In 2007, 125 years of the famous Gotthard line was celebrated. The big festival in Erstfeld and Biasca at the beginning of September 2007 was attended by 50000 people. The organizer of the numerous attractions, Diego Marti from the SBB, had relations with the Czech state railway and the original idea to invite an extra train with the beautiful steam locomotives of the Ceske Drahy to Switzerland. Due to profile problems it was not possible to drive the big steam locomotives through the tunnels of the mountain line till Chiasso (which was envisaged), but the train ran with steam from the Czech Republic to Erstfeld. The cars circulated over the mountain line pulled by Re 460 # 106 instead. Rather sensationell was the very first visit of a such large steamlocomotive in Erstfeld, on the foot of the Gotthard mountain line. The three cylinder express train steamlocomotive 498 # 022 "Albatros" of the former Czechoslovak State Railways (CSD) was built in 1946/1947 in a series of 40 by Škoda, Plzeň. They had 1626 kW and a maximum velocity of 120 km/h. The last "Albatros" to be decommissioned was 498 # 022 in 1976. It was preserved and is maintained as an operational museum locomotive of the ČD in Praha-Smíchov.
