Brusio, 780 m.

This page pays attention to Brusio, in the southern part of the Bernina line, with its beautiful viaduct.

Please find a picture based report below of our model of the viaduct at Brusio, mixed with pictures from reality.
You can click on the pictures for an enlargement in a new window.

One of our members, active in the region southwest, has created a model of this viaduct at Brusio. Because he was unable to store it and it was hardly used in his region it has now been integrated into our layout.

This page has been ordered with the newest picture on top.
Here you can go to the oldest model picture..

Brusio on our model layout.

Shot dated 06-dec-11.

Below a comparison with reality.

The problem here is that the valley gradient is larger then the train can handle. The train is limited to a gradient of 7%. Above the station of Brusio the engineers have implemented a large zigzag from one side of the valley to the other and back in order to loose height. But below the station the valley because too narrow to repeat this. They came up with a spiral shaped layout with a bridge that takes the train over/underneath its own tracks. This construction brings the track back to the valley floor where it can continue normally again. On itself its nothing abnormal to have a spiral track shape but this normally happens inside a tunnel. There are multiple reasons as to why the railway builders have chosen this shape in the open. The Landscape hardly allows for a tunnel here as there are many moraine glaciers. You can't drive a tunnel through such an area. The other reason is that the lower part of the spiral lays on the valley floor which allows for a relatively small viaduct. As third you can bring up that this track is designed to be a tourist attraction and you don't want to take away the view from your travelers.

The hole round Brusio closed.

06-dec-11.
The landscape behind Brusio has become fluid and colorized.

The landscape now joins.

08-Mar-11.
See how the line of the landscape runs a lot smoother now the bubble has been reduced.

Also adjust the front side.

22-Feb-11.
Above you see that the modules have a triangular slope on the front side in order to get from the Fremo connection to Brusio. This didn't look nice so it has been made more fluid. We also made a plan to extend the module to the next one with the bridge on it. (The corner on the left side of the picture above).

The upper edge of the transition module adjusted.

22-feb-2011
Like shown below, we lowered the upper edge of the Brusio modules to make a smoother transition to the existing landscape.
This fits in the total adjustment to make the landscape transition more fluid in the direction of Brusio and Cavaglia.

To connect better

15-Feb-11.
The shape of the landscape wasn't what we wanted so lets change it. Its only a small adjustment and we still kep the option to connect to another Fremo module. Yet it gives a much better line from out mountain down to Brusio. We only take 7 cm off the lonely top.

"The bubble" of Brusio

1-May-08.
This picture even clearer shows the hole in the mountain side behind Brusio.

"The bubble" of Brusio

15-Feb-11.
During the event Eurospoor we came to agree that the shape of the "Fremo" end form wasn't the best we could have for ending the module of Brusio. Even worse, there is a hole in the mountain side. It would have been nicer if there were another module, only with landscape to close this gap. that would make the rocky slope a union.  These are 2 adjustments and we decided to do both. Peter will create the new module or actually he will enlarge the existing one.

2009.
Mountain climbers at Brusio.

2009.
Brusio on Rail.

Brusio gets new overhead catenary

18-Feb-09.
We want to try and ride with our pantograph up during the exhibition "Rail 2009".
Therefore its needed to renew the overhead wiring of the viaduct, The old one was too weak and too broken to be used anymore.

Oct 2010
Finally a film of a train on the viaduct of Brusio. (40Mb)

After this point you can find several pictures from the years 2008 and 2009.
Then a rockslide took place that caused rocks to role down all the way to within the rail circle at Brusio.

Since early 2009 the tracks above the bridge follow a slightly different route. A rock slide on 14 December 2008 has covered up the tracks and it was needed to reconstruct the railway on a more secure place. This rock slide took place near the little wall you see above the bridge. The new tracks have been moved 17 meter towards the valley and placed on a dam. The room behind the dam forms a basin for future rock falls. The larger rocks that came down made it till inside the spiral.

On the link below you can find a Webcam near the viaduct of Brusio by www.valtline.it.

See below for a few pictures of the rockslide that took place on 14-dec-2008.

Between the station of Brusio and the spiral the line is damaged over a distance of about 150 meter making rail traffic impossible.

Larger pieces made its way to within the Brusio spiral, smashing the rail.

Find below a few pictures of the reconstructed  railway and the place where the rock fall took place.

Reconstruction seen from the south with the basin meant to stop falling rocks.

The rock slide seen from Brusio village with the railway line just below it.

Reconstruction seen from the north with some "Crotti" in the front.

Those crotties are in use to store food an milk.

For a virtual train ride you could start here on Google streetview.

For a cadastral map of the station click here on admin.geo.ch.

Back to the top.

Back to the model layout overview on the introduction page.

Back to the Bernina map on the introduction page.