At the risk of boring everyone and I may be repeating myself, Swiss Railways do run like clockwork. Trains arrive early and if you miss one theres another train coming soon, or just get a train somewhere else and see where it brings you. Set off one of the mornings from Zurich to St. Gallen, to the North of the country. St. Gallen is another beautiful town or small city. Founded by an irish Monk incidentally. Arriving in St. Gallen we then went for something to eat in a Migros Cafe. Then rambled about and found the Trogenerbahn, otherwise known as the Orange Tram. Its actually almost a train that runs on the roadway. Unusually it climbs up steep gradients and giving spectacular views of the countryside. The old fashioned trams have been completely refurbished and look as they must have left the factory. Recently they have introduced new modern trams but they have retained some of the old fleet. Aparently there are plans to extend the line so the future of the line seems assured.
Another day we returned to St. Gallen and found another train station just beside the Trogenerbahn, which is the Terminus of the AppenzellBahn. This is another narrow gauge rack railway again retaining fairly historic trains but meticulously maintained and featuring 'roll down' windows for excellent views of the countryside. Departing the Station the train almost immediately starts a winding climb up an incredibly steep hill. Further on the line is more level and the train passes along the side of the road picking up passengers along the roadside. The driver uses the old fashioned whistle regularly to remind traffic the train is approaching. Eventually we reach Appenzell, another picture perfect town in a country of picture perfect towns. Possibly considered by some to be a tourist trap but Its still a town for the locals doing shopping and going about their daily lives. Anyhow to me it looked as if the town wasn't just a museum piece, certainly the cleanest town and most colourful as well. Just bought a few souvenirs there and the obligatory ice cream of course.
From Appenzell we got another train back to Gais and then almost immediately another train on a branch line to Altstatten. This was another rack railway line and again was most enjoyable as it rambled about the countryside at a slow pace and often down very steep hills. The line runs through fields where you can actually hold your hand out the window and touch trees and even cows who come right up to the train. Maybe thats why the cows in Switzerland always have a bell round their neck!
Eventually we reached the end of the line at Altstatten. here we had the only slight problem of the trip. The train station is about 2km from the nearest mainline Railway!. Of course a local Bus is provided and it duly arrived within 5 mins. Then at the next station we only had to wait a few minutes for another train.
