French adventure - photo heavy

[kintbury jon]

Good evening,

 

Spent a few days in Paris this half term.  My son Robert, had expressed an interest in doing a 'big' train journey in France.  In my teens, I traveled around France in the summer, visiting depots and traveling on overnight services.  My wife suggested that she could take our daughter to Eurodisney so permission was granted!

 

The requirements from Robert were to see freight and to go on a TGV.  After a bit of looking, I arranged a plan involving some loco-hauled services.  Route was to start at Paris Est, travel to Culmont-Chalindrey and then on an overnight service to Nimes.  Spend some time there, then Avignon, Miramas, to Marseille returning back to Paris on a TGV.  

 

Price came into the choice of route with some exceptionally good deals that I found.  Paris-Culmont coming in at 29.50 Euros and Culmont - Nimes for 63 Euros.  Best of all was the TGV back to Paris.  A budget service called OUIGO has been started, using double deck TGV's with standard class only seating.  Ticket came in at 20 Euros for me and just 5 Euros for Robert for a journey of well over 400 miles.

 

We had a little time before our 18:12 to Culmont so had a quick visit to a few of the Paris stations.  Didn't have any problems with taking photos which was a relief.

 

Firstly Gare du Nord: beton 22327 and silver 22338

 

 

Then to St Lazare:  15032, 15061 and 17041

 

 

To Montparnasse: 7610, 27310, EMU Z5347 and 7611 (bad timing on Z5347 but pleased to see one of these units that can't have long left)

 

 

Then to our place of departure, Paris Est.

 

Robert was pleased to see an ICE unit.  

 

 

15007 on the blocks.  It wasn't until I got home and looked in my 1991 SNCF book that I realised that this had been a test loco numbered 10003 that had eluded me over the years.

17065 and 17064 on ECS duties.  The rake on the right was our 6 carriage train.

 

Walked down to see what was on the front and was pleased to see that it was 72049.  This is one of three that have not had their engines replaced with newer versions.  Delighted to have this one pulling our train.

 

 

72186, a re-engined version was set to do the 18:42 service.

 

The 6 coach rake consisted of Corail coaches which are spacious and comfortable to travel in.  The service was well occupied until Troyes and by Chaumont, we had the carriage to ourselves which spooked Robert a little!

 

 

Arrival at Culmont on time, we got another photo of the loco

 

 

The driver suggested that Robert should stand in the doorway which he happily obliged to

 

In my garbled French, I told him that I was pleased that we'd had an unmodified loco so he decided to show us the engine (which not surprisingly was quite warm and loud!)

 

By then it was about 9:30.  Our sleeper was due to leave at around midnight.  Culmont Chalindrey seems not much more than a couple of small villages but thankfully there was the 'Auberge de la Gare' that looked open.  We ordered a Pizza which was enjoyed.

 

Part 2 to follow...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Focalplane]

What a great trip! And cabbing a "nez cassé" as well. Looking forward to episode deux.

[kintbury jon]

Part 2:

 

After finishing our pizza, we had an hour and a half to waste.  There's not much at Culmont apart from Chalindrey depot.  I had visited the depot in the 1990's when most diesels were blue.  It has an impressive three quarter roundhouse but at 10:30 at night I wasn't too sure about wandering around.  We asked the Chef but he said that we could not go round.  I'm not surprised really and it must have looked odd us turning up at such a late time!  We did get to see a few locos that were stored next to the car park.

 

Burnt out 72148

A small shunter numbered 54 (Locma?)

A pristine A1AA1A 68000 class loco 68081 with original plates (pleased to see this!)

Shunter Y7410

 

We then returned back to the station.  It was fairly quiet apart from a unit coming in from Reims.  Shunter Y8208 in Fret livery was chugging away and moved a few coaches around.

 

Then at around 11:30 the overnight trains arrived.  26159 arrived from Luxembourg containing 5 coaches for Nice and 5 for Port Bou.  

26072 appeared from the dark and put itself on the other end.

Then 72172 arrived from Strasbourg again with some coaches for Nice and Port Bou.  My camera is not very good at taking moving pictures in the dark so didn't get a good shot of it.  After a bit of shunting the coaches were moved around and 26072 was on the Nice train with 26159 on the front of our train to Port Bou.

 

The Nice train leaves at 0:15 and our train was scheduled to leave at 0:20.  Our first official stop was Nimes (where we were to alight).

 

I opted for reclining seats as opposed to couchettes mainly due to cost.  It wasn't particularly comfortable though my issue was that I was more interested in looking out the window than sleeping!  Robert fell asleep straight away and slept all the way to Nimes.

 

 

Our route took us round the edge of Dijon, I saw two Picasso units in the yard which must be preserved examples.  I assumed we would head to Macon en route to Lyon, but in fact we headed via Bourg en Bresse and Amberieu to get to Lyon.  This section was new to me.  We arrived at Lyon Part Dieu and stopped for 5 minutes, probably for a loco crew change.  

