The Petit train d'Artouste is a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

tourist railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

situated in the French

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

close to the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

border, some south of the town of Pau, and within the ''commune'' of

Laruns Laruns (; oc, Laruntz) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. It is situated at the confluence of two mountain streams, the Gave d'Ossau and its tributary, the Valentin. Formerly part of the provi ...

. The line runs high above the headwaters of the

Gave d'Ossau The Gave d'Ossau is the torrential river flowing through the Ossau Valley, one of the three main valleys of the High- Béarn (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in the Southwest of France. It is formed in Gabas from the confluence of two gaves coming fr ...

, and provides access to the Lac d'Artouste, a semi-artificial lake in the mountains at an altitude of nearly . It is the second-highest railway in France after the Tramway du Mont-Blanc. The line was originally constructed for the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi (CFM), the then main line railway operator in the area to the north of the Pyrenees. As part of a program of electrifying these lines, the CFM constructed a series of

hydro-electric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

s in the valley of the Ossau between the years 1920 and 1932. Significant civil engineering works were required in order to provide access to these works, and included the line now used by the petit train. Once this work was finished, the CFM recognised the tourist potential of the line, and the first tourist trains were run. Today the petit train is reached by a

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

from a lower station at Artouste-Fabrèges, on the Lac de Fabrèges in the valley of the Gave du Brousset. This lower station is at an altitude of and accessible by road. The gondola climbs to an upper station (known as ''Ossau2000'') at an altitude of , where passengers change to the petit train. After leaving ''Ossau2000'', the line runs through a tunnel, crossing under the ridge to reach a point high above the valley of the Gave de Soussouéou, another of the Gave d'Ossau's tributaries. From here the line runs along a twisting and vertiginous ledge above that valley until it reaches the dam of the Lac d'Artouste. The culminating point of the railway, shortly after the starting point, is approximately 1,940 m.Retrieved from the Google Earth geoinformation system The line is long and is built to a gauge of . Trains consist of 6 12-seat carriages pulled by a diesel locomotive, and operate from late May or early July until the end of September or early October. They are subject to a maximum speed of and the end to end journey takes just under one hour. On busy days, up to 10 trains are used providing 3 departures per hour, whilst at other times departures are hourly. Trains depart from 08.30 until 14:30 or later in the high season.

Gallery

File:Terminus du lac d'Artouste vue 6.jpg, The ''Lac d'Artouste'' terminus File:Artouste petittrain2.JPG, The train arriving at the terminus File:Train Artouste retour3.JPG, Train on route File:Petit-traind Artouste paysage.jpg, The line seen from below

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline, Petit train d'Artouste
Official web site of the Petit train d'Artouste
(in French) 500 mm gauge railways in France Artouste, Petit train d' Artouste, Petit train d' Railway companies of France Tourist attractions in Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Gallery

See also

References

External links