Friday 11 June 2010
Carcassonne to Clermont Ferrand via Ligne de Cévennes

An early start as I was booked on the 07:42 TGV to Nîmes. This service originated in Toulouse Matabiau and was ultimately bound for Marseille St Charles. It finally rolled into Carcassonne 20 minutes late and in reverse formation. Announcements had been made that there had been problems with the traction at Toulouse. I assume this meant the booked TGV had failed so a replacement was found but one with the coaches arranged in the opposite order to that of the original or as displayed on the ‘Composition de train’ boards. As these boards are electronic it would not seem impossible to get them altered to reflect the change but I noted they were still wrong at Nîmes! So maybe a system that works well until something goes wrong.

The train arrived 17 minutes late at Nîmes. My original plan had been to deposit my luggage then head into town for a further look around. However SNCF had other ideas! Nîmes, like many stations, no longer has any form of left luggage facility. So I was forced to sit out the wait with my bags reading or watching the world go by. In some ways it was just as well, I was half expecting trouble with the next leg of my journey and I got it!

My destination for the day was Clermont Ferrand at the northern end of the Massif Central. The fastest route from Nîmes would be by TGV to Lyon and connecting train onwards. However I wasn't interested in getting there quickly, rather I picked my trains carefully as I wanted to travel over the Ligne des Cévennes. This line cuts straight through the heart of the Cévennes mountains and is one of the more spectacular rail journeys in France. The route used to boast through trains from Paris Lyon to Marseille but, over the years, these have been progressively cut back. In June 2010 the best on offer was a loco hauled Nîmes to Clermont Ferrand train with a multiple unit running a through service earlier in the day. There are corresponding southbound services and a few local trains but that is about it. Well that is what the timetable said but I had a feeling that if any part of the trip was going to be a problem it would be this one. SNCF seem to have a policy of running the line and its services down. Undoubtedly it must cost a fortune to maintain and the sparse service can't pay for itself so instead of promoting a national asset the line has been left to fall to bits. If better known about it would bring in visitors from all over the world . One reason for wanting to do this journey was in case the line does shut. So serious are the concerns that a support organisation, which seems to be having some success, has been formed. It has the rather unwieldy title of "l’Association des Élus pour la Défense du Cévenol et de la ligne Paris/Clermont-Ferrand/Nîmes".

Ligne des Cévennes gradient profile Clermont Ferrand to Langogne

Ligne des Cévennes gradient profile Langogne to Ales

So, sat at Nîmes station I watched the departure board for my train - the 13:12 to Clermont Ferrand. But it never appeared! Trains either side of this time were getting advertised but not the 13:12. In the end I had no choice but to enquire. It turned out that the train was not running from Nîmes at all anymore but it was possible to catch it by heading up to Alès, the 13:12's first booked stop. I was told the train would be waiting there. Fortunately a Mende bound train, which runs over the Ligne des Cévennes to La Bastide before heading along the Trans Lozérien line to its destination, was due to depart from Nîmes at 12:45. So I boarded this train and crossed my fingers that I would find a train for Clermont Ferrand further up the line.

DMU 81824 at Alès station.

DMU 81824 at Alès station.

Click to enlarge map

Ligne des Cévennes trains do not have direct access to Nîmes station as the junction is to the east of the station and east facing, clever! I had expected the loco hauled train to have to run round in the yards beyond the junction. Being that the Mende train was a 3 car DMU the driver simply changed ends and we were away again. It seems, according to various reports, that finally something is going to be done to create a direct line from Nîmes station on to the Ligne des Cévennes. About time!

The route is double track to Alès and is if to warn of what was to come the ride in the train was somewhat lively at times. We rolled into Alès, on time, at 13:27. In the sidings alongside the station was a diesel loco and 3 unrefurbished Corail coaches. There were signs of action with a shunter attending to his duties and the loco ticking over. A Clermont Ferrand bound train was even advertised as running on the station departure board. Perhaps as a joke the printed arrivals and departure sheets in the station building showed the north and southbound loco hauled trains as still running to Marseille, something they have not done now for a number of years. Perhaps no one had seen the train being prepared in the yard?!

