

Aww, dang. Those Ae6/6's were awesome! I've still seen them in quite a lot of action when I was visiting Swiss a decade ago. There are still a great number of old engines active in Europe in regular service. For example the BR110 series in Germany and the BB 516000s in France (both late fifties, so in service for well over 50 years), but they are quickly being phased out by newer types (mostly, IMO boring, Siemens/Mitsui 'Eurosprinter' types).

 

However, in almost every country there are still a great number of engines in use from the 60s and 70s. I think it has something to do with reliability and the fact that they are electric, and thus less vulnerable for those strict EU emission laws. Diesels have been replaced much quicker with DMU, DRCs or newer diesel locomotives. A shame really, but understandable...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Very sad to see...

 

I would say the stars in terms of longevity, especially in view of their day-to-day rosters, are these guys... They first were introduced in 1976 and all are still in service, with the exception of a couple of crash-damaged write-offs, plying the length of the UK at speeds of up to 125 mph. Many of the power-cars have exceeded 10 million miles by now. Withdrawal won't be for at least another five years (their replacements haven't even been agreed yet); by which time the Intercity 125 will be 40 years old!

[westfalen]

Very sad to see...

 

I would say the stars in terms of longevity, especially in view of their day-to-day rosters, are these guys... They first were introduced in 1976 and all are still in service, with the exception of a couple of crash-damaged write-offs, plying the length of the UK at speeds of up to 125 mph. Many of the power-cars have exceeded 10 million miles by now. Withdrawal won't be for at least another five years (their replacements haven't even been agreed yet); by which time the Intercity 125 will be 40 years old!

 

Their Aussie cousins are still running up the miles as well, almost 2000km out and back on the Sydney Brisbane run. You guys have a few old diesels as well, I caught these two class 37's in may.

 

And we can't forget the 60's era DE10's and DD51's in our favorite country.

[Nozomi4ever]

Well... At least,if you want to ride this train again , you can by booking your tour with RailAway SBB here... (Not for now yet... )

http://groups.sbb.ch/Special-trains-cars/special%20trains.aspx

[Claude_Dreyfus]

 

Their Aussie cousins are still running up the miles as well, almost 2000km out and back on the Sydney Brisbane run. You guys have a few old diesels as well, I caught these two class 37's in may.

 

And we can't forget the 60's era DE10's and DD51's in our favorite country.

 

 

I would go as far as to say the HST/XPT is perhaps the train of the last century...for so many reasons. Although that is perhaps a thread unto itself!

 

There are still plenty of class 37s running around, at least a couple of which are over 50 years old. Other main line classes still in services are the class 20s and 31s, from 1957; class 33 from 1960 and the 47 from 1962. Our record, however, is the class 08/09 shunter, dating from 1953 - with a design dating back to the 1930s. These survivors still have plenty of life left in them...their replacements are not even on the drawing board. They are still our standard shunting locomotive.

 

In Japan, there are still a number of the 1964-vintage EF64s in service...

[disturbman]

I saw a lot of these locos when I visited Switzerland in 2008, I stayed at Erstfeld at the base of Gotthard Pass for a few nights and saw them working in twos and threes.

 

You're sure it was the same locs? It's explicitly writen that these Ae 6/6 were not capable of MU and that's why they were phased out of the Gothard route. You might have confused them with the Re 6/6 wich are still in use. Both models look alike.

[westfalen]

 

Their Aussie cousins are still running up the miles as well, almost 2000km out and back on the Sydney Brisbane run. You guys have a few old diesels as well, I caught these two class 37's in may.

 

And we can't forget the 60's era DE10's and DD51's in our favorite country.

 

 

I would go as far as to say the HST/XPT is perhaps the train of the last century...for so many reasons. Although that is perhaps a thread unto itself!

 

There are still plenty of class 37s running around, at least a couple of which are over 50 years old. Other main line classes still in services are the class 20s and 31s, from 1957; class 33 from 1960 and the 47 from 1962. Our record, however, is the class 08/09 shunter, dating from 1953 - with a design dating back to the 1930s. These survivors still have plenty of life left in them...their replacements are not even on the drawing board. They are still our standard shunting locomotive.

 

In Japan, there are still a number of the 1964-vintage EF64s in service...

Train controllers in Brisbane often refer to the XPT as the 'worm'. When the XPT first entered service replacing loco hauled trains one the things the initials were said to stand for was eXtra Pathetic Train, which had ring of truth to it when comparing it to the trains like the overnight Brisbane Limited Express, Southern Aurora and Spirit of Progress which it eventually replaced. Leaving Brisbane in the late afternoon and arriving in Sydney mid-morning after a relaxing night in a roomette sleeper and real cooked breakfast in the dining car as the train ran along the Hawkesbury River can't be compared to sitting for 14 hours in an XPT and arriving in Sydney late at night after everything is closed. The overnight return trip is even worse depositing you in Brisbane at 0630 (0530) in summer, you can get a sleeper that U.S. Railroad & Railfan magazine travel writer George Drury described as being like spending the night in a cement mixer but for the price you can fly and have an extra day at your destination and a night in a nice hotel. The HST/XPT works well on the relatively short haul runs in the UK, I traveled a fair bit on them while I was there including Edinburgh to Kings Cross, but for Australian conditions some say it was an ill thought out choice.

[westfalen]

I saw a lot of these locos when I visited Switzerland in 2008, I stayed at Erstfeld at the base of Gotthard Pass for a few nights and saw them working in twos and threes.

