Stan ley He claimed highest “national rail” station so Snowdon is out. If it did count, would Cairngorm beat it as the station is still a station even though the railway is currently broken?
As a Dutch viewer, I am indeed impressed by this station being 1034 times taller than the highest hill I've ever seen, but even more so by the fact that the trains aren't cancelled despite the rails clearly having more than 3 snowflakes on them.
For one, it's 23km over 3 different private railway companies. Further proof of how absolutely crazy the Swiss are about railways. At their peak around 1901 before nationalization scooped up most of them into one pot, the Swiss had no less that 200 railway companies! Even today, this tiny country in the middle of some of the most railway-unfriendly territory in the world boasts 74 different train operators, including the nationalized SBB (though a few of those listed on Wikipedia are actually foreign national railways such as the SNCF of France and the OBB of Austria). There's a video idea for you once quarantine is over and if you can get a sponsorship from the Swiss Tourist Board: How many different railway companies can you travel on in a single day, bonus points if you never use the same one twice (with an exception for SBB as that might be unavoidable).
The Jungfraubahn and Wengernalpbahn are owned by the same organisation, and part of the same marketing alliance as the BOB which also owns the nearby Schynige Platte Bahn. Many seemingly-separate rail companies are more connected than they look at first, and quite a few are part of local, regional, or national government in one way or another.
The actual number of distinct railway operators is 23. SBB is by far the largest, followed by regional services like the SOB,BLS and TPF. Then you have several meter gauge railways and several private lines in the mountains.
@@arturturkevych3816 The gimmick of hooters is that the waitresses are eye candy for you to ogle in tight shorts and tops with cleavage. Just google image search Hooters and you get the idea. mediocre burger joint otherwise. Americans, I tell you.
Sadly, like many other places in the world, they are overdoing it a bit with tourism in the Jungfrau region. The train used to stop at Nordwand as well, and there are windows where you can admire the sheer drop and view in the famous eiger nordwand. But to increase capacity, this stop has been cancelled.
It's really sad what is happening to Grindelwald and the area. I used to go there almost every other year as a kid. It was already touristy but now it's crazy. At least they upgraded all the Jungfraujoch trains. I remember everyone almost falling asleep going up in the very old trains.
@@Oscar-xs9cv I think, tht that is a problem of the Alpine region at all. For soe reason the newly rich in the near east and China have a raze for this.
It's a shame, it would feel more like being in China than Switzerland. I'd love to see it when this unfortunate pandemic pandemonium is over but crowds of selfies taking tourists are a big nope.
The whole video, i was like man i want to do this. Until the 200 euro price tag came along. With current economy it takes me 200 years to be able to...
He started off with stating that this was a one day over prized experience, and he was right. But perhaps one day, because it is the opportunity of a life time. Only issue is, if it is too crowded it is simply not fun.
its not worth it. i was there and in zermatt, i would recommend to hike to any mountain in the swiss alps, its free and the view feels more amazing when you hiked all the way up yourself.
@@MZ-iu9yh I have three words for you: Swiss Alpine Llamas. photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOJP2XJaJxuZ7nrbuweC0VHvY5r03D9fU5mS8Tu9eWNb9OE-KPeWydi5jNrrzfG0Q/photo/AF1QipNCajtZSUnJ6E_r7ESbl7MUQpKhr5r_Dl_DmDVW?key=Q3VsVHRHbllHQ0RNRzd3VnFPZFg2X3p2RlBjdVV3
If you’re ever in the United States and specifically in Colorado we have some decently high altitude rails and hopefully by 2021 (if we get there) the Pikes Peak Railway should reopen which can take you up to 4,301m. It has some spectacular views from the summit as well as Pikes peak sits right where the plains become the Mountains and it is a very sudden divide.
Hi Tundra1232, I've just googled that and wow. That's absolutely going on my list! I suspect the reopening might get pushed back now, but hopefully I'll make it one day, thank you for the recommendation :)
@@eMMjunaYschion M&PP RY was built using the Abt System. The other rack railroad in the USA is the first rack railroad in the world, the Mount Washington Cog RR in New Hampshire. The MWCRR was built in 1869 and has been in continuous operation. The M&PP has a maximum grade of 25% while the MWC RR has a maximum grade of around 42% and is shorter by a bout 5 miles; about 3 1/2 miles vs 8 miles.
@@TheTimTraveller Even if the railway doesn't get repaired you can drive it all the way to the top and the toll road up is FAR cheaper than what you paid for that swiss train. Or you can even hike it! Fair warning though, Colorado Springs in the summer is probably going to be about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (sorry I don't speak metric) even at an elevation of 6,000 feet. Travel a few miles west into the mountains and the top of Pikes Peak will be in the 50's. It is closed during the winter. Couple other private tourist trap trains available in Colorado specifically are Silverton and Durango, Royal Gorge, and you can head down to Williams, AZ and ride the train to the Grand Canyon. You like mountains then you definitely need to make the trip to the USA. The Rockies or the Sierra Nevadas are worth the trip. Love your content and humorous delivery method.
1:43 The highest regular served station in The Netherlands is Kerkrade Centrum with an elevation of 147m (482ft). The highest station overall is Spekholzerheide (151m/495ft) which is part of a heritage railway and only served in the summer. (Edit) For aditional infirmation. The highest train station ever constructed in The Netherlands is Bocholtz (171m/561ft) which is owned by the same railway company as Spekholzerheide station, but not served anymore. The highest rail station ever constructed was Vaals tramstation with a whopping elevation of 181m/593ft which was part of the funicular tram between Maastricht - Vaals - Aachen.
@@Dafoodmaster Riazzino-Cugnasco (on the line Belinzona-Locarno), at 202m above the mediterranian. But it's only used as a service station nowadays, there is no passenger service anymore. That said, the nearby stop in Riazzino is basically at the same elevation. Btw. the lowest _point_ in Switzerland is still 193m above sea level :-)
@@stephanweinberger That got me interested about the country with the highest lowest point. I'd have never guessed Lesotho... The only country that's entirely above 1km in elevation with a lowest point a massive 400m even above that at 1.4km!
