Le Train des Viaducs

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There, we start with a maneuver to get back into the lead. The mechanic is going to take his job. The Auvergne Steam Train took its passengers on Saturday on the line from Commentry to Gannat on a route crossing no less than five remarkable structures. Two viaducts which were built by the Eiffel company and two others by Cail and Fives-Lille and a curved masonry viaduct. Common points between the five. They are very high and very narrow and crossing them is always a special, even impressive, moment. When you’re standing in the hallway, it’s empty! So yes, there is a little thrill when you go over it. And on Sunday, a trip to Vichy with passengers on board who are well anchored in their time, including one who has resolutely chosen to favor the train for most of his trips and decided to promote it through books and from a website voyageentrain.fr. We started with this media. We launched in January 2020, the same, to give all our advice, for traveling by train, whether in France or in Europe. And other passengers straight out of a distant era, when the railway was only in its infancy. This is how among them was Napoleon III himself, who came to celebrate his 171st birthday in Vichy. I brought together some close and dear friends to celebrate this birthday. Like every year in Vichy, the Napoleon III celebrations took place that weekend and it was possible to come there this year by steam train! I tell you all about it in this new issue. Hello and welcome to Aiguillages ! This is the second time that the Auvergne Steam Train has stopped at this time in the small Bellenaves station located in Allier, last year it was with a diesel locomotive, but Henri, president of the association had made the promise to return this year with a steam engine on the occasion of the “Rurail et Vous” festival organized by the OUAT association, Once Upon A Train. It’s actually a bet that we made, but it was something that was prepared. We knew that we were going to have a lot of people in the end and we had a strong mobilization of locals to come and take the train directly. And therefore a majority of people who lived in Gannat, Bellenave who came to take the train to discover the line. And what a line! It is not very long, only 54 km separating Commentry and Gannat at its two ends. Usually, it is traveled by TER trains which provide the Clermont-Ferrand – Montluçon connection and constitutes one of the sections of the Lyon – Bordeaux line, a connection which has not been served in its entirety for many years. Initially, the project to create such a line was proposed by the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Grand Central in 1853. After its disappearance which occurred in 1857, it was the Compagnie du Paris-Orléans which was responsible for undertaking the work on the western part of the line from 1863. The crossing of several departments of Auvergne required the provision of numerous engineering structures for the crossing of several streams and rivers which had carved out deep valleys over time . These are tunnels and viaducts. So two viaducts which were built by the Eiffel company, two others by Cail and Fives-Lille and a curved masonry viaduct, the Perrière viaduct. These are works which are magnificent, some classified and which we want to highlight, but differently than from below with the road! Many curious people responded to the call from the Auvergne Steam Train association since more than 400 people boarded this viaduct train which left Clermont-Ferrand, its port of attachment came to park in Bellenaves while letting a few TER trains pass or pass by. He then made several shuttles between Gannat on one side and Lapeyrouse on the other, meeting on the first section of these routes the Neuvial and Rouzat viaducts. These two works of art were built at the time by a company which had just seen the light of day but which would soon attract a lot of attention : Eiffel et Compagnie. Does that remind you of something ? However, it was not Gustave Eiffel who personally followed the work, but his associate Théophile Seyrig. Among the many works of art that we owe to the company: the Neuvial viaduct. It rests on two masonry abutments located at each of its ends, one of them consisting of a very large arch. Its deck rests on it to the west and on a masonry pier to the east. A metal pillar supports it in the middle. Its height is 44 meters, its length is 160. The Rouzat viaduct also called the Sioule viaduct is very close, it rises 60 meters above the river. Its length is just over 180 meters. Its deck rests on two metal piles which themselves support masonry masses, one of which is immersed in the river. For the traveler the view is dizzying. These viaducts are not only very high, but are very thin. When you’re standing in the hallway, it’s empty! So yes, there is a little thrill when we pass over it and the speed limits require us to slow down a little on the viaducts, but on the way out we also allow ourselves to make a very short stop without any hassle. security to then be able to leave again. On the Bellenaves-Lapeyrouse route, three other viaducts are crossed by the train. That of the Bouble is 300 meters long and 62 high. It is also a metal structure but its builder is the Fives-Lille company. It rests on five cast iron piers and is extended by a masonry section resting on 17 arches. That of La Perrière, built entirely in masonry, is 125 meters long and 34 high and has 8 arches with a span of 12 meters each. Its originality on this portion of the line? It’s on a curve! Also built by Five-Lille, that of Bélon is 231 meters 40 long, and high 48 meters 55. All day Saturday, the Auvergne Steam Train will make various round trips from Bellenaves crossing at numerous taken up these various remarkable works of art, the four metal viaducts even being