Thrills of a mountain railway

Autor(en): [s.n.]

Objekttyp: Article

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

Band (Jahr): - (1929)

Heft 396

PDF erstellt am: 28.09.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-689671

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

http://www.e-periodica.ch May 25, 1929. THE SWISS OBSERVER. 1879

Malgré l'insistance de son avocat, du prési- AN INTERESTING BROADCAST. that ravine or simply stick fast? So ran my dent de la Cour et du procureur général, Vollet thoughts ; so they will always run when a moun- refuse de faire connaître ce qu'est devenue lai £ Next Wednesday, May 29th, our compatriot tain train begins to feel the pull ; and so fell my plus grande partie des sommes détournées, soit Sophie Wyss will broadcast a recital from the pride. Its fall was carefully noted and subse- 200,000 francs. London station which will largely include the quently referred to by Henry. De nombreux témoins ont été entendus dans works of the Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck. Of course, Ave reached the summit safely, but audience. de les ad- She herself has two of these at a re- cette première A tour rôle, sung songs do not condemn us as nerve-ridden wrecks. You Caisse citai she in 1927, but otherwise they have ininistrateurs d la ont déclaré qu'ils avai- gave will experience the Great Doubt yourself—not ent la entière confiance en Vollet et not yet been heard in this country. plus que once, but every time you hear that pounding of jusqu'au jour de son arrestation ils le considérai- Most of our readers will be glad to hear of hard-pressed steam. ent comme un honnête homme. the steady success which Madairfe Wyss ; is mak parfait reached Les débats prendront probablement fin mer- ing. Following Sir Henry Wood's engagement "We the summit safely." Simple words, behind which lies the credi après-midi. to sing the solo soprano parts of "The Messiah" final thrill Down for the Leicester Philharmonic Choir of 400 on the lake shore it was hot—bakingly hot. Up ON DECOUVRE DES RESTES HUMAINS. voices, the B.B.C. have been giving her frequent here Ave step out, it may be, into a world of snoAv, La gendarmerie de Saignelégier a découvert in the of three months and raise our coat collars against a fresh, cold de engagements—four course sur les rochers la Haute-Côte, au nord-est de —to These have in- breeze. Like great frozen Avaves the lie le sing important programmes. Vautenaivre, un squelette auquel il manquait eluded Handel's "Judas Maccabeus," Bach's around us, tier piled upon tier, far as the eye crâne et la mâchoire. Ces ossements ont été dé- reach. "Pfingstcantate," the first performance in Eng- can Glittering in the sun, cold and dead couverts grâce aux soliers qui dépassaient les in the shade, the si- land of the songs of Lennox Berkeley with the they guard plains in mighty débris de la forêt, feuilles et mousses, accumulés London Chamber Orchestra under Ber- lence. Afar off, perhaps, through the inevitable des années le de l'inconnu. On Anthony depuis sur corps nard, from Savoy Hill, and the famous Air from telescope, we sight a pure Avhite, rounded peak. sait mâchoire a is qu'une fut trouvée, il y quelques Weber's "Der Freischutz," from Daventrv. She It Mont Blanc, miles away, looking on three jours, au pied des mêmes rochers. L'enquête dira will also sing in Birmingham under the direction nations. The air is thin and keen, the silence s'il du de Félicien We feel the s'agit corps Gaufroid, disparu of Adrian Boult, and has been booked for as far profound. strangness of this Avild, il y a une quinzaine d'années. On a ramassé â world which before ' ahead as next January for Sir Henry Wood's primeval spreads us, and it is côté du,squelette un couteau de poche et un porte- Philliarmonis Orchestra at Hull. Avith reluctant backward glances that Ave finally monnaie contenant 70 centimes. retrace our steps to the little train which Avili bear us back to the cheerful, prosaic lowlands. 4 LA JOURNEE DES FEMMES DE GENEVE. THRILLS OF A MOUNTAIN des Once again amid familiar Ave L'Union femmes de Genève, suivant en RAILWAY. surroundings, cela l'exemple déjà donné par Berne, Zurich et might profitably spare a thought for the immense amount of ingenuity, labour and Avhich , a pris cette année la très heureuse initiative "Good Heavens! hope nothing slips!" expense une rencontre de les femmes I has been put into the Avork of providing us Avith d'organiser toutes The habitant la ville et le canton de Genève, speaker was an American lady, and, on our thrills. The building of a railway over com- quelles out of the que soient leur nationalité, leur profession, leurs looking carriage window, one could paratively level country is no mean feat. How not but share lier aspirations. We had much opinions, s'entendre en de - just left more difficult must it be, Avhat efforts of pour commun ques Caux the tions qui les préoccupent et apprendre, un station, on /MwieiiZaire, or mountain brain and sineAV, of courage