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Tramways de l'Aude


rogerfarnworth
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This next length of Les Tramways de l'Aude takes us south of Lezignan-Corbieres. Some assumptions have had to be made about the route followed based on what appears to be the route in Michelin Maps of the 1930s.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/16/tramways-de-laude-lezignan-corbieres-to-st-pierre-des-champs

 

Should anyone have better evidence of the route, I'd be delighted to hear from them.

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This next length of Les Tramways de l'Aude takes us south of Lezignan-Corbieres. Some assumptions have had to be made about the route followed based on what appears to be the route in Michelin Maps of the 1930s.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/16/tramways-de-laude-lezignan-corbieres-to-st-pierre-des-champs

 

Should anyone have better evidence of the route, I'd be delighted to hear from them.

 

You have it right with your green line on the map of Lezignan. The line set off in the wrong direction (east) before passing under the Midi main-line and then westwards.

 

Back then this was not the main D611 as it is now. There was a level crossing for the D611 west of the station which was subsequently replaced (1960s?) with a very low-height subway.

 

Your French has let you down. Faubourg (literally "false town") is a general term meaning the suburb of a town. The main part of the village is on the other side (south) of the river and if you opened out the map the village name would be somewhere there.

 

Even by TdA standards, that curve in Ferrals, north of the river bridge, would be too tight. I think that the house on the corner may have been built after the tramway ceased to exist.

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This post carries a bonus! Two lengths of the Tramways de l'Aude in one post! Each is dealt with separately in the posts below. I hope you enjoy them.
 
 
 
There is still a significant amount of the network to investigate!

You have it right with your green line on the map of Lezignan. The line set off in the wrong direction (east) before passing under the Midi main-line and then westwards.

 

Back then this was not the main D611 as it is now. There was a level crossing for the D611 west of the station which was subsequently replaced (1960s?) with a very low-height subway.

 

Your French has let you down. Faubourg (literally "false town") is a general term meaning the suburb of a town. The main part of the village is on the other side (south) of the river and if you opened out the map the village name would be somewhere there.

 

Even by TdA standards, that curve in Ferrals, north of the river bridge, would be too tight. I think that the house on the corner may have been built after the tramway ceased to exist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It appears that I have a little work to do on corrections from the last post!! Thank you Joseph!

Edited by rogerfarnworth
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This post carries a bonus! Two lengths of the Tramways de l'Aude in one post! Each is dealt with separately in the posts below. I hope you enjoy them.
 
 
 
There is still a significant amount of the network to investigate!

 

 

Enjoyed your account of the line to Mouthoumet. A couple of pictures there of the line at Laroque de Fa which I had not seen before. I have a house (or "development opportunity") there which appears in one of the shots.

 

Worth a mention in passing that building any sort of railway to Mouthoumet was very much a political project. The Mouthoumet canton is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe with a population of less than 1 person per km2.

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Thanks Joseph. This is my next effort. ....

 

Tuchan is the terminus of one of the branches of the Tramways de l'Aude. The line travels from Tuchan to Ripaud where it forms a junction with the line from Les Palais.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/25/tramways-de-laude-tuchan-to-ripaud-via-durban

 

The onward route will take us on towards the coast!

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As a result of some kind help from a number of people I have been able to establish the actual route of the tramway leaving Lezignan for the south-eastern part of the network. I have updated my blog accordingly. The revised text and additional aerial image have been included today (26th October 2018) in the original post:

 


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Thanks Joseph. This is my next effort. ....

 

Tuchan is the terminus of one of the branches of the Tramways de l'Aude. The line travels from Tuchan to Ripaud where it forms a junction with the line from Les Palais.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/25/tramways-de-laude-tuchan-to-ripaud-via-durban

 

The onward route will take us on towards the coast!

 

Hi Roger,

 

Tuchan is very close to my French base. So I can add a bit to your excellent summary.

 

There are three buildings left on the old station site still if you include the water tower.

 

That river on the station map is a figment of the cartographers imagination. All there is in reality is a deep drainage channel alongside the road.

 

In all these years (40+!), I had never noticed that the caption on that photo of the bridge is wrong. The Petit Verdouble (usually a dry bed) is somewhat further east and does not intersect with the tramway until about a km further east at the junction for Nouvelles. That bridge is indeed over the watercourse (usually dry but a torrent in the 1999 floods) that takes you up past the Mas de Segur towards Palairac.

 

At Nouvelles (or rather at the road junction for Nouvelles), one can still see clearly (on the ground rather than with aerial photos) that the road used to stay on the right-hand (west) bank of the Petit Verdouble. There was a single bridge across to the road to Nouvelles. I don't know at what date the road was widened and taken over two bridges (both washed away in 1999) to run for about 250M on the left-hand bank of the river. But I am sure that I have seen a pic of a halt at Nouvelles for the tramway on that side of the river. So my guess is that the road was diverted at the time the tramway was built. But not impossible that the road was moved after the tramway  was built or even after closure which would explain the confusion on the Michelin map.

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I have reviewed my blog of 25th October, relating to the line from Tuchan to Ripaud, in the light of comments by Joseph Pestel and added his comments to the post referenced to Joseph and along with a link to this thread. ..... The changes can be seen on the original link. ....

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/25/tramways-de-laude-tuchan-to-ripaud-via-durban

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  • 2 weeks later...
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This next post focusses on the three tramways which served the city of Narbonne.

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/11/03/tramways-de-laude-tramways-in-narbonne

 

I lived and worked on Bd F Mistral for several years but never bothered to find out anything about the TA at this location. Very interesting.

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  • 2 weeks later...
We are nearing the end of a long journey through the countryside of the Departement de l'Aude. This is the penultimate post covering the Tramways of the Departement and covers the line between Narbonne and Ouveillan.

 


 

The last post that I have planned covers the line between Narbonne and Fluery d'Aude.

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