@@camelopardalis84 There are a handful in Canada, but many have closed in the last decade. The ones remaining are generally in very large cities or in a tourist area like Niagara Falls. I was surprised to see one in Interlaken as I thought it was a fading brand and this seems like a strange place for one.
I remember travelling on this trainin the summer of 1980. At that time the Eigerwand station was still open, so you could get a look out of the North face of the Eiger. What I remember most about the trip was being hit by the effect of the altitude at the Jungfraujoch station. I began talking as normal, but realised that halfway through the sentence I had to take a deep breath. The views at the top on a clear, sunny day, such as I had are magical.
Tim, you make me comment on youtube for the first time ever. Thanks to you, I learned about this railway and did this trip. It was absolutely magnificent! So thank you for indirectly making this experience possible!
You've outdone yourself. What a fantastic place, train, coverage, etc. I could watch a new vid from you every day. But you'd probably be awfully tired.
I loved this. Went there on a school holiday in the early 1970's and still remember watching the (ancient) teachers fainting. (I'm older now than any of them were then.) Memories of a viewing point half way brings on vertigo to this day, although I'd always thought it was on the Eiger. I'm sure there were rooms of ice sculptures and an hotel at the top but I guess they have been replaced by shops wanting to be "the highest .... shop in europe". If you fancy going back without using a train there's the annual marathon from Interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg.
I just watched this, again, hoping to help you recoup your worthy investment in the cost of the train ride. Still a typically wonderful, tongue in cheek delivery, informative video. Hope we can get past COVID so you can travel and do many, many more in 2021. Stay safe and healthy, though, meanwhile. Also, love the subtitles, starting at 5:53, I am told that "generically epic music" is playing.
Fab video that brought back many memories of my trip up the Jungfrau in 2002 - I was working at a hotel in Zürich at the time and through our work with the Swiss tourist board (& my role at the hotel) I managed to get the day out complimentary. 😁 I'll never forget the tour guide announcing "ze Virgin" (Jungfrau is virgin in German) and some of the tourists on the train wearing sandals (no socks!), walking around in the snow.
Awesome video! I had the privilege of going to Switzerland this past summer, and was able to go to Jungfrau while I was there, and I have to say it was awesome! The scenery on the way up and at the top of the mountain is unbelievable, and the railway itself was incredible!
Sending appreciation for the memory of skiing down to Grindelwald from Kleine Sheidegg back in the early 1980s. It was on this portion of my Switzerland ski trip that I realized why its considered the banking capitol of the entire world. Aside from realizing practical aspects of liquidity, as I literally saw my travel fund quickly diminishing, a more fond physical memory, that of complete energy depletion from the each muscle of my legs through several hours of skiing down from there, remains a highlight of my life's experience. The moral of this story is to pre-plan all budgetary options or, very briefly, feel like the gazillionaires who regularly visit such places.
Wow, fantastically well made, as usual. The attention to detail, the music, the jokes, the scripts, the editing are all top class, this must take an incredible amount of time to put together. I have the feeling you could watch any of TTT's videos 10 times over before you spotted all of the subtle detail - which is why it's entertaining to read the comments to see what others have spotted that you didn't pick up on! So onto the music... 1:48 (and, indeed, every time we see anything ski-related!) Ski Sunday 3:31 Record Breakers 7:00 Wish You Were Here (as is tradition!) but please put me out of my misery, and tell me what starts playing at 1:25 ? I also love the fact that the music references are so UK-specific! I'm pretty certain the relevance of the music goes completely unnoticed by non-British audiences! Great work!
There is also a discount if you go up early doors from memory, but you have to be off the top by about 11:00 from memory - made it a tiny bit less of a sting when I did it in 2011, at the time when the Swiss Franc gained 20% in about 10 days.
Tim, your channel really is one of my favourites on RUclips. And this one has cheered me up immeasurably considering how depressing the real world is right now. You've really put a smile on my face. Should you find yourself in Australia one day, I'd be honoured to show you some of our trains, mountains, and other associated strange things. In particular we name inappropriate things after our dead Prime Ministers - you'd probably get a kick out of that.
Haven't yet finished the video (ninety-ish seconds remain), but I had to pause and come down here and leave this comment. I gotta go. I have to visit this place at some point in my life. Once I finally do, I'll hopefully remember to come back here and note how it went in a reply. Until then, this video lives in my Favourites. Thanks, Tim!
When you want another high trainride, try the Pikes Peak cog railway in Colorado USA. It is currently closed for a big renovation but it should re-open next year. The cost is much less and it is also 1000 m higher! (4301m, unbelievable!) I have been on both, and of course it is an unforgettable experience.
Thanks for that, Rob! I'll likely pass through Colorado when this thing lifts and I can get back on the road, and it sounds like the kind of stop I'd really enjoy. And it's probably cheaper than €210. (It's insane how expensive trains are in Switzerland, but it's an excellent system and the scenery is mind-blowing.)
@@nomadMik Yes Trains are more expensive isn Switzerlan, but, the Jungfraubahn is still way above average, because well it's only purpose is touristical after all, basically the whole expensive Part is everything that comes after Wengen as it serves no normal public service function higher up that Wengen. (Interlaken Ost to Wengen just by itself is only 14 CHF for a two way trip)
The US also has Mount Washington's Cog Railway in New Hampshire. Not nearly as high, the top is just below the bottom of the Jungfraubahn, but it's still a spectacular view and is the world's first! Built in 1869. It's also steeper than both it and Pikes, an average 25% grade over 3 miles.
fun fact: the new trains for the MPPR-railways in Colorado are made by the same company that also made the trains for the Jungfraubahn, the Wengernalpbahn and the Matterhorngotthard-Bahn. It's a swiss company by the way.
