|
|
Main-Line Railway |
Tickets-Bikes |
Reductions |
TGV - High Speed Train |
Planning |
Small Trains |
Cannes-Grasse |
Train des Pignes |
Train des Merveilles |
Rail Europe |
Rail Maps: |
Provence Rail Map |
Provence TER Rail Map |
TGV Rail Map |
TGV-Paris Rail Map |
Some small trains are still in service, providing access to towns
and villages back away from the coast.
Many of these are short-line, narrow-gauge
railways, and range from one-car to four- or five-car trains, and often run seasonally. The trains
themselves are picturesque, with seasonal inclusion of steam locomotives
and refurbished antique rail cars.
One of these short-line railways is the 13-km long Steam Train of the Cévennes, running between St Jean-du-Gard and Anduze.
A couple of longer route, regularly scheduled small trains are the Nice-Digne Train des Pignes and the Nice-Cuneo Train des Merveilles, see below.
The Lost Railways of Provence are the old railway lines that ran through the hills of the back country from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
The scenic but slow Train des Pignes connects the coast (at Nice) with Digne-les-Bains in the heart of the back country [Nice-Digne rail map], with stops at some of the prettiest old villages in Beyond. Service is several times a day, and takes about 3 hours from one end to the other.
The stations are small and personal, and are worth a visit in
their own right. Barrème,
on the Nice-Digne line of the Train des Pignes, has an archeological museum
with local fossils and showing local geological history going back several
thousand years. The photo above shows
a one-car train passing through the flag-stop station of Mezel.
 Get there early so
you can get good seats. Small trains can get crowded quickly.
The Train des Merveilles goes up the beautiful Roya Valley into Italy.
Not quite as small as the Train des Pignes but off the beaten path and with a beautiful mountain route, the Train des Merveilles goes between Nice and Cuneo (Italy), via Tende in the Roya Valley.
|
