On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 07:55:37 -0700 (PDT)
Andrew Moglestue <amogles@yahoo.com> wrote:

In any other context I would agree with that. But in my experience
of flying from Basel, everything about this airport is cheap and
cheerful. It's a completely different world than say, Zurich.

Regarding airports but a bit off topic...

I am trying to plan for a trip with the following purpose:

1. Railway Photography in Switzerland;
2. Model Trains shopping;

Considering the milage tickets I can use, I am limited to the following
3 airports as port of entry:

1. Frankfurt (FRA), Germany;
2. Milan (MXP), Italy;
3. Paris (CDG), France;

Unfortunately, Zurich (ZRH) is not an option. Out of the above 3, which
one would be the most convenient and safest security wise to transit
thru considering that I will be carrying:

1. Camera equipments /tripod etc... and
2. When returning, hopefully suitcases of modeltrains up to my luggage
limit (and of course to the limit of my wallet);

The above items would make me an easy target for snatchers / thieves
during transit/change of trains and on trains...

Last time I went thru Frankfurt without any problem and comfortably on
DB ICEs / CNL in and out of Zurich HB, but what about other choices?

Most likely will have a Eurail pass with me.

Advise appreciated.

--
Photographer Chris <photographer.chris@gmail.com>

Only Frankfurt Airport has direct trains to Switzerland out of the 3 choices
Milan, Italy should be ruled out completely as far as safety and
convenience are concerned and in Paris, the RER Line B train from CDG to
Gare du Nord runs through some unpleasant suburbs and you would have to
change to Gare de l`Est or Gare de Lyon for trains to Switzerland, so Paris
isn`t too safe or convenient either.

Sincerely,

John Fleck

I can see you would never visit Egypt and travel from Cairo to Luxor on a train.

Considering the milage tickets I can use, I am limited to the following
3 airports as port of entry:

1. Frankfurt (FRA), Germany;
2. Milan (MXP), Italy;
3. Paris (CDG), France;

As John already stated, the hassle to get to/from MXP or CDG is way
bigger than to/from FRA, because in both cases, you'd have to go into
the main town, and may even have to transfer between stations, which
can be a hassle (in particular between the Gare de Lyon and the Gare
du Nord, where you would be using probably the busiest stretch of the
RER. There might be one possibility allowing to change TGVs in Dijon,
but then, you still have CDG…

Personally, of these three airports, I would favor FRA, where you also
have most flexibility, and probably also the most dense schedules to
Switzerland (a connection every hour).

Max.

The ICE service from Frankfurt Airport delivers you to Basel in about three
hours or you can change at Mannheim or Karlsruhe and pick-up one of the
loco-hauled services.

I can recommend a great model shop in Basel which is a short tram ride from
the SBB station. They have a huge stock which will test your wallet to the
limit !!

Their website shows some photos of the shop (spread over two floors) and
also has a complete list of their current stock.

www.berchersternlicht.ch

I have no link to this shop, just a satisfied customer.


Cheers

Simon

Corrected response:

I inadvertantly attributed to Max Wyss a comment about Paris security.

To clarify, it is John Fleck's view of Paris security that I would suggest is unnecessarily alarmist.

I've passed through Paris with full baggase including all my travel and railway photography gear around 10 times in the last two years and not had any problems.

Most recently was just 10 days ago when I spent some time on various Paris suburban services carrying my full luggage from a week's SNCF photographic trip plus model `purchases' made earlier in the day.

Paris is no worse than any other populated location in the world. In fact the RER and SNCF in general has a (sometimes annoyingly so for photographers) high level of security presence these days with armed security and army personnel on patrol on the stations and in trains.

Turning back to the actual journey options,

Frankfurt/Main – Switzerland is definitely the most convenient of the three options mentioned. Nevertheless, I looked on DB/Hafas for CDG – Bern. One option is CDG – Lyon Part Dieu – Geneve ie one non-Swiss train change in Lyon, then another once you are in Switzerland. This would be a scenic and different alternative to what you have done before. This would be a minimum of about 2.5 hours longer than Frankfurt – Bern.
Another alternative is one service per day by TGV from CDG – Strasbourg, changing there into the 200km/h TER regional express services Strasbourg – Basel, about 2 hours longer the Frankfurt – Bern with a chance to sample the LGV Est Europeen.