I actually have been to switzerland many times in the winter period in the past and this is actually the best view i have experienced. I was there with that train also and te view was amazing indeed.
How did you manage to find a day with such few travellers on the lines? Normally, they are much more overcrowded, especially on days with good weather PS: You can get even more off with a Swiss GA Travelcard (which lets you ride for free on all normal lines), because the BOB and the WAB from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen are fully included. And on the rest, you also get the 50% off like for the half-fare card. SO the final price comes out to ~90CHF
Math5D I was there too recently(in February) and it was really quiet because there were no asians thanks to the virus. Also we got a ticket for like 50 franks because we also had skipasses
@@dikkertjefap9709 Ah of course, that's the reason. Then you only had to pay half the price for Eigergletscher-Jungfraujoch and return. But the rest is kind of included in the price of the skipass, which is not so cheap itself ;)
@@TheMusicalElitist i would use it if i gave that much of a shit however if I should remember every deadman who had some impression on history i wouldn't be able to remember anything else
4:36 Note the small car in front of the train for Ski and other luggage. On rack and pinion railways, the powered vehicle(s) always has to be on the valley side, that's why it's pushing the car up.
They used to offer a reduced rate if you took the first train up at 6am. Otherwise, take the Schilthorn cable car opposite and look across at the Jungfrau for a lot less.
In the early 2000s I spent 18 mths just travelling around the world with my wife. Americas, Europe, Asia, Pacific. Mine and my wife’s budget was 15E each a day. That needed to cover everything. We had a couple of expensive treats on top of our budget, and this was one of those. Of our entire trip, this was one of the most memorable things we did... yes a train trip ended up being one of the best things we did. Totally recommend this.
I took the train from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch in 1965. I was 17. Amazing experience and stunningly beautiful views. The only time I have been higher than that was in the Andes!
"In the most literal way possible, I think you can see where this is going" This is why you have over 100,000 subscribers - and that number is way too low.
A new Tim Traveller clip?? Everyone stop moving, I have to see this first!! :) I really like your theme song. Is it something you have composed yourself??
Thank you R2k2! If you mean the intro song, yes it's some music I made myself. The outro song, which I play on piano, is The Carnival by Gordon Giltrap, better known in the UK as the theme tune to an old TV show called "Wish You Were Here"
Thanks for a fun and informative video! My family was supposed to travel to Switzerland this summer, but that seems highly unlikely now. So I'm finding ways to live vicariously through RUclips!
@@automatix5 If you live in Switzerland and have Swiss wages, it is not that bad. A friend of mine moved there from Sweden a few years ago, he considers Swedish beer prices cheap these days. For everyone else, Switzerland is expensive.
57thorns I think that it could be a fairly factual statement to say that literally and other nationality apart from Swedish would be right to call Switzerland expensive.
@@automatix5 haha I was paying 15€ for an half hour ride in Switzerland but Germany is not better from Essen to Düsseldorf which is also a half hour ride you will ending up paying 15€ or 25€ if you go further to Cologne, so also too expensive in my opinion , it should be cheaper to choose to rather go by the train then by car.
It is very expensive but worth every penny in my book. As long as you've not gone all that way just for a single day, the best way to get value for the journey up to the Jungfraujoch is to combine it with the Jungfrau Region pass or (even better) the Bernese Oberland Regional Pass, which offers extraordinary value provided you are prepared to stay active and make the most of it. The last time I stayed in Interlaken, I got well over £1000 worth of trips out of a £250 pass.
5:11 "At one point, management tried to reduce staff turnover among the mostly Italian workforce with a bottle of red wine per day. Progress doesn't seem to have accelerated after this." Strange. 🤔
Weirdly enough, my grandfather told me the story of how Swiss soldiers almost rioted (around 1930-ish) when the high command decided to stop serving "traditional" breakfast of soup with a glass of red wine and switch to bread, jam and coffee ! (it was a different world back then) 😄
Another fun and informative video. Thank you! We were there in 1998. All sorts of people used the train when we were there, including some nuns sporting hiking boots and Leki poles. This video stirred some very pleasant memories.
I was never there even I’m Swiss, gosh I have to for sure, hopefully this season. Thank you for sharing your travel, really get into your videos and how you create them. Stay save on your travel around the world :)
That 2nd train, passing past a ski slope, thats beyond epic. I would have loved to be skiing down that slope. Must be a intense lovely sight to see from inside the train
Stevie The Fool yes it’s awesome to see from the train. Sadly the jungfrau region is one of the only skiregions where you can go up the mountain with a train.
@@dikkertjefap9709 It' not the only one in Switzerland though, the Andermatt-Sedrun ski region also has some inegration with the MGB and you can Technically even try to race a train on the way from the Oberalp pass down to Andermatt due to the slope (which is actually the closed pass road) running more or less in paralell to the train track.
Yeah when Tim said overpriced at the start of the video I knew it was gonna be pretty bad, but when he whipped out that ticket I almost spat out my tea. Thing is though, I still want to go there and I definitely will. Well, some time after this whole isolation thing...
Even more so if you consider that the round trip between the final 3 highest stations (Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch and back) costs 120-140 EUR (depending on the season).
Tim that was amazing. Certainly one of your best videos yet. As a Canadian (who says elevator too) I can appreciate high mountains, as we have the Rockies. High and majestic I’ve driven through them in the Rogers Pass. But those views were nothing less than spectacular. As I was watching I thought to myself, this is gonna be worth a bob or two and you confirmed it. But with those views I am sure they have no trouble filling the trains. Stay safe and healthy.
I had heard of the terminus for this train line, as one of the highest observatories ever made, but I didn't know the name. It's always fun making connections to things you've already known about! :)
Thank you so much for this video, my wife and I were due to go here in May but alas, no longer. It was nice to live vicariously through your adventure.
Hi Tim thanks for all your informative videos, which are all well researched and include the local language, correct names and locations. despite your interest in railways, mountains and deserted places you never bore anyone with over-enthusiasm. historical backgrounds are also presented correctly and understandably. as well i don't want to miss your humour, which is neither puffed up nor flat, but very refreshing and crisp. you are one of the few who deserves a thumbs up!