 

You're sure it was the same locs? It's explicitly writen that these Ae 6/6 were not capable of MU and that's why they were phased out of the Gothard route. You might have confused them with the Re 6/6 wich are still in use. Both models look alike.

I stand corrected, the ones I saw were Re 6/6's, they do look alike (both nice looking engines compared to what they are turning out today). From my research the newest Re 6/6's are now 30 years old themselves, not exactly spring chickens either.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Train controllers in Brisbane often refer to the XPT as the 'worm'. When the XPT first entered service replacing loco hauled trains one the things the initials were said to stand for was eXtra Pathetic Train, which had ring of truth to it when comparing it to the trains like the overnight Brisbane Limited Express, Southern Aurora and Spirit of Progress which it eventually replaced. Leaving Brisbane in the late afternoon and arriving in Sydney mid-morning after a relaxing night in a roomette sleeper and real cooked breakfast in the dining car as the train ran along the Hawkesbury River can't be compared to sitting for 14 hours in an XPT and arriving in Sydney late at night after everything is closed. The overnight return trip is even worse depositing you in Brisbane at 0630 (0530) in summer, you can get a sleeper that U.S. Railroad & Railfan magazine travel writer George Drury described as being like spending the night in a cement mixer but for the price you can fly and have an extra day at your destination and a night in a nice hotel. The HST/XPT works well on the relatively short haul runs in the UK, I traveled a fair bit on them while I was there including Edinburgh to Kings Cross, but for Australian conditions some say it was an ill thought out choice.

 

Oh dear...sounds like the situation in the UK where 'progress' meant replacing 6-8 coach trains for 4-car DMUs on journeys over four or five hours... At least an eight coach HST set placed a loco-hauled set of a similar number here...even if it did mean the end of the Deltics, Peaks and (indirectly) the Westerns and several other much-loved diesel classes. The HSTs postively revolutionised long distance rail travel in the UK...and obviously this was the intention for Australia (although replacing sleepers with day-coaches never seems a good idea in terms of passenger comfort). Being designed for journeys no more than about 600 miles (Aberdeen - Penzance was the longest HST diagram) probably does not translate up to successful 2,000km plus romps through the bush!

[Nozomi4ever]

 

Their Aussie cousins are still running up the miles as well, almost 2000km out and back on the Sydney Brisbane run. You guys have a few old diesels as well, I caught these two class 37's in may.

 

And we can't forget the 60's era DE10's and DD51's in our favorite country.

 

 

I would go as far as to say the HST/XPT is perhaps the train of the last century...for so many reasons. Although that is perhaps a thread unto itself!

 

There are still plenty of class 37s running around, at least a couple of which are over 50 years old. Other main line classes still in services are the class 20s and 31s, from 1957; class 33 from 1960 and the 47 from 1962. Our record, however, is the class 08/09 shunter, dating from 1953 - with a design dating back to the 1930s. These survivors still have plenty of life left in them...their replacements are not even on the drawing board. They are still our standard shunting locomotive.

 

In Japan, there are still a number of the 1964-vintage EF64s in service...

Train controllers in Brisbane often refer to the XPT as the 'worm'. When the XPT first entered service replacing loco hauled trains one the things the initials were said to stand for was eXtra Pathetic Train, which had ring of truth to it when comparing it to the trains like the overnight Brisbane Limited Express, Southern Aurora and Spirit of Progress which it eventually replaced. Leaving Brisbane in the late afternoon and arriving in Sydney mid-morning after a relaxing night in a roomette sleeper and real cooked breakfast in the dining car as the train ran along the Hawkesbury River can't be compared to sitting for 14 hours in an XPT and arriving in Sydney late at night after everything is closed. The overnight return trip is even worse depositing you in Brisbane at 0630 (0530) in summer, you can get a sleeper that U.S. Railroad & Railfan magazine travel writer George Drury described as being like spending the night in a cement mixer but for the price you can fly and have an extra day at your destination and a night in a nice hotel. The HST/XPT works well on the relatively short haul runs in the UK, I traveled a fair bit on them while I was there including Edinburgh to Kings Cross, but for Australian conditions some say it was an ill thought out choice.

 

Well.. Our singapore metro system (MRT).. stands for mad rush transport and its true... The system is now overcrowded nowadays and rush here and there with pathetic brakes which don't stop properly.

[disturbman]

Something I always wondered, aren't those HST/XPT, like the TGV and ICE1, loco-hauled trains? After all, the car-cabs are also the motor cars.

[westfalen]

Something I always wondered, aren't those HST/XPT, like the TGV and ICE1, loco-hauled trains? After all, the car-cabs are also the motor cars.

Technically you're probably right. The XPT's consist does vary from run to run like a regular train and the power cars are separate entities each with it's own road number and are also swapped around from consist to consist. When the Swedish X2000 tilt train visited Australia for a testing several in 1995 XPT power cars were used as the motive power.

http://www.railpage.org.au/xpt/x2000.html

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Something I always wondered, aren't those HST/XPT, like the TGV and ICE1, loco-hauled trains? After all, the car-cabs are also the motor cars.

 

For the HST, originally they were classified as units, they carried the class numbers 253 and 254, which was displayed on the front of each power car - which were individually numbered (class 43 BTW). Very quickly it became clear that regular swapping in the works meant the sets did not remain fixed for long; although the carriages were semi-permanently coupled in fixed rakes of seven or eight - depending on the route being operated. In addition, the carriages can only operate with the power cars; although similar mark III coaches were built for conventional loco-hauled trains.

 

The power cars are now classed as locomotives, and are maintained as such.