Wengernalpbahn Source Material

The Wengernalpbahn

I've had an interest in the 80cm gauge Wengernalpbahn for about 20 years, ever since I first spent a holiday in that part of Switzerland. I've harboured an ambition to produce something in model form for a long time but never achieved anything, and this page attempts to collate the information I'm aware of in the hope that it will motivate me and possible provide a stimulus to others.

Books

Most of the published material on the line is German language as would be expected. These are the titles I'm aware of although I would be interested to know if there are any others.

1. Die Triebfahrzeuge der Bahnen der Jungfrauregion, Theo Stolz, Taschenbuch 1986 (German language).  Line drawings of most stock of the 80cm and metre gauge lines in the Jungfrau region.
2. Bahnen der Alpen, Franz Martin & Walter Trub, Orell Fussli Verlag 1979 (French/German/English language). General album with a couple of short sections on railways of the Jungfrau region.
3. Railways in the Bernese Overland, Martin Bairstow, published by author 1987 (English language). Mainly pictorial (b&w only) with chapter on the Jungfrau railways.
4. Swiss Mountain Railways Vol.1 - Around Luzern and Interlaken, Philip Kelly and Donald Binns, Trackside Publications 1999 (English language). Useful brief technical history of these mountain railways mainly focussing on the early years. 
5. The Jungfrau Region, Ralph Roman Rossberg, Hallwell 1991 (English language).  Tourist-oriented history of the area and its railways - a few WAB-specific chapters.
6. Les Chemins de Fer de la Jungfrau/Die Jungrau Bahen, Patrick Bellonce, Les Editions du Cabri 1990 (French/German language). Comprehensive and well-produced technical history of the railways of the region, with many interesting early photos.
7. Schweizer Fahrzeug-Archive Band 3 - Zahnradbahnen, Karlheinz Hartung, Trans Press 1994 (German language). Descriptions of Swiss rack railway locomotives, railcars and stock with some line drawings.
8. Eisenbahn Journal Special 7/93 - Bahnen der Jungfrau-Region (German language). Magazine-format special with mostly colour photos but some b&w archive - with a chapter on each of the railways of the region.
9. Wengernalpbahn, Florian Inabnit, Prellbock 2006 (German language). The latest and supposedly most thorough book on the line. It's a comprehensive history of the line with detailed descriptions of locomotives, railcars and rolling stock but very few drawings. There are some station layout plans and a number of civil engineering drawings for bridges etc. Very worthwhile if you can read German or translate what you need, but the lack of drawings means that it's not comprehensive enough for modelling.

DVD

Die Fahrzeuge der JUNGFRAUBAHNEN Teil 2 - a DVD containing a PDF document with drawings, photos and tables describing the rolling stock of the WAB and the Schynige Platte Bahn. There are over 1000 drawings (albeit some of them of the same vehicle/loco in different liveries. etc.)  and a large number of archive and current photos. The drawings aren't dimensioned and all seem to be at HO scale - unfortunately no scale is provided, but each class or type of vehicle has an associated data table which provides basic dimensions and a summary of each vehicle's history. Drawings are all for both side and end elevations, but no plans views. Not perfect, but it's the best summary of WAB stock currently available.

Models

1. The are a small number of models produced in limited runs (at considerable cost) by the Swiss company of HRF, who are based in Spiez.
2. A model of the Schynigge Platte Bahn has been build by Ernst Furrer and were described in details on his website (although this now seems to have disappeared, hence the removal of the link). There are a few photos on another site here. 

Websites

There is an extensive library of recent WAB photos on bahnbilder.de.
The x-rail.ch site has an excellent set of well-organised photos of WAB stock and locations.