11 May - Les Laumes Alésia to Paris Bercy with 141R 1199

The day started very early as we had to be on the 07:00 service train from Dijon Ville to get to Les Laumes Alésia where we could get back on 'Le Mistral'. The hotel had laid on breakfast from 06:15 so a quick croissant and drink was possible before heading over to the station. Walking down the short distance from the hotel at about 06:50 my phone rang - it was one of our party asking what time the train went, believing it went at 07:15! There was a little bit of panic when I said 07:00...... Fortunately the train was not missed! The next train to connect with 'Le Mistral' would have meant going to Laroche Migennes - one of the tour staff had to take this as his wake up call never materialised.

Dijon Ville station at 06:54. The service train to Les Laumes can be seen pulling in from Laroche. It reversed at Dijon heading back to Laroche.

The 07:00 from Dijon to Laroche Migennes was strengthened to accommodate the tour participants - two units were send rather than the normal one. This dropped us at Les Laumes at 07:33. We now had one hour and fifty nine minutes to wait for our departure! Thanks SNCF. Was there really no path earlier or were SNCF just waiting to put us back (approximately) into the slot originally requested? So what to do for two hours?! Fortunately the train was in a platform so we were able to deposit our luggage before heading out to look for extra breakfast and drinks. Luckily these were found just opposite the station meaning we didn't have to walk too far in the chilly wind. Word must have spread about the patisserie as most passengers seemed to end up there stripping the shop of everything it had. I guess the owners weren't use to this sort of trade at before 8am! Such was the trade they did the owners had to do a second bake for the day!

141R 1199 sits at the head of the train having just run down from the depot at Les Laumes, a depot equipped with a turntable despite the lowly nature of the place.

141R 1199 at Les Laumes, prior to shunting the set back to gain access to the booked departure platform.

141R 1199 lays a smoke screen across the mainlines at Les Laumes....

Taking refuge from the wind back on the train seemed like a good idea but was short lived. The platform road the train was parked on was not actually in use as a platform and, apparently, for insurance reasons, could not be used for train departures. So we all had to get off to allow the train to be shunted to an insured platform, which turned out to be number four. As the train backed out we could see one person who had managed to stay aboard.....

Sybic electric locomotive 26228 heads up Blaisy Bas bank through Les Laumes with a freight train. In 1941 Chapelon 240P 5 passed Les Laumes at close to 110kph hauling a 800t train. The power output was recorded as being 2600dbhp which, when corrected for output on level track, would be just below 3000dbhp. Later in the climb the output rose to 3600dbhp (equivalent for level track.)

The 141R pulls 'Le Mistral' into platform 4 at Les Laumes Alésia ready for us to set off for Paris.

The carriages used on 'Le Mistral' were all vintage vehicles from various constituents of the SNCF. They all came with windows seemingly designed for steam enthusiasts to stick their heads out of, as demonstrated here.

Today SNCF had at least got their act together on the speed front - 100kph running was restored. So we were able to head off downgrade at around our maximum speed to the first booked stop at Nuits-sous-Ravières, then another stop at Tonnerre before rolling into Laroche Migennes. Here SNCF were about to pull the best stunt of the trip. Those who had been this way before reported water at Laroche was normally a headache with previous trips taking water from platform hoses due to the lack of a hydrant.

141R 1199 at Laroche-Migennes waiting to come off the train for water.

Forty three minutes were allowed at Laroche for water. Not much seemed to be happening after arrival so maybe no water was actually needed? Well, no! It turned out the crew were waiting to get permission to come off the train and run to a hydrant near the depot. As departure time approached the 141R suddenly disappeared for water. Whilst a few trains had come and gone was it really the case there was no way of getting to loco off within the time allowed? Laroche is hardly the busiest station we had been to.

So we had gone from being on time to having no chance of a right time arrival in Paris. This presented a considerable problem - booked arrival at Paris Bercy, presumably Paris Lyon was either too busy or too much hassle to arrange, was at 15:26. This was to allow passengers to get across Paris in time for the 17:10 Eurostar to London. But a late arrival in Paris would mean problems. When booking the trip one of my first decisions, having seen how close run the connection was in 2003, was that Friday night would be a night in Paris! We were not going to risk a missed Eurostar and onward train connections. Given how many people on the train were seasoned railtourers it was surprising to find that around 80 were actually booked on the 17:10 Eurostar. A few more were booked on the 19:10 which did seem a better prospect all round but would make onward connections in the UK a bit harder to come by.