classified as a historic monument. But on Sunday, early in the morning, a new departure is given for another destination. We leave Bellenaves since we parked in Bellenave since our train was a bit part of the Rurail party which took place there and then we will get off at Gannat. We’re going to go to Saint Germain des Fossés, we’re going to go back down to Vichy, we’re going to do a few Vichy – Saint-Germain-des-Fossés shuttles and then at the end of the day, we’re going back down to Clermont Ferrand and we should get there around 6 p.m. h. Because Vichy, is there something special happening there too? In Vichy it is a big celebration of Napoleon III who liked to come to spa in Vichy in Auvergne and who still demanded that the section of the Paris – Clermont line have a small antenna that goes down to Vichy to be able to go currently doing hydrotherapy. So if we now have a Paris – Clermont which goes directly via Vichy, it’s thanks to him. We must believe that hydrotherapy is still preserved since Napoleon III was able to board the train in Vichy to make a short round trip to Saint-Germain-des-Fossés. He had come to the region to celebrate his 171st birthday. Today is my birthday. I was born on June 18. We have been in Vichy since Friday evening and we took advantage of the festivities offered in the city on the occasion of this anniversary. Well done ! Atmosphere guaranteed! Some of the 200 extras dressed in period costumes, participating in the great historical festival that the city organizes each year, welcomed the train upon its arrival in Vichy and boarded it . Due to the configuration of the local rail network and also the fact that, by definition, a steam train is a towed train, numerous maneuvers were carried out by the driving team throughout the weekend to each time reposition there locomotive at the head of the train and leave in a new direction. The machine is not that of the Auvergne Steam Train, theirs is undergoing major overhaul, but that of GADEFT, a Nîmes association which preserves the 140 C 27, a locomotive built in 1916 and put into circulation in 1917. We will settle in as best we can in the cabin, comfort in a steam locomotive still remaining quite rudimentary and we will set off for a maneuver to get back into the lead. The mechanic will take his job, we will have the SNCF pilot who will accompany us. And then the idea is to go to the other side of the train to go in the other direction. While you’re doing a maneuver like that, do you need to supply coal? No, the objective of the driver, as I said earlier, was to provide steam power based on what we are going to consume. So, for the moment, we are not consuming anything, we are not eating. But now, if needs evolve, food will evolve. During the maneuver, they will often have specific discussions regarding the maneuver instructions, regarding the authorization to move… So, sometimes, we tend to make too much noise to let them concentrate on the maneuver . Yes, because you are always accompanied by a CTT, an SNCF manager, including in maneuvering areas, obviously. Because on the line… In fact, as long as we are on RFN, and including on the service roads, we are in the bosom of the SNCF, SNCF, Réseau. There you go, there you go! And what you were explaining there is that you and the whole team don’t know the line, so you have someone who, on the other hand, has practice, who knows how to tell you the signs, the speed limits… . That’s it ! So, when we are on the main line, we will have the pilot who will guide us because he knows the line, he has knowledge of the line and depending on the stations and the size of the stations sometimes, we have a person specifically authorized from the station who will come with us for the maneuver. We had the case for example in Longueville to carry out special maneuvers. And then it also happened to us in Lyon Perrache to go and work at a depot. So. Because the person has special knowledge of the track system on site. There, obviously, you have to go relatively far to be able to find the needles to maneuver. Depending on the track plan and the signaling, we must pass certain signals to obtain information or authorization to return. And then also depending on what is planned as a maneuver, we can be overtaken in quotes by the next lane. But if it’s a crossing track with a planned train, well sometimes, we’ll be made to wait by train, overtaking on a more distant track. It all depends on the theme that has been decided by the SNCF. So this locomotive, as it is required to circulate on the national rail network, I suppose that it necessarily has the equipment, which makes it possible to trigger its presence, finally to signal its presence, to trigger the signaling? There, on this machine, what do you typically use for example? So what we have as specific equipment for signaling is mainly two components. We have our speed indicator which is a Flemish one, Flemish SNCF. This Flemish will have two things: a speed indicator and a signal feedback. And the third thing it has in addition is a tape recorder and therefore the speed information, it is a direct mechanical tapping on the wheel and the electrical signal of the repetition of signals, it is taken on the crocodiles and we will have brushes which will make the electrical contact and bring us back the signal. And so that’s the whistling sound we heard earlier. It was a return of a signal which was surely yellow. A warning to say that we were on a diverted lane or something. He activated his gear, therefore his reverse gear. This is what makes it possible both to determine the direction of travel and to reduce or increase the torque and therefore the maximum speed of the machine. There, we’re going to go to the other end, so in fact, we’re going to find ourselves in this traffic situation. It’s less easy though, isn’t it? Yes, it’s special, so there are constraints. Maximum