I remember running out of the train at the cutout viewing stop and quickly realizing how bad of an idea that was because the air was thin and I got dizzy within a few minutes. Lovely view though.
I was lucky enough to work in the Berner Oberland. Thanks for taking me back there.. btw, great job on your pronunciation of the very difficult Swiss words..
The other bonkers bit on the Jungfraubahn is the double catenary that they use. But that is a technical detail (the Italian railways used the same system, in the beginning of electrification). Oh, and for your bucket-list, or when that Swiss tourist board sponsorship arrives: Chur-St. Moritz-Tirano (Rhätische Bahn). You won't regret it. Make sure to spend some time hiking in the middle.
1:38 Dent station isnt the highest. Its actually Corrour station.
Ah you're absolutely right, Dent's the highest in England isn't it, not the UK. Oops
Saisneg waedlyd! ;-)
Oh right, that featured briefly in a video I saw earlier this week! (a Canadian vlogger, Downie Live, came through)
What about Snowdonia Station? (private railway) but still higher...
Stan ley He claimed highest “national rail” station so Snowdon is out. If it did count, would Cairngorm beat it as the station is still a station even though the railway is currently broken?
As a Dutch viewer, I am indeed impressed by this station being 1034 times taller than the highest hill I've ever seen, but even more so by the fact that the trains aren't cancelled despite the rails clearly having more than 3 snowflakes on them.
Zo herkenbaar ja, ik zou zeggen NS mensen reis naar Zwitserland en koop wat technologie ofzo...
As a German viewer, I am indeed impressed by the fact that the trains aren’t cancelled
maar het is niet alsof wij een tandwiel systeem op onze treinen/spoor hebben
@@mark9294 you would not think we got used to snow at this point. still surprising every year
Och, dat kan wel, maar dan is iedereen boos vamwege de ineens véél hogere ritprijzen...
For one, it's 23km over 3 different private railway companies. Further proof of how absolutely crazy the Swiss are about railways. At their peak around 1901 before nationalization scooped up most of them into one pot, the Swiss had no less that 200 railway companies! Even today, this tiny country in the middle of some of the most railway-unfriendly territory in the world boasts 74 different train operators, including the nationalized SBB (though a few of those listed on Wikipedia are actually foreign national railways such as the SNCF of France and the OBB of Austria). There's a video idea for you once quarantine is over and if you can get a sponsorship from the Swiss Tourist Board: How many different railway companies can you travel on in a single day, bonus points if you never use the same one twice (with an exception for SBB as that might be unavoidable).
That's crazy. Interesting comment BTW.
The Jungfraubahn and Wengernalpbahn are owned by the same organisation, and part of the same marketing alliance as the BOB which also owns the nearby Schynige Platte Bahn. Many seemingly-separate rail companies are more connected than they look at first, and quite a few are part of local, regional, or national government in one way or another.
sirrliv “this tiny country in the middle of some of the most railway-unfriendly territory in the world” I don’t quite understand this.
The actual number of distinct railway operators is 23. SBB is by far the largest, followed by regional services like the SOB,BLS and TPF. Then you have several meter gauge railways and several private lines in the mountains.
Yeah. And the most expensive and still no fast trains.
1:05 "all kinds of other ways to overpay for some fleeting excitement" *hooters restaurant in shot*
well done well done
I can't believe Switzerland has hooters restaurants! They were never allowed to open in France.
What is even Hooters? Never heard of it in England.
Artur Turkevych - A bar and restaurant chain wherein the waitresses are topless.
American sports bar featuring large breasted server ladies in tight outfits.
@@arturturkevych3816 The gimmick of hooters is that the waitresses are eye candy for you to ogle in tight shorts and tops with cleavage. Just google image search Hooters and you get the idea. mediocre burger joint otherwise. Americans, I tell you.
Swiss person here liking and sharing this with my closest 1000 friends because I can feel your pain on how expensive our trains are.
Haha, thank you!
Sadly, like many other places in the world, they are overdoing it a bit with tourism in the Jungfrau region. The train used to stop at Nordwand as well, and there are windows where you can admire the sheer drop and view in the famous eiger nordwand. But to increase capacity, this stop has been cancelled.
too sad, I'd love to watch of the drama itself.
It's really sad what is happening to Grindelwald and the area. I used to go there almost every other year as a kid. It was already touristy but now it's crazy. At least they upgraded all the Jungfraujoch trains. I remember everyone almost falling asleep going up in the very old trains.
@@Oscar-xs9cv I think, tht that is a problem of the Alpine region at all. For soe reason the newly rich in the near east and China have a raze for this.
Very true. The main purpose of the closure of "Eigerwand" was though the creation of the possibility to run the Jungfraubahn with only three trains.
It's a shame, it would feel more like being in China than Switzerland. I'd love to see it when this unfortunate pandemic pandemonium is over but crowds of selfies taking tourists are a big nope.
Weird, I thought the highest station would be in Amsterdam
There are some in Limburg which are over 10 meters high
I was thinking the same, but then across the entire netherlands,
That, and tinus is completly missing the joke...
Depends if you're talking natural or chemical high.
The Netherlands has the lowest stations but the highest passengers
the 'high' passengers are mostly tourists.. 😎
most Dutch dont do drugs.. when something is allowed.. it loses its attraction. 😉
As much as I love the challenge of guessing all the music, 3:31 is driving me nuts! What's it from?
The gigantic clue at 4:15 didn't help?
It's this :) ruclips.net/video/GilqqHC0SQ8/видео.html
@@TheTimTraveller D'aaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!! :D :D
@@JayForeman Jay Foreman with only 30 likes and 1 other comment, thats a discrace! PS: i do love your Unfinished London and Map Men series'
@@sssddfsafsda494 Me too!
it's noise
The whole video, i was like man i want to do this. Until the 200 euro price tag came along. With current economy it takes me 200 years to be able to...
