Virtual Railfan Tour France 1971 and 1975

 My 1974 trip to the Soviet Union finished with a cab ride on the turbo train between Paris and Caen. This had me thinking about other "official" trips I have made in France. 

On Monday 20 September 1971 I rode in the cab between Carcassonne and Toulouse


A railcar and trailer at Carcassonne on a Quillan branch train.
I travelled to Toulouse on train #5452 which left Carcassonne at 0913 and arrived at Toulouse precisely at 0958.  

The driver stood up for the entire journey

Passing through Castelnaudry at speed

There is only one man on these locomotives.  On this trip the driver was from Nimes and the locomotive was BB9237, 5570 hp.  The acceleration is incredible. We were travelling at 140 km/hr (87.5 mph) within three minutes of the start.  140 km/hr is the maximum speed of these locomotives (or in fact 150 km/hr but the train vehicles are limited to 140 km/hr).  The speed of 140 km/hr was adhered to regardless of the gradient for the whole way except for two speed restrictions.  Speed was kept to 135-139 km/hr, tremendous skill on the part of the driver in knowing how his train reacts to gradients etc.

At Toulouse they are only allowed 8 minutes to change locomotives but this was possible with two coupeurs standing by.  In fact the change over was completed so rapidly that I hardly had a chance to get off the locomotive.


This diesel was quickly put on the train

I came back to Carcassonne on train #4553 with locomotive BB9207 which, again, is 5570 hp.  We had a late start due to a sticking brake on the leading fourgon and were delayed even further by the signals being out because of a cloudburst.  The driver, this time from Toulouse, was a very cheery fellow but he was upset at the delays.  We reached Carcassonne after a stop at Castelnaudry in the dark, nearly 45 minutes late.  Still it did give me a very healthy respect for French locomotives and drivers.
In the dark on return at Carcassonne

1975
In 1975 I was a member of an industry delegation looking at French railway technology. There were several others from government and several Canadian railway men. The French were anxious to sell us TGV technology which they were in the process of implementing. There was only one day scheduled out of Paris - an afternoon visit by rail to Dijon and return.
After a morning meeting we were taken to the Gare du Nord and into the incredible restaurant Le Train Bleu.
The entrance to Le Train Bleu
There is a great view of one part of la Gare du Nord

The interior is stupendous - no wonder it is a listed location 

In later years the restaurant had a cat. It was originally owned by a chef. The chef left but the cat decided to stay and it was put on the payroll as a rat catcher.

After an incredible lunch we were taken out to our train, Le Mistral which was one of the fastest at that time. Sitting in our first class accommodation we were asked if anyone wanted to ride on the engine. I immediately jumped up as did another government member, No railwaymen were interested.
The locomotive on Le Mistral. Both pantographs were raised to take account of the heavy current draw as we accelerated quickly out of the station.
In the cab I was introduced to the engineer and a traction inspector. The engineer was making calculations on the back of an envelope. I asked what he was doing. He told me 
"There is a speed restriction just before we arrive at Dijon. I have calculated that this will cost me two minutes forty five seconds so I am working out where I can pick up that amount of time."
The inspector interjected. "He is not allowed to run over the maximum track speed and may not pick up more than three minutes on his schedule".
I had never seen this done before either in the UK or in Canada and I wondered whether they were trying to pull my leg.
However, we set out right on time and the driver was concentrating fiercely on his work. After about fifteen minutes he checked his watch against the schedule and announced
"I have picked up fifteen seconds so far."
The throttle is the circular wheel close to the driver. His schedule is in the middle right in front of him,

And so it went on. We gradually gained a few seconds on the schedule until he had accumulated two minutes and forty five seconds. We then came up to some track work and were diverted from one line to another. A few minutes later we ran into Dijon where the station clock moved on to the right time precisely as we came to a stop. 
I was left with a high impression of the competence of French locomotive drivers. 



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Railfan Tour of Switzerland - Wednesday - Zurich Hauptbahnhof Part One

Image
Zurich Hauptbahnhof  Paul has prepared some extensive notes and photos of the Zurich Hauptbahnhof.  This will be in several parts.  The busiest station in Switzerland is Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Zurich HB) which is used primarily by the SBB. It has 26 tracks serving almost 3000 trains daily and it is one of the busiest stations in the world. It was built in the 1870s and is a main shopping destination as well as a transport hub. There are three levels for platforms and the "Shopville" shopping plaza.  The river Sihl river passes right through the station with platforms passing above and below the river. This shows the general layout of the station with the surrounding tram tracks shown in purple Tracks 3 to 18 are terminal tracks located at ground level, served by two side platforms and seven island platforms. These are used by long-distance trains from throughout Switzerland, and by international trains. Tracks 21 and 22 are underground terminal tracks, served by a single island
Read more

Thursday 21 September - Wrap Up

Image
  Flytoget at Oslo Central I caught a Flytoget express train to Oslo airport. These run every ten minutes throughout the day. Every other one stops at Lillestrom which was convenient as Paul joined me there, (he was staying at a nearby Lillestrom hotel). This is a high speed train which runs from the airport to Oslo Central station in 20 minutes. The trains are frequently crowded. This is an excellent service. Compare this to the "service" OC Transpo will be providing to Ottawa airport. A diesel train a couple of stops to the Trillium line, change to another diesel train to Bayview, then change to the electric Confederation line to get downtown. Tourists are going to love this with their large cases. We took a KLM flight to Amsterdam where  we changed to a KLM flight to Montreal and finally the KLM bus to Ottawa. We had anticipated some problems in Amsterdam with a relatively short transfer but everything worked out to the minute. The cabin crew on the flight from Oslo were g
Read more

Monday 18 September - Oslo Trams

Image
The weather here is atrocious cool and wet with heavy rain at times. I bought a 24 hour local transport pass at the tourist office. This allows me to travel around for 24 hours. I first had a look at the Central Station. The older units make quite a bit of noise Some cars are for people who need to buy a ticket. I then started to ride a few trams. Routes 12 and 19 seemed the most promising. I started with the 19 route and rode it out to the end at Majorstuen and then back through town but the trams were not running beyond Oslo Hospital because of track work. I then decided to sample route 12 which I rode out to Majorstuen and then back all the way to Kjelsas. This is a delightful ride. It runs close to the water then along major parks as well as climbing quite high at Kjelsas which gives good views over the city. At Majorstuen route 12 trams become route 11 and vice versa. Route at at Central Station route 12 at Majorstuen Route 11 at Kjelsas My day went well although the weather was a
Read more