This engine was considered state-of-the art for two decades - inside the fameous Re 425 

This channel has got to be one of the most underrated channels out there. Just a guy with a camera sharing his passion of really cool technology, miraculously able to document the heart of how these engineering marvels work.

I was a Class I U. S. locomotive engineer. I can attest to the complexity of air brakes. Air brake theory was an entire week of classroom training at engine school in the early 2000s and probably still is.

I camped in Kandersteg last summer for two weeks near the entrance to the Lötschberg tunnel, hearing and seeing the Re425s all day every day was amazing and I never grew tired of it! Glad I was able to see these beasts in action before they are all withdrawn.

Awesome video, Sandro! I really love these old Swiss electric locomotives, especially because we have several locomotives here in Norway that were based on Swiss designs. Our first "proper" electric locomotive, the NSB class El 11, was directly based on this Re 425, but built by local companies. Following this, the stronger El 13 and El 14 were all "Swiss" locomotives built locally in Norway. The most interesting of these is the 6900 horsepower El 14, a real beast based on the Ae 6/6 "Gotthard locomotive" that is still running freight trains across the mountains to this day. (Although sadly they are really run into the ground compared to the relatively pristine conditions you keep your older locomotives in!) We also have a local variant of the Re 460, called the El 18, as well as an ever increasing fleet of FLIRT trains built by Stadler. :)

Are they planning on sending a few of these to BLS Historische Fahrzeugflotte and to Verkehrshus Luzern? Hopefully they will be seen on the rail in the future too. I was, unbeknownst to me, taking pictures of some of the last regular Brownie services along the Thunersee just over 10 years ago. The brownies were so common they seemed immortal, but alas, here we are.

Absolutely brilliant, and yes an absolute credit to everyone involved, but you have to hand it to BLS for allowing you to document what is the ending of an era.

First time on this channel: I've been glued to the screen the entire time. I don't even like trains that much. Absolute gem of a video!

I don't know how I found your channel but I am so thankful that I did!

Thanks for that detailed video. I have worked with heavy haul iron ore trains as a professional engineer in Australia and I have also travelled on the Swiss SBB rail passenger trains which amazed me with their smoothness and very low noise level. This video was perfect for me.

Thank you for the look round this beautiful locomotive which is sorely missed having hauled me over the Lötschberg bahn quite a few times since 1981. The lokomotivführer has a really thick accent!

Great video. I've ridden behind them year's ago and enjoyed it. Efficiency is very important but so is history. I hope the keep some around for special trips and museums.

Someone sent me this video and it's so interesting! Watched some of the other videos too and it's so fascinating to see how these marvels of engineering work. I loved the steam boat one especially. Great channel Sandro!

Great video, thanks a lot. These Re 425 Loco's are very well maintained and look like they are only a few years old, althought their technology betrays them. 🙂

Greetings from UK, absolutely superb video, credit to you Sando, and also Christan and John Paul, I have been visiting Switzerland for over 30 years, these locos are very special,

I absolutely love your videos as a fan of swiss railways, especially with all the technical stuff! Please keep making this Videos, they are incredibly entertaining ajd I learn a lot from them.

Nice Video, i like it! Small correction: "Schleuderbremse" is comparable with anti-slip regulation (ASR, prevents a wheel from slipping when accelerating). You said it's like ABS. There is a system for trains comparable with the ABS, called "Gleitschutz" (prevents a wheel from blocking when braking), which i am not sure if the loco has one. Most of the passenger carriages have one.

Thank you for a wonderful video, the old tech is really interesting

Sad to see these true workhorses go. Many years ago I spent 5 days in a holiday home in the spiral just below Blausee-Mitholz station, and it was awesome to see the trains at 3 levels across the windows. The Re4/4 made up 80% of all trains then, completed by the Re465 but also still some Ae4/4 I and even the historic Be6/8 which double headed with a Re465 for a train, which also had a Re4/4 pushing.

