Thierry Leleu

In recent years I have watched the Tour de France on television and been highly attracted to the landscape, especially once le Tour reaches the Pyrenees. Occasional glimpses of railway just piques my interest further. This magazine, from the German Merker Verlag stable that produces Eisenbahn Journal, both scratches that itch and also leaves some of it unfulfilled.

It sets out to describe the railways of the Pyrenees, with detailed coverage of the French side and rather less about the Spanish side. It details the trans-Pyrenean routes, describes many of the branch lines on the French side (some of which were failed international routes), and touches briefly on some of the minor and narrow gauge railways of the region. The history of railways in the region is quite well explored; this was the region of the pre-nationalisation CF du Midi, and the Midi was an early adopter of large-scale electrification.

But there are problems. There is a map. Like many publications of this sort, places mentioned in the text are not shown on the map. Worse, as the map is actually a CF du Midi one from the 1930s, not all the lines are shown as some were still under construction. There is hardly any detail on the Spanish side. And there is a fascinating profusion of minor railways and tramways which the text only really touches on in one brief chapter which concentrates on what can be seen today (well, in 1997, when the magazine was published). A number of those lines are not shown on the Midi map at all and you will need to find out their location in relation to the current system from somewhere else,.

The great Franco-Spanish border station of Canfranc is, of course, mentioned, though not to the extent that one might hope. Canfranc was something of an enigma; high in the Pyrenees, it is a massive station, some 240 metres (over 780 feet) long with 365 windows and 156 double doors opening onto the platforms. In the years since this magazine was published, Canfranc has become a cause celebre amongst the urban exploration fraternity, as it fell into disuse following the cessation of international trains following a bridge collapse on the French side. But RENFE, the Spanish railway operator, has put serious money into rejuvenating the line on their side of the border and the station itself has been subject of a major restoration programme; it is now due to reopen as a luxury hotel in 2022.

Other border stations are described, but many of the photographs fail to make clear the arrangements for the change of gauge. (Spanish railways are built to a gauge of 5 feet 6 inches - six Catalan feet - whereas French railways are built to the 'standard' gauge of 1435mm/4 feet 8-and-a-half inches.) Some track plans would have assisted here.

My schoolboy French can cope reasonably well with the text; well enough, indeed, to detect a number of typographical errors. And there are a number of photographs without captions. Inevitably, these are the largest or most historically interesting ones. A major sub-editing fail there, then.

But this should not put any prospective readers off. The photography, like other publications from the Merker Verlag stable, is outstanding, the trains colourful and interesting, and lovers of vintage electric traction will have a field day. Many of the Midi electric locomotives dated from the 1920s and served well into the 1970s; indeed, there are a number of photographs of vintage Midi electric multiple units dating from 1909, still in service in the 1960s. And the Midi engines served as patterns for SNCF electric locomotive development, resulting in similar vintage designs lasting very many years. My enjoyment of the subject overcame all my quibbles.… (més)