Steve

Kaeserberg Model Railway, Switzerland

This is the most attractive entrance to a model railway exhibition I’ve ever seen!

The inside is even more impressive. Kaeserberg model railway is a fictional, yet authentic, slice of 1990s Switzerland. Built over 17 years in HO scale (1:87), it’s a 610 m² layout, with three levels linked by a huge helix, over 2,045 meters of track, including both HO and narrow-gauge HOm lines, and dozens of trains weaving through villages, forests and alpine scenes.

It features three different Swiss rail companies SBB (CFF), the Rhätische Bahn (RhB), and the fictional Kaeserberg Railway (KBB) and approximately 100 trains operate on any given day. Apparently, there are 180 locomotives, 1560 wagons, 6500 figures, 221 buildings, 1160 road vehicles, 5400 trees and 910 catenary masts. Phew!

Enough words, here are some photos. Click on a photo for a larger version.

Rhätische Bahn 212 built by Brown Boveri in 1913.
Your entry ticket is a card railway ticket, punched on entry.
There’s a nice history of Kaeserberg.
On the ground level is the fiddle yard. Note the two levels and how it links to the helix.
This is the loco maintenance workbench.
On the first floor is one part of the main layout.
This is the operators control desk for the first floor.
Part of the first floor layout.
Mainline operations have trains up to 3.3 meters long.
Nicely modelled oil terminal.
There is even a Landi (the big Swiss agricultural cooperative).
Lovely model paddle steamer.
Container and maintenance depots.
Here’s a meter gauge (RhB) train climbing the mountain.
Another RhB train higher up the climb.
Nice turntable and depot, note the serious snow plough.
The fictional Kaeserberg train climbs the mountain.
Every half hour the layout transitions from day to night for six minutes.
This is the second floor control panel during the ‘night’ operations.
There’s even a small cinema where you can watch how the layout was made. Here plaster casting rock faces.

Part of the layout on the second floor is being rebuilt and there is an exhibit showing how the model railway was constructed. As a modeller I found this really interesting to see.

The open top baseboards.
The basic land forms.
Rock details and ground cover added.
I like the plinth mounted HOe loco.
Plaster casts for rocks.
Lovely double slip.
A building containing 18 separate LEDs.
All loco control is analogue.
Scratch built buildings.
The layers of the landscape.
Even though this part of the layout is being rebuilt they still operate trains on it.

The different layers of the layout and the fiddle yard are linked by a helix hidden under the mountain scenery. I was chatting to the operators and they let me visit it 🙂

It’s an impressive structure:

  • 2.4 meters tall
  • 15 circuits per meter of height
  • HO standard gauge climbs via a line 97.8 meters long
  • HO standard gauge descends via a separate line 107.4 meters long
  • HOm climbs via a line 95.8 meters long
  • HOm descends via a separate line 99.5 meters long
  • Total length of tracks in the helix 400.5 meters !
You can stand inside the helix.
It is enormous !
The trains run around you while the layout operates 🙂

I really enjoyed Kaeserberg. The scale of ambition and the quality of execution are impressive.

If you find yourself in or near Fribourg, Switzerland it’s well worth stopping by 🙂

https://www.kaeserberg.ch/en/

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