Loved it, Thanks for making the video and looking forward for the next one.

tx for you and anyone involved

Superb video! Explaining things clearly and visually.

I wonder if someone somewhere has one of the traction relay blocks detached from the transformer so you could film the switches themselves in action. I love my power electronics more than anyone but there's a certain magic about seeing the contactors fly in and out as the power is applied.

Very interesting report Sandro, and how clean it is inside the loco as well.

Great video again, loved it

I spent a week in Kandersteg last year, and watched the car shuttles going back and forth. Those brown locomotives looked really out of place next to the freight locomotives and the bright green BLS passenger sets that also went past.

Thanks for the video. Really interesting.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v2JOlzNjQxQ.htmlsi=J5i9u2B1Izp23ydk The Re 4/4 170 actually managed to pull a passenger train again last week. A special charter train from the Verein Pacific 01 202 and Zermatt Rail Travel. From Lyss over the Lötschberg to Bouveret and from there via Vevey back to Lyss

Good old reliable tech.

The old locos really have the charm, the newer locos remind me of a jelly mould !

I would love to see many more technical stuff & oddities of Swiss rail, already am fan of the channel❤❤

Great film thanks 👍

As a train fan I hope that last few of these last locomotives and the first are in preservation.

Great content!

Surely one will be put in a museum?

I see RE 425, i upvote

Fantastic video

This is so similar to the EL14 we have in Norway, only it is even more powerful. I have 1000's.of hours driving it. It was based on the Swiss Ae6/6 and bears many similarities.

Super Video! Sowohl Seilbahn- als auch Eisenbahntechnik hat mich schon immer fasziniert, gerade, wenn es um ältere geht. Mir scheint, als hätten wir da einen recht ähnlichen Geschmack.

this is funny. I know ändu personally the fahrdienstleiter... its so funny how small teh nerd world is. The RE425 is such a beautiful Loco. i really will miss it. also, if you can get access to a Domino Switching system or something that would be amazing. i am pretty sure you gonna absolutely go nuts when you see all the relays go clickedy clack. I may have you some contacts of the RBS that possibly can get you through

Great video! It’s interesting learning about how they took a different approach to wheelslip control, EMD went with radar instead on the 40 series. It also seems that weight adjustment systems are becoming common now, although they are computer controlled and use pneumatic pistons to make adjustments.

Erstklassiges Video. Vielen lieben Dank!

Really good footage and technical detail. As a locomotive engineer myself, it was interesting for me to note that the brake gear was of Davies and Metcalfe manufacture, much used in British railway locomotives, and superior (in my opinion) to Westinghouse equipment.

12:12 Oerlikon FV4a, we use allot of these on Croatian Railways. :)

I hope they preserve the class leader; Re 425-161

I am going to miss the Brunellis

Cool locomotive!intresting video . I hope there is a national rail museum that will save one or two off these units when they are finally decommissioned and scrapped.

Super cooles video!

instantly subscribed from the first minute alone

Hallo Sandro, ich habe deinen Kanal vor kurzem entdeckt, absolut grandioser Inhalt! Bist du selbst als Lokführer bei der bls tätig?

the vid isnt here anymore but the step shwitch of a old ae 7/14 was shown while working .... it had special spark channels to disperse of the sparks while switching the power to the engines and boy oh boy that were sparks like lightning ...

Thank you, Sandro, for a very interesting video. Do you know when the RE425s will actually finish? Best regards from the Ian, in the UK 🇬🇧.

I really hope there is one saved or will be at least one saved for a museum or for history. I didn't understand the air with no sand, what does that do? And in my limited locomotive electrical repairs, the older traction control I am familiar with is triggered when the motor current drops, indicating less torque applied. Not when the current goes up as was mentioned, but maybe lost in translation. Awesome video as always and looking forward to the brake video. Curious to how similar it is to N. American type WABCO brakes. If you are curious to as what is going on in the load switch, look up transformer LTC (load tap changer) videos. There are different styles, but all do the same basic function by changing taps. Some are really cool looking too. Being a substation / generation plant electrician I've rebuilt a few throughout the years.

