Sursee-Triengen railway

The Sursee–Triengen-Bahn (ST) is a small railway company in Switzerland. It owns a railway line of only 8.9 km between Sursee, where it connects to the SBB-CFF-FFS network, and Triengen. The line was opened on 23 November 1912 with steam traction. Unlike most other railways in Switzerland, it was never electrified but a small diesel locomotive was purchased in 1965.

Steam locomotives

Traffic had started with two small steam locomotives E 2/2 1 and 2 and in 1917 a steam motor coach joined them. This unique FZm 1/2 11 had mail and baggage compartments. 1961-1963 these three vehicles reached the end of their lives and were replaced by used SBB E 3/3 "Tigerli". The first two of them (3 ex 8477 and 4 ex 8488) had soon to be replaced by two others (5 ex 8479 and 8522). 1960-64 a leased tramway-type ("Glaskasten") Ed 2/2 from VHB was in use. E 3/3 5 and 8522 were kept as replacements for the new diesel.

Planned extension

There had been many plans and long discussions about a through going Suhre valley railway. This would have been the existing, 10.18 km long meter gauge Aarau–Schöftland line of the Wynental and Suhrental railway (WSB), a new meter gauge line Schöftland–Triengen and a third rail in the track of the Sursee–Triengen railway, including electrification. Electric meter gauge trains would have made the journey from Aarau to Sursee. Freight traffic could have continued on standard gauge to Triengen, similar to Wohlen–Bremgarten of the BDWM. But it wasn't the time to build new secondary railways then and furthermore Triengen and Schöftland are situated in different cantons. On 25 September 1971 regular passenger traffic of the ST ended and a new bus service Sursee–Triengen–Schöftland connected with the modernized WSB line.

Freight only

Freight traffic continued and in 1976 a second diesel of SBB Tm IV type arrived. When the nostalgia-boom reached Switzerland, ST gave its steam 8522 engine to the "Dampfbahn Bern" which gave it an overhaul and used it for some time. Having kept the old passenger coaches, ST began to offer steam train runs. Remarkable thing is that 8522 is one of the two locomotives that were "partly electrified" during World War 2. An electric boiler heating should replace rare coal. But when the war was over and supply restarted, pantograph and electric heater were removed.

After the 1999 reform of railway law, SBB Cargo decided to bring freight cars to their destinations in open access. It took over Tm IV 2 from ST. So, the ST of today is an infrastructure and steam train company.

Sources and links

* Daniel Zumbühl, 75 Jahre Sursee–Triengen-Bahn, (offizielle Festschrift). E.B.Leutwiler Verlag, Zürich, 1987, ISBN 3-906681-05-X
* [http://www.dampfzug.ch/ official homepage of the company]