He started off with stating that this was a one day over prized experience, and he was right.
But perhaps one day, because it is the opportunity of a life time. Only issue is, if it is too crowded it is simply not fun.
In Switzerland the views are free, but the transportation is not.
its not worth it.
i was there and in zermatt, i would recommend to hike to any mountain in the swiss alps, its free and the view feels more amazing when you hiked all the way up yourself.
I would have expected Europe's highest railway station to be in the Netherlands...
@@MZ-iu9yh I have three words for you: Swiss Alpine Llamas. photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOJP2XJaJxuZ7nrbuweC0VHvY5r03D9fU5mS8Tu9eWNb9OE-KPeWydi5jNrrzfG0Q/photo/AF1QipNCajtZSUnJ6E_r7ESbl7MUQpKhr5r_Dl_DmDVW?key=Q3VsVHRHbllHQ0RNRzd3VnFPZFg2X3p2RlBjdVV3
When we reopen we hope you hop on the beautiful Pyongyang Metro
You better 'hope' I don't put explosives on your Pyongyang metro lol!
Say can I have a banner when I leave?
@@jonathancook4022 🤡
Matt Sprayberry Once there, you can never leave.
Make your nation safe for Tourists first!
If you’re ever in the United States and specifically in Colorado we have some decently high altitude rails and hopefully by 2021 (if we get there) the Pikes Peak Railway should reopen which can take you up to 4,301m.
It has some spectacular views from the summit as well as Pikes peak sits right where the plains become the Mountains and it is a very sudden divide.
Hi Tundra1232, I've just googled that and wow. That's absolutely going on my list! I suspect the reopening might get pushed back now, but hopefully I'll make it one day, thank you for the recommendation :)
Ah yes the Pikes peak railway, based entirely on a Swiss rack and pinion system and operated with Swiss made railcars... ;)
@@eMMjunaYschion M&PP RY was built using the Abt System. The other rack railroad in the USA is the first rack railroad in the world, the Mount Washington Cog RR in New Hampshire. The MWCRR was built in 1869 and has been in continuous operation. The M&PP has a maximum grade of 25% while the MWC RR has a maximum grade of around 42% and is shorter by a bout 5 miles; about 3 1/2 miles vs 8 miles.
@@TheTimTraveller Even if the railway doesn't get repaired you can drive it all the way to the top and the toll road up is FAR cheaper than what you paid for that swiss train. Or you can even hike it! Fair warning though, Colorado Springs in the summer is probably going to be about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (sorry I don't speak metric) even at an elevation of 6,000 feet. Travel a few miles west into the mountains and the top of Pikes Peak will be in the 50's. It is closed during the winter.
Couple other private tourist trap trains available in Colorado specifically are Silverton and Durango, Royal Gorge, and you can head down to Williams, AZ and ride the train to the Grand Canyon.
You like mountains then you definitely need to make the trip to the USA. The Rockies or the Sierra Nevadas are worth the trip.
Love your content and humorous delivery method.
@@TheTimTraveller If you ever make it to the States for a video, I'm betting a nickel you're gonna open it up with "howdy!"
Only 6 strikes
French people: "amatuers"
6 strikes.
England in the 70s: Only 6 strikes a day?
@@slowshop got to add another 5 to that for 4 days of the week!
RUclips: *pathetic, not a single one for copyright*
@@griffinrails ??
At that time striking in Switzerland was punished by getting drowned in Lakes.
1:04 “All kinds of ways to overpay for some fleeting excitement.”
*shows Hooters*
It's a different beast I say...
Thank you Tim for making this quarantine awesome!
1:43 The highest regular served station in The Netherlands is Kerkrade Centrum with an elevation of 147m (482ft). The highest station overall is Spekholzerheide (151m/495ft) which is part of a heritage railway and only served in the summer.
(Edit)
For aditional infirmation. The highest train station ever constructed in The Netherlands is Bocholtz (171m/561ft) which is owned by the same railway company as Spekholzerheide station, but not served anymore. The highest rail station ever constructed was Vaals tramstation with a whopping elevation of 181m/593ft which was part of the funicular tram between Maastricht - Vaals - Aachen.
In switzerland you'd have to dig quite a bit to get that low.
what's the lowest one?
Je kan Vaals niet meetellen eigenlijk, dat was een tramhalte. Bocholtz word door de ZLSM weer bediend.
@@Dafoodmaster Riazzino-Cugnasco (on the line Belinzona-Locarno), at 202m above the mediterranian. But it's only used as a service station nowadays, there is no passenger service anymore. That said, the nearby stop in Riazzino is basically at the same elevation.
Btw. the lowest _point_ in Switzerland is still 193m above sea level :-)
@@stephanweinberger That got me interested about the country with the highest lowest point. I'd have never guessed Lesotho... The only country that's entirely above 1km in elevation with a lowest point a massive 400m even above that at 1.4km!
I don't believe there was a Hooters when I was last there in 1986.
For me as a Swiss person it's a strange sight. "Hooters" is mostly something from movies and t.v. shows from the US.
@@camelopardalis84 There are a handful in Canada, but many have closed in the last decade. The ones remaining are generally in very large cities or in a tourist area like Niagara Falls. I was surprised to see one in Interlaken as I thought it was a fading brand and this seems like a strange place for one.
I remember travelling on this trainin the summer of 1980. At that time the Eigerwand station was still open, so you could get a look out of the North face of the Eiger. What I remember most about the trip was being hit by the effect of the altitude at the Jungfraujoch station. I began talking as normal, but realised that halfway through the sentence I had to take a deep breath. The views at the top on a clear, sunny day, such as I had are magical.
Tim, you make me comment on youtube for the first time ever. Thanks to you, I learned about this railway and did this trip. It was absolutely magnificent! So thank you for indirectly making this experience possible!
"And in the most literal way possible, I think you can see where this is going". I regret that I only have one upvote to give!