15:10 : müsst glaub 38056 si :) wunderbars video. Danke dir vil mol dass üs mit uf de weg nimmsch :)

another piece of my nostalgia disappears

i assume an example is to be preserved? i remember the rail shuttles in Switzerland fromy my only visit they were very fun :^)

Are they going to preserve one?

The Re420 does have recuperative braking. What’s the reason for the Re425 not having it?

Great story but the asymmetry of its front is killing 😂

Werdet aber hoffentli scho eis zwei als Museums-Lok im fahrbare zuestand übrig blibe?

Great video ..... and great engine! The doubled one: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLS_Ae_8/8 built from the former Ae 4/4

damn, still has 19th century drawhooks as couplers?

Today, recuperation (electricity return to the line) is probably a question of a software update :) Still Im surprised that it is not worth the upgrade.. Maybe the motors in brake mode have some crazy parameters that are difficult to change to the line parameters ?

I wonder if there’s any more info on the electrics of this locomotive somewhere. Even the German Wikipedia article seems pretty bald. Does it use an AC motor or a DC motor? What AC motor type ☺️

The carrages look like BR 1970s colours. It seems as the swiss arn't just good at making cuco clocks. Over all they are very good at precision engineering.

Interesting that movement orders are verbal and not written. The signal system must be the formal control.

I am surprised they cannot convert it from radiator dynamic brake to grid feed.

deine tension ist eigentlich voltage.... ;P

How many jokes have been made over the decades of a train having a steering wheel.

There are plenty of nations that are electrified enough to use these (if they have the right gage) hope the find new homes beyond the scrapper's magnet

3:32 - that would be PASSENGER train... I guess that LKW/ PKW naming convention just kicked in...? ;-) Also, I'd consider changing the intro shooting angle - for me, a viewer, it feels as if I were a rabbit (or a rat) in a hole being greeted by a hunting dog (cat)... Why not "eye level" camera position? 5:21 - "Spannung" is indeed "tension", but "voltage" would be more accurate translation in the context of "electricity" (or "electrical potential difference") - so "carrying a current of 15 kV voltage, AC at 16 POINT 7 Hz". Again, not "wrong", but then not quite "right" either; the "dot" is the mark, when placed at the end of a sentence is called "full stop", when used as decimal point then it is, well, a point ;-) Now, I know this is "about trains and locos", not "about English", but using language patterns and phraseology of foreign language when speaking it does help to convey the message, I'd say. Also, I'm not going to point all of these "carbon copy expressions" as I'm mostly skipping through this video (so I will surely miss most of them) and at any rate I'm not going to make fun of this - that earlier remark was meant merely to "point an issue" (or "provide a feedback"), and nothing more. Also, I'm not a native English speaker either, so I do understand how it works, and I do make, sometimes, similar mistakes. Cheers!

it's so loud! haha

What language are you guys speaking in video? It's not German?

Only 35

BLS = Bastel-Laden-Spiez 😅

Hey Sandro Ich heisse auch Sandro und lebe in der Nordwestschweiz. Ich habe einen guten Bekannten, der bei der Niesen-Bahn arbeitet. Wenn du gerne möchtest, könnte ich den Kontakt herstellen, falls du über die Niesen Standseilbahn einen Film machen möchtest. Grüsse Sandro

Such a shame to scrap a good loco a lot of British electric locos redundant by new vehicles have been exported to eastern Europe and still giving great service in a new country

Way can't they just modernize the inside of it instead of scrapping the whole locomotive?! That would be way cooler then replacing it with a new boring modern locomotive.

Its so sad they didn't replace them with self-powered locomotives and scrap those hideous power lines. Them newer locos look even worse. It would greatly improve the experience not seeing a power electric pole every 50 feet. I would rather take the bus.

First time here. WHY do you SHOUT?

No mention of the country

Don't shout, man.

..what ''deutsch'' is this ...? jeez man !..like speakin' portugese-deutsch, jeez !