speed with tender at the front depending on the configurations 50, or even 30 kilometers. And in terms of visibility, that’s for sure, it’s one of the factors. Is it less easy? It’s less easy, there is less visibility. When you drive the boiler forward, how much is the maximum speed on this machine? It’s 80 maximum speed, 80 kilometers per hour. As you can see, things move a lot on machines like this! These are very rigid machines and therefore who says rigid means that it transmits vibrations and therefore, we really feel it all the same! So, in fact, we notice that when we are on the chassis of the machine, it moves a lot more. But as soon as you get on the tender which is on bogies… You feel the difference! It’s like a coral! How much coal is there in reserve? So there, in terms of… This is the construction tender, of German design: 34 X So 34 for 34 cubic meters. This is the water reserve and therefore the inclined plane that we have in front of us is the coal reserve. There, there is approximately eleven tonnes of coal capacity. There for the trip and you fill up somewhere? So we stocked up in Clermont yesterday, the day before yesterday. Yesterday, we spent a day, we must have covered 150 kilometers, so we used up a good part of it. And then, with today ahead of us, we are going to be close to the end. But are you going to arrive in Clermont without having refueled? No, no, we have ample autonomy for the two days. Let’s say that according to the lines of course, everything depends on the gradient, but you can do around 500 kilometers with a full tender. So there is still some room . So obviously, as soon as it starts to get steep, we’re going to consume a little more. It’s a bit stressful for the driver to think, am I not consuming too much? I wouldn’t say it’s stressful, no. Well, personally, I don’t think so. And I don’t think it’s stressful for the other drivers. As you can see, it falls by gravity, but it tends to have a little trouble coming from the bottom. So, in fact, we have to constantly scrape, bring the coal back towards us, it’s perhaps the most sporty, the most complicated. Ultimately, that’s stressful! There, do you check your fire? We still take a look quite regularly. And what are you looking at? Well, the idea is to see the color, so there, we see that the dark areas, these cold areas, are where the charcoal is burned or stuck. And then the light part is what we want, the embers. There, we know that we are going to have to work on the fire to prepare… There, as I said earlier, the idea of ​​the driver is to provide what we need, there, to make a maneuver without load when empty. Earlier, we had around fourteen bars, now we went down to twelve and a half, but that’s more than enough. We know that we have an hour’s break… Yes, there is no train behind… There is no need to go up as high as possible. And then even, there is this notion of economy that the elders also had to say, we are not going to burn coal… Yes, there was a bonus at the time at the SNCF, a coal saving bonus . And the teams that consumed the least had a reward, a sort of ranking, let’s say to compare the teams. So it stayed a little bit on that side. Drivers like you today, do you still have this little challenge? Do you still do it? Yeah, it’s a challenge in the sense that for ourselves, telling ourselves that we can be good or bad if we use more or less coal. But there is also this aspect for the team, for the group, it’s a budget to shoot something like that, it’s a budget to roll and today, coal, well it’s not the even price than at the time. So, there you have it, there is this financial aspect which is important, we try not to waste too much, we try to limit the waste, so we want to limit waste in general. And where do you find the coal? Because in France we no longer produce them. Yes, it’s been a while. There was a time when coal was fairly easy to find. Today, we try to find… We find it where we can. The advantage of coal is that it is something that is produced and transported in mass. And then on top of that, at each stage, there is a buyer, a reseller, a buyer, a reseller. So we find stocks almost everywhere. Ours, we find it in Germany, there was a time, we found it in Belgium and then it’s still in stock, it’s not mined on site. So it’s not a problem yet. Because one could say that one day associations like yours will have problems finding them. Yes, today, we make coal, so as long as there are products left, especially from coal-consuming countries, for the moment it’s okay. On our scale, we consume very little coal. Yes, it was not the SNCF which was the biggest consumer! Absolutely, we do maybe ten trains a year to spare. We are not going to consume the same as a thermal power station in Germany. So, there, the mechanic will come and dock on the train. They have just received information by radio from the shunting agent that the train at the platform is tight and that he will be able to come and support the convoy directly. And for the coupling to take place, you will have to push at some point. So, he’s going to stop a little bit before then? In fact, it will slow down. So it depends on the engineer, but if the maneuvering agent gives him authorization to come alongside directly, he does not need to stop. Afterwards, in fact, in the procedure, we will often apply a stop a few meters before applying support. After a good two-hour stop, which will give the team time to eat, the Auvergne Steam Train will run a few shuttles between Vichy and Saint-Germain-des-Fossés, which will be an opportunity for new maneuvers to return the locomotive to the head in each of these stations. I am going to take advantage of the time that one of them gives me to meet a person who is passionate not about trains, but about train travel for whom traveling in a different way has become a necessity, even an obvious choice. He