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Spotlc
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On 18/11/2019 at 01:13, Pacific231G said:

This loco worked the last commercial steam train in France on 20 November 1975 between Gray & Chalindrey

 

@Spotlc Bonsoir et salut! I've only just come across your thread - love the photos! I happen to like old cameras but never have had the nerve (or need) to restore them.

 

I saw a mention of Gray and Chalindrey. The line has long been abandoned though the track is still in place in parts despite rather large trees growing through the sleepers. The sister loco to 140C38, 140C27 was overhauled at Gray a few years ago before being sent to the Train à Vapeur des Cévennes, driven by the father of a friend of mine. Despite Gray being a somewhat rural backwater, it was at one time quite an important hub in railway terms. Steam locos are still overhauled there - there was a Pacific there in steam about 4 years ago in what seemed to be almost Southern Region green with brass banding. I didn't have a camera and I wasn't able to stop to take any details unfortunately (Madame Philou was in a rush to go to IKEA in Dijon - totally wrong priority - but there you go!).

 

As an add-on, Chalindrey is my local station and where our railway club is based.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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And used to be (???), an important changeover from diesel to electric haulage.

Visited around 1999/2000, got a guide tour with both lads.

 

 

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12 hours ago, Philou said:

 

@Spotlc Bonsoir et salut! I've only just come across your thread - love the photos! I happen to like old cameras but never have had the nerve (or need) to restore them.

 

I saw a mention of Gray and Chalindrey. The line has long been abandoned though the track is still in place in parts despite rather large trees growing through the sleepers. The sister loco to 140C38, 140C27 was overhauled at Gray a few years ago before being sent to the Train à Vapeur des Cévennes, driven by the father of a friend of mine. Despite Gray being a somewhat rural backwater, it was at one time quite an important hub in railway terms. Steam locos are still overhauled there - there was a Pacific there in steam about 4 years ago in what seemed to be almost Southern Region green with brass banding. I didn't have a camera and I wasn't able to stop to take any details unfortunately (Madame Philou was in a rush to go to IKEA in Dijon - totally wrong priority - but there you go!).

 

As an add-on, Chalindrey is my local station and where our railway club is based.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Gray is the main depot for Europorte (Eurotunnel's open-access freight subsidiary.) As such, it sees a rather eclectic collection of industrial shunters being repaired or rebuilt, as well as less frequent visits by the main-line fleet.

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39 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

Gray is the main depot for Europorte (Eurotunnel's open-access freight subsidiary.)

 

@Fat Controller Well, I never knew that! The times I've been past, I've only seen a stack of post-war American(?) centre-cab Bo-Bos (think a double-ended Class 20) rotting away. Might even be Co-Cos.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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13 minutes ago, Philou said:

 

@Fat Controller Well, I never knew that! The times I've been past, I've only seen a stack of post-war American(?) centre-cab Bo-Bos (think a double-ended Class 20) rotting away. Might even be Co-Cos.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Sound like the locos left behind by the 'Mericans; either Whitcombs or GE 44-tonners. Some of these were being used by C.F.de Landes on the network of lines in the eponymous forests. Europorte took over VFLI, who had been the exploitants, when they bought Veolia's French rail assets.

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3 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

Sound like the locos left behind by the 'Mericans; either Whitcombs or GE 44-tonners. Some of these were being used by C.F.de Landes on the network of lines in the eponymous forests. Europorte took over VFLI, who had been the exploitants, when they bought Veolia's French rail assets.

Just went on to the Google map of Gray, and then on to Street View, where I found this:- https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.4520821,5.5802569,3a,15y,319.28h,87.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKmLgb_IyWEejwnMhUjWFNg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

The two big diesels are ex-SNCF 'Baldwin' A1A-A1A, obtained from the USA under the Marshall Plan. I first encountered them at Dunkerque Grande Synthe, in the middle of the 1990s. There were normally a couple there, and others at the train-ferry terminal.

