Monday 11 September - The Jura

Railcar from the Le Locle to Les Brenets line standing at Le Locle - replaced by a bus

We decided today to spend some time in the Jura around La Chaux de Fonds. We took an ICN train to Neuchatel and waited to see if any freight trains would be in the margin between passenger trains. We saw two.

Freight train running between the passenger trains - Neuchatel

The little train from Le Locle to Les Brenets has now finished. I checked in the timetable just before we left Canada and this train was still running then but now it has been replaced by a bus. We knew this was going to happen and the long-term plan is to put in an electric bus that will use part of the railway right of way to get speedily to Les Brenets not only to the station but also directly to the small town. We went to Le Locle, via La Chaux de Fonds, to investigate. A short walk out of the station brought us to where they had stored one of the small rail cars from the line. It has, unfortunately, already been graffitied on one side.

We returned to La Chaux de Fonds and decided to go to Les Ponts de Martel. We were surprised to find the train was made up of two cars. This is a first. The trip left on time at 2 minutes past the hour and we had a good ride through the valley in a gloriously hot day. At the terminal we were surprised to see another single car while work was progressing on new maintenance facilities. That has been some talk that the Italian built cars were going to be augmented or replaced this year but at the moment it looks as if a car from another part of the TPN network has been brought in. We returned directly to La Chaux de Fonds to find the Migros restaurant. 

Les Ponts de Martel

After lunch we took the Jura Railway as far as Noirmont where we transferred to Tavannes.

Waiting for the train at La Chaux de Fonds is always interesting as the departure board will show.


There is a concentration of trains around the hour and half hour and not much in between. At 20 minutes to the hour the station was entirely empty. 
This lasted until 9 minutes to the hour when the Jura railway (narrow gauge) train arrived. 
Two minutes later the train from Les Ponts de Martel arrived. 
A minute after that the BLS train arrived from Bern and Neuchatel. 
At the same time the BLS train from Le Locle came in from the other direction but we couldn't see it because it was hidden by the the BLS train. 
At two minutes past the hour our train left at the same time as the BLS train for Neuchatel.
Two minutes later a general calm will settle down on the station until the next flurry of activity some 20 minutes later. It should be noted that this is carried out in two gauges with four companies (sometimes five when the SNCF diesel train comes in from across the border.)

Our run to Noirmont and Tavannes 
Jura Railway Tavannes train at Noirmont.
At Tramelan our driver gave us three minutes to look around and take pictures

This is the Jura Railway main works

Tramelan
We finished off this very hot day by taking the SBB from Tavannes to Moutier, then Biel and finally an RCN back to Yverdon les Bains.



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