Click on the map above to enlarge. It shows the various lines referred to on this page and a lot of others both open and closed. It dates from 1950 and is taken from Henri Lartilleux's classic "Géographie de Chemins de Fer Français Premier Volume 'La S.N.C.F'."

1765 kW B-B diesel 567557 in the station yard at Alès. This was to form the 13:56 Alès to Clermont Ferrand.

1765 kW B-B diesel 567557 in the station yard at Alès. This was to form the 13:56 Alès to Clermont Ferrand.

Looking north at Alès.

Looking north at Alès.

Departure time was 13:56 so, a little before this, the diesel and coaches pulled forward then set back into their departure platform. I half expected to be the only person on the train but a few people got on and were followed by a party of school children heading up the line. There is clearly custom if SNCF can be bothered to tap into it. As if to reinforce the confusion the printed destination boards in the coach doors also claimed the train ran to and from Marseille. Hopeless! At least the train was away on time and my much looked forward to trip over the Ligne des Cévennes was under way. The initial running was slow with lengthy sections of the line being subject to severe speed restrictions, as low as 40kmh (25mph) at times. Alès and the surrounding area was once a very active coal mining zone, but no more. There were signs of where the mines and associate infrastructure had been as the Gardon valley slowly narrowed. The scenery really starts to become interesting after La Grande Combe is passed with the first of 101 tunnels and many viaducts being encountered. The train retains some sense of its previous importance running limited stop missing out the smaller stations along the line. So it was that we passed through Sainte-Cécile-d'Andorge, junction with the CFD Lozère, and Chamborigaud which followed shortly after. Just north of the latter there is the spectacular, curving, 29 arch Chamborigaud viaduct. For an excellent selection of photos depicting much of the route, including Chamborigaud viaduct, it is perhaps best to visit the Massif Central Ferroviaire website.

Apologies for the low quality. This is Chamborigaud viaduct, taken through the train window with my mobile phone's camera. But it gives an idea of this spectacular viaduct.

Apologies for the low quality. This is Chamborigaud viaduct, taken through the train window with my mobile phone's camera. But it gives an idea of this spectacular viaduct.

Partial route map for Ligne des CévennesAs the gradient profile further up this page and the partial map to the left show Ligne des Cévennes is no easy bit of railway. However, with 3 coaches, the diesel loco never really noticed. But this didn't mean we ran on time! At Genolhac the train was already 4 minutes late, all of which it seemed could be put down to the previously mentioned speed restrictions. Genolhac seemed to be some sort of engineering base and amazingly there had been some lineside tree clearance. As is often the case on secondary lines trees ruin the views and, sadly, this was also the case on the Ligne des Cévennes. On this route the views available would be fantastic if someone cared enough to do something about the lineside vegetation.

The nature of the line is very much one of tunnels, viaducts and massive retaining walls - the latter being especially prevalent north of Langogne. It also retains sections of jointed rail and semaphore signaling. The scenery can be split into 2 sections - south and north La Bastide-St Laurent-les-Bains. Between Prévencheres and the summit at La Bastide the line passes through yet more tunnels and under the watershed dividing the rivers feeding the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The gradient profile partly tells the story with the line from La Bastide to Langogne being reminiscent of the higher sections of the Highland mainline in the UK. Prior to La Bastide it is a case of hard climbing, deep valleys and, when the trees allow, mountainous views whilst after Langogne things are entirely different again as the railway enters the Allier Gorge, which is perhaps the most scenic and well known section of the line. The nature of the line caused the then operators, Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM), to consider electrification way back in 1913. Obviously this didn't go ahead and I doubt many can see the line ever being electrified now. In contrast the Ligne des Causses, which was electrified by the Chemin de Fer du Midi in the 1930s, is now considered to be a candidate for de-electrification due to very sparse traffic.

