1.
Saurer
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Adolph Saurer AG based in Arbon, Switzerland was a manufacturer of trucks and buses under the Saurer and Berna brand names, active between 1903 and 1982. Their vehicles were used across mainland Europe, particularly in the interwar period. In 1853 Franz Saurer from Veringenstadt in Germany established a foundry for household goods near the Swiss town of Sankt Gallen. In 1863 he started production of Jacquard sewing machines in Arbon, in 1896 his eldest surviving son Adolph Saurer took over the company. He and his son Hippolyt developed the enterprise as a joint-stock company, from 1896 Saurer also manufactured petrol engines and the next year Hippolyt Saurer initiated the production of a phaeton body automobile run by a one-cylinder opposed-piston engine. In 1902 a first four-cylinder T-head engine model with touring car, from 1903 onwards Saurer concentrated on the production of commercial vehicles which soon gained a good reputation. The company ran subsidiary companies in Austria, France, the United Kingdom, in Italy, the Officine Meccaniche manufacturer was for many years licensee of Saurer engines and other mechanical units, which they used in their own ranges of trucks and buses. In Poland the state-owned Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne produced license-built Saurer engines, in the United States, the Saurer Motor Truck Company, headed by C. P. Coleman, had the rights to manufacture and sell trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield. On September 23,1911 the Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania, headed by J. M. Mack, IMTC would continue to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. In 1922 IMTC would become Mack Trucks, Inc, in 1929 Saurer acquired its Swiss rival, Motorwagenfabrik Berna AG of Olten, but the Berna name was allowed to continue, badging the very same Saurer models. From 1932 on, trolleybuses were a significant segment of Saurer production. Typically Saurer, or Berna, trolleybuses featured Brown, Boveri & Cie or Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron electric equipment, Saurer trolleybuses operated in most of Central Europe countries, and still do in several of them. In World War 2 a restructured type BT4500 and 5 BHw of Saurer trucks were used to gas people in the Nazi Chełmno extermination camp. There was concern about the strain on the front axel if too many people were loaded to be gassed, but as piles of bodies were always closest to the doors there was no strain on the front axel. In 1951 Saurer and its Italian licensee, OM, reached an agreement by which Saurer would market in Switzerland OMs light and medium-weight trucks and buses and this was successful and lasted until Saurer closure. Four years later, in 1987, a model 10DM supplied to the Swiss Army meant the very last Saurer truck produced in history, eventually NAW went into liquidation in early 2003. Last remain of the Saurer automotive activity in Arbon is the present FPT Industrial S. p. A engine research center, in 1995, Ernst Thomke, reputed Swiss Manager, took over the leadership of Saurer AG in Arbon as Chairman of the Board
2.
Grindelwald
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Grindelwald is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Berne in Switzerland. In addition to the village of Grindelwald, the municipality includes the settlements of Alpiglen, Burglauenen, Grund, Itramen, Mühlebach, Schwendi, Tschingelberg. Grindelwald village is located at 1,034 m above sea level in the Bernese Alps, Grindelwald was first mentioned in 1146 as Grindelwalt. The oldest traces of a settlement in the area are scattered neolithic tools which have discovered around Grindelwald village. Several Roman era coins have also found in the municipality. A castle was built on the Burgbühl hill above the village during the High Middle Ages, in 1146, King Conrad III granted estates in Grindelwald to Interlaken Monastery. In the late 12th century, the barons of the valleys in what became the Berner Oberland went to war against the expansionist Duke Berthold V of Zähringen. The Duke defeated a coalition of nobles in the Grindlewald valley in 1191 and his victory allowed him to expand Zähringen power into the Oberland, to expand the city of Thun and found the city of Bern. Beginning in the 13th century, Interlaken Monastery began to purchase rights and land in Grindelwald, the Monastery continued to exert influence in the village and in 1315 and again in 1332 ordered the villagers to raid Unterwalden to further the political ambitions of the Abbots patrons. In response to the raids, in 1342, Unterwalden attacked Grindelwald, a few years later, in 1348–49, the villagers joined in an unsuccessful rebellion against ecclesiastical power. In 1528, the city of Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation, Berne was able to impose its will, converted the village and secularized Interlaken Abbey and the Abbeys lands. Grindelwald became part of the bailiwick of Interlaken, under a Bernese bailiff, the first village church was a wooden building from the mid-12th century. The wooden building was replaced with the stone St. Marys Church in 1180 and this church was replaced in the 16th century, and the present church was built in 1793. The tourism industry began in Grindelwald in the late 18th century as foreigners discovered the scenic town, pictures of the vistas were widely reprinted, quickly making the village internationally famous. In the 19th century many Englishmen came to the village to climb the peaks around the valley. The Finsteraarhorn, the Wetterhorn, the Eiger, the Schreckhorn, the first resort opened in 1888, there were 10 hotels in 1889, and by 1914 there were 33 in Grindelwald. A rack railway was built to Kleine Scheidegg in 1893, numerous ski lifts, cable cars, hiking trails and alpine huts were built in the late 19th and 20th centuries to allow tourists to explore the mountains. Today, almost the entire economy of Grindelwald is based on tourism, the municipality is quite large and is divided into seven mountain communities
3.
