Thrills of a mountain railway

Autor(en): J.P.

Objekttyp: Article

Zeitschrift: The Swiss observer : the journal of the Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK

Band (Jahr): - (1934)

Heft 648

PDF erstellt am: 25.09.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-688062

Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print- und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber.

Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind.

Ein Dienst der ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Schweiz, www.library.ethz.ch

http://www.e-periodica.ch March 24th, 1934. THE SWISS OBSERVER. 1940

AUTOUR D'UNE CRISE. à. soutenir sans tergiversations ni compromissions SWISS NEWS FROM ABROAD. d'uncune sorte, de manière que le pays ait enfin l'impression qu'il est réellement srowuerné et non Our readers may, no doubt, be interested to hear Master La publicité que M. Musy a donnée — ou le jouet de volontés divergentes tirant à hue et à that Micky Paschoud, aged 10, son laissé donner — à des divergences de vues avec dia, ce qui ne peut avoir pour conséquence que of Mr. M. Paschoud, a former President of the Swiss ses collègues a produit dans tout le pays une im- d'embourber le char de l'Etat, voire à le faire Mercantile Society in London, now resi- dent in has the pression de malaise que ne dissipera pas le com- verser. Paris, won the first prize in Inter- muniqué publié vendredi à l'issue de la séance du Or l'heure est trop grave pour que l'on puisse national Dancing Competition (classical), or- Conseil fédéral. tolérer plus longtemps ce petit jeu. ganised by the Archives Internationales de la Fd. T. Danse, on March 15th, in Paris. •• Seigneur, préservez-moi de mes amis! " a (Tribune de Genève.) By a strange coincidence, the winner of the dû penser notre grand argentier en lisant certains first prize for girls is also Swiss. She is Petite articles où l'on parlait de " quasi ultimatum " Danseuse Etoile du Théâtre du Chatelet, her stage de posé par M. Musy à ses collègues, " pression FONDS DE SECOURS. name being Mlle. Luzia, Avhilst her real name is morale," etc. Cette façon de présenter les choses Annual Meeting. Louise Besançon. She hails, like Master ne pouvait plaire aux autres membres du gouver- Paschoud, from so both winners •— Lutry, that come neinent qui ont nettement fait savoir que si M. from the same comm«. Musy partait en laissant s'accréditer cette version The Annual General Meeting of the " Fonds There were about sixty competitors of all de la entre eux et ils ne se laisseraient de Secours took rupture lui, " place on Monday, March 13th, nationalities ; most of them were professionals, pas faire. Et, à la onzième heure, M. Musy a Monsieur C, R. Paravicini, Swiss Minister, being with a few amateurs amongst them like Master compris.... in the Chair. Micky Paschoud, and we wish to extend to him The Ce qui ne signifie pas que la crise gouverne- Chairman paid a warm tribute to the and his parents our heartiest congratulations. mentale ne se produira pas quand même plus tard late Mr. A. Schupbach, who had rendered great services to the institution. —probablement en automne —, mais dans une PERSONAL. atmosphère plus calme que celle qui règne en ce After the report of the Auditors was read, moment à Berne, au lendemain de l'échec d'une the meeting accepted the accounts for the fourth We extend hearty congratulations to Mr. and loi devant le peuple. quarter, 1933, and those of the whole year. Mrs. F. H. Rohr, of 10, Buckingham Palace Road, Mr. F. M. Gampeü-i'ön' behalf of the Finance •• Pour s'être dénoué provisoirement la London, S.W.I, on becoming happy grand- sur Commission, stated that, in spite of the the of a place publique et non dans le sein du Conseil fé- crisis, parents through birth boy to their daugh- the financial position was satisfactory. Mrs. Hewitt. déral lui-même, écrit fort justement M. Pierre ter, The Committee was then re-elected en bloc # # # Grellet, ce conflit politique a certainement eu and consists of the following gentlemen : — pour effet d'ébranler l'autorité du gouvernement Für die zahlreichen Beweise herzlicher Anteil- du pays. Cette fâcheuses extrémité aurait été Honorary/ President: nähme beim Hinscheide unseres liben Gatten und Monsieur C. évitée si M. Musy n'avait pas donné à ses inten- R. Paravicini, Swiss Minister. Vaters Wilhelm Wydler, sprechen wir unsern tions la publicité qu'elles ont eue et s'il n'avait President: tiefgefühlten Dank aus. pas tenu pendant près d'une semaine toute l'opi- M. R. Dupraz. Anna Wydler und Kinder. nion publique en suspens." Five-Presidents : Signalons en passant le bruit qui court dans Messieurs A. C. Baume, F. M. Gamper, ABSCHIED. O. Gambazzi. les couloirs du Palais fédéral — et que nous en- Treas Ach dieses grosse Bange werden registrons sous toutes réserves — selon lequel le urer : Beim den M. J. Oertli. Abschied von lieben Bergen, fameux programme en huit points soumis par M. Winterklar im schönsten Licht Conseil Fice-Treàsîrrer: Musy au fédéral, aurait été élaboré par Viel besser ich kennt sie nicht deux de M. M. wär's, frontistes la " Ligue pour le peuple et Röthlisberger. Ich fühl mich arm und Avein la dont cite les et patrie," on noms, qui passent Neeretwr// : So ganz in mich hinein, être en sorte les chef pour quelque inspirateurs du M. Th. Ritter. Um mein Leid noch zu verstärken du des finances. département Assistant »S'eeretar// : Mags noch zum Aschiedsgruss auch sein, Quoi qu'il en soit, nous sommes certain d'être M. P. Hilfiker. Hüllen sich die Majestäten l'interprète de la très grande majorité de nos Finance CVunrnittee : In rosa, goldnem Mantel ein, concitoyens en souhaitant que l'harmonie renaisse Messieurs A. Th. Nussbn.umer, F. M. Gamper, Und schauen aus dem Abendhimmel an sein du Conseil fédéral et que le gouvernement J. Oertli. Still fragend mir in's Herz hinab, s'entende une fois pour toutes sur un programme A uditors : Warum für Glanz und Weltgetümmel net et, précis, positif, constructif, qu'il s'engage Messieurs O. Schneider, M. Weber. Ich jemals sie verlassen hab' jBT £7