At La Bastide this old PLM railway route meets the former Midi, then PO-Midi, Trans Lozérien line. This line heads off to Mende then onwards to join up the the Ligne des Causses, Béziers to Neussargues line, near Monastier. There used to be a pair of small sheds here, one for each operating company. Now there are none! However 4 diesels and a lot of permanent way equipment was parked up. At the time I assumed this indicated work on the Cévennes route but later found out that the line towards Mende was shut for extended periods to allow a very significant programme of track renewal to be undertaken. It was very good to see this. Also at La Bastide was what looked like a station building midway through demolition. It turns out this used to be the station buffet which had been destroyed in a gas explosion.

The remains of La Bastide's buffet.

The remains of La Bastide's buffet.

North of La Bastide I sampled the train's toilets. They clearly hadn't been cleaned for a while and they were out of water. Thanks SNCF. Presumably the train is watered at Clermont Ferrand (?) and has to complete a round trip to Alès before being serviced again. There certainly didn't seem to be any facilities at Alès for proper servicing. Maybe if it still ran to Nîmes it would get serviced there.

At Langogne the southbound loco hauled train was crossed - the destination boards on these coaches claimed the train was running from Brioude (on the line but south of Clermont Ferrand) to Marseille! The yard here is sizeable and there is a decent sized shed but it all looked generally unused. That said there was a shunting loco in the shed and a large pile of new wooden sleepers. Also still in place was a water tower and a turntable. This was in use for turning steam locos on special trains until they stopped running on the route. Hopefully they will return one day. Alongside the yard is a siding giving access to a wood yard, there once being regular timber traffic. However with freight, at the time of my visit, banned from the line due to its poor condition not much was going to use it. (As this is written in December 2010 the first of a new twice weekly freight service, from Tarascon, operated by Euro Cargo Rail has just started running north over the line as far a Langeac. Excellent news.)

Langogne used to be a junction station. Heading off to the east just north of the station are the remains of the single track route to Le Puy-en-Velay. Further up this route, at Pradelles, it is possible to travel on a section as a Vélorail operation. Vélorail du Pays de Pradelles, has been established that the former station. Shortly after the junction, with the valley narrowing, the Allier Gorge is entered. The railway is the only easy way to see much of the gorge as roads are scarce as are inhabitance. If it were possible there are yet more viaducts and tunnels in this section and many massive retaining walls. The line very much follows, crosses, crosses again and rarely leaves the Allier river. It is a truly spectacular section of railway and fully justifies the summer tourist trains run by SNCF from Langeac to Langogne and back. It would also be an excellent candidate for a regular steam service. However this section of the line is also (possibly) in the worst condition of the entire line. A rock fall in 2008 led to a dramatic reduction in running speed to just 30kmh (19mph) and not just that but for the outrageous distance of 42km (26 miles)! The restriction runs (heading north) from KM post 578 at Tunnel du Mazet to KM 536.5 between Monistrol-d'Allier and Prades-Saint Julien. The only advantage of this restriction is it allows plenty of time to admire the views, wildlife and infrastructure but it did get a bit tedious running at such a low speed for so long. Is it really the case the speed limit has to be applied to the entire section or is this just another element in a closure agenda?

Allier GorgeAllier Gorge

Two more mobile phone views, this time in the Allier Gorge giving an impression of the expensive nature of this line!

The section through the Allier Gorge has 4 distinct sections - an initial section in a narrow gorge which then opens out a bit before closing in again until the final widening of the valley on the approach to Langeac. In addition to the Massif Central Ferroviaire website and others it is possible to find, book and DVD publisher Les Editions du Cabri has produced an excellent 2 volume DVD cab ride all the way from Nîmes to Clermont Ferrand, filmed from the cab of preserved Autorail X-2403. The pair of DVDs give an excellent impression of the line, the only thing which would improve them would be some wider views of the scenery at more regular intervals but this is just a small gripe!

