Brown Boveri delivered seven 52 kW motorcoaches, with wooden bodies and side doors to each compartment, between 1898 and 1900, numbered 1 to 7.

They also delivered, between 1898 and 1913, five 4-wheeled 110 kW rack bankers which were used beyond Grafenort on the steep uphill section, to assist the motorcoaches up the hill.

To connect the railway with the national rail network in Hergiswil, where the metre gauge Brünigbahn of SBB had a station, a concession was passed in 1956.

The new motor coaches were built for the same maximum speed as the contemporary Brünigbahn motive power (75 km/h or 47 mph).

Formally, the Swiss Federal Railway sold the Brünig line to the LSE which paid for it with its own shares.

The tunnel replaces a less direct surface alignment, allowing the abolition of several congested level crossings and the provision of double track.

[2] From Hergiswil the LSE line runs through the Lopper II tunnel, under a shoulder of Mount Pilatus, and then bridges the Alpnachersee arm of Lake Lucerne to reach Stansstad.

[11] Prior to the opening of the Grafenort-Engelberg tunnel, the line was operated by BDeh 4/4 electric multiple units.

Various combinations of power and trailer cars were used depending on passenger demand, although a maximum of four-car trains could be used over the rack section.

Longer trains had to be split at either Obermatt ZB or when starting from Engelberg, Since the opening of the tunnel, the line is served by longer trains usually made up of a HGe 4/4 II locomotive at the uphill (Engelberg) end, then some of the original BDeh 4/4 trailer cars, then a newer Stadler GSW multiple unit at the valley (Luzern) end.

[14] For the summer 2013 season a first class panoramic car was added to the Engelberg end of the trains, the service being renamed "Luzern-Engelberg Express".