After our magnificent first big rail trip around Scandinavia the year before, my best friend suggested we went to discover Switzerland by rail in 2013. He was inspired by his aunt’s trips to Switzerland and always wanted to go there himself, of course I couldn’t say no as the country spoke to me too. So off we went on a second rail adventure together.

On our second day in Interlaken we spent the morning by visiting James Bond’s Schilthorn and the Trümmelbach Falls. In the afternoon we returned from Lauterbrunnen back in the direction of Interlaken where we would be alighting at the Wilderswil station. Here we changed onto the Schynige Platte Bahn. This is a 800mm narrow gauge railway operating only during the summer season, in winter even the overhead wires are torn down to prevent avalanche damage.

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The railway still operates like some of the very first electrified mountain railways in the 1910’s, with a clunky electric locomotive at the valley side pushing/pulling a rake of coaches up and down the mountains.

The coaches themselves are still from a very classic design with wooden benches spanning the entire width of the coach and every compartment having its own manually operated outside door.

This railway really evokes the charm of how tourists in the early days of mountain holidays must have experienced it. The railway is worth a ride just for its back into time charm, the route itself is less spectacular than some of the other nearby mountain railways but it still is a very nice and scenic ride.

After our ride up and down the Shynige Platte we returned back to Interlaken for our last night there. We started packing again for the travelling onwards to our next destination of Luzern the next day, more about that in our next chapter.