Now here's something a little different, for Switzerland at least. It's a conventional adhesion electric metre gauge railway, no rack or pinions, isolated from any other railway but connected by an aerial cable car at one end. Your journey would typically start upon arrival at the Berner Oberland Bahn's (BOB) Lauterbrunnen depot. A short walk, directly across the street, lies the cable car terminus where passengers board for a ride that climbs 2,264 feet (690 metres) for a distance of 0.9 miles (1.4 kilometres) straight up the mountain to the Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren (BLM) railway station at Grütschalp. This aerial cableway is relatively new having begun operation in 2006.

Prior to 2006 a funicular connected Lauterbrunnen and Grütschalp. What remains of the funicular may still be viewed when travelling on the cable car. Rumour had it the old funicular was used to transfer BLM rolling stock to and from the rail line but this seemed unlikely until this blurry photo was discovered. In 2013 triebwagen (railcar) number 31 was trucked over the hazardous mountain roads to replace old number 11 and augment service on the line. The difficulty in replacing rolling stock perhaps explains why the current BLM railcars, class BDe 4/4 built in 1967, haven't been upgraded and are still in operation.

The original funicular that began operation in 1891 was water and gravity powered. In 1902 it was converted to electric power. This drawing dated 1905 shows the details of a funicular car built by Schweizerischen Locomotivfabrik at Winterthur. The old funicular connection between Lauterbrunnen and Grütschalp started at the lower terminus on the Hauptstrasse (main street). A newer building replaced the original 1891 structure at some point but the terminus still remains at the same location. The funicular joined these two locations until it was abandoned in favour of an aerial cableway in 2006. The abandonment was mainly due to land slips which at one point had deformed the funicular's trackage. The aerial cableway was chosen as the most cost effective solution over the protests of local citizenry who wanted to retain the funicular. In addition to carrying passengers the funicular also provided for freight transport with an open top container. This metal box rode behind, or below, the funicular as it climbed the 2,264 feet up the side of the mountain to Grütschalp. Once there the container and its load was transferred to a flatcar pulled by one of the triebwagen (railcars) for delivery to Winteregg or Mürren at the end of the line. Or vice versa, what goes up, must come down.

During 2006 most of the funicular was demolished during construction of the replacement aerial cableway. Today, as the cable car travels up and down the mountainside, the container hangs beneath the cable car. At Grütschalp, the container is transferred to a railway flatcar for delivery along the line by a sophisticated, specially designed, double forklift machine. This interesting five minute video shows two containers being interchanged between flatcar and cable car. Passengers at Grütschalp load or unload while a container transfer is in progress. The whole system is very inventive.

This metre gauge (3 feet 3 3/8 inches) adhesion railway (no rack and pinions) is just 2.6 miles (4.27 kilometres) in length and connects Grütschalp to Mürren with an intermediate stop named Winteregg where there are two platforms, passing track, and a restaurant. Due to the poor road access the line and connecting cable car at Grütschalp provides a vital link for passengers and freight from Lauterbrunnen, at the base of the valley, to end of track at Mürren, high on a shelf overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Mürren's modern station opened in 1965 and there is a freight depot located next to the station. Travelling along the line there are views of the Eiger, Mönch, Black Mönch, and Jungfrau mountains on the opposite side of the valley. The railway is owned by Jungfraubahn Holding AG, a holding company which also owns the Wengernalpbahn and Jungfraubahn. The railway opened in 1891 then was converted to 560 Volt Direct Current operation in 1912. The maximum grade is 5 percent.
There are currently four triebwagen in operation, numbers 21, 22, 23, and 31. The cars carry approximately 40 persons each and are capable of 30 kph. Number 11 was last photographed on 3 Oct 2012.

