Saurer Trolleybus in Montreaux with VVMC

 VVMC operated almost all trolleybuses and did one 12.8km main route taking it along the side of Lake Geneva. All were Saurers like Ni.10 at Montreaux and dated from 1956-8. They were replaced by eighteen Van-Hool/Kiepe in 1991

Articulated buses in Bern FBW 252

I expect I would come to terms with the acid-red colour scheme to be found on Bern buses today were I to pay a visit. But as it stands I don't like it much much prefering the traditional military-green and green colours which suited the architecture and old-fashioned feel of Switzerland's tiny Capital. I guess the undertaking wanted to show it was forward thinking and modern which is something I admit can't be said for this FBW articulated bus of the Sixties and still in all-day service in 1989

Laussane NAW Trolleybus 778

A NAW trolleybus in Lausanne in the 90's

Voyages Remy in Lausanne with Van-Hool 388

Both the Remy Voyages coach driver and the driver of the newish Lausanne Van-Hool have a bit of time to twiddle their thumbs as they patiently wait outside the main railway station in 1996. But unlike Germany which always seemed to be busy with coach activity however in Switzerland except for on ski work one hardly ever saw a proper any coaches except post-bus types so I was quite pleased to snap this smart  Mercedes with it's smart Vaud number-plate showing us it was local.  

P23029 A little Neoplan in Brig

Brig is one of those Swiss towns people will be familiar with as it features on railway information boards but unlike the cities and tourist destinations nearby relatively few people come here except passing through. For me though liking Post Buses it was almost a destination in itself especially as there was also another PTT garage just down the Rhone Valley at Sion. After the PTT was broken up and the telephone side sold off the years of  little substantial change evaporated as it became much market focused. It sold off it's garages and either leased them back or turned them over to sub-contractors but it grew as it took on more work especially in France. This was a good example as here in Brig there had been a local operator doing a town service but as you can see from it's P-Reg which they still had then the little Neoplan had become a Port Bus.

A 1970's FBW trolleybus in Neauchatel. Traditionally they had been creamy white colour but when delivered the Swiss authorities wanted to standardise all the many local liveries which helped make Switzerland so interesting. Thankfully the idea was soon dropped but some Mubicipals like Lausanne for instance stayed with the orange-red.

Postauto Neoplan in Davos

Once the Swiss Saurer and FBW were no longer available the Swiss Post turned to Germany to source it's buses firstly with Setras. Mercedes-Benz and some built to local requirements in Swizerland as the NAW. But after the Post Office was split up and sold off the fleet became a lot more varied and the Neoplan quickly made it's mark in the mountain areas.

Bern Boggie Tram 629 on Line 5

Switzerland has changed a lot since I started going back in 1989 and ten years later when I last went much of the elderly traditional very Swiss buses and trams had vanished. This military-green was a bit dour but it seemed to suit rather provincial sleepy Medieval Bern. 629 was one of the last boggie trams which could be found on this line.

One of the nicest things about being interested in transport is it often takes us to those places conventional tourists miss. One of these places despite it's historical importance being where the Swiss Confederation of Cantons was signed is hardly known never mind visited by Brits. Also it is the name of a small canton too which is why this bus carries it as SZ. Once Leyland seemed to have it's own empire of nations and a few even found their way into of all places Switzerland and this Worldmaster, one of a pair looks a bit unworldly carrying the sort of very Swiss bodywork normally found on Saurer DUK's and a few FBW's too.

NAW Swiss Post Bus in Lugano

It can be wet in summer but Lugano is a good place to be in the winter as those snow covered Alps mark the border between cold Northern Europe and the milder Mediterranean region. After it absorbed the Swiss FBW and Saurer concerns Mercedes continued to build buses at Arbon to a local specification like this one for the PTT with Mercedes parts. As you can see they have the Co-op there too but the place to buy your bargain chocolate and eat cheaply are the Migros department stores.

A Saurer Post Bus at Brugg

An important station on the Swiss post bus system is the small town of Brugg near Baden. In 1990 the local contractor (PAH) operated mostly Mercedes-Benz buses but there was still the odd FBW and like this example Saurer to be found.

Lausanne FBW Trolleybus 747

As it's New Years Day I thought I would post one of my most favourite photos taken in Lausanne. As you might guess obviously I wanted to get the girl in this shot and then she gave me such a lovely smile it made my day.

