Velay Express - St Agreve to Dunieres, Ardeche

I promised on the Vivarais thread that I would open a thread on this wonderful French "Chemin de Fer Historique", so here it is.

The line was originally part of the Vivarais system, running south from the PLM Standard Gauge at Dunieres to a junction with the Tournon line at Le Cheylard. The whole system is, of course, metre gauge.

In common with the rest of the Vivarais, commercial operation ceased in the late 1960s, but a commercial tourist operation then took over the Dunieres to St Agreve section. Operation of the line transferred to the Association Voies Ferrees Du Velay in 1993. The ownership of the line is by the local authorities, in part as this is the main means of a large "rates" bill not being necessary. Many of the Stations are local community centres and hence the historic restoration is not as we would expect of a UK heritage railway.

Also perhaps a little unusual to UK eyes but quite normal in France is a timetable that sees different parts of the line used at different periods of the running season. From Dunieres to Monfaucon, the main gradient is 1 in 30 (not the steepest on the line but a long section at such steep grades) and hence this part of the line cannot be used in periods of poor adhesion or high fire-risk, so services ran this year on Sundays in June and September only on this section. July and August, diesel services run between Tence (the main depot, about half way along the line) and St Agreve, using both diesel locos and the rare (some unique) railcars based on the line on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Steam operates between Tence and Montfaucon Sundays only.

The line's website is: http://www.asso-vfv.net/

I attach some photographs from this latest trip at the end of last month and a trip in August 2012, both made with Inside Track Railway Holidays. These show the very rare twin Railcar (which literally has the gear changed by a man with a manually applied lever in the engine compartment on signal from the driver!), the Mallet steam loco and some of the ex-Swiss and Brittany used on the line.

The bad news mentioned on the Vivarais thread is that the Association have been told that the line between Raucolues Brossettes and Dunieres is to be closed and lifted to provide a cycle way/footpath. The track-bed of a branch from Raucoules Brossettes to La Voute sur Loire has already been used at the Raucoules Brossettes end, and that station has lost one of the 4 lines through the station (the new tarmac of the cycle way is visible in one of the pictures). A large car park and covered storage are promised for Raucules Brossettes but this is a somewhat smaller village than Montfaucon, which is quite a starting point for passengers at present.

The Association has around 200 members, of which about 60 are working members, and hence has limited pressure it can apply to the local authority. It carries about 12,000 passengers a year and the local authorities, who own the line, see the business brought by the cycle way as being of greater value to the local area.

This really is a most charming and lovely line and it will be a great shame if even part of it is lost.

I thoroughly recommend a visit for anyone in the area. There is a truly excellent cafe/bar at St Agreve Station also!

Steven

 

YouTube as ever provides a fertile source of footage including some evidently taken as a record of the section about to be lifted. It has a curiously frozen in time air about it and the viewer half expects a 2CV to hove in sight at a level crossing, or even a Delahaye 135M (such things are still used for real in places as I have seen). However this is the main vexation, for a line that has been "preserved" for at least 40 years ought to look if something has actually been done to it during that time. The Baie de la Somme system has things such as new rail, an electric turntable and umpteen new boilers to show for its time as a tourist attraction. No such good fortune here.

Hopefully the curtailed route will be easier to keep up and renovate.

P.H.

 

I think there could be some "chicken and egg" here Paul - the days of our last visit were swapped around so that we could enjoy the bulk of the Velay, as their winter track work programme started the next day. Hence, they are clearly working on the track but the lifting of the end section has clearly not come "out of nowhere" and they haven't spent meager resources on a section they are set to loose.

It must also be remembered that they don't own the line nor, it seems, have very secure tenure of it. The line may have been "preserved" for 40 years but the present society have only operated the line for half that time.

To the extent of what is "manageable", it is the location and number of active volunteers that affect this as much as length of line. Baie de la Somme (which, as it happens, I visited for the first time 2 months before the return visit to the Velay) is in a different location and on an altogether different scale. Like many of the UK's larger lines, it has in places sacrificed rural charm for commercial survival - in terms of "rural French atmosphere", St Valery to Cayeux, despite being diesel hauled, ouses this much more than the "main", steam line and I found the somewhat "modern" style of the stations (none of the quaint restorations we would use as a benchmark in the UK) somewhat disappointing. That is not to detract from a great day out and a splendid Railway!

Velay Express don't own and has limited access to all the station buildings - it does what it does in every respect with landlords' permissions - including whether it can use stations for Volunteer Accommodation (which it is allowed to do).

However, I would have to say the situation underlines my personal view that a heritage line, having largely fixed costs, must aim to run whenever adequate business is available and being limited by available manpower to a seriously limited operation, as is common in France and I sometimes sense is what some UK volunteers would like, is a dangerous course that risks being seen as not worth any effort by local authorities to fund, help or permit development. Not saying that is what has happened to the Velay, but if they ran 150 days a year and carried 75,000 passengers, then they would be seen as the 2best show in town" by their landlords.

Steven

 

Oddly enough many of the buildings of the CFBS had an "Art Deco" makeover before the war and what is seen now is very much as was present "pre-preservation". It too had a period of internal strife which was sorted out early on. It seems to me a better compromise than most (including the UK) between a representation of how things were and a businesslike operation which has to cope with a lot of trade.

Returning to the Velay setup which, (unlike the CFBS) I have not visited, if anything emphasises the difficulties of operating an over-long line with limitations in labour and finance in a remote area, it is here. Even the much busier Vivarais operation failed because it could not maintain itself adequately. Presumably because its trains got in the way it always seemed to be at brass rags with the SNCF who, in utter contrast, appear to be on good terms with the CFBS, who bring them business.

Hopefully there will be enough resources in Velay to ensure its survival.
Paul H.

 

the disparition of the section Raucoules-Dunières is a very sad lost (I bet that in UK it would be saved!!)
below a video (u tube) made in 2013 on that soon lost section

 

Yes, this is the video I saw before. The sad truth is that this section looked very much as it must have done forty years ago when it was very comparable to the Somme system. Just look at the latter now!

I am not in any way saying this as a criticism of the Velay effort because the potential business of the two areas, as well as the financial and labour resources must differ enormously. However if, after forty years, the local authority in Velay feels the economy will benefit more from a cycleway than from a "train touristique" people looking at this video should not be too surprised.

Paul H.