In this video, we'll be driving across southern France from Bordeaux near the west coast across to Marseille on the Mediterranean Sea with an InterCity (Intercités) service. Bordeaux is the 9th largest city in France by population. We'll be passing through Toulouse (4th largest), Montpellier (7th largest) and ending in the 2nd largest city, Marseille.
We will be travelling exclusively on the railway lines built during the 1800's, with one section (Sète-Ville - Montpellier) opening as early as 1839. That makes it the oldest line featured on this channel (the first railway line in Switzerland was the French line connecting Saint-Louis to Basel in 1844).
Please note: In the summer months, it's hard to keep the window clean when travelling at high speeds. It will get a bit messy until we reach Toulouse, where it is cleaned (2:07:00). If anybody is watching who can't stand watching a video with a dirty windscreen, please skip this video.
We start on the Bordeaux - Sète-Ville line which opened between 1855 & 1857, serving as an east - west connection in southern France. We then continue on the Sète-Ville - Tarscon line, which opened between 1839 & 1845. In Tarscon, the line joins with the Famous PLM line (Paris - Lyon - Marseille) which commenced service between 1847 & 1855.
This is the 7th video on this channel from France. At timestamp 5:32:00, we enter Miramas, a station where an alternative line to Marseille, known as the blue coast railway (la côte bleue) branches off towards the coast. To watch the alternative route, follow this link: https://youtu.be/Byfs-PyeHds
The maximum allowable speeds are shown briefly in the bottom right corner as they change, along with the corresponding signal if the speed is due to a signal restriction. Next to the station names are their altitude above sea level in meters, as well as their year of closure if applicable. Bridges and tunnels are labelled with their length and year of completion wherever the information could be found.
When starting on a new line, information about the line is provided in the top right corner. At our planned stops, you'll also see the map from the start with an arrow showing you our current location. This has been included after requests from viewers to be able to see where they are on long journeys.
For those of you who watch the full video, I thought I might start including some things to spot along the way. Perhaps you might see something special that I could add to this list? Leave it in the comments.
Special thanks to "Théo Copado" for providing us with a photo of a similar train for use in this video. See his page here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128227571@N05/
Things to spot:
A Diesel locomotive getting reading to leave with a long train
A child waving from overhead
A fly walking across the windscreen
The moment we hit a wasp
Timestamps:
0:00 Preview
0:52 Map
2:30 Bordeaux-Saint-Jean
1:03:41 Agen
1:38:45 Montauban-Ville-Bourbon
2:04:16 Toulouse-Matabiau
2:58:00 Carcassonne
3:24:50 Narbonne
3:38:00 Béziers
4:03:00 Sète
4:31:05 Montpellier-Saint-Roch
4:55:00 Nîmes
5:31:40 Miramas (linked video: https://youtu.be/Byfs-PyeHds)
5:49:40 L'Estaque
5:55:50 Marseille-Saint-Charles
References
http://www.inventaires-ferroviaires.fr/kc82/82112.02U.pdf
http://tramwaytetg.free.fr/moissac/page3.html
http://passes-montagnes.fr/htlm1/VF_lexos_montauban-01.html
http://chemins.de.traverses.free.fr/04533299f60f21e0a/0453329a010cabd19.html
https://www.frontignan.fr/la-sncf-profite-du-pont-pour-remplacer-le-pont/
Bridge arch picture https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ by: Jacques Mossot
Arrow on map: https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/3430526-set-of-colorful-arrow-down-pointer
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