A winter day on the Gotthard line: The charter train from Germany over the Gotthard line to the Ticino (Eisenbahn-Nostalgiefahrten Bebra e.V.) was split into 2 trains in Erstfeld. 2-10-0 four cylinder compound Gotthard freight train steamlocomotive C 5/6 # 2969 "Elephant" of Eurovapor Sulgen is pulling 4 cars on a grade of 2.6 %, leaving the Muhren tunnel above Gurtnellen on the Gotthard north ramp. In the rear of the train is Ae 4/7 # 10987 for heating and shoving. The # 2969 was built by SLM Winterthur in 1917 for the SBB. After this locomotive had led the last official steam train of the SBB in 1968, it was prepared as a monument. It stood from 1969 to 1997 in Winterthur in front of the halls of SLM - Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik. In 1997, the locomotive was taken over by Eurovapor and initially parked at the Federal Alcohol Administration in Romanshorn. When planning the refurbishment, it was decided to combine the frame and running gear of locomotive # 2969 with the boiler and the remaining superstructure of locomotive # 2958. On August 20, 2011, the boiler pressure test was successfully carried out and on February 11, 2012, the refurbished boiler 2958 for the C 5/6 arrived in Sulgen from Aargau. Parallel to the work on the boiler, work was carried out in Interlaken on the refurbishment of the running gear of the C 5/6 # 2969. A fire on November 16, 2013 in the depot of the Ballenberg Dampfbahn, where the running gear of locomotive 2669 was also being worked on, led to a considerable setback in the efforts to put the locomotive back into service. As late as December 2013, the damaged running gear was transported by road from Interlaken to Sulgen. In Sulgen, with the help of donations and further long work, work continued towards the goal of commissioning and the frame was repaired. On May 16, 2014, the already completed boiler was then placed on the frame. This was followed by the lining of the boiler with new sheet metal, the installation of lubrication lines on the entire locomotive and the mounting and completion of the fittings on the driver's cab. Then, in the spring of 2016, the rods were reassembled and the slide valves were installed. On October 21, 2016 - on the locomotive's 100th birthday - the "warm pressure test" was then successfully completed. The finished C 5/6 # 2969 locomotive also received the tender of locomotive # 2958. On Saturday, July 22, 2017, the C 5/6 # 2969 drove the first meters under its own power in Sulgen and on October 11, 2017, the locomotive was accepted for operation on SBB lines.
