► Farwell to the SBB EW I & II "papagei" (parrot) wagons

The EW I & II Wagons were once the backbone of the SBB fleet, with over 1000 produced of the EW I wagons alone. EW stands for Einheitwagon - which roughly translates to standardised wagon. These could also be seen amongst private railways in Switzerland such as the BLS and SOB. Even the narrow gauge railways had their version of this wagon.
There are still some of these in use today, but they have been successively scrapped over the last few years. The wagons I present in this film are the grey - blue - green wagons with yellow doors, also known as "Papagei" - Parrot. They all required a conductor to be on the train during operation because the doors didn't have obstacle detection. In 2015, all wagons were taken out of service due to a requirement the department of transport introduced, requiring trains to be equipped with an override button for the emergency brakes.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[@enemanozzle]

Es war ein besonderes Fahrgefühl, in einem EW I oder EW II im Sommer mit geöffnetem Fenster auf einer kurvenreichen Strecke nach Zugreihe R 125 % zu fahren und sich den Fahrtwind um die Ohren pfeifen zu lassen.

[@shanghai264359]

These were the mainstay of operations when we first started travelling by train in Switzerland in the early 70's. Happy memories of speeding down the Rhone Valley to Brig!

[@officialmcdeath]

Fond memories of travelling on the blue/white BLS versions between Basel and Brig in the early '80s - they always felt better looked-after than their green cousins :-) \m/

[@davidpenney4171]

Great video. During my last trip to Switzerland in 2019, I noticed dozens of redundant, no longer needed locomotives in Lausanne. Most were Re 4/4s. I've been told SBB is trying to sell some off before scrapping, but few are interested. One has been repainted in Rheingold colors.

[@lorirocks777]

Yes, the problem is they're over priced in order to make it harder for the competition, furthermore, the locos they're selling are in need of a full revision.

[@davidpenney4171]

@@lorirocks777 I heard $450,000 Sfr, each, WAY too much!

[@ersatzkanaljens9713]

Papagei , habe ich nun auch 3 Stück sehr schöne Wagen 😊 Brawa.

[@regisbuchilly1622]

Super video

[@petermauderli]

Da werden schöne Erinnerungen wach

[@stefanwernli190]

tolle Aufnahmen wie immer. Leider versuchte ich vergebens bei den SBB einen solchen oder ähnlichen Wagen zu erwerben. Sehr sture Antwort gespickt mit Ausreden, schade

[@lorirocks777]

Stefan Wernli Danke schön. Komisch. Ich dachte dass das möglich war. Wie machen das Vereine?

[@stefanwernli190]

@@lorirocks777 Das frage ich mich auch, vermutlich mit Vitamine B. Nun egal ich glaube bei der BLS hat mehr Gehör für mein Anliegen. Am liebsten hätte ich eben einen Bmp 51 xxxx

[@MrNicolas1991]

Sehr schöne aufnahme

[@lorirocks777]

Merci!

[@briancooper562]

Is the person who puts train consists together called Heinz ? (there are more then 57 combinations of different coaching stock). Is there a reason other then weight reduction that these coaches (wagons) have a reduced height over what is now standard for both locomotives and stock. I wondered if one of the operators of this stock had a reduced running gauge.

[@lorirocks777]

Haha. Not that I'm aware of. Maybe it was just a case of not making them taller than they had to be. The older SNCF regional consists also come to mind a being relatively low.