Arrival at Langeac heralded the end of the really scenic section of the route but that's not to say it was unattractive or without interest from here on as the line is never out of sight of mountains or the river. A number of substantial viaduct remain to be crossed before Ligne des Cévennes reaches the southern end of the Bourbonnais mainline at Clermont Ferrand.

X-2403 - La Ligne de Cévennes

Langeac once boasted a sizeable depot with a roundhouse in typical PLM style and later a concrete SNCF style partial roundhouse. These are now long gone but the land has yet to find a new use. To the north of the station, on the western side of the route, there were signs of active freight traffic with wagon loads of logs and wood chippings parked up in sidings alongside a factory. At the remote station of St. Georges d'Aurac the train made it's scheduled stop and dropped off one passenger. Despite the lowly nature of the place it remains a junction station. Another line to Le Puy-en-Velay heads away here and it is, thankfully, still open. For the traveler with time on their hands travelling on this line would present an alternative route from Clermont Ferrand to St. Etienne and Lyon, passing through the birth place of one André Chapelon along the way. However the services are rather sparse!

On this final section of the run the train stopped far more frequently as some sizeable towns are now served. The train, which had been reasonably well patronised so far, became very busy and even first class started to fill up. However, not unexpectedly, most people using it were soon kicked out for not having valid tickets! The train was running with 2 guards 1 of which was rather scary - it didn't take much effort from her to get people on the move and those slightly reluctant soon found themselves being shouted at rather loudly! On this section of the line the weather, which had been overcast all day, turned nasty with the train passing through several heavy showers. Two stations of note where called at - Brioude was once a junction with a line from St Flour on the Ligne des Causses. The course of this line, heading away to the north of Brioude, could be seen despite it being closed for many years. Arvant remains a junction station. Feeding in from the west to the south of the station is the line serving Neussargues (the north end of the Ligne des Causses), Aurillac (Ligne du Lioran) and further to the west Brive la Gaillarde and to the south, in theory, Toulouse via Capdenac. Arvant also marks the end of the section of single line running started approximately 195km (121 miles) to the south at Alès. The running speeds had already increased by Arvant and much more sensible speeds were kept up all the way to Clermont Ferrand where we arrived on time. My hotel, the Grand Hotel du Midi was directly opposite the station. I chose it carefully as I was, again, due to be on an early train the next morning and expected to be worn out on my return so didn't want a long walk!

Clermont Ferrand station from my hotel room. It couldn't have been much closer!

Once I had checked in and sorted a few things out I headed out into the city for a quick look around and a bite to eat. Clermont Ferrand had long held an interest for me for some reason, although I wasn't sure it was entirely positive! Whilst my time in the actual city was short I liked it a lot and hope to return and spend some more time there one day. According to various guides everyone visiting the city should go to see the extinct volcano which dominated the skyline to the south. Le Puy-du-Dôme stands at 1465m (4806ft) high and certainly looked very impressive but a visit will have to wait for another day. A Fell centre rail type mountain railway used to run to the summit from the city but this is long gone now. In 2010 work has started on a new rack railway to the summit. The only "site" I saw was the imposing and very impressive Gothic Cathedral. It was shut by the time I got there so I was unable to see inside and see if it matched the standards set by the outside.

A view from the steps of Clermont Ferrand cathedral looking down a street - but above it is Le Puy-du-Dôme.
A view from the steps of Clermont Ferrand cathedral looking down a street - but above it is Le Puy-du-Dôme.
Clermont Ferrand's Gothic cathedral is hemmed in on all sides making photography very difficult.
Clermont Ferrand's Gothic cathedral is hemmed in on all sides making photography very difficult.
Clermont Ferrand's Gothic cathedral is hemmed in on all sides making photography very difficult.

Having seen a bit of Clermont Ferrand I had a meal and headed back to the hotel for a fairly early night. I was on the 07:20 train to Montluçon the next morning, however this train was to be steam hauled by coal fired 141R420. So certainly worth the early start!

Click here to move on to the next day of my trip.

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