Bus
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A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry many passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers, many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus do not charge a fare, in many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special licence above and beyond a regular drivers licence. Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, the first internal combustion engine buses, or motor buses, were used in 1895. Recently, interest has been growing in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, as of the 2010s, bus manufacturing is increasingly globalised, with the same designs appearing around the world. Bus is a form of the Latin word omnibus. The first horse-drawn omnibus service was started by a businessman named Stanislas Baudry in the French city of Nantes in 1823, Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname omnibus to the vehicle. The omnibus in Nantes was a success and Baudry moved to Paris, a similar service was introduced in London in 1829. The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833, in parallel to the development of the bus was the invention of the electric trolleybus, typically fed through trolley poles by overhead wires. The Siemens brothers, William in England and Ernst Werner in Germany, sir William first proposed the idea in an article to the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1881 as an. arrangement by which an ordinary omnibus. The first such vehicle, the Electromote, was made by his brother Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens and presented to the public in 1882 in Halensee, Germany. Although this experimental vehicle fulfilled all the criteria of a typical trolleybus. Max Schiemann opened a trolleybus in 1901 near Dresden, in Germany. Although this system operated only until 1904, Schiemann had developed what is now the standard trolleybus current collection system, in the early days, a few other methods of current collection were used. Leeds and Bradford became the first cities to put trolleybuses into service in Great Britain on 20 June 1911, in Siegerland, Germany, two passenger bus lines ran briefly, but unprofitably, in 1895 using a six-passenger motor carriage developed from the 1893 Benz Viktoria. Another commercial bus line using the same model Benz omnibuses ran for a time in 1898 in the rural area around Llandudno. Daimler also produced one of the earliest motor-bus models in 1898, the vehicle had a maximum speed of 18 kph and accommodated up to 20 passengers, in an enclosed area below and on an open-air platform above. With the success and popularity of bus, Daimler expanded production, selling more buses to companies in London and, in 1899, to Stockholm
4.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Liechtenstein
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Liechtenstein, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein, is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in Central Europe. It is a monarchy with the rank of principality, headed by the Prince of Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east and it has an area of just over 160 square kilometres and an estimated population of 37,000. Divided into 11 municipalities, its capital is Vaduz and its largest municipality is Schaan, the unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the world at 1. 5%. Liechtenstein has been known in the past as a tax haven, however. An alpine country, Liechtenstein is mainly mountainous, making it a winter sport destination, many cultivated fields and small farms are found both in the south and north. The country has a financial sector centered in Vaduz. Liechtenstein is a member of the European Free Trade Association, and while not being a member of the European Union and it also has a customs union and a monetary union with Switzerland. The oldest traces of human existence in Liechtenstein date back to the Middle Paleolithic era, neolithic farming settlements were founded in the valleys around 5300 BC. Hallstatt and La Tène cultures flourished during the late Iron Age from around 450 BC possibly under influence from the Greek. One of the most important tribal groups in the Alpine region were the Helvetii, in 58 BC, at the Battle of Bibracte, Julius Caesar defeated the Alpine tribes, bringing the region under closer control of the Roman Empire. By 15 BC, Tiberius, who was destined to be the second Roman emperor, Liechtenstein was integrated into the Roman province of Raetia. The area was maintained by the Roman military, which maintained a large legionary camp called Brigantium near Lake Constance, a Roman road ran through the territory. In 259/60 Brigantium was destroyed by the Alemanni, a Germanic people who settled in the area in around 450. In the Early Middle Ages, the Alemanni had settled the eastern Swiss plateau by the 5th century, Liechtenstein was at the eastern edge of Alemannia. In the 6th century, the region became part of the Frankish Empire following Clovis Is victory over the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 504. The area that later became Liechtenstein remained under Frankish hegemony until the empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD following the death of Charlemagne. The territory of present-day Liechtenstein belonged to East Francia until it was reunified with Middle Francia under the Holy Roman Empire around 1000 AD
7.
