And as Britain’s trains career off the tracks with mortgage-price fares and looming strikes here’s where they do it properly… 150 years of swish Switzrailand.
1847 was when the first Swiss train route, the Swiss Northern Railway, opened between Zurich and Baden, and nicknamed the Spanisch Brotli Bahn.
Because previously gentry’s servants had to set out from Baden at midnight on foot with Spanish buns.
Bun ride
The buns are a light, flaky pastry filled with a mix of roasted, crushed hazelnuts and apricot jam.
And they were apparently derived from those made in Spanish-ruled Milan during the 17th century.
The new line took just 45 minutes to traverse the 20km route, just a little more than it takes me to get from North Berwick to Edinburgh.
And this is more challenging Swiss terrain and 150 years ago.
I know Swiss trains from my ride in the country from Interlaken.
And observed that they’re priced at the wherewithal of you and me with the Swiss Pass and not the gentry.
Even the ones, the unique ones, that scale the Eiger… the tallest railway ride in Europe, the Jungfraujoch.
Swiss funday and fondue
All of which reminisces we shared as we reconnected with our Swiss amis in the en vogue Ondine restaurant in Edinburgh.
Take the two-hour Luzern-Interlaken Express whose rails we rode taking in five crystal-clear mountain lakes.
And for those of you of the trainspotter penchant (that’s my father-in-law Casey Jones) then here’s the science…
Shortly before starting its steep, winding ascent to Brünig Pass.
And there the train changes to cogwheel drivetrain technology in order to conquer the gradient.
On the right track
Trains, in truth, are a joy in many countries across Europe and as easy as American pie on Amtrak in the States.
Fat as a lord and lubricated with the best white Swiss wine and brimming with the latest Swiss advances we went out into the daylight.
And paid homage to Edinburgh’s most famous son, Freeman of the City of Edinburgh Greyfriars Bobby.
Before thinking about catching the train to North Berwick… I’m just back!
Not a worry they’ve ever had in 150 years of swish Switzrailand.