Saint Symphorien – Lesparre railway line

Saint Symphorien – Lesparre
Hourtin station, platform side
Route network of the S. té générale des chemins de fer économiques
Route number (SNCF) :	635 700
Route length:	141 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Mont-de-Marsan 0.0 Saint Symphorien 57 m after Nizan La Sègue 61 m 9 Le Tuzan 87 m 16 Hostens 75 m Hostens – Beautiran railway line 23.5 Joué 53 m 28.6 Belin-Beliet 46 m 30.7 Viaduc Béliet (Ruisseau de Paillasse) 33.5 Le Bournet 35 m 38.1 Salles 22 m 41.6 La Saye 17 m 45.4 Mios 11 m from Irun 50.6 0.0 Facture biganos 12 m to Bordeaux 7.2 Audenge 5 m Ruisseau de Lanton 10.1 Lanton 6 m 13.3 Taussat-les-Bains 8 m 16.9 Andernos-les-Bains 7 m 20.7 Arès 7 m 23.9 Lège-Cap-ferret 12 m 26.9 La Saussouze 16 m 29.1 Lauros 25 m 33.9 Le Porge 24 m 38.1 Mistress 21 m 41.3 Mistress 21 m from Bordeaux 45.0 Lacanau-Ville 16 m to Lacanau-Océan Craste du Pont des Tables 52.1 Devinas 18 m 56.8 Carcans 21 m Craste du Pont des Queytive 59.9 Pipeyrous 19 m 65.3 Lupian 18 m 68.8 Hourtin 17 m 72.0 Cartignac 18 m after Contaut 78.7 Naujac-St. Isidore 14 m 78.7 End of the route from 1954 85.5 Cartignac 8 m from Pointe de Grave 90.4 Lesparre 2 m to Bordeaux

The railway line Saint Symphorien – Lesparre was a 141 km long standard gauge small railway line in southwest France between Saint-Symphorien , the station Facture-Biganos on the railway line Bordeaux – Irun and Lesparre on the railway line Bordeaux – Soulac-sur-Mer . It was opened in 1884 by the Société générale des chemins de fer économiques (SE), one of the largest branch line companies in France, and assigned to their Réseau de la Gironde, which are also known as Chemins de fer économiques de la Gironde . The line had been completely closed since 1974 except for the 12 km short Naujac-St-Isidore-Lesparre section, which was closed in 1954.

In Lacanau-Ville there was a connection to the Bordeaux – Lacanau-Océan rail link from Bordeaux , which was extended to the sea in 1904. At many stations on the way, there was also a connection to the extensive network of forest railways, which made the extensive forest areas accessible for the removal of the logs.

Route

The line was shared with Facture station on the main Bordeaux – Irun line. While the southern part ran in a south-east-north-west direction, the northern part of the route was oriented in a north-south direction. There was no noticeable gradient in the entire route.

history

The two lines coming from Bordeaux were opened in 1841 and 1874 respectively and are still in operation today. After the construction of the line, Facture developed into the railway junction of the important 235 km long line from Bordeaux to Spain and the system of secondary railways between the Gironde estuary in the north and Saint-Symphorien 140 km south, which also represented an important interface.

The application for the ninety-nine-year concession for the line had already been made in 1877, but the construction plans could only be implemented when the Gironde département was commissioned .

The entire line was opened together with the 50-kilometer section to Saint-Symphorien in the same year, which is rather unusual for a small train company for such a long route. On January 7, 1884, the 70-kilometer Saint-Symphorien-Facture section went into operation, followed by the approximately 70-kilometer northern section on October 20.

The reason for the construction was the provision of transport services for the extensive timber transports. Since the beginning of the 19th century, more than 90,000 hectares of pine forest had been planted in this coastal area to secure the dunes , which could be felled economically since the middle of the century.

The concession would have expired in 1976, but in fact this was probably not the reason for the closure two years earlier, especially since it has been canceled in the vicinity of many other route cancellations since the mid-1950s. There is no longer any track on the entire route. In many cases, roads were built over the railway line. Some station buildings are still preserved, some of them have been restored in an exemplary manner and are open to the public - for example in Hourtin as the local museum “Regards sur le Passé”. Otherwise there are hardly any traces left, especially since no bridges were necessary due to the nature of the terrain ; all road crossings were at the same level.

swell

• http://voiesferreesdegironde.e-monsite.com/pages/se-de-la-gironde/
• Station names and height information for the southern part
• Station names and height information of the northern part

Web links

Commons : Saint Symphorien – Lesparre railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} http://atlas-paysages.gironde.fr/IMG/jpg/Fig-12.jpg
2. ↑ route map
3. ↑ ^{a b} Information about the route on trains-fr.org ( Memento from January 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ http://voiesferreesdegironde.e-monsite.com/pages/se-de-la-gironde/facture-lesparre-medoc.html
5. ^ Atlas des Paysages: Le plateau et la forêt des Landes