P25329 Le Chaux de Fonds

The Swiss Post Office operated a large fleet of Mercedes 0405's but some were to PTT's own specification and were bodied in Switzerland by R&J as they had to include a luggage compartment at the rear for the mail like this example at the Chaux de Fonds, a town in the Jura near the French border once at the heart of the world famous clock and watch making industry.

The Post Bus to La Locle

In many Swiss towns whatever the weather and indeed even when there is an inch of snow lol just like clockwork yellow post buses are there patiently waiting outside the station for the busy express trains to arrive. Even though it is quite a decent size Neuchatel was only served by the one route seen here to La Locle using one of the now much missed Saurer RH buses. As a government body the PTT had special status with certain privileges for vehicles carrying the 'post horn'  like having the right of way on Swiss Passes. Also it was a cosy relationship with railways for if there was room they used to have their stands  right next to the railway platforms, but rather like Britain and Brexit once the post office was devolved not only did they lose their very own P-Reg numbers for cantonal plates the post bus became a more humble affair having and the stands were moved further away as was already the case here.

Saturday Morning in Geneva

When I used to take my short winter break in Switzerland there was often a bit of time to kill in Geneva and despite being saddled with a bit of luggage there was always a bit going on outside the station to photograph. By this time in the late Nineties all the Sauer-Leylands had gone aprobably the last of the FBW and Saurer buses too. Mercedes bought out the Swiss bus chassis builders which is why they became commonplace ie this 0405, and even though the trolleybus might have a Hess body the rest of it might have been a NAW used for local spec Mercedes buses built at the old Saurer factory at Arbon.

Bus Line : Zurich-Zollikon-Kusnacht at Bellvue Terminus

Difficult winter lighting conditions and a bus merging into the background didn't make this one of my best bus photos but nor is a Mercedes-Benz 0405 particularly exciting but of interest is that it's departure time is shown on the destination: Those Swiss they are so helpful when it comes to timetables and travel.

A Little Neoplan in Brig

Brig is one of the least exciting towns in the Alpine district of Switzerland, a bit grey and dour and not the sort of place one would look forwards to a good night out. Still it wasn't all it's own fault as the town was hit by one of those melting snow mud slides and the shopping area got ruined. I hadn't seen them before but Someone ran a few buses on town service work but the next time I saw this small Neoplan they had sold out to Die Post the main operator who was continuing to run it in this advertising livery. 

BVB Saurer in Chesieres

BVB used to run trams down from Villars to it's adjoining village of Chesieres about a kilometer away but this was discontinued probably when the new road bridge was built between it and Villars in the early Sixties. A replacement bus service was operated using a rather functional looking faded old blue Saurer but sometimes a rather stylish green coach was used instead and both were housed at the former tram shed in the village. Not a brilliant print I know but as a schoolboy I had to rely on my point and shoot Ilford Sporti with it's awkward for buses square negatives.

Die Post Setra on a Valais Grey Cold Day in Brig

Switzerland when bathed in sunshine has a magical quality and even the railway system with it's old wooden stations and it's period industrial concrete sheds has a toy-town fairy-tale feel about it. Perhaps that's because it's still the way I remember it from my schooldays in the Sixties. But go there when they get some British weather with dense cloud and rain and it seems like an old-fashioned dump. So yes of course they get horrid weather here too but when in winter it was bad I used to take the train up into the mountains for I could live with the alpine snow outside the window. Usually after a lousy week the last two days were just perfect and I ended up not wanting to come home. As well as being a well know pont on the rail route from Geneva to Milan the town of Brig has a Die Post bus fleet which always interested me but this Setra which looked very much the same was actually owned by one of it's many contractors.

Sauer Post Bus at Chur for Laax

Because of winter sports I expect many of you will be more familiar with Swiss place names like the ski village of Laax than the decent sized valley town of Chur where the bus goes from. I'm afraid it is a few years since Saurer RH's ventured up there and I imagine snow-boarding was still in it's infancy when this was taken in 1990. Most of the PTT examples of this bus bore their own body-style but twenty like P25649 built by R&J in 1982 had a style more akin to those supplied to it's contractors. However it was easy to tell them apart as on those the lower front panel was left black.