Labouheyre – Mimizan-Plage railway line

Labouheyre – Mimizan plague
Old train station in Saint-Paul-en-Born
Route number (SNCF) :	615 100
Route length:	34 km
Legend from Irun 0.0 Labouheyre to Bordeaux 6.2 Luë 11.8 Bourricos 16.4 Pontenx-les-Forges 20.7 Saint-Paul-en-Born 24.7 Aureilhan 27.1 Mimizan-Bourg 29.9 Bel-Air 30.0 La Cité paper mill 33.5 Mimizan's plague Aureilhan 34.0 Mimizan-les-Bains to Naouas

The Labouheyre – Mimizan-Plage railway was a 34-kilometer railway line in south-west France between Labouheyre station on the Bordeaux – Irun railway line and the seaside resort of Mimizan . It was opened between 1889 and 1909 and closed to passenger traffic in 1960 and not fully closed until 1992.

From Mimizan-Plage there was also a rail connection to the north of Bicarosse-Plage, which in turn was connected via Bicarosse to the marginal north-south route Bordeaux – Irun. Between Mimizan and Mimizan-Plage is a large paper mill, which was served by the railway until the end. In Mimizan-Plage there is a bridge over the Aureilhan, which flows into the Bay of Biscay, which was approved for both motor vehicles and the railroad.

Route

The entire route ran largely south, parallel to the former N 626 (today D626) in an east-west direction. Shortly before Pontenx-les-Forges , the route shortened south past the village through the forest, only to reach the main road two kilometers later. Before the beginning of Mimizan, the railway line again left the route of the main road and made a wide curve south past the place. According to the 1914 timetable, there were three daily connections as well as an additional journey between Labouheyre and Pontenx. The travel time for the entire connection was between 100 and 108 minutes.

history

On April 24, 1879, the first route license for the 27-kilometer section Labouheyre-Mimizan-Bourg was issued. The opening took place in July 1889. The interest in the construction of this railway was the exploration of the wood of the pine forests growing here. For the second, almost seven-kilometer section from Mimizan-Bourg to Mimizan-Plage, the license was granted on December 28, 1905; the line was opened in the summer of 1909. The reason for the extension was the steadily increasing flow of visitors to the seaside resort of Mimizan-Plage since 1880, which before construction could only be reached with difficulty by horse and cart. Initially, however, the plans failed due to the high costs of building a bridge to the north bank.

The concessionaire was the Chemin de fer d'intérêt local des Landes (CFIL) , which operated countless small routes along the north-south mainline. In 1916 three smaller railway companies merged to form the Compagnie des voies ferrées des Landes , which also owned this route. In 1925, the Papèteries de Gascogne opened at Mimizan , which mainly produces kraft paper there. In 1992, the 30.2 km long section between the paper mill and Labouheyre was also closed to freight traffic after the 3.8 km long section to the beach had been closed since 1963.

All routes of this company closed their passenger transport in 1949 at the latest, with the exception of the Labouheyre – Mimizan-Plage connection, which ceased passenger traffic in 1939, but reopened it the following year and did not carry out passenger traffic until 1960.

On April 21, 1961, a serious accident occurred in Mimizan-Bourg, which caused no injuries, but a lot of property damage, when a rail bus rammed a truck crossing the road and derailed itself in the process.

In 1905 the line changed to the railway operator Chemin de fer du Born et Marensin (BM) , in 1916 three railway companies merged , including the BM to become the Société Anonyme des Voies Ferrées des Landes (VFL) .

swell

• Archive link ( Memento from December 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://s1.e-monsite.com/2009/10/08/06/27988765bel-air-papeteries-jpg.jpg
2. ↑ http://s1.e-monsite.com/2009/02/28/05/9299311817-mimizan-plage-nord-vue-aerienne-1954-cim-extrait-n-1-la-gare-jpg.jpg
3. ↑ Mimizan Tourist Office  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ http://trainlandes.free.fr/images/carte_vfl.jpg
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ http://trainlandes.free.fr/page21.htm
7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ http://trainlandes.free.fr/page1.htm