Swiss trains 04 "Churchill-Pfeil"
Vehicle description:
The
history of the “Roten Pfeile” began in the early 1930s with the construction of
these vehicles for local transport. A light railcar was needed for routes with
low passenger volumes. This is how the 10 one-piece railcars, some electric and
some diesel, were built, which were very popular with the population. The
“Doppel Pfeil” was put on the rails before the outbreak of war, just in time for
the “Landi 1939” national exhibition. Exhibited at the national exhibition in
Zurich, it was an attraction.
The
Doppel Pfeil was intended as a social car and was luxuriously equipped as such.
This is how it got its name "Churchill Pfeil". In 1946, the then British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill visited Switzerland. The state guest was driven
through Switzerland in this vehicle. These trips are said to have also been the
occasion for important political discussions in the post-war period.
In
1953, the Federal Railways acquired two more Doppelpfeile, but they only had a
short life. The "Churchill Pfeil" survived, however. After a long period of
decommissioning, it was bought by the private company "Intraflug", refurbished
in the workshop of the Swiss Southeastern Railway SOB and used by the
Mittelthurgau Railway MThB. And after the "demise" of the MThB, it finally
returned to the SBB as a historic vehicle. Today, as in its recent days, it can
be rented as a charter vehicle and used for special trips on the Swiss railways..
The
"Churchill Pfeil" is equipped with 28 tables and a bar, and offers space for 112
passengers to socialize. It was built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works
in Winterthur (SLM) and the Swiss Wagon Works in Schlieren. Its maximum speed
was 150 km/h as early as 1939, a top speed that it could never reach because the
Swiss rail network was not built for it.
The
Scenarios / Fahrdienste:
•
Churchill-Pfeil-01:
Tour
group from the ship from Quinten on Lake Walen
They pick up the "Churchill Pfeil" at the depot in Sargans, drive to Unterterzen
to pick up the passengers and then to Weesen, where they change to the bus.
•
Churchill-Pfeil-02:
Bathing
trip to Bad Ragaz
Coming from Rapperswil, you drive into the Ziegelbrücke train station. Then the
trip continues to Bad Ragaz and finally you take the train to the Sargans depot.
•
Churchill-Pfeil-05:
Churchill Pfeil in the Urner Bergland
Take your passengers from Erstfeld up to the north portal of the Gotthard Tunnel
in Göschenen and then take the train to Gurtnellen for storage.
•
Churchill-Pfeil-06:
From
the Dazio Grande to the Biaschina
Show your passengers the beauty of the upper Leventina. Dazio Grande, the gorge
through which the "Ticino" eats its way south, and the Biaschina with its spiral
tunnels, which the train uses to negotiate the way into the valley.