Well its pretty cold here in Staffordshire so I thought I would post some pictures of warmer times from last summer in France. I should have done it a long time ago but other things got in the way.

We went on a trip to Mont Dore for a day trip and visited the station in the resort. It being a Sunday there were no trains due but I snapped a few pictures of the station. Here is one:

Then we went down the line to Bourboille (please forgive me if I am spelling these incorrectly) and again snapped a few nice shots of the station:

On the way back we decided to stop off at Bort Les Ourges:

Where there were a number of older Autorails stabled in the open and two Draisines. The line is currently not operational due to a few maintenance issues and the cost of putting these right meaning that the local funding authority has withdrawn funding. However I am hopeful that these issues will be resolved soon. Stabled on the line are two X2700 units that look newer than they are due to being refurbished by the SNCF. There is also an X7400 Autorail Trailer.

An X2900 Autorail (in very nice condition).

2 Draisines (1 of which is a DU65 similar to the kind I have made an N Gauge model of, the other I am unsure of the type).

Finally there is an X3900 Picasso inspection Salon in very poor rusted condition.

More information can be found about the railway here.

On the way back we stopped briefly in Bugeat on the Limoges - Ussel line. I was taking a picture of the goods shed (which is in a very nice unspoilt condition except for the satellite dish!):

Then the bells on the Level Crossing sounded and an X73500 railcare came through:

It had someones Grafiti tag on the front end of it:

Following this we jumped in the van and drove to Eymoutier to see if I could get a quick picture of it there. We managed to arrive just ahead of it and got a nice snap of a busy weekend train loading and unloading:

Over the next few days we visited St Germainne Le Belle which is on the mainline towards Toulouse. Unfortunately time was against us and we could not wait for half an hour to see the local train pull in and pick up the passengers. However I did get a few nice snaps of the station:

On Bastille day a French preservation society runs TD 740 from Limoges to Eymoutier then from Eymoutier to Chatteuxneuf and back to Eymoutier before returning in the early evening to Limoges. We went to see the locomotive arrive in Eymoutier:

After which we went to the Vide Grenier which was in the town centre. This was kind of like a car boot sale but without the car boots. There were countless items of junk being sold but a few nice treasures.

It was a fantastic holiday and hopefully when I go out again this year there will be some more rail pictures to post.