I second the model shop recommendation. I consider it to be one of the best shops in Switzerland, but it's not just "a short tram ride", it is also a fairly steep uphill walk. Also further up the hill is another good shop H & M Beltrami at Spalenvorstadt 22
 
Google  map showing both streets
[


http://goo.gl/maps/4L7p
Here is the long standiong Swiss Railways Society directions to both shops:
 
Bercher und Sternlicht
Spalenberg 45

Basel station   20 mins walk, less by tram.
In Old Town. From SBB take Schiffkude tram to Marktplatz (about 1km walk). From SW corner of Marktplatz, runs Hutgasse which crosses another road and becomes Spalenberg. Shop has small frontage on left going up hill. Long and narrow shop on 2 floors
 
Beltrami:
Spalenvorstadt 22  
 from Bercher & Sternlicht (see above) Go up to the top and bear right, cross another road following the tram   shop is on the right. There is a tramway stop between the two shops. The road continues to the Spalentor.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

RE Bercher & Sternlicht
Truly Excellent
Last year I bought from them an excellent HO kit version of the Feldschloschessen brewery, for my son who has a fairly extensive layout in his cellar, (why else are Swiss houses built with cellars). This brewery is known by my grandchildren , (and I think several other 'ex pat' kids living around Basel) as The Beer Castle.  It was the cause of much amazement when one grand daughter learned that I used to work in the UK brewing industry....You worked  in a Beer Castle!!!! Wow!!!. B&S is a wonderful shop and I welcomed the opportunity to go in, have a look with a clear conscience since I actually bought something. Beware of the Johannes Wanner Christmas decoration shop slightly lower down the hill. One member of staff failed the Customer Welcome course but I understand a refund was given.

On the subject of Feldschloschessen, Anyone know where the 3 coaches came from which the brewery used to take visitors up to the brewery from Rheinfelden station. Sadly one has disappeared...has it gone down the line to Kaiseraugst for recycling? 
I dont know if this has received attention before but, in the centre of a traffic island in Rheinfelden is one of the old Cardinal Brewery Fireless steam locos. It appears to have received a false chimney and some fairly violent colour schemes. Planners and  engineers rarely see eye to eye.

Paul Kidger

[Ladies and Gentlemen, may I remind you of the fact that this group
is thought to discuss prototype questions and that for modeling
questions the groups BEMO and SwissRailModeling are recommended.
Thank you. Markus]

I second the model shop recommendation. I consider it to be one of
the best shops in Switzerland, but it's not just "a short tram
ride", it is also a fairly steep uphill walk. Also further up the
hill is another good shop H & M Beltrami at Spalenvorstadt 22

Ah, but by changing onto a Number 3 tram you can get to the tram stop at the
top of the hill which turns the steep uphill walk into a steep-ish downhill
walk.

We'll agree to disagree about the long and short of tram rides J

Ta

Simon

All,

Thank you for all of your comments and I think I will stick with
Frankfurt as port of entry at the time being. Seems to be the easiest
and hassle free option with the luggage/equipments I have with me.

And also thanks for the recommendation for the model shops too and I
think I'll seek more details from the Swiss Model ML when time comes
near the trip.

Chris

I don't know what has happened to the passenger cars (last time I passed through Rheinfelden they were all gone) but I have heard the beer car has been saved by DVZO.
 
See here:
 
http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/foren/read.php?31,5117630

Am 19.06.2012 15:27, schrieb Kidger Paul:

On the subject of Feldschloschessen, Anyone know where the 3 coaches
came from which the brewery used to take visitors up to the brewery
from Rheinfelden station.

They were former BT (Bodensee-Toggenburg) B2 427-429, thus brothers and sisters of the colourful Amor-Express coaches. They were identical with contemporary SBB coaches and might be considered the first Einheitswagen of Switzerland... ;-)

BTW: BT bought four such coaches in 1917 and numbered them 427-430, bringing the total number of identical third class coaches to 30.
In 1927 BT swapped C 429 against four older SBB coaches of 1902, becoming C 451-454 (ex SBB 6811-14 ex JN 428-431). Afterwards original number 430 became 429 and the coach sold to SBB got number 9696 and was withdrawn in 1964, only shortly before its mates. They were withdrawn in 1967 and sent to Rheinfelden in 1968.

Markus, Gürbetal