In Switzerland there is also the steepest railway in Pilatus and the steepest Standard gauge railway in Zuerich.
You've outdone yourself. What a fantastic place, train, coverage, etc. I could watch a new vid from you every day. But you'd probably be awfully tired.
I loved this. Went there on a school holiday in the early 1970's and still remember watching the (ancient) teachers fainting. (I'm older now than any of them were then.) Memories of a viewing point half way brings on vertigo to this day, although I'd always thought it was on the Eiger. I'm sure there were rooms of ice sculptures and an hotel at the top but I guess they have been replaced by shops wanting to be "the highest .... shop in europe".
If you fancy going back without using a train there's the annual marathon from Interlaken to Kleine Scheidegg.
I just watched this, again, hoping to help you recoup your worthy investment in the cost of the train ride. Still a typically wonderful, tongue in cheek delivery, informative video. Hope we can get past COVID so you can travel and do many, many more in 2021. Stay safe and healthy, though, meanwhile. Also, love the subtitles, starting at 5:53, I am told that "generically epic music" is playing.
Fab video that brought back many memories of my trip up the Jungfrau in 2002 - I was working at a hotel in Zürich at the time and through our work with the Swiss tourist board (& my role at the hotel) I managed to get the day out complimentary. 😁
I'll never forget the tour guide announcing "ze Virgin" (Jungfrau is virgin in German) and some of the tourists on the train wearing sandals (no socks!), walking around in the snow.
Awesome video! I had the privilege of going to Switzerland this past summer, and was able to go to Jungfrau while I was there, and I have to say it was awesome! The scenery on the way up and at the top of the mountain is unbelievable, and the railway itself was incredible!
Noah Gershoff he previously mentioned he usually goes on these types of trips on weekdays
Sending appreciation for the memory of skiing down to Grindelwald from Kleine Sheidegg back in the early 1980s.
It was on this portion of my Switzerland ski trip that I realized why its considered the banking capitol of the entire world.
Aside from realizing practical aspects of liquidity, as I literally saw my travel fund quickly diminishing, a more fond physical memory, that of complete energy depletion from the each muscle of my legs through several hours of skiing down from there, remains a highlight of my life's experience.
The moral of this story is to pre-plan all budgetary options or, very briefly, feel like the gazillionaires who regularly visit such places.
After all this time, every single opening watching you jump off that ledge makes my heart skip a beat.🥰😍❤️
Come on that view had me exclaiming WOW out loud... It would absolutely be worth the cost.
Wow, fantastically well made, as usual. The attention to detail, the music, the jokes, the scripts, the editing are all top class, this must take an incredible amount of time to put together. I have the feeling you could watch any of TTT's videos 10 times over before you spotted all of the subtle detail - which is why it's entertaining to read the comments to see what others have spotted that you didn't pick up on!
So onto the music...
1:48 (and, indeed, every time we see anything ski-related!) Ski Sunday
3:31 Record Breakers
7:00 Wish You Were Here (as is tradition!)
but please put me out of my misery, and tell me what starts playing at 1:25 ?
I also love the fact that the music references are so UK-specific! I'm pretty certain the relevance of the music goes completely unnoticed by non-British audiences!
Great work!
S Club 7 “Reach”
tomchristmas Brilliant! Thanks, brought another smile to my face 😃
There is also a discount if you go up early doors from memory, but you have to be off the top by about 11:00 from memory - made it a tiny bit less of a sting when I did it in 2011, at the time when the Swiss Franc gained 20% in about 10 days.
Tim, your channel really is one of my favourites on RUclips. And this one has cheered me up immeasurably considering how depressing the real world is right now. You've really put a smile on my face. Should you find yourself in Australia one day, I'd be honoured to show you some of our trains, mountains, and other associated strange things. In particular we name inappropriate things after our dead Prime Ministers - you'd probably get a kick out of that.
You should definitely visit the gornergratbahn in Zermatt. Not as high but arguably has the best ever view from a train.
The view from there is insane 👍🏻
05:55 Definitely a grand view Tim
Haven't yet finished the video (ninety-ish seconds remain), but I had to pause and come down here and leave this comment.
I gotta go. I have to visit this place at some point in my life. Once I finally do, I'll hopefully remember to come back here and note how it went in a reply. Until then, this video lives in my Favourites.
Thanks, Tim!
When you want another high trainride, try the Pikes Peak cog railway in Colorado USA.
It is currently closed for a big renovation but it should re-open next year.
The cost is much less and it is also 1000 m higher! (4301m, unbelievable!)
I have been on both, and of course it is an unforgettable experience.
Thanks for that, Rob! I'll likely pass through Colorado when this thing lifts and I can get back on the road, and it sounds like the kind of stop I'd really enjoy. And it's probably cheaper than €210. (It's insane how expensive trains are in Switzerland, but it's an excellent system and the scenery is mind-blowing.)
@@nomadMik Yes I think it was like $40 but it could of course get more expensive due to the cost of the renovation etc.
@@nomadMik Yes Trains are more expensive isn Switzerlan, but, the Jungfraubahn is still way above average, because well it's only purpose is touristical after all, basically the whole expensive Part is everything that comes after Wengen as it serves no normal public service function higher up that Wengen. (Interlaken Ost to Wengen just by itself is only 14 CHF for a two way trip)
The US also has Mount Washington's Cog Railway in New Hampshire. Not nearly as high, the top is just below the bottom of the Jungfraubahn, but it's still a spectacular view and is the world's first! Built in 1869. It's also steeper than both it and Pikes, an average 25% grade over 3 miles.
fun fact: the new trains for the MPPR-railways in Colorado are made by the same company that also made the trains for the Jungfraubahn, the Wengernalpbahn and the Matterhorngotthard-Bahn. It's a swiss company by the way.
In the UK the snowdon mountain railway in Wales climbs from 108 meters to 1065 meters. A total of 957 meters of climbing
I see that this video, as of April 3, 2020, has ONE (1!) “thumbs down”! Oh well, I suspect Tim got the Swiss Tourism Board’s attention. HA!