is the author of a website voyageentrain.fr and books in which he shares his advice for going on a weekend or vacation, taking the train even when you have a family. Initially, we traveled with any means of transport and, in 2019, we said to ourselves that we were really going to favor the train. And in fact, it really has become the ideal transport for traveling. We travel with six and eight year old children today, and whether in France or Europe, it really is the ideal means of travel for us. Were you a little interested in the railway world before or was it really a discovery? No way. In addition, like everyone else , we liked beautiful trains, but after nothing special like that, we are not necessarily interested in the railway equipment itself, but more in the experience of the journey. This travel experience led you to write books since now there is a second one coming. So maybe talking about the first one to start, what is called traveling by train in France? Yes, it’s called traveling by train in France. In this book, we really put all our good tips and advice and experiences so that people can really find all the offers that exist in France. We often say that the train is expensive when in fact, it is mainly the TGVs that are expensive. There are plenty of offers in each region, there are thirteen regions, that is to say thirteen different pricing policies. So there are unlimited pass reduction cards. There are regions where children do not pay and done, so we grouped all that in the same place so that people really have a turnkey work to be able to discover the country easily. It’s not always easy to actually navigate the fare offers or even simply the possibility of knowing where from, where you can go by train easily, with what connections, etc. It’s true that it’s not necessarily easy for those who are not rail enthusiasts, it’s not necessarily easy to know all that. Above all, there are the main lines, it’s easy. If we talk to you about Paris, well yes, it’s easy to do Paris-Marseille, but it’s true that we live in the provinces, we live in Rennes, in Brittany and in fact there are cross roads. For example, we from Rennes can go to Strasbourg directly, to Marseille without going through Paris and the station changes which can be a little painful. You have to take the metro or a taxi, with luggage it’s complicated. In fact, there are lots of little tips like that that we put in the book. The book is these travel tips, I believe there are also portraits of railway workers or enthusiasts? In the book, there are also 10 portraits of people who work at the SNCF, but also of travelers. So we have a person who travels by bike plus train, a person who travels in a wheelchair. We also have people who are committed to the ecological transition, who have really shown us that the train is the best, most ecological mode of transport… Finally, first of all there is walking and cycling. But anyway, it’s true that… And we really wanted to highlight other people so as not to do a 160-page monologue, to give other points of view than ours in the book . And beyond the book, now there is a map that has been created? Can you explain to us what it is? What is the approach to this? So, a few weeks ago, we met a person who wanted to create a railway map of France. So it’s a bit like the Michelin map, but the railway map with the national parks, all the lines that exist and all that, it really allows you to see on a map where you can go by train and really a new way of traveling. And then traveling by train in France made you want to go a little further. So there is a second book now which will, which will come out of there, if I understand correctly? Yes, that’s it, we are in the process of writing the book Traveling by train in Europe. So we traveled over the last two years, we spent eight months on the rails, including a four-month tour of Europe with our daughters. We have lots of tips and advice to give. And since we released the book Traveling by Train in France, everyone has been asking us what about Europe? Would we also like to have some advice? That’s it, we got started and the book is currently up for pre-order and we are in the process of writing it. It will be available in the fall. So for those who are pre-ordering, it’s on Ulule that it’s happening. And for traveling by train in France, who has already left or who is about to leave? For people who are interested, who have not gone through the pre-financing phase through Ulule, where will they find it? To travel by train in Europe, he is on Ulule until June 21. Afterwards, it will still be available on our site for pre-order until the fall, until its release. And for Traveling by train in France, it is available in all bookstores on order and in around twenty bookstores also in France, it is directly present in physics and otherwise you can also obtain it on voyageentrain.fr. We started with this media, we launched it in January 2020 for the same, to give all our advice for traveling by train, whether in France or in Europe. And books are really the continuation of this online media. If you really want to date online at all. We love them books and we also wanted to have our book where it is listed in the same place, because it’s not the same experience of having paper, of leafing through as being… Well, we are on screens all day, so getting away from the screens a bit is really nice! Visit the website www.voyagerentrain.fr to find out more about these different projects, including that of the Auvergne steam train: www.trainvapeur-auvergne.com to discover the rest of the program for its season and those which will follow to get news from Gadeft, it’s on www.gadeft.com. Finally, for the continuation of your trip with Aiguillages, I offer you this other report dedicated to other viaducts spread throughout France and to see you next week for new railway discoveries!