Busy Busy : A Reminder
Stadelhof station has three tram routes, 8 (LIGHT GREEN), 11 (GREEN) and 15 (RED) of which 15 terminates. There are 12 S-Bahn routes shown (although some are "occasional") of which the ORANGE one terminates, although how it does this is, initially, a mystery. But it will be revealed later!
The original footbridge (and an original train!) can be seen here ...
Once upon a time there were limited goods facilities ...
... with a much more limited service than today, access to the city-bound trains was ...
... via a foot crossing! That footbridge merely provides a link between streets; there was no access to the platforms.
fbb will not attempt to list all the services stopping at Stadelhofen, but, be brave, it is all on line at zvv.ch
As You Were
The station itself is in a cutting between two tunnels as was explained in yesterday's blog. The site was crossed by a road and (right in picture below) a footbridge.
S-Bahn Super Station
With the coming of the S-Bahn and notably with he addition of the Zurichberg route and services, it was clear that Stadelhofen would need some improvement.
So look at it now!
... running the length of the station overlooking long and protective platform canopies, seen (below) under construction.
But, the biggest station development is something you cannot see from a street view, even a better view than Streetview! Not only do you go up the steps to the footbridge and walkway ...
... but you go down steps (lift in the original building) to ...
... a long circulation area (with retail opportunity, of course) running for a significant length under the tracks. From here you ascend again to the platforms with no pathway across the tracks! It probably didn't turn out quite as grand as the architect's visualisation ...
But it is still one cool cool Bahnhof! And next to the footbridge, one of these is due to appear.
Whatever it is (offices, retail, home for the Gnomes?) it is even cooler than cool!
Which leaves us with one big problem.
The Terminating Orange Line
There it is, labelled as S18.
It is the Forchbahn, a ytyam that thinks it is a train. Or maybe a train that behaves like as tram. It runs from Esslingen ..,.
... where it has a "proper" train terminus station. For much of its 10 mile length it runs alongside the main road and often had single track sections.
It has proper barriers where side road cross and its passing stations are sweet but as basic as a tram stop.
The service has been around for a long time, here is one stop, Zollikerbesg, in 1913!
Technically, the line ends at Zurich Rehalp, where it meets up with Zurich tram 11 (GREEN).
From here to its terminus at Stadelhofen the Forches Bahn definitely becomes a tram. Or is it a tram train? Whatever, it uses tram 11 tracks until its terminus at, of course, Stadelhofen station ...
... where it grazes happily next to Zuyicj tram 15 of fond blogging memory.
The Forch railway line opened on November 27, 1912, with the trip taking 67 minutes. As built, the line from the Zürich city boundary to Esslingen was a single track tramway, largely mixed in with road traffic. At Esslingen, the Forch line connected with the Uster-Oetwil line (picture below) and, indirectly via that, with the Wetzikon-Meilen line. These two metre gauge tramway lines had both closed by 1950.
In 1950 it was proposed that the line should be replaced by buses, and a two-week test bus operation was undertaken with moderate success. The conclusion of the experiment was that retaining the line was the best solution provided that the line could be separated from the street and modernized. In the following decade, separation of rail and road traffic was increased.
More recently, the Forch Railway even has a tunnel ...
... built to remove street running from the village above. Several stops exist in the tunnel and access is simply by a staircase in the grass verge above the stop!
Weird or not?
Hmm. Sheffield Supertram has an ongoing problem with traffic congestions at Hillsborough.
Hillsborough tunnel anyone?
More Zurich "oddities" will follow on Monday.
Next Variety blog : Saturday 21st Januarty
Many Swiss railway stations have retail opportunities as they are allowed to trade on Sundays.
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