Stagecoach
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A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon used to carry passengers and goods inside. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand, widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers. The business of running stagecoaches or the act of journeying in them was known as staging, the yard of ale drinking glass is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though it was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts. The stagecoach was a vehicle pulled by horses or mules. The primary requirement was that it was used as a conveyance, running on an established route. Vehicles that were used included buckboards and dead axle wagons, surplus Army ambulances, on the outside were two back seats facing one another, which the British called baskets. In addition to the driver who guided the vehicle, a shotgun messenger, armed with a coach gun. The stagecoach traveled at an speed of about five miles per hour. The term stage originally referred to the distance between stations on a route, the coach traveling the route in stages, but through metonymy it came to apply to the coach. A fresh set of horses would be staged at the next station, under this staging system, the resting, watering and feeding of the spent horses would not delay the coach. This system based on making fresh horses regularly available along a route had been in use by a number of different civilisations, the stagecoach was also called a stage or stage carriage. Varieties included, mail coach or post coach, used for carrying mail, mud coach, lighter and smaller, with flat sides and simpler joinery. Road coach, revived in Great Britain and Ireland during the half of the 19th century. The first crude depiction of a coach, not necessarily a stagecoach, was in an English manuscript from the 13th century, crude coaches were built from the 16th century. Without suspension, these coaches achieved very low speeds on the poor quality rutted roads of the time, by the mid 17th century, a basic stagecoach infrastructure had been put in place. The first stagecoach route started in 1610 and ran from Edinburgh to Leith and this was followed by a steady proliferation of other routes around the country. A string of coaching inns operated as stopping points for travellers on the route between London and Liverpool by the mid 17th century, the coach would depart every Monday and Thursday and took roughly ten days to make the journey during the summer months. They also became adopted for travel in and around London by mid-century
8.
Postbus
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Postbus services are run by the postal delivery company and combine the functions of public transport and mail delivery/collection. A standard passenger fare is payable to the driver/postie, horse-driven mail coach and public transport services were frequently combined prior to the advent of motorized transport. The travel writer Anthony Lambert describes the concept in Switzerland, the Swiss postbus system, evolved from the 19th century mail coach service. And further that the Swiss believe and that the only sensible way to organise public transport services is to achieve the maximum integration between modes. The service became used widely in Europe by the 1960s, though in recent years there has been a separation of services in some countries. In Austria, the system is known as Postbus. From 1907 onwards power-driven vehicles were operated by the Imperial-Royal Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung, in the course of the privatisation of the Österreichische Post, the Österreichische Industrieholding sold the postbus branch to the Austrian Federal Railways group in 2003. Today the ÖBB-Postbus GmbH is the countrys largest bus company serving regional, the corporation also comprises the ÖBBs former railway bus service as well as the Czech ČSAD Autobusy company in České Budějovice acquired in 2004. The first postbus lines in Bohemia started in the days of Austria-Hungary, the first lines were Pardubice – Bohdaneč and Pardubice – Holice, other lines came later. In 1914, bus transport in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia consisted of 23 lines in all, during the World War I, bus transport was interrupted, vehicles were requisitioned by the army and rebuild to trucks. Since 1918, postbus transport continued in Czechoslovakia, the post transport had its main base place at Citadela, a former army depot in Vyšehrad, Prague, and in 1926 it had 216 buses in the whole Czechoslovakia. In 1927, the Citadela base with many equipment and material was burned by fire, the second main base place was built in Vršovice, Prague. In 1927 the Czechoslovak state railway company ČSD began its state bus lines, in 1933-1934 state postbus lines were transferred and merged with railway bus lines into ČSD railway company. The same year, another route was started in southwestern Finland between Turku and Mynämäki and in 1922 a third service began between the northern city Oulu and Taivalkoski. By 1939 there were over 60 postbus routes around Finland, in addition to that, many private bus companies also carried mail on their buses. The busiest year for the Finnish Postbus network was 1971, with 222 bus lines around the country run by more than 420 buses famous for their orange colour. Then the posts authority decided to concentrate postal transports on trucks, in 1999, the remaining postbus lines and vehicles, now organised under a separate company Gold Line Oy, were sold to a private bus company, Koiviston Auto Oy. Gold Line remains Koivistos subsidiary operating from Rovaniemi, in Germany, a postbus system for passenger and freight operation, run by the Reichspost authority and its post-war Bundespost successor, existed until May 1985
9.
