Virtual Museum

The Papieri train – a local landmark – and the factory transport system

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Everybody loved “Mary”

“Platform 1” for the Papieri train was where the factory's very own train was loaded and unloaded. In Cham, many of the locals still remember this train, which would pass straight through the town’s center several times a day.

From 1920, Cham paper mill operated its own goods line, which connected the factory with Cham train station. It transported all of the heavy raw materials, such as cellulose, paper rolls and reams of paper every day.

It was powered by a locomotive with electric accumulators and had a sedate maximum speed of 17 kilometers per hour. Locomotive Ta 2/2, equipped with two 75 horsepower engines, was nicknamed Mary and always a welcome sight, even though it made a lot of noise going round bends.

The Papieri train’s steering wheel and electromechanical drive display. (2015)
From 1920, the Papieri train was the principal mode of transport for all the mill’s shipments. (Circa 1930)
In addition to the driver, there was always someone on board to position the engine. (1964)
The Papieri train crossed Kantonsstrasse in Cham several times a day until 2014.

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