Brig-visp-zermatt-bahn Deh 4/4 Facts For Kids

The Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn Deh 4/4 is a special electric train that helped people travel through the beautiful mountains of Switzerland. These trains first worked for the Brig-Visp-Zermatt-Bahn, a company that ran trains in the canton of Valais. Today they belong to a bigger company called the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. The trains are part of a small group of four power cars that still run on the tracks today.

They move on narrow tracks and use racks to climb steep slopes safely. This makes them perfect for the high mountains where ordinary trains cannot go. People used these trains every day to carry passengers and bags from one village to the next.

The letters and numbers in Deh 4/4 tell us what kind of train it is. The D stands for a car that has space for bags and packages. The e shows that it runs on electricity. The h means it has cogwheels that grip a rack on the track so it can climb hills. The 4/4 tells us it has four axles and every axle drives the train forward.

These trains joined the fleet in 1975 and 1976. They were bought because more people wanted to ride between Täsch and Zermatt. The company needed stronger trains to carry bigger crowds on the busy mountain routes.

The body of each power car is built from light metal. This choice keeps the whole train lighter so it can move easily on mountain tracks. A driver sits in a cab at both ends, so the train does not need to be turned around at stations.

Two motors power each set of wheels. They also turn pinion wheels that grip the rack system to climb slopes. Inside the middle part of the bag area, cabinets hold the controls. A transformer sits under the train to change the electric power into the right form for the motors.

Each train set had a power car, some middle cars, and a control car. These sets began running in 1975 and 1976. They carried people and luggage between Zermatt and Brig every day. The trains also helped on busy shuttles that went back and forth between Täsch and Zermatt.

Today the trains pull or push five passenger cars at once. They work on the Oberalp Pass too. Special couplings let them join smoothly with other cars so the crews can run the trains safely and smoothly.

The BVZ had four special machines called Deh 4/4. They pulled trains up and down the steep mountain tracks. Each one had a number and a name from a nearby town.

These machines worked hard for many years. Three of them are now gone, but one is still running today. It keeps helping people travel safely through the mountains.