The Train des Pignes is a set of four metre gauge railways that once existed in the departments of Alpes-Maritimes (06),

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

(83), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04) and

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

(13) in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur (PACA)

région France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...

in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

: *

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

(06) -

Meyrargues Meyrargues (; oc, Mairarga) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Population Personalities *Writer Joseph d'Arbaud was born in Meyrargues. * Raouia Rouabhia - Algerian international volleyball player See al ...

(13) *

(06) -

Digne-les-Bains Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Cô ...

(04) *St.Raphaël (83) -

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

(83) *Cogolin (83) - St.Tropez (83) Only the one between

and

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Cô ...

is still in operation. Therefore, today most people when they use the term, unaware of the history, refer to the Nice-Digne Line only. Pignes is the southern French dialect word for pine cones. The St. Raphaël -

and

Cogolin Cogolin () is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Climate Cogolin has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The average annual tempe ...

- St. Tropez lines were also sometimes called Le Macaron.

History

The Nice to Meyrargues line was developed under the

Freycinet Plan The Freycinet Plan (french: Plan Freycinet) was an ambitious public works programme, launched in 1878 by the Minister of Public Works Charles de Freycinet, principally for the construction of railways, but also for canals and maritime ports. In its ...

, a

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

program initiated by the French Prime Minister

Charles de Freycinet Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet (; 14 November 1828 – 14 May 1923) was a French statesman and four times Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Opp ...

. The line was opened in stages between 1888 and 1892. With a length of it was the first narrow-gauge route in France to exceed . Viaducts for the line were built to cross the rivers

Siagne The Siagne (; oc, Sianha) is a river that flows through the Var and Alpes-Maritimes departments of southeast France. It is long. For much of its length, it forms the border between the two departments. Its drainage basin is .< ...

, Loup and

. During the line's early years the locomotive fleet included 0-6-0 and 2-4-0 tender engines. In 1913 services ran at an average speed of . The line was connected to Nice at the city's neo-classical terminus station, the Gare du Sud. Destruction of viaducts during WWII closed the section of the line between Nice and Tanneron and the rest was shut in 1950 as it was uneconomic. Work to build these lines started in 1887 and the lines were opened in sections *Nice — Meyrargues () **

Draguignan Draguignan (; oc, Draguinhan) is a commune in the Var department in the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (formerly Provence), southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department and self-proclaimed "capital of ...

- Meyrargues (22 March 1889) **

Grasse Grasse (; Provençal oc, Grassa in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional it, Grassa) is the only subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region on the French Riviera. In 2017, the c ...

- Draguignan (25 October 1890) **

Colomars Colomars (Nissart: Couloumas) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes ''département'' in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Inhabitants of Colomars are called ''Colomarsois''. Colomars is a part of the Pays Niçois. ...

(7 June 1892) **Nice — Colomars (2 June 1892) *Nice — Digne () **Nice — Colomars (2 June 1892) **Colomars -

Puget-Théniers Puget-Théniers (; oc, Lo Puget Tenier; it, Poggetto Tenieri) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Geography It is situated on in the valley of the Var. History It was part of the historic County of Nice ...

(8 August 1892) **Puget-Théniers - St. André-les-Alpes (3 July 1911) (from 1892 to 1911 passengers were transferred by stagecoach, a trip that took 6.5 hours) **St.André-les-Alpes — Digne-les-Bains (15 May 1892) *St.Raphaël — Toulon () **St.Raphaël — La Foux (19 September 1889) **La Foux -

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered arou ...

(4 August 1890) **Hyères — Toulon (21 August 1905) *Cogolin — St.Tropez () **Cogolin — St.Tropez (1 July 1894) The Nice-Digne line is today operated daily by Chemins de Fer de Provence with

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

s, four trains per day.

Rolling stock

Former rolling stock

Railcars by Brissonneau & Lotz and

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

were used.

Current rolling stock

The current rolling stock in use is:- *X301 - X306 Railcars build by CFD. X301 - X304 entered into service in 1972, and X305 -X306 entered into service in 1977. *X351 Railcar built by Soulé, with trailer XR351. Entered into service in 1984. *XR1736 Railcar, renovated at the workshops at Lingostière in 2006. New rolling stock is due to be introduced in 2008 which will have better facilities for disabled passengers.

Steam train

A group of voluntary rail enthusiasts in an association called ''Groupe d'Etude pour les Chemins de fer de Provence'' (GECP) operate a steam train (sometimes also called Train des Pignes) between Puget-Théniers and

Annot Annot (; oc, Anòt) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Annotains'' or ''Annotaines'' The commune has been awa ...

on the Nice — Digne line every weekend from May to October, occasionally with an extended overnight trip to Digne-les-Bains.

References

External links

Chemins de Fer de Provence
homepage.
GECP

of steam train photographs

{{coord missing, France Metre gauge railways in France Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône Var (department) Transport in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur cy:Chemins de fer de Provence da:Koglebanen fr:Train des Pignes nl:Chemins de fer de Provence ja:プロヴァンス鉄道