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A day in the life of a trainspotter

Their passion is to take pictures of trains. Follow two train enthusiasts as they travel through Switzerland chasing a steam train. (SRF, swissinfo.ch)

Christian Frauenknecht is an engine driver by profession for the Thurbo train company and in his free time he is a train enthusiast.

On one of his outings, he and friend Andreas Gerber followed two steam trains as they travelled through Switzerland.

As part of the the Gotthard Base Tunnel rolling stock exhibition, two locomotives, the A 3/5 705 and 5/6 C 2978 of the Swiss Federal Railway historical collection were being moved to Ticino.

The classic express locomotive A 3/5 705 was produced by SLM (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works Winterthur). By 1909 the Swiss Federal Railways had 111 locomotives of this type.

The C 5/6 Nr. 2978 was designed for heavy loads and mountain railways and was the last standard gauge steam locomotive to be delivered to the Swiss Federal Railway.

From 2017, normal rail traffic will make use the Gotthard Base tunnel, and the Swiss Federal Railways is considering using the old Gotthard mountain railway for steam train trips for tourists.

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