Provence

[Joseph_Pestell]

Just back from a few weeks in France which included some days staying in a gite near Salon de Provence.

 

Not much specifically railfan activity, but even just driving round there is a lot of railway to see. The PLM had a very dense network of lines in the area serving a very prosperous agricultural area. Special trains ran to take perishables to the markets in Lyon and Paris and many of the stations had remarkably large goods yards and marshalling yards.

 

Add to that, a big network of routes serving the new ports to the west of Marseille (eastern edge of the Camargue), the standard gauge local Bouches du Rhone network, still visible in numerous locations and, finally, the spectacular route along the Cote Bleue.

 

A latecomer to the network, built in the early 20th century, it has only recently had passenger services revived after many years with no service. We did not travel over it but visited several of the little coastal ports that the line serves with many viaducts, tunnels and retaining walls. I will post a few pics later.

[JeffP]

Looking forward to it.

 

I've spent time in that area, travelling over many of the passenger lines, and visiting depots at Marseille, Avignon, Nimes, Arles, Miramas.

 

I've also had a couple of full days on Miramas station when freights often arrived three at a time!, in between stoppers and expresses passing through at around 80 mph.

[rogerfarnworth]

I have been posting in the Narrow Gauge part of the Forum about the Metre-Gauge railways of Provence. It might be that I have been posting in the wrong part of the site. I'd appreciate advice. I presumed that posting about the narrow gauge lines would naturally come under that area. Please have a look and see whether you agree that I should be posting in the French railways section rather than the narrow gauge section.

[Andy Hayter]

Difficult one Roger.  Personally I would post here and provide links in the NG section - but then I might just be biased a bit.