Blonay–Chamby museum railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electric railcar BCFe 4/4 11 and passenger car BC4 22 of the Montreux-Oberland Bernois railway (MOB)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length: | 2.95 km (1.83 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge: | 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Voltage: | 900 V DC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification: | Overhead lines | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum incline: | 5 % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Blonay–Chamby museum railway (French: Chemin de fer-musée Blonay-Chamby, BC) is a short 3-kilometre-long (1.9 mi) steep but adhesion worked metre gauge heritage railway operated as part of the Blonay - Chamby Railway Museum using vintage steam and electric locomotives and rolling stock. It is rail connected at both ends, at its upper terminus, at Chamby with the Chemin de Fer Montreux Oberland Bernoise and at the lower end, Blonay, with the Vevey - Les Pleiades, Chemin de fer électriques Veveysans, line.
The Blonay - Chamby Railway and Museum was opened in 1968 with the aims of operating the metre gauge railway line from Blonay to Chamby and in doing so preserving railway equipment of technical or historic value. For this purpose the Blonay - Chamby Railway has purpose built two motive power and carriage depots at Chaulin - Chamby, a short distance from its upper terminus which nowadays houses what is generally regarded as the largest and most representative collection of metre gauge relics in Europe.
The Blonay - Chamby Museum Railway is a railway preservation group staffed entirely by volunteers who operate trains each Saturday and Sunday between May and October. Vintage steam locomotives or electric locomotives haul equally vintage carriages slowly through a spectacular environment with fine views over Lake Geneva and the Alps. Visitors can access the shed / museum complex from Chamby, travelling the short distance on a vintage tram.
A further part of the remit of the preservation group is the encouragement of local and regional tourism and tourist traffic on adjacent lines. The timetable for the Blonay - Chamby line can be found on Table 115 and 115.1 of the Swiss National Railways Timetable.
The collection includes in spring 2009 the following items. The museum is the home of over 70 items of rolling stock.