and perseverance par from Lake the échangé d'idées familier, à mieux se connaître et railway, on to must it demand, to stick a railway, so to speak, Rochers de Nave, 2,045 metres above the lake. à mieux s'apprécier. Cette rencontre a été fixée on the face of a mountain, involving the running Caux itself is 1,100 au dimanche 2 juin, à 14h., au Palais Eynard, some metres up, which is not of bridges at dangerous grades over deep ravines, aimablement mis à la des a great height as heights go, but virtually every the selection of ground suitably free from impos- disposition organisa- of trices le Conseil et dont le metre that distance is sheer and toppling down sible gradients, avalanches, and the undermining par administratif, jar- to the lake shore. As looks din ombreux formera à cette époque de l'année le one upwards from influnces of heavy rains and thaAvs, and the pro- or the Caux Palace cadre le plus attrayant que l'on puisse rêver à Territet, Hotel gives viding against the thousand and one emergencies •cette réunion. one a "stand from under" feeling, as if at any to Avhich the perilous nature of the ground gives moment it might come down on one's head. Look- rise. DISPENSAIRE ANTIALCOOLIQUE GENEVOIS. ing downwards from be- our eminence—well, one The railAvay engineer Avili tell that a Ce a été créé la Société to wonder you dispensaire par gene- gan if everything was tightly fastened mountain railway can be defined as Avhich voise The one in d'utilité publique avec l'aide financière du American lady turned with a slight shad- the gradients exceed three cent.—that is Conseil commencé der, and looked per to. d'Etat. Il a son activité en steadily upwards. She Avas, of say, in Avhich the ground at the gradients rises novembre 1928 et lui a été 80 cas d'al- missing one of the finest views. il signalé course, world's more than three feet in every hundred feet cooliques, dont 61 hommes et 19 femmes. Un cer- Clear-cut, glassy calm, blue, the lake beneath lay travelled. Up to six per cent., however, Ave have tain nombre d'engagements d'abstinence ont été us. Along its nearer shore shone the pleasure a very modest mountain line, but above le toAvns of that figure signés et directeur a accompagné les malades Ciarens, Montreux, Territet—spotlessly an engine Avould be unable to haul dans sociétés clean, a train by * quatre genevoises qui s'occupent du toylike in the distance. From out these means of the ordinary system of rails. A relèvement des buveurs. On "rack peut comparer ces towns, upwards after us came climbing the neat rail" is, therefore, laid betAveeu the side sociétés à des et elles Swiss rails, H cliniques, méritent,la recon- countryside—woods and fields, châlets and cogs on .the engine engaging with this rack and naissance de la collectivité les sauvetages spires, ravines and mountain torrents. Over all pour enabling the locomotive literally to claAV its Avay qu'elles accomplissent. toAvered the mountains—Dent du - Midi, suoav up the mountain. During moments spent under capped and aloof, Savoy Alps, darker and HOMMAGE AU "VAINQUEUR DE LA POUSSIERE." more the shadow of the Great Doubt, the thought of forbidding. It was a wonderful view in truth—a those Le Dr. de cogs suddenly "stripping" has often oc - Guglielmineti, Brigue, promoteur view to take one's breath away; but the Ameri- du goudronnage des ce a valu le curred to me. routes, qui sur- can lady's breath had been shortened by a less de nom populaire "Dr. Gourdon," vient de rece- pleasant sensation, and no.view, however At over tAventy-five per cent, gradient the voir de l'Automobile-Club de Nice grand, rack system une plaquette was going to tempt her to look doAvn again. surrenders, and we reach the cZerwier : cri in d'argent portant l'inscription suivante " Au She had experienced one of the mountain transport—to wit, the cable line. de thrills of One vainqueur la poussière. Au Dr. Guglielmineti, a mountain and she gets the best thrill in this case by looking at railway, just happened to he the promoteur du goudronnage des routes, eu té - one of those Avho did not like With tiling before starting. What presents itself de 27 1929. it. me, I con- is a Avire moignage reconnaissance, le avril fess it is a Aveakness. With (Avhieh looks very frail indeed) suspen- eyes strictly averted tied between lattice VALAIS. from the unfolding leagues beneath, wait in poles (Avhich are much too I far apart). These poles M. Gustave de patience until the Tittle engine has probably carry the Avire Loretan a donné sa démission panted up to across a vast and membre du some dizzy eminence. Then comes that sudden chasm, up an almost vertical tribunal cantonal valaisan dont il a cliff. Suspended from the décades. glance back, and down—doAvn sheer, Avith a feel- wire, and swaying fait partie pendant plusieurs M. Loretan suggestively as ing that firm earth Avili no longer bear us and it travels, comes the whole train, appartint pendant longtemps au Conseil national up, an affair like a small et Conseil des that