•> M '•!. .vf' 1. • doubt which rise to''this and which amount of labour and THRILLS OF A MOUNTAIN RAILWAY. gives thrill, I ingenuity, expense which might express as loss of confidence in the engine. has been put into the Avork of providing us with To illustrate, hear of my friend Henry and me. our thrills. The building of a raihvay over com- Henry was feeling amazed, grateful and paratively level country is no mean feat. How •' Good Heavens 1 hope nothing slips " humble, this being his first trip on a mountain much more difficult must it be, what efforts of The speaker was an American lady, and, on line. I was correspondingly bored, nonchalant brain and sinew, of courage and perseverance looking out of the carriage window, one could and patronising, as became my " umpteenth " must it demand, to stick a railway, so to speak, not but share her aspirations. We had just left such experience, and one of the few sacred oc- on the face of a mountain, involving the running Caux station, on the /uMie«/am\ or mountain casions on which I could impress Henry. The en- of bridges at dangerous grades over deep ravines, railway, from on Lake to the gine panted steadily upwards Henry was risk- the selection of ground suitably free from impos- Rochers de Nave, 2,045 metres above the lake. ing occasional nervous glances down at Lake sible gradients, avalanches, and the undermining Caux itself is some 1,100 metres up, which is not Lucerne, and, in short, everything was going influences of heavy rains and thaws, and the pro- a great height as heights go, but virtually every swimmingly. viding against the thousand and one emergencies metre of that distance is sheer and toppling down Then we struck a sharp turn, followed by an to which the perilous nature of the ground grives to the lake shore. As one looks upwards from extra stiff rise. The engine's rhythmic panting rise. or Territet, the gives became jerky and laboured; our speed decreased. The railway engineer will tell you that a one a "stand from under" feeling, as if at any Henry and I looked at one another. Henry said : mountain railway can be defined as one in which moment it might come down on one's head. Look- " She won't do it." Anxiety dwelt in his eye. the gradients exceed three per cent.—that is to ing downwards from our eminence—well, one be- " She'll do it all right," I replied loftily. Our say, in which the ground at the gradient rises gan to wonder if everything was tightly fastened speed fell to a crawl. The engine seemed to be more than three feet in every hundred feet The American lady turned with a slight shud- gasping for breath. travelled. Up to six per cent., however, we have der, and looked steadily upwards. She was, of My confidence collapsed—the Great Doubt a very modest mountain line, but above that figure course, missing one of the world's finest views. overcame us. True, I had heard this same engine an engine would be unable to haul a train by Clear-cut, glassy calm, blue, the lake lay beneath gasp thus before at this very spot, but was this means of the ordinary system of rails. A " rack us. Along its nearer shore shone the pleasure not months past? The engine was older now rail " is, therefore, laid betAveen the side rails, towns of Ciarens, Montreux, Territet—spotlessly She could not last for ever, and this might easily cogs on the engine engaging with this rack and clean, toylike in the distance. From out these be the moment ordained for the final collapse of enabling the locomotive literally to claw its way towns, upwards after us came climbing the neat her efforts. Would we run back, fall over into up the mountain. During moments spent under Swiss countryside—woods and fields, châlets and that ravine or simply stick fast? So ran my the shadoAV of the Great Doubt, the thought of spires, ravines and mountain torrents. Over all thoughts ; so they vvill always run Avhen a moun- those cogs suddenly " stripping " has often oc- towered the mountains—Dent du Midi, snow- tain train begins to feel the pull ; and so fell my curred to me. capped and aloof, Savoy , darker and more pride. Its fall was carefully noted and subse- At over twenty-five per cent, gradient the forbidding. It was a wonderful view in truth—a quently referred to by Henry. rack system surrenders, and Ave reach the dernier view to take one's breath away; but the Ameri- Of course, we reached the summit safely, but cri in mountain transport—to wit, the cable line. can lady's breath had been shortened bv a less do not condemn us as nerve-ridden wrecks. You One gets the best thrill in this case by looking at pleasant sensation, and no view, however grand, will experience the Great Doubt yourself—not the thing before starting. What presents itself Avas going to tempt her to look down again. once, but every time you hear that pounding of is a wire (which looks very frail indeed) suspended She had experienced one of the thrills of a hard-pressed steam. between lattice poles (which are much too far mountain railway, and she just happened to be " We reached the summit safely." Simple apart). These poles probably carry the wire one of those who did not like it. With me, I con- words, behind which lies the final thrill Doavii across a vast chasm, and up an almost vertical fess it is a weakness. With eyes strictly averted on the lake shore it was hot—bakingly hot. Up cliff. Suspended from the wire, and sAvaving from the unfolding leagues beneath, I wait in here we step out, it may be, into a Avorld of snow, suggestively as it travels, comes the whole train, patience until the little engine has panted up to and raise our coat collars against a fresh, cold an affair like a small packing case with windows. some dizzy eminence. Then comes that sudden breeze.. Like great frozen waves the Alps lie The mountain end of this giddy system is glance back, and down—down sheer, with a feel- around ns, tier piled upon tier, as far as the eye wreathed in menacing clouds, and a cold draught ing that firm earth will no longer bear us up, and can reach. Glittering in the sun, cold and dead creeps gradually doAvn one's spine that we must drop like a plummet into the dizzy in the shade, they guard the plains in mighty It is not so terrible as it looks. The thrills depths. It is a distinct thrill, believe me, and a silence. Afar off, perhaps, through the inevitable and doubts of mountain railway travel exist, but pleasurable one for all but the very nervous telescope, we sight a pure white, rounded peak. lest, perhaps, they may be exaggerated, let us minority. It is Mont Blanc, miles away, looking on three remember that every care and precaution Avhich After some experience of mountain railways, nations. The air is thin and keen, the silence human forethought can provide, have been, and no doubt this sort of thing may begin to pall profound. We feel the strangeness of this wild, are, taken in the construction of these systems slightly, and the blasé passenger will smoke con- primeval world which spreads before us, and it is and in the proper maintenance of their rolling tentedly, with eyes enjoying the panorama be- with reluctant backward glances that we finally stocks. In short, one might say that the risk neath him. Another type of thrill awaits, how- retrace our steps to the little train which will of such travel is about one quarter of that in- ever, and its superiority lies in this—that, how- bear us back to the cheerful, prosaic lowlands. eurred in crossing Nassau street corner at about ever often he travels on the steeper /wm'cjf Zaires, Once again amid familiar surroundings, Ave five p.m. he w ll never achieve complete freedom from the might profitably spare a thought for the immense f. P.