Contura – Autumn/Winter 2013/14

Famous names
The locomotive 'Bernina'
On 7 March 2012, the 'Bernina' was sent into well-earned retirement. However,
that doesn't necessarily mean a quiet life for this locomotive, which
was constructed in 1947. On the contrary, the "old lady" is spending her
retirement at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. A fitting final assignment
for a locomotive that can look back on an exciting life.
The Rhaetian Railway loaned the 'Bernina' to the Transport Museum for five years
in 2012. However, this is nothing compared with the 66 years that the locomotive
has already clocked up. During her career, the 'Bernina' covered a total distance
of over six million kilometres – with 1,600 horsepower and a weight of 47 tons.
The locomotive was not the only one of its kind: between 1947 and 1953 the RhB
purchased ten type Ge 4/4 l locomotives bearing the serial numbers 601 to 610.
Classic locomotives on the RhB network
For several decades, the 'Bernina' and her sisters dominated the scene, supplementing
the fleet of engines of the RhB, which until then had been largely comprised
of the legendary 'Crocodiles' dating from the 1920s. The Ge 4/4 I No. 602 'Bernina'
will be on display at the Transport Museum until 2017. Her sister 'Badus' (serial
number 603) has been sent even further afield and is now exhibited at the Railway
Park Augsburg in Germany. Still in service are the 'Silvretta' (605) and the
'Viamala' (610). In 2013, these veterans continue to operate on the railway network
of the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
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