Switzerland - Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn FWB

For a full scale picture, please click on the picture shown !

ch-fwb-abe7002-wil-040719-full.jpg

Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn is a small local Swiss railway, as the name says, between the towns of Wil in the canton of St Gallen and Frauenfeld in the canton of Thurgau. It is a metre gauge railway with a line length of only 17 km. It's electrified with 1200 V DC - so absolutely nothing is standard here :-) It is a light rail system with slopes of up to 46 promille, 4,6%. At certail places the trains run like trams in the middle of town streets.

Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn operated for years and years with a couple of old Stadler made multiple units. But when in 2011 a number of private Swiss railroads wanted to order new trains jointly, FWB joined in the common tendering. As a result the new trains of FWB are similar with the trains of about ten other Swiss private companies. This no.7002 is one of these brand new class ABe 4/8 trains.
Picture from Wil 4.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-abe7002-wil-040719-pic2-full.jpg

The same ABe 4/8 train no.7002 as above, but seen from the other end.
Picture from Wil 4.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-be44-wil-040719-full.jpg

The previous trains of FWB were of the type Be 4/4. Numbers 11 to 15 were from the years 1984-85 and numbers 16-17 were from 1992. All are differently red and white painted. This one is the pair 16-17.
Picture from Wil 4.7.2019 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-be44-wil-280113-full.jpg

One of the old ones, Be 4/4 no.11.
Picture from Wil 28.1.2013 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-be44_15-wil-291207-full.jpg

A very stripy Be 4/4 no.15.
Picture from Wil 29.12.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-be44_14-wil-291207-full.jpg

No.14 was equally stripy.
Picture from Wil 29.12.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-be44-frauenfeld-030102-full.jpg

The Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn Be 4/4 trains have not always been so stripy like during the last years. Here is the Be 4/4 no.12 still in its original paintings.

ch-fwb-be44-frauenfeld-030102-pic2-full.jpg

Another view of the Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn Be 4/4 no.12 still in its original paintings.
Picture from Frauenfeld 3.1.2002 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-236_646-wil-291207-full.jpg

The Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn is a metre gauge railway and this motor draisine is not metre but normal gauge 1435 mm. It is a former SBB motor draisine built by Robert Aebi & Co. in 1968. SBB called it Tm II no.61. It was sold together with a similar one to Mittelthurgaubahn. After MThB went bankrupt, this machine went to Frauenfeld-Wil-Bahn as their 236 646. FWB used it in moving adapter bogies which allowed normal gauge cargo wagons to be rolled on FWB's narrow gauge tracks. But as the need for cargo traffic on FWB's tracks ended, this old draisine was given to a private collection, Draisinensammlung Fricktal. Here we see it still in duty in Wil.
Picture from Wil 29.12.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-236_646-wil-291207-pic2-full.jpg

Side view of the same small normal gauge motor draisine Tm 236 646. Note the remains of a former MThB sticker at its side.
Picture from Wil 29.12.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.

ch-fwb-236_646-wil-291207-pic3-full.jpg

Still the same old motor draisine seen from its front. The white and red striped metal poles on the ground are the ones that can be used between the draisine and a narrow gauge wagon or between the draisine and narrow gauge adapter bogies. Note how the normal gauge track behind the draisine is rising up and the narrow gauge rails fall lower between normal gauge rails. This is the site where the installation of adapter bogies under normal gauge wagons always took place.
Picture from Wil 29.12.2007 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Back to main page.