Number	Class	Built	Gauge	Power	V max
BLM 1	Ge 2/2	1891	1 metre	560 VDC	? kph
BLM 11	CFe 2/4	1913	1 metre	560 VDC	25 kph
BLM 21	BDe 4/4	1967	1 metre	560 VDC	30 kph
BLM 22	BDe 4/4	1967	1 metre	560 VDC	30 kph
BLM 23	BDe 4/4	1967	1 metre	560 VDC	30 kph
BLM 31	Be 4/4	1966	1 metre	560 VDC	30 kph

The Swiss classification system was created by the Swiss federal railways department, and applied originally to the rolling stock of private railways, operating under government concessions. In 1902, when the Swiss Federal Railways was founded as a government railway, that new railway also became bound by the system. Unlike the Whyte notation system which is used to classify wheel arrangements, the Swiss system, in both its original and updated forms, takes into account a number of different variables. The Swiss system is also less precise than other systems in the way it deals with axles, because it refers only to numbers, rather than to arrangements of powered axles, and axles as a whole. Therefore the Swiss system is more a method of classifying locomotive and railcar types and series than a method of classifying wheel or axle arrangements.

Facilities	Meaning
A	Vehicle with first class compartment.
B	Vehicle with second class compartment.
C	Vehicle with third class compartment.
D or F	Vehicle with luggage compartment.
G	Narrow gauge locomotive for adhesion operation.
K	Covered freight railcar.
O	Open freight railcar.
R (leading)	Multiple unit with Vmax of at least 110 kph.
R (trailing)	Restaurant or Buffet.
S	Vehicle with special compartment.
ST	Self-propelled special flat wagon.
X or V	Service vehicle.
XT or VT	Self-propelled service vehicle.
Z	Vehicle with post office compartment.

Type	Meaning
blank	Steam powered.
a	Battery powered.
e	Electric powered.
m	Fuel powered (diesel or gasoline).
h	Rack and pinion drive vehicles.

Facilities	Type	Driven Axles	slash	Total Axles	Series
CF	e	2	/	4

CFe 2/4 - This is an adhesion only railcar with third class seating and a luggage compartment powered by electricity with only 2 driving axles out of 4.

Facilities	Type	Driven Axles	slash	Total Axles	Series
BD	e	4	/	4

BDe 4/4 - This is an adhesion only railcar with second class seating and a luggage compartment powered by electricity with 4 driving axles out of 4.

Facilities	Type	Driven Axles	slash	Total Axles	Series
B	he	4	/	8

Bhe 4/8 - This railcar has second class seating and is rack only railcar powered by electricity with 4 driving axles out of a total of 8. It's known as a "Panorama" railcar built by Stadler for the Wengernalpbahn.

Facilities	Type	Driven Axles	slash	Total Axles	Series
Ab	eh	8	/	12

Abeh 8/12 - This railcar has first and second class seating. In this case, for some strange reason, a lowercase "b" is used to indicate second class compartments. It is powered by electricity and is a rack and adhesion railcar with 8 driving axles out of a total of 12. It's the first manufactured version of this type of railcar known as the "Allegra" built by Stadler for the Rhätische Bahn.

2005 - Canton Parliament Wants to Replace Funicular
 
22 Mar 2006 - New Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren Aerial Cableway Construction
 
19 Jul 2006 - Cable Car Valley Station is Erected
 
16 Dec 2006 - New Lauterbrunnen Grütschalp Aerial Cableway in Operation
 
30 Oct 2008 - Jungfraubahnen Operation Back to Normal
 
11 May 2011 - 50 Percent More Electricity from as Early as June
 
20 Jun 2012 - Open Air Cinema at Winteregg
 
3 Sep 2013 - Aerial Cableway Back in Operation
 
9 Jul 2015 - Four Climbers Die in Lauterbrunnen Accidents
 
28 Jan 2016 - New Manager of Lauterbrunnen Car Park
 
1 Feb 2016 - Jungfraubahn Holding AG Takeover Bid

       
               

Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen Mürren  (part of Jungfraubahnen)
 
Drawing of 1890's BLM locomotive and personenwagen
 
Switzerland by Rail
 
Railfan Europe Picture Gallery
 
Funimag
 
YouTube Video BLM Triebwagens
 
YouTube Video Grütschalp Forklift
 
Lauterbrunnen Car Park
 
Paper Model BLM No. 1-3
 
Swiss Heritage Railways
 
Hotel Bellevue Mürren
 
Swiss Info
 
Prellbock Druck & Verlag