So a way of getting passengers to the 17:10 Eurostar had to be found. Laroche is 155km from Paris and has reasonable service to the capital. A train was booked to leave at 13:51 giving an arrival at Gare de Lyon at 15:45, so a little after the hoped for arrival at Bercy but still giving time to get to Gare du Nord. Most of the passengers for the 17:10 Eurostar bailed out at Laroche and caught this service train into Paris. In the event it was their only option but, for a while, it looked like it might not have been.

Laroche depot - once home to the entire fleet of the legendary Chapelon 240Ps.

The now late 'Le Mistral' actually got away from Laroche ahead of the service train, around eighty minutes late. The service train was booked up the slow lines being pretty much an all stations service into Paris. However 'Le Mistral' took the fast line! In probably the hardest bit of running of the entire tour the 141R took off from Laroche like a bat out of hell. The noise and acceleration were phenomenal. This link to a YouTube video clips gives a flavour of the start.

We expected, despite running at 100kph, to be overtaken by the service train. But we never saw it - I'm told the service train was actually overtaken by a freight train following us down the fast lines. Well that was the case until the final booked stop before Paris. A "splash and dash" water stop was booked for Montereau, 79km from Paris. It was here the excellent running, briefly, came to an end. The usual slow approach to stations saw us stopped before finally being allowed into a platform. At this point the service train finally overtook us. Looking at the distance involved and with the quality of the running we were reckoning on making up a lot of the lost time if the promised ten minutes for water was delivered.

The idea at Montereau was to pump water from the tank in the 141R groups fuel oil heating vehicle into the tender and we'd be away. But it wasn't quite as slick as that. Hoses needed to be attached between the tender and the water tank. For some reason that was only possible on the side of the loco away from the platform. So we had to wait for permission for the crew to go around that side to do the job. This took about twenty minutes as trains passed. So not an entirely well thought out system! Quite why there could not be a connection between the buffers meaning the job could be done anywhere is not clear. Had it been it would have saved a load of time.

The final water stop before Paris was at Montereau.

How likely is this - the next Sybic I photographed was 26229 - the next loco numerically after the machine photographed that morning passing Les Laumes! This largely empty freight working passes Montereau. Several of the vehicles sounded to have bad wheels flats.

The Franklin Engine to Tender buffer arrangement on 141R 1199.

Once the water was transferred we were away again running hard over the undulating route with as much time as possible being spent at around 100kph. However we were briefly stopped at one of the suburban stations, but I'm not sure why. So it was about sixty five minutes down, a little after 16:30 we rolled into Paris Bercy station where the tour finished. Bercy is the relief station to Gare de Lyon a short distance away from the main station. It sees just a handful of trains a day.

At Paris Bercy some of the 141R's support crew lined up to bid us au revoir. They had given us a great time.

Being in no rush ourselves there was time to take yet more photos - after all when does anyone have enough front three-quarter shots of the same loco?! - and thank the remaining tour staff for their efforts on what had been a first rate railtour around France. Whilst a day off was in order it was genuinely a shame it was all over.

141R 1199, with the oil heating vehicle behind the tender, stands at Paris Bercy at the end of the railtour.

Escape from Bercy is not as convenient as it could be - the Metro station is down a flight of steps, no escalators here. None of the ticket machines on the metro station seemed keen to take cash for tickets which is always helpful but finally the required ticket was extracted - we had been issued with a ticket with the rest of the tour tickets but had managed to loose one of them along the way. The next mistake was to get on the wrong metro! But this was soon corrected and we found ourselves caught up in the Parisien rush hour getting to Gare du Nord. What joy it was changing from metro line 12 to RER line D at Chatellet - there seemed to be no logical or ordered way to get people around the station. People going in different directions have to cross each other inevitably causing chaos. The flow of people was also not helped by someone set up with a microphone, speakers and a guitar playing Bob Marley tunes in one of the passage ways. Quite why he hadn't been moved on is beyond me!

Most 'Le Mistral' passengers staying in Paris had been booked into the Hotel Kuntz which is remarkably cheap for its location. It is a few minutes walk from Gare du Nord and overlooks Gare de l'Est. Being fairly tired from the trip we had a meal in one of the many fairly cheap restaurants in the area and got ready to head home the next day on Eurostar and First Great Western.

Very sadly a really great trip was over.

141R 1199 stands at Paris Bercy having brought 'Le Mistral' to a close with some first rate running throughout the trip. Perhaps the highlight was the last 155 km in from Laroche? Until next time!

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