Locomotives in advertising
Story 95
In May 1995, the railway company BLS christened two new locomotives on the station grounds in Brig. One of these was the “Gornergrat”, sponsored by the Gornergrat Railway. At the time, the inauguration in Brig had an invaluable advertising impact for the Gornergrat Railway.
On 13 May 1995, the people of Brig, guests from the worlds of business and politics as well as 500 other interested persons, who had arrived on a special train, met at Brig station. As the Walliser Bote (Valais Herald) wrote, they had come together to take part in a christening ceremony.
Two further marvels of railway engineering were ceremoniously christened on Saturday at the station in Brig. “Gornergrat” and “Mittelallalin” are the names of the two new BLS class 465 locomotives.
The sponsorship of the “Gornergrat” locomotive was assumed by the Gornergrat Railway, represented by the Director at the time Remo Perren.
Throughout Switzerland thanks to BLS
The name “Gornergrat” was thus attached to one of Switzerland’s strongest locomotives. In his speech, Remo Perren described the gesture made by BLS as an act of friendship and as a gift in view of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Gornergrat Railway in 1998.
“BLS carries the name all over Switzerland, and this will have an invaluable advertising effect,” said Perren.