 

We then continued south and stopped at Valence where the Nice train was already in the platform.  It left shortly after and we followed after it, passed through Avignon and arrived on time at NImes at around 6am.  Quick check at the front in case they had changed the loco!

 

 

Then off it headed towards Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

[Focalplane]

It's a pity you were traveling at night because the line from Lyon to Avignon passes through some great scenery along the Rhone valley, much better in fact than the TGV route, except near Valence TGV. I am now interested in what you thought of Ouigo.

[kintbury jon]

Agreed Paul, I thought about doing a grande ligne during the day but the speed of the TGV (and cost) gave us more flexibility on watching freight.

 

I'll mention Ouigo in a bit.  It was better than i'd expected though.

[kintbury jon]

In Nimes station there were two early services, one to Ales:

And Z7354 was forming the rear unit of a service to Perpignan:

 

Nimes has a small depot to the east of the station where the line from Clermont Ferrand joins the main line.  Services from Nimes head out of the station and reverse in the yard before continuing their journey.  In the 90's I remember seeing the 'Cevenol' arrive in Nimes being reversed in by a a pair of BB67400 with a chap hanging out of the back door of the reversing coach!

 

There is a small museum where a few historical items are kept.  By the time we had walked to the depot it was starting to get light.  It was very quiet so we walked on in to have a look around at the mini roundhouse.

 

There were 4 X73500 units, X73502, X73550, X73577 and X73803

Shunter Y7697

Two preserved X2800 Autorails numbered 2819 and 2914:

Then looking smart, CC6575.  This was dual voltage CC21001 which had lost its 25kv option in its last few years.  I'd not seen this one before so was happy to see this:

And then hiding behind a wagon lurked BB9411, the last survivor of a class of 135 locos that were not the most successful being underweight.  It looks like it was being restored, at least it's undercover.

Overall view of the depot:

Last time I was there in the 90's BB1501, CC7108 and BB4175 were present!

 

Round the other side is the diesel stabling point.  

Fret liveried 69302 and 69452

Infra yellow 69264 and original blue 67215 and 67217

 

Then back to the station to watch a bit of freight.  Fret liveried 26184 with an eastbound freight

7290 with an ecs

27152 headed west on some tanks

 

My only 'old' photo of Nimes shows BB8123 heading east on a freight:

 

We then made of what was to be our last loco hauled service of the trip which was a service to Avignon hauled by 7340.

[Focalplane]

The museum at Nimes is well worth visiting. I will put up some daylight photos on my Sud de France thread. Early morning along the Midi main line is always fascinating, I have taken the very early morning TGV that starts in Béziers at 4:15 am and gets to Paris before 9 am. Several freights would pass in short order while waiting for the off, then a Grand Lignes to Marseilles that used to provide a good connection from further west/south; it no longer runs, unfortunately.

[Focalplane]

More observations at Nimes. The two blue diesels, 67215 and 67217, are always stationed where you saw them. I understand they are there for emergencies, etc. They are not looking very smart.

The last photo is a regional express, probably from Cerbère to Avignon. There are only a few rakes of CoRail carriages painted in Languedoc colors. I occasionally travel on this train earlier in the morning to connect with TGVs at Narbonne. CoRail carriages are really comfortable except for the inevitable jerk when starting and stopping behind a nez cassé.

The first train out of Nimes, the one destined for Ales, has several nicknames. The funniest one is Suppo!

 

EDIT:  Photos of the museum are now up on Sud de France.

[kintbury jon]

We arrived at Avignon and headed off into town to get some breakfast.  Then, back to the station.  With the advent of the new TGV line, Avignon station seems a lot quieter.  I have some good memories of long trains passing through but times have changed.  I quickly realised that there was no point staying there so we headed to Miramas.  We took one of the Bimode units that can operate on electric or diesel.  

 

Arrival at Miramas and 26202 was held in one of the platforms with an eastbound freight.

Then after coming all this way 66195 rolled through with a silver 77 on the back.

Stabled by the station was Infra's 69309, 69204 and shunter Y9023.  67565 is on the right.

Then a class 70 lookalike came through

 

We then headed to the stabling point.  There are a few historical locos at Miramas but they are exposed to the elements and the paintwork is very faded.

 

Shunter Y6013

CC7121 - love these electrics.  One of my favourites.

BB327 and BB346 dating from the 1940's.  This photo just shows how lovely the weather was that day.

BB8177 with a tree growing next to it.

Y2453.  Robert has a thing about shunters.

69195

A very clean Infra 67625

A view of the stabling point with withdrawn 25621 on the left, 26085, 26203 and 75002.

Compare this photo to one taken in the 90's

 

Then we headed back to the station to watch some trains.  Miramas always used to be a great location to watch trains and it certainly hasn't changed.  There's probably less than there was but we saw a fair amount of stuff in a couple of hours.

