Chris Tolley's "To Lyon and Back"

Late on the Friday morning of the May Day weekend, our party assembled at London Waterloo International. On time, our Eurostar drew out of Waterloo, and almost immediately we were welcomed to the service in several languages.

Through the Kent countryside, our train travelled at a sedate 80-90mph. We called at Ashford's new International station, and then headed off toward the Tunnel. Once on the EuroTunnel site, speed picked up and soon we were under the water. On the other side, the acceleration took us up to 292kph (181mph), though the train captain announced that it was 300. Just over half an hour later, we arrived at Lille Europe, where we detrained.

As a new station (built with the line two years ago) it's fair to say that Lille Europe doesn't have a lot of character. An hour or so after arriving, we were away on a train formed of two TGV-R (Train à Grande Vitesse Réseau - High Speed Train-Network) sets, and from there to Lyon Part-Dieu there were just two stops on the outskirts of Paris, for EuroDisney and Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Our hotel, one of the Ibis chain, was close by Part-Dieu station. (Lyon has two main stations, and Part-Dieu is the newer of them). The hotel was comfortable and the staff friendly. After eating at the hotel, a number of the party set off to meet one member who had chosen to travel later by air.

On the Saturday, most of our group were up with the lark. (Some preferred a later start, less scenery and more chances for railway photography.) From Part-Dieu a connecting service took us to Lyon Perrache, where we joined the train for Le-Puy-en-Velay. This was formed of one of the 2800-series diesel railcars hauling a trailer. Le Puy is in an area which had been volcanic in the distant past, and in consequence its modern landscape is dominated by steep pinnacles of rock. The locals have a habit of using these as bases for enormous statues, and while the energetic members of the party set off to climb one of these (and its statue) the others explored the parts of the town at lower altitude.

From Le Puy, another railcar-trailer-railcar set took us on to a small station at St. Georges d'Aurac. This station is on the line between Clermont-Ferrand and Nîmes, and whilst this was the line we were due to travel along next, the train we wanted to catch (the Cévenol) was not calling there. Thus we found ourselves on a small bus bouncing along the road to the nearby large station of Langeac.

In former times, Langeac had been a major steam depot, as a monument in front of the station testified. After a pleasant lunch in a bar near to the station, we joined our train to Nîmes, which was hauled by two 67400 diesel locomotives. This stretch of line passes through mountainous countryside, up one river gorge and down another. I lost count of the number of tunnels. As a result of the gradients and frequent curves, the line speed limit is 70 kph (44mph) almost all the way to Alès, which gave ample opportunity to observe the ever-changing landscape.

The junction at Nîmes faces the wrong way, so our train reversed for a mile or so into the station. While the diesels were removed and replaced with an electric loco for the rest of the journey to Marseille, some of the party took the chance to stretch their legs. In the meantime, those who had opted for the later start caught up with the rest of us, and exchanged news of their day.

We left the train at Tarascon, where the line for Marseille diverges from the line to Avignon, and caught a push-pull train propelled by an electric loco to Avignon. There was not quite enough time to investigate the famous bridge there before joining a TGV-SE (Sud-Est - the type of TGV used in the South Eastern region of France) set for the trip along the LGV (Ligne à Grande Vitesse - High Speed Line) to Lyon Part-Dieu.

On Sunday, while many were exploring the Lyon Metro and funicular railways, some took the morning more slowly. The party reassembled at Perrache station at lunchtime, for the train to Tournon. From Lyon, the river Rhône flows due south, and there is a railway line running along each bank. We took the train along the east bank to one of Tournon's stations, Tain l'Hermitage, which is situated at the foot of extensive vineyards. We walked through the town and across the river to the station on the other (freight only) line.

It's worth saying, for those who don't know, that provincial French towns do rather go to sleep at lunchtime, but even so, finding Tournon station not merely deserted but with everything looking as if it had been locked up for years less than half an hour before our train was due was rather disconcerting for some of us! Our train on this occasion turned out to be a diesel railcar, which would prove surprisingly good at climbing the steep gradients on the metre-gauge line from Tournon to Lamastre. Another surprise at Tournon was that the Vivarais railway shares the trackbed with the SNCF for a couple of kilometres, with the result that there is mixed-gauge track. Our conductor-guard apologised for his English, and then proceeded to provide an excellent English commentary all the way up.

The northern end of Tournon station,
showing the mixed gauge track where the Vivarais line
shares the trackbed with the SNCF.

By coincidence, another group of British railway enthusiasts was on the railway on the same day as us, and they had arranged for additional steam-hauled services to be running. Thus we passed a couple going down the 33-km line while we were going up. At Lamastre, we exchanged our single railcar for one of twelve carriages on the packed steam-hauled service back down again. One enduring memory of this ride will be how when the train called at one of the small wayside stations virtually everyone got down from the train, so that this small village became a town for twenty minutes until the train left! As with the previous day's journey, the Vivarais railway follows a river gorge for much of its length, roughly half of which is on viaducts.

After returning to Lyon, and a short break at the hotel, it was off into town again on the Metro for a Chinese meal, which is apparently something of a trip tradition. Whether it is also a tradition to drink the restaurant out of first Heineken, and then Kronenbourg, I'm not sure! (However, it should be noted that it is quite easy to use up all of a restaurant's stocks if there isn't much there to begin with!) After the Chinese meal, a walk back to the hotel gave us a chance to see Lyon by night.

On the Monday, which was not a public holiday in France, we made our way home again. Some of the group left early, and spent some time in Mâcon, whilst the rest followed on behind. At Dijon, there was an hour or so to photograph the trains before catching a TGV-SE set to Gare de Lyon in Paris.

At Paris, we took the RER D line from Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord, and were rewarded by the chance to travel on one of the double-decker units. Some of the group stayed on as far as St. Denis, which gave them a further chance for photography.

Once the group had come together again at Gare du Nord, we joined our TGV-R set for the journey to Lille Flandres - the new name for the original terminus station at Lille now that Lille Europe is open. This was the fastest part of the weekend, as our train reached a speed of 307 kph/190mph (measured over one particular 5km stretch.) From Lille Europe, once we had negotiated the anti-terrorist checks, we caught a Eurostar non-stop to Waterloo.

It was my first time on a Society overseas trip. Everything was enjoyable, which is a tribute to the work put in by those who organised the trip and worked out the times. I believe there was something for everyone during the weekend, and it was good that people were confident enough to go their own way from time to time. If all overseas trips are like this one, I can't wait for the next one. The only problem I had during the entire trip was getting through the metal detector at Lille Europe while wearing a riveted denim jacket!

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©1996 to 2000: Christopher J. Tolley

To Lyon and Back

The Basingstoke and District Railway Society's overseas trip, 1996