When the first railway in Switzerland, the Schweizerische Nordbahn (SNB), was built in 1847 between Baden and Zürich (23 kilometers) and inaugurated on august 7th, the 4 locomotives came from Emil Kessler in Karlsruhe/Germany, built according the principles of the Norris Locomotive Works in Phliadelphia/USA. The first two locomotives were D 1/3 (4-2-0) # 1 "LIMMAT" and # 2 "AARE", the two followings of type D 2/4 (4-4-0) # 3 "RHEIN" and # "REUSS", all were withdrawn and scrapped after some decades. When the 100 years of the first swiss railway was celebrated in 1947, a replica of the first locomotive was built, this D 1/3 # "LIMMAT", using axles and some fittings from the "engerth" locomotive A 2 # 15 "SPEISER" of the Schweizerische Centralbahn (SCB), built in 1857 by Esslingen. This locomotive "LIMMAT" with wooden cladding of cylinders, boiler and firebox is on a test run on the non electrified branch line between Erstfeld and the Alptransit construction site for the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Amsteg, preparations for the public runs in Erstfeld the following day for the celebration of 125 years Gotthard line. This branch line has been removed in the meantime. On the throttle is well known engineer Hanspeter Landenberger.
