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