I actually have been to switzerland many times in the winter period in the past and this is actually the best view i have experienced. I was there with that train also and te view was amazing indeed.
How did you manage to find a day with such few travellers on the lines? Normally, they are much more overcrowded, especially on days with good weather
PS: You can get even more off with a Swiss GA Travelcard (which lets you ride for free on all normal lines), because the BOB and the WAB from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen are fully included. And on the rest, you also get the 50% off like for the half-fare card. SO the final price comes out to ~90CHF
Which still is way too expensive
Math5D I was there too recently(in February) and it was really quiet because there were no asians thanks to the virus. Also we got a ticket for like 50 franks because we also had skipasses
@@dikkertjefap9709 Ah of course, that's the reason.
Then you only had to pay half the price for Eigergletscher-Jungfraujoch and return. But the rest is kind of included in the price of the skipass, which is not so cheap itself ;)
Thanks for all the tips!
@@jonasspinnler8605: I once had lunch on the Jungfrau summit. It cost at least double what it would have cost at ground level.
Greetings from Alabama, Tim! I truly enjoy your videos and absolutely love your sense of humor. Stay safe and thank you for all your great work!
Woah! Did you realize you were in a Jay Foreman video? You're famous!
And you have to actually climb the mountains on your channel 🙂 which is why you're famous!
Which one? I just found this channel thanks to our almighty lord and saviour, the youtube algorithm, so I haven't noticed him in Jay's videos.
Who the fuck is Jay Foreman?
@@goddesskate5958 Ever heard of a thing called Google?
@@TheMusicalElitist i would use it if i gave that much of a shit however if I should remember every deadman who had some impression on history i wouldn't be able to remember anything else
4:36
Note the small car in front of the train for Ski and other luggage.
On rack and pinion railways, the powered vehicle(s) always has to be on the valley side, that's why it's pushing the car up.
7:08 the realisation when thou get ripped off by the Swiss...
They used to offer a reduced rate if you took the first train up at 6am. Otherwise, take the Schilthorn cable car opposite and look across at the Jungfrau for a lot less.
Well, favourite topics are railways and "mountains". ;D
Great video. :)
I have no idea what you mean :D
In the early 2000s I spent 18 mths just travelling around the world with my wife. Americas, Europe, Asia, Pacific. Mine and my wife’s budget was 15E each a day. That needed to cover everything. We had a couple of expensive treats on top of our budget, and this was one of those. Of our entire trip, this was one of the most memorable things we did... yes a train trip ended up being one of the best things we did. Totally recommend this.
Cheers from Israel. Watching your videos (with a pint) really makes the quarantine a little less grim than it is.
Probably the best video you have ever made. Please make more videos of swiss mountain trains! They’re awesome!
I rode that train in 1969 with my parents (I was 11 then).
This video brought back so many wonderful memories that I got tears in my eyes.
Trains AND Mountains! Made my Friday! Awesome!
Congrats on your Jay Foreman cameo! That's how you know you're going up in the world :)
I travelled on this on 1988. Blinking steep drops on side of the railway but so comfy and clean!
I remember standing up there mid summer with crocs n socks on, boy did I regret that
I took the train from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch in 1965. I was 17. Amazing experience and stunningly beautiful views. The only time I have been higher than that was in the Andes!
Stunning and bave
"In the most literal way possible, I think you can see where this is going"
This is why you have over 100,000 subscribers - and that number is way too low.
Nice. I was here in 2018 with scouts. Hell of a journey. Considering going back there in a few years.
A new Tim Traveller clip??
Everyone stop moving, I have to see this first!! :)
I really like your theme song. Is it something you have composed yourself??
Thank you R2k2! If you mean the intro song, yes it's some music I made myself. The outro song, which I play on piano, is The Carnival by Gordon Giltrap, better known in the UK as the theme tune to an old TV show called "Wish You Were Here"
@@TheTimTraveller I really like that music. It evokes just the right upbeat mood for a travel-adventure vlog. Do take care of Paris for me.
@@TheTimTraveller made yourself? So you're also gifted as a musician.
I like it (maybe because of the good branding/repeating, but still).
@@TheTimTraveller You should really release that song, its so good!
Thanks for a fun and informative video! My family was supposed to travel to Switzerland this summer, but that seems highly unlikely now. So I'm finding ways to live vicariously through RUclips!
Cheers Michelle! Yeah it's not looking good for this summer unfortunately - hopefully you'll get the chance to go another time :)
I cry when i buy a train ticket in switzerland! 💲
On the "normal" swiss railway its not that expensive.
@@automatix5 If you live in Switzerland and have Swiss wages, it is not that bad. A friend of mine moved there from Sweden a few years ago, he considers Swedish beer prices cheap these days. For everyone else, Switzerland is expensive.
57thorns I think that it could be a fairly factual statement to say that literally and other nationality apart from Swedish would be right to call Switzerland expensive.
That's what happens with lifetime achievements.
@@automatix5 haha I was paying 15€ for an half hour ride in Switzerland but Germany is not better from Essen to Düsseldorf which is also a half hour ride you will ending up paying 15€ or 25€ if you go further to Cologne, so also too expensive in my opinion , it should be cheaper to choose to rather go by the train then by car.
It is very expensive but worth every penny in my book. As long as you've not gone all that way just for a single day, the best way to get value for the journey up to the Jungfraujoch is to combine it with the Jungfrau Region pass or (even better) the Bernese Oberland Regional Pass, which offers extraordinary value provided you are prepared to stay active and make the most of it. The last time I stayed in Interlaken, I got well over £1000 worth of trips out of a £250 pass.
The BOB? Well tell Bob that despite his name he's a pretty cool train with amazing views
This has now been added to my bucket list, great vid once again.
