2/12/2024 I just noticed I passed two million views. Thanks!!

Amish Country

My annual Swiss rail photo trip for 2020 was canceled due to Covid so I decided to try something more local. I live in Canton, OH about 35 miles (50 km) northeast of a large Amish community centered in Holmes and Wayne Counties. Farming and woodworking are the main businesses. I have been traveling there every five to seven days wandering randomly along small township roads. Over the course of the last year I have probably traveled at least a thousand miles round trip through the area. All of these photos were spontaneous, never knowing what I would see when I round a corner or go over a hill. All the shots have been handheld, sometimes using the roof of my car for stability and more than once shot through my windshield or open window when there was no place to pull off. There are an amazing number of horses, dairy cows and sheep. The red barns, white, two story houses and windmills are a trademark of the farms. The people have been very friendly but they are typically rather introverted regarding outsiders. I am careful to avoid close up or portrait pictures. When they are riding in their buggies or near the road with their teams they will almost always give you a quick wave as you pass them by. I have been privileged to have many of my my Amish area photos chosen for the daily EXPLORE page. (see my "In Explore" album).

Since my 2019 Switzerland trip my photo equipment has completely changed, primarily due to weight. I now use a Canon 6D Mk II, EF 16-35mm f/4L IS, EF 24-105mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM and an EF 70-200mm F/4L IS V2 sometimes with a 1.4x extender.

Thank you for viewing my pictures and leaving positive comments. I welcome any comments you may have.

If you are interested in trains please note that more than 80% of my photos on Flickr are of Swiss trains and scenery taken over 45 years. Please search through my Albums.

****************************

Switzerland

Well after a two year break I finally decided to test my Covid resilience and return to Switzerland. Although my age caused me to slow down dramatically I had a wonderful time and met two terrific people; Oliver Jaeschke in Zürich and Giovanni Chietti from the Domodossola area. I had dinner with Oliver and met Giovanni at Brig to do some train spotting around the Brig Depot. I hope to meet them again when I return. My emphasis on this trip was riding some meter gauge railroads that are a little less prominent than the more famous RhB and MGB. Rode the TPC in the Aigle area and the Appenzeller Bahn around St. Gallen. I did also ride on the RhB Albula line and the ZB Interlaken Ost to Luzern line.

****************************

I have been to Switzerland 25 times, three times tacking it onto the end of a European business trip. This infatuation all started on our Swiss honeymoon in 1976. When I got home I found there were as many pictures of locomotives as of my wife or the scenery. We went back to Europe together in 1977, 1983 and with our daughter in 1994. There is a shot of my wife and an Ae4/7 taken in 1983 here in my Flickr collection. In November of 1994 I had a month between jobs and my wife suggested I use my airline miles and go alone just to take pictures (I was there twice that year).

Since 1994 I have been to Switzerland 17 times strictly for railroad photography. I use an 8 day 2nd cl. SwissTravelPass and stay at an "inexpensive" hotel in Zürich near the Central Platz about 200 meters from the Zürich HB. I typically eat Migros or Coop premade sandwiches and yogurts while on the run. I really have no grand plan each day except a general direction. I don't speak German except for counting. Many people in the German section speak English. I have the most difficulty communicating in the Italian and French sections. I start my day at about 07:00 and return to Zürich at about 19:00. My longest one day trips from Zürich have been the Bernina Express to Brusio, Gornergrat above Zermatt, and the St. Bernard Pass south of Martigny.

Regarding my equipment, I used film until about 2003 when I switched to digital. For the last 7 years I have been using a Canon EOS 1-DS MK III with three L zoom lenses, a Canon flash and Gitzo monopod. The 16mm lens with bounce flash is perfect for locomotive cab shots.

In 1998, I decided to try getting into as many railroad depots as possible in order to get inside the locomotives. I started by going to the office of the BLS Depot in Spiez unannounced and told them I was an American who took pictures of Swiss trains. They found an English speaking employee as my guide, gave me a yellow vest and I spent an hour there. I have been there three times total. I don't think they do this any more for both security reasons plus the fact I was pulling an employee away from work. One of my guides even got in a S-Bahn train parked inside the building and moved it out of the way so I could get a clear shot of an Ae8/8 on the next track.

I have been to the SBB Geraldstrasse, Basel SBB, BLS Spiez, RHB Landquart, FO/MGB Visp, Yverdon-les-Bain Atelier, Erstfeld, Olten, Lausanne, Luzern and Bellinzona facilities. I have been around but not in the Brig, Bern and old Zürich (before all the concrete tunnels) depots. The SBB had a great open house event in 2005 with at least eight depots open to the public on one weekend. Regarding the FO, I wrote an e-mail to the headquarters and the general manager of the Visp facility agreed to meet me on a Saturday morning. He picked me up at the Brig station, gave me a complete tour and then gave me all the time I wanted to wander alone through the building with my camera. Since it was a Saturday the place was empty and quiet. He then drove me back to Brig. I became friends with an RhB mechanical engineer at Lanquart and have been there four times with great shots of the roundhouse. In the late 90's, Lausanne, especially on a Sunday morning, was by far the best place to take "in your face" pictures, especially Ae6/6's. The door was usually unlocked and there was nobody there. Sadly, the entire Lausanne depot has been leveled and is gone. I went through the Gotthard Base Tunnel during the grand opening celebration in 2016 and took a SF 500 locomotive cab ride over the old Gotthard route in 2019.

During this 40 year time span I have seen many changes such as EMUs, locomotive color schemes, 460 advertising, push-pull consists, railroad company mergers, old locomotive models disappearing, new models appearing, station additions, and of course the new base tunnels.

These travels also started another obsession. Over 40 years, I have collected 70 Swiss HO locomotives of various brands as souvenirs and travel memories. These are on display in three wall cabinets. Of these 70, I have photos of 62 of the actual prototype (exact road number). My latest is the Roco BLS green Re465 009.

I have met several wonderful people in Switzerland through my train hobby; Fred Krähenbühl, a retired IBM engineer from Greifensee and his wife Vreni who I have become great friends with and Stefan Unholz, a lawyer from Winterthur, who is the undisputed expert on HAG model trains.

I would welcome any comments or corrections regarding a picture.