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@Fat Controller This is the one I was thinking of: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.4520437,5.5802448,3a,15y,307.59h,89.07t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUI_c6e2BE7Cz4UoVUci4hw!2e0!5s20130801T000000!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en The bluey-grey Bo-Bo on the left. There have been some green ones too. I thought the site was pretty much static, but stock seems to move around, appear and re-appear. Clearly, Europorte must be busy too as there is one view with quite a number of modern units (Vossloh?) parked up.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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On 07/06/2021 at 22:42, Philou said:

Bonsoir et salut! I've only just come across your thread - love the photos!

 

Mille mercis, Phillip!  Sorry for the delay in replying.  Digital cameras are vastly superior in almost every way, and the top end range of DSLR's like Nikon or Canon have probably resolutions approaching medium format,  but I still like dabbling with film photography and old cameras!  I developed my first film over sixty years ago, and I grew up next to a mainline railway, so I excpect they are both in my blood!

 

Here are a couple more for Joseph in St Sulpice Laurière:

img017.jpg.7e7340ebb9b4f09c614dc3bfdc63a9a0.jpg

1983 Nikon L35AF

This is the other side of the goods shed, with what I suppose is a PW department vehicle agant the blocks.  What is interesting is that there appears to be no obvious road access to this building - perhaps it was just used for transhipment of goods to and from Montluçon - odd?

 

img020.jpg.146c0d461ac5bc98906fc0997a1e8f75.jpg

1983 Nikon L35AF

A more general view across the northern end of the station,  with more PW vehicles in evidence.  They seemed to keep quite a bit of PW stuff here when this was taken in 2014

 

Best, Mike

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7 hours ago, Spotlc said:

 

Mille mercis, Phillip!  Sorry for the delay in replying.  Digital cameras are vastly superior in almost every way, and the top end range of DSLR's like Nikon or Canon have probably resolutions approaching medium format,  but I still like dabbling with film photography and old cameras!  I developed my first film over sixty years ago, and I grew up next to a mainline railway, so I excpect they are both in my blood!

 

Here are a couple more for Joseph in St Sulpice Laurière:

img017.jpg.7e7340ebb9b4f09c614dc3bfdc63a9a0.jpg

1983 Nikon L35AF

This is the other side of the goods shed, with what I suppose is a PW department vehicle agant the blocks.  What is interesting is that there appears to be no obvious road access to this building - perhaps it was just used for transhipment of goods to and from Montluçon - odd?

 

img020.jpg.146c0d461ac5bc98906fc0997a1e8f75.jpg

1983 Nikon L35AF

A more general view across the northern end of the station,  with more PW vehicles in evidence.  They seemed to keep quite a bit of PW stuff here when this was taken in 2014

 

Best, Mike

I'm really enjoying these Mike. I suspect that, whatever the definition,  greater dynamic range may be one reason why film has a different feel from digital. Though we are of course seeing these as digital images, I wonder if the greater range of  tones in the original negative and print makes a difference to the final image.

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On 10/06/2021 at 00:06, Pacific231G said:

I suspect that, whatever the definition,  greater dynamic range may be one reason why film has a different feel from digital.

Hi David,
yes, that is certainly one of the reasons, but there are so many possible variables with both film and digital that it is difficult to nail down any single one with confidence.   This is especially true of flm cameras - one of the largest stockists of analogue photopgraphic supplies in Europe is Macodirect in Stapelfeld, Germany, and at present they list 28 different manufacturers of black and white films in many different formats and film speeds. (Silverprint in London, and Labo Argentique near Limoges, will have similar ranges)

 

Now, any one of these could be developed in dozens of different commercial developers, not to mention countless home brews, so already the variations are enormous. Add to this variations in processing techniques,  the quality of the lens being used, the quality of the negative scanner, (which range from about £200 for my 15 year old Epson V500 up to £2,000 for the cheapest Nikon Coolscan, £10,000 for their top of the range, and a professional drum scanner at about £35,000), and you can see that it is impossible to be precise.

 

Once the negative (or the resulting print) have been scanned they cease to be an analogue image, and are treated exactly as any digital camera image by whatever software one uses, so in this sense they are now identical.  For me, the fun comes from restoring and using interesting old cameras, dabbling with chemistry, and the special buzz you get when opening the devolping tank to see what you've got, which has never left me, even after sixty years!

