#1760· RhB Ge 4/4
Bernina Railway Ge 6/6 81
🇨🇭 Switzerland ·built by Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works· from 1916· class of 1 Swiss electric locomotive
4 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Berninabahn Ge 44 81 im Bahnhof Blonay 2018: Elettrificazione· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. Die Lok Ge 4-4 81: hrs51· CC BY 4.0
- 3. Ge4-4 Nr. 181 ehemalig RhB -Baujahr 1917 - Blonay-Chamby - 20080817: Micha L. Rieser· Attribution
- 4. RhB-Ge-4-4-181: Bobo11· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Bernina Railway Ge 6/6 81, later reclassified as Ge 4/4 81, and later still known as the Rhaetian Railway Ge 4/4 181, is a 1000 V DC metre gauge electrically powered heritage locomotive made in Switzerland. The locomotive was so named under the Swiss locomotive and railcar classification system. According to that system, Ge 6/6 denotes a narrow gauge electric locomotive with a total of six axles, all of which are drive axles, and Ge 4/4 is similarly a narrow gauge electric locomotive, but with only four axles, all of them drive axles.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 110 years ago, in 1916.
- 705 kW is about 8 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 8 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 13.9 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 27 years (1943–1970).
electric locomotive: Draws power from overhead wires or a third rail and pulls separate carriages.
spec sheet
- built
- 1916
- in service from
- 1943
- retired
- 1970
- status
- preserved
- number built
- 1
- kind
- Electric
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- builders
- Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Brown, Boveri & Cie
- operators
- Rhaetian Railway, Bernina railway line
- top speed
- 45 km/h
- power
- 705 kW
- gauge
- 1,000 mm metre gauge
- electric system
- 1000 V DC Overhead
- wheel arrangement
- C′C′ (originally)
- length
- 13.9 m
- weight
- 46.6 t
- Dutch name
- RhB Ge 4/4
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q516678, Wikipedia: Bernina Railway Ge 6/6 81 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.