A brand new fleet of Stadler-built ‘Traverso’ trains has taken over Schweizerische Südostbahn’s (SOB) Voralpen-Express services. The FLIRTs have replaced loco-hauled trains with Class Re 456 electrics, which are now obsolete. SOB is / has been looking for buyers and so far has sold four of its Re 456s.
On 28.01.2021, SOB took their six Re456 locomotives for a ride, for a farewell tour, from Herisau to Degersheim and back. And Stephan Schnyder was there to capture the train on video:
We thank Stephan Schnyder (@ steschny) for his photo and video footage.
Class Re 456: History
The Class Re 4/4 / Re 456 locomotives, thri-phase electric locomotives, were built by SLM and BBC in the 1980s and sold to several Swiss private railways.
- 6 for Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn (BT), one of SOB’s predecessors;
- 2+4 for Sihltal-Zürich-Uetliberg-Bahn (SZU);
- 2 for Vereinigte Huttwil-Bahnen (VHB), a regional operator which later became part of BLS.
In this article you see the six SOB Re456 locomotives all sporting full (advertising) liveries. They are named after Swiss cities in the canton of Sankt-Gallen, their theater of operations.
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