 

There, I'm sorry to have hi-jacked this forum with photographic blah-blah, and I promise not to do it again, unless provoked!!

Best wishes,   Mike

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23 hours ago, JeffP said:

How difficult is film to come by?

Hi Jeff,

my reply to David gives a clue!  There are loads of films available, both black and white and colour, but you won't find them in any shops, but loads of online suppliers  As well as the big names like Kodak, Ilford, Fuji, Agfa, and so on, there are plenty of lesser known makes - one of my favorites is Foma, made in Bohemia, but each to his own! 

 

I don't do wet printing any more, to get an image onto a computer, it's going to be scanned anyway, and in the unlikely event that I did want an exhibition print, I'd send the negative to Aurelien le Duc at Labo Argentique!

 

Best wishes  Mike

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I forgot that I had posted the trackside view of the goods shed in a private message, so here it is:

img022.jpg.0a3b2cabd5a13ec6e2a28b419de8bb73.jpg

1983 Nikon L35AF

Taken at the same time in 2014.

 

IMG_3523.JPG.3a2a330adc84afb5b86cadf4d54e4f72.JPG

Canon Digital Ixus 960is

By  the time I next visited St Sulpice Laurière, in 2018, things had started to go rapidly dowhill!   I'll post a few more from this visit, and then the final, tragic, denouement!

 

Best, Mike

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IMG_3530.JPG.3237232fdc9296f9bc87b50f9f3936bd.JPG

Canon Digital Ixus 960is

This is the view through the disused covered loading bay.  The internal structure of concrete blocks is clearly a more modern introduction - I suspect it was used for storing track maintenance equipment and materials, but I honestly don't know.

 

IMG_3518.JPG.9424bab1ab48e0769665cea72274c1d4.JPG

Canon Digital Ixus 960is

This loco pulled the train from Gueret, it was built in the UK by Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows. I think most of the British one were built by North British Locomotive during World War 1, this one was built later, I think in 1919.

 

IMG_3528.JPG.c95b9e0a0197456c2f6d215206064990.JPG

Canon Digital Ixus 960is

These slam door all-third coaches were built by, or for, La Compagnie du Nord in the mid 1930's and are of all steel welded construction, notable for the extreme curvature of the body sides. Now part of the stock of CFTLP who restore and run vintage trains, based in Limoges.

 

IMG_3539.JPG.e9b63222ae4df4369518fd72ef6ebee6.JPG

Canon Digital Ixus 960Is 

I was amused to see  the warning panel about not letting the children play with the door lock!

 

The End?

61201116_May2019.jpg.cb19429a6127477ac9d2bac5cc2504ae.jpg

Photo courtesy of France Bleu

Sadly, less than a year after these pics were taken, the goods shed caught fire in May 2019, and the roof and it's timber structure were totally destroyed. Part of the masonry seems to have survived, but I doubt it will ever be rebuilt, though I could be wrong, because there are plans about re-starting this Bordeaux-Lyon route in the near future:
https://www.railpassion.fr/reseaux-francais/start-up-envisage-reouverture-de-bordeaux-lyon/

 

Best, Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi Mike,

 

Missed these posts from you.

 

Very interesting comments on use of traditional film with digital scanning. I would definitely like to give that a go.

 

Sadly, and predictably, that lovely shed has been demolished. La Jonchere, next station south, still has a nice shed standing disused - but much shorter.

 

Yesterday, I found a 1:25000 IGN map in the house. It shows something that I had not noticed before. There is a long straight disused embankment across the village. It is the original alignment of the mainline. The present alignment with its winding curves dates from the construction of the Gueret branch in the 1880s. Don't think much of the surveyors who came up with this solution. There were certainly better ways to do it.

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Hi Joseph, excuse delay in replying! 

Yes, I'm not surprised, as I said earlier, I think it was only used for storing PW materials anyway, shame though.  I have visited La Jonchere, but years ago, and the goods shed was being used by a builders merchants, and I seem to remember the weighbridge building was quite interesting, but I can't find any pice, though I know I took some!

 

Best, Mike

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