5:11 "At one point, management tried to reduce staff turnover among the mostly Italian workforce with a bottle of red wine per day. Progress doesn't seem to have accelerated after this." Strange. 🤔
Weirdly enough, my grandfather told me the story of how Swiss soldiers almost rioted (around 1930-ish) when the high command decided to stop serving "traditional" breakfast of soup with a glass of red wine and switch to bread, jam and coffee ! (it was a different world back then) 😄
Thanks for letting me relive some great memories, Tim!
The winds on that platform can be at times quite impressive!
7:39
Thousands of my close friends. Ok
No, not thousands, only *a* thousand. Sounds reasonable enough to ask.
Another fun and informative video. Thank you! We were there in 1998. All sorts of people used the train when we were there, including some nuns sporting hiking boots and Leki poles. This video stirred some very pleasant memories.
You're living the good life mate. Or you were at least...
Wow, that pronounciation of "Mönch" was so on point!
In case you still cannot leave home: How about traveling to the highest point in Skyrim?
Beware of the frost trolls tho
I read, inbetween testing the mountain vantages for Lordbound, a mod for Skyrim still in development.
Small world.
I was never there even I’m Swiss, gosh I have to for sure, hopefully this season. Thank you for sharing your travel, really get into your videos and how you create them. Stay save on your travel around the world :)
5:53: I need to go here ASAP. It's a dream.
7:08: Dream shattered.
Shared on facebook. You definitely deserve a bigger audience.
**generically epic music**
God I love the subtitles 😂
We missed you, Tim. Keep it up!
Ever episode of "bizzare raailrods with a slightlx boring enlishman" is just ettinng better and better.
That 2nd train, passing past a ski slope, thats beyond epic. I would have loved to be skiing down that slope.
Must be a intense lovely sight to see from inside the train
Stevie The Fool yes it’s awesome to see from the train. Sadly the jungfrau region is one of the only skiregions where you can go up the mountain with a train.
@@dikkertjefap9709 It' not the only one in Switzerland though, the Andermatt-Sedrun ski region also has some inegration with the MGB and you can Technically even try to race a train on the way from the Oberalp pass down to Andermatt due to the slope (which is actually the closed pass road) running more or less in paralell to the train track.
cyri96 I said one the the only not the only one
200 euro for a train ride... Are you sure this isn't a belated April Fools' joke?
Well ... it was 120 swiz Franken when I was there in 1993...
Welcome to Switzerland ;)
Well, last time I was in Switzerland, a ball of Ice did cost 3 SF straigth. And an SF is just a little bit less worth than the Euro.
well that's actually pretty normal here in switzerland
Yeah when Tim said overpriced at the start of the video I knew it was gonna be pretty bad, but when he whipped out that ticket I almost spat out my tea. Thing is though, I still want to go there and I definitely will. Well, some time after this whole isolation thing...
almost as expensive per mile as the harry potter train ride.
Even more so if you consider that the round trip between the final 3 highest stations (Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch and back) costs 120-140 EUR (depending on the season).
Ah Tim, man, that video was great. The end really cracked me up!!
A view worth paying for while in quarantine
Excellent choice of music! Brings back memories of Sunday afternoon's far from the Ski slopes!
When I went, it turned cloudy and we had no view. At least my Thai wife got to experience snow for the first time.
Your videos are oddly bingeable
"trains cant go up mountains"
Jungfraubahn (in italian): hold my spaghet
Amazing timing and use of the "hero mode" version of your theme tune.
Oh, by the way, "Jungfrau" describes a female virgin in german, in case you were wondering.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Being high on the Jungfrau :D
Yep, the Mönch (monk) is defending the Jungfrau from the Eiger (ogre).
@@PuzzleQodec den Begriff "Eiger" hab ich noch nie gehört. Ist dann eher Schweizerdeutsch?
@@namenamename390 Hab keine Idee. Ich bin Niederländisch und kann das Unterschied nicht machen...
This just popped up on my recommended, nice video. Greetings from Interlaken
I shared it with 551 of my closest friends, I hope this is enough. 🙂
I shared with 2! (Starship Troopers "I'm doing my part" plays in the background.)
Tim that was amazing. Certainly one of your best videos yet. As a Canadian (who says elevator too) I can appreciate high mountains, as we have the Rockies. High and majestic I’ve driven through them in the Rogers Pass. But those views were nothing less than spectacular. As I was watching I thought to myself, this is gonna be worth a bob or two and you confirmed it. But with those views I am sure they have no trouble filling the trains.
Stay safe and healthy.
I love overpaying
I'm glad you referred James May. Great video dude :)
So that makes two Adolf's that died without seeing their dreams realized.
I had heard of the terminus for this train line, as one of the highest observatories ever made, but I didn't know the name. It's always fun making connections to things you've already known about! :)
Thank you so much for this video, my wife and I were due to go here in May but alas, no longer. It was nice to live vicariously through your adventure.
Hi Tim
thanks for all your informative videos, which are all well researched and include the local language, correct names and locations. despite your interest in railways, mountains and deserted places you never bore anyone with over-enthusiasm. historical backgrounds are also presented correctly and understandably. as well i don't want to miss your humour, which is neither puffed up nor flat, but very refreshing and crisp. you are one of the few who deserves a thumbs up!
Love it....and love your starring role in the latest episode of Unfinished London.. I really didn’t recognise you at first. Bravo
5:52 enjoying the epic music 🎶
I remember running out of the train at the cutout viewing stop and quickly realizing how bad of an idea that was because the air was thin and I got dizzy within a few minutes. Lovely view though.
I was lucky enough to work in the Berner Oberland. Thanks for taking me back there.. btw, great job on your pronunciation of the very difficult Swiss words..
The other bonkers bit on the Jungfraubahn is the double catenary that they use. But that is a technical detail (the Italian railways used the same system, in the beginning of electrification).
Oh, and for your bucket-list, or when that Swiss tourist board sponsorship arrives: Chur-St. Moritz-Tirano (Rhätische Bahn). You won't regret it. Make sure to spend some time hiking in the middle.