Post horn
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The post horn is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with cupped mouthpiece, used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach. It was used especially by postilions of the 18th and 19th centuries, the post horn is sometimes confused with the coach horn. While the two types of horn principally served the purpose, the post horn has a cylindrical bore and was generally used on a coach pulled by two horses. John Lloyd is one of the users of post horn since 1900s, the instrument commonly had a circular or coiled shape with three turns of the tubing, though sometimes it was straight. It is, therefore an example of a natural horn, the cornet was developed from the post horn by adding valves. In the late 17th century, Johann Beer composed a Concerto à4 in B♭,9, the Post horn Serenade, in 1779. Mahler and others incorporated the post horn into their orchestras for certain pieces, on such occasions, the orchestras horn player usually plays the instrument. One example of post horn use in classical music is the famous off-stage solo in Mahlers Third Symphony. Due to the scarcity of this instrument, however, music written for it is played on a trumpet or fugelhorn. In 1844, the German cornet player Hermann Koeing wrote Post Horn Gallop as a solo for post horn with orchestral accompaniment, in the 20th century it became a popular piece for brass bands. During World War I wooden post horns were used as a means of collecting war donations via a method called the Nail Men, people would donate, and in exchange be allowed to hammer a nail into the horn, until the horn was completely covered. Since 1941 it has played, usually on bugle, at the beginning of home matches of Leicester City Football Club of Association Football in Britain. An imitation of the post horns fanfare was a device in music describing, or referring to. Handels Belshazzar includes in the act a sinofonia which uses a similar motive, subtitled allegro postilions. A very similar movement in included in the production of Telemanns Tafelmusik. Beethovens Les adieux piano sonata is centered around on a horn-like motive, schuberts Winterreise includes the song Die Post, of which the piano part prominently features a horn signal motive. The post horn is used in the logo of national post services in many countries, the post horn is included in Unicode as U+1F4EF
10.
Bern
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The city of Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their Bundesstadt, or federal city. With a population of 141,762, Bern is the fourth-most populous city in Switzerland, the Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000, Bern is also the capital of the canton of Bern, the second-most populous of Switzerlands cantons. The official language in Bern is German, but the language is an Alemannic Swiss German dialect. In 1983, the old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern is ranked among the top ten cities for the best quality of life. The etymology of the name Bern is uncertain and it has long been considered likely that the city was named after the Italian city of Verona, which at the time was known as Bern in Middle High German. As a result of the find of the Bern zinc tablet in the 1980s, it is now common to assume that the city was named after a pre-existing toponym of Celtic origin. The bear was the animal of the seal and coat of arms of Bern from at least the 1220s. The earliest reference to the keeping of bears in the Bärengraben dates to the 1440s. No archaeological evidence that indicates a settlement on the site of city centre prior to the 12th century has been found so far. In antiquity, a Celtic oppidum stood on the Engehalbinsel north of Bern, fortified since the second century BC, during the Roman era, a Gallo-Roman vicus was on the same site. The Bern zinc tablet has the name Brenodor, in the Early Middle Ages, a settlement in Bümpliz, now a city district of Bern, was some 4 km from the medieval city. The medieval city is a foundation of the Zähringer ruling family, according to 14th-century historiography, Bern was founded in 1191 by Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen. In 1218, after Berthold died without an heir, Bern was made an imperial city by the Goldene Handfeste of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. In 1353, Bern joined the Swiss Confederacy, becoming one of the eight cantons of the period of 1353 to 1481. The city grew out towards the west of the boundaries of the peninsula formed by the river Aare, the Zytglogge tower marked the western boundary of the city from 1191 until 1256, when the Käfigturm took over this role until 1345. It was, in turn, succeeded by the Christoffelturm until 1622, during the time of the Thirty Years War, two new fortifications – the so-called big and small Schanze – were built to protect the whole area of the peninsula
11.
Oberalp Pass
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Oberalp Pass is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting the cantons of Graubünden and Uri between Disentis and Andermatt. When the road closes depends on snowfall and varies between the end of October and the beginning of December, the road opens again in spring, usually by the end of April but sometimes not until mid May. In winter, a ski area extends to the Graubünden side, connecting the pass well into the Tujetsch territory to Dieni, the Rhine springs from a source nearby, which is marked by a working lighthouse. A multiday trekking route is signposted across Oberalp pass and along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, oberalpsee is located 20 m below, in the direction of Andermatt. Oberalppass railway station is located next to the Oberalppass road and it is at the base of the Oberalp ski area. The station is owned and run by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn and it has 3 platforms, one of which is a bay platform from Andermatt, and is often closed during the winter. The railway on both sides of the station is a line, so Oberalppass is an important passing place. Regional trains to Andermatt and Disentis/Mustér are operated hourly in each direction, with services to. The station also has several Glacier Express trains and, during the season when the adjacent road is closed. The station has a waiting room, the station is the highest point on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn network. The Oberalp Pass passes the Oberalp ski area, which is part of the Gotthard Oberalp Arena, there are currently plans for the ski area to be linked up with Nätschen, the neighbouring mountain, which is also part of the Gotthard Oberalp Arena. List of highest paved roads in Europe List of mountain passes List of the highest Swiss passes Gotthard Oberalp Arena Profile on climbbybike. com Map, photos, cycing elevation chart - both sides