Ave must drop like a plummet into the dizzy packing case Avith windows au Etats, comme représentant du The mountain end of this Haut-Valais. est de la valaisanne depths. It is a distinct thrill, believe me, and a giddy svstem is Il l'auteur loi wreathed in menacing d'introduction Code suisse. pleasurable one for all but the nervous mi- clouds, and a cold draught au civil En novem- very creeps gradually down one's bre de l'année passée a fêté 80e anniver- liority. spine il son is saire, en pleine possession de ses forces. After some experience of mountain railways, It not so terrible as it looks. The thrills no doubt this sort of thing may begin to pall and doubts of mountain railway travel exist, but CF. LA ROUTE AU DE QUE COUTE «CANTON slightly, and the ôZasé passenger Avili smoke con- lest, perhaps, they may be exaggerated, let NEUCHATEL. us tentedly, Avith eyes enjoying the panorama be- remember that every care and precaution Avhich Le Grand Conseil neuchàtelois, qui se réunira neath him. Another type of thrill awaits, how- human forethought can provide, have been, and 20 ^ lundi mai au Château de Neuchâtel, aura à ever, and its superiority lies in this—that, how- are, taken in the construction of these systems discuter un rapport du Conseil d'Etat qui ré - ever often he travels on the steeper /wnicMZaires, and in the proper maintenance of their clame rolling l'allocation d'un crédit de 1 millions 200,000 he will never achieve complete freedom from the stocks. In short, one might say that the risk francs pour couvrir les frais d'amélioration et doubt Avhich gives rise to this thrill, and which of such travel is about one quarter of that in- de réfection des I routes cantonales. Cette somme might express as loss of confidence in the engine. curred in crossing at Nassau street corner at être à doit fournie l'Etat par voie d'emprunt. To illustrate, hear of my friend Henry and me. about five p.m. On peut se demander comment il se fait qu'un Henry was feeling amazed, grateful and (Reprinted canton from /G.sF Times.) qui n'est pas exclusivement montagnard humble, this being his first trip on a mountain ait à sacrifier d'une coup une si grosse somme en line. I Avas correspondingly bored, nonchalant faveur de Another la cirulation routière. and patronising, as became my " umpteenth " Motoring Success with de Il y a beaucoup causes à l'origine de cette such experience, and one of the few sacred oc- "Scintilla" Magneto. dépense. Tout d'abord, un localisme et un ré- casions on Avhich could impress Henry. The en I Our readers gionalisme parfois excessifs qui ont provoqué des gine panted steadily upivards Henry was risking Avili undoubtedly be interested tracés défectueux et to knoAv that the engines the qui, aujourd'hui, doivent occasional nervous glances doAvn at Lake Lu - of two Bugatti cars être modernisés. which the D'autre part, la carence de cerne, and, in short, everything was going swim- conquered first and second places in die C.F.F., qui a fait du réseau neuchàtelois un véri- mingly. great international Targa Florio race in Sicily table réseau-fantôme, où les trains circulent avec Then Ave struck a sharp followed were equipped Avitli Scintilla Magnetos. Tins turn, by an in the une lenteur désespérante, a augmenté considér- extra stiff rise. The engine's rhythmic success, above strenuous race, proA'es once ablement la panting more the of circulation automobile. Si bien qu'au- became jerky and laboured ; our speed decreased. reliability these magnetos. la de la. des jourd'hui, route Vue Alps ne souffre Henry mid I looked at one another. Henry said i seulement des pas dégâts causés par le gros temps "She won't do it." Anxiety dwelt in his eve". HOLIDAYS IN . et par neige,—tous les cols de.montagne sont logés "She'll do it all right," replied Our à même I loftily. la enseigne—mais de la circulation très speed fell to acraxvl. The, engine seemed be The Council of the Nouvelle Société dense to Helvé- qu'on y constate. Le matin, c'est parfois gasping for breath. tique announce with regret that the scheme to un veritable cortège d'auto-camions qui montent My confidence collapsed—the Great Doubt organise a holiday party of Anglo-Swiss children la "Vue le ou Tourne, transportant dans les cités overcame me. True, had heard this same has not found the anticipated in the montagnardes les I engine response primeurs ou d'autres marchan- gasp thus before at this very spot, but Avas this Colony. dises. Quant à la circulation du dimanche, (die not months past? The engine Avas older noAV As it is noAV too late for further rappelle à certaines heures la She applications fameuse "Voie sac- could not last for ever, and this might easily the scheme has been abandoned for thiâ but rée" d Verdun. On a en seul be the year, compté un jour, au moment ordained for the final collapse of the intention is to revive it'eary next such mois d août de 1 année year in dernière, 1600 machines. her efforts. Would Ave run back, fall, over into a form as to make it more attractive'.