 

75430 on some tanks

The 70 like thing heading back east

26187

Y8068 pulled in with a few vehicles including what I presume was an old pullman coach painted blue.

75002 now on the move

A different 70 like thing

27145

Europorte 4026

26217

Silver 22271 propelling a Lyon-Marseille service

We switched platforms at this point.

22402 propelling a Marseille-Lyon service

7388 on a service towards Toulouse.

And the one that got away, 57560 arriving from Marseille via the coast.

 

I had researched the loco diagrams and 67560 was due to come in at 13:56 (which it did) and then go back to Marseille as the 14:04 however it didn't.  For whatever reason the diagram was swapped and instead, a Bimode unit was rostered to do the 14:04.  I asked a chap on the station and he told me that 67560 was to return at around 16:30.  We didn't have much time to play with at this point so headed on the unit with me feeling a little disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

[kintbury jon]

The run to Marseille via the coast is quite scenic.  We passed over a large canal:

Passed some small villages, each with their own harbours.

We rejoined the main line at l'Estaque.  At that point the diesel engine switched off and we continued on electric.

 

It was interesting coming into Marseille as we went via Marseille Euromediterranee.  This involved going over some dodgy track and a few yards.  

 

Check in for our Ouigo TGV was half an hour before departure.  We were in the back of the front unit number 762 on the top deck.

We were one of the first to board the train so I took a few quick photos of the interior.

We didn't have a massive amount of room but it was perfectly comfortable and at 20 Euros for me and 5 for Robert, we could not complain.  The units have a high capacity, there must have been getting on for 2000 people on our train.

A quick selfie (showing two tired boys!)

 

We stopped at Avignon TGV and Lyon TGV then straight through to Marne la Vallee.  Unfortunately we got stopped outside the station and had to wait 10 minutes for a platform.  We met my wife and daughter who had both had a great day at Disney.  We then went to buy some RER tickets.  Problem was, so had most of the 2000 people from our train!  Took 20 minutes to get our tickets so must remember to get them in advance if we do it again.

 

Made it back to our apartment and had a really nice sleep!  Thanks for reading. 

[Focalplane]

Ouigo is SNCF's answer to Ryanair, Easyjet and the like with trains from M. le V. C. to either Marseilles or Montpellier.  The reason for using M le V. C. is to reduce congestion at Gare de Lyon.  And, judging by the 2,000 passengers on one train it seems a lot of people like the idea of terminating outside of Paris.

 

According to the original emails from SNCF. Ouigo has no buffet car and no room for baggage (though baggage can be taken for an extra fee, so there must be some room, somewhere).  The 700 series Duplexes are generally used on the old PLM routes (along with the earlier 200 series) and the units converted were taken out of service for several months.  Here is one of the units taken at Lyons during refurbishment in 2013:

 

[kintbury jon]

There is quite a reasonable area for luggage where the doors and toilets are.  To me it didn't seem any different to a normal TGV.  I'm not sure what the seating is like in the former buffet car as they have not added any extra windows.

[JeffP]

Great write-up, thanks.

 

Been to Miramas many times, once or twice with my youngest when he was 12/13. He wrote the loco numbers in a book while I took photos. One day we did Beziers> Nimes>Marseille> Miramas> Beziers and saw over 400 locos, mind we did go round the shed at Marseille Blancarde and at Miramas.

 

I assume you've seen this video:

 

Parts of it shot beside the Rhone, between Marseille and Avignon etc. Fascinating

[kintbury jon]

Yes I have, I remember you posting it.  An interesting watch.

[Fat Controller]

The '70' look-alike is a Vossloh of some description; the operator is BdR13 (Chemin de Fer du Bouches du Rhone), which was one of the small 'Departmental' railways which didn't get absorbed into SNCF in 1938. For years, it operated a few local freight services around the Camargue, using some left-behind US Army locos; recently, however, it seems to have re-invented itself as an 'Operateur du Proximité', the French equivalent of a 'Short Line', but with more ambition than some of these lines show.

It's a shame that the train hauled by 26202 (the first photo) wasn't going in the opposite direction, as it would have been loaded with a selection of AFVs; the first wagon is the French equivalent of a Warwell, intended to carry tanks and similar, whilst the others are hired-in wagons used for things like armoured cars. It was probably going to Draguignan, which serves as a railhead for a lot of different bases and ranges. During the summer, the same wagons are used to bring down lots of fire-fighters and their equipment from Northern France, in readiness for the inevitable forest fires; if they're lucky, it's a paid holiday in the sun..

[brushman47544]

Thanks for the photos.

 

Coming back to one of your earlier posts, John, SNCF trains from Nimes to Ales and Clermond Ferrand no longer have to reverse in the yard - a cut off was opened a few years ago.