An iconic Swiss railway has marked its 100th anniversary with vintage locomotives giving rail buffs and tourists a taste of the Steam Age set against the heady Alpine vistas that once thrilled James Bond fans.
The Furka Pass is located at 2,431 metres above sea level, connecting Gletsch, in the canton of Valais, with Realp, in the canton of Uri. The pass is famous for a winding road carved out of the mountainside with a series of whiplash bends, and the Hotel Belvedere is situated in a high hairpin.
Film buffs might recall the pass featured in a car chase scene performed by Sean Connery in James Bond’s silver Aston Martin DB5, as he navigated the double threat of Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) in her Ford Mustang, and Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) in a yellow and black 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedanca de Ville, driven by his henchman, Oddjob (Harold Sakata), in one of the best-loved Bond movies of all time, 1964’s “Goldfinger.”
These days, the “chase” on the Furka Pass is all about the romance of rail travel as a team of volunteers operates and maintains the Pass’s train heritage, dating way back to 1926 when the first steam train created a vital regional link across the valleys of central Switzerland.
Though the train gained a tunnel and lost the need to take the mountain route in the early eighties, hundreds of rail enthusiasts, jokingly called the “pioneers,” have worked tirelessly to restore the tracks and the trains and keep them in working order.
A first section of the line opened as a visitor attraction in 1992, and by 2010, 18-kilometres of track were restored, running through “a largely unspoilt high‑alpine landscape, along steep slopes, through narrow gorges and up to more than 2,000 metres above sea level,” the website boasts.
These days, historic locomotives and carriages painstakingly maintained by the team of volunteers still operate on the metre‑gauge rack railway, continuing to serve summer tourists and visitors, linking Realp and Oberwald.
@steelrailblues Steam and fog mix on Switzerland’s iconic Furka Pass #railfanning #trainsoftiktok #traintok #trainspotting #railroad #railfan #railroading #railfansoftiktok #railfans #steamtrain #dampfbahnfurkabergstrecke #furkapass ♬ original sound – SteelRailBlues
A ticket for a two-and-a-half-hour, one-way trip starts at CHF46 (around €50). Passengers can even book “coffee and croissants” on morning journeys, or “aperitif platters” in the trains’ SteamPub at a price of CHF25 (about €27) between 16 July and 16 August 2026 on selected voyages.
The 100th anniversary events commenced on 3 July and went on all weekend, with an exhibition, special train rides, encounters, and legendary tales.
