Luchon – Superbagnères mountain railway
| Luchon – Superbagnères | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Cog railway train in the valley station around 1920
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| Route length: | 5.65 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Power system : | 3000 V ∆ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rack system : | Strub | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Luchon – Superbagnères mountain railway was a rack railway in the French Pyrenees in the Haute-Garonne department , which ran from Bagnères-de-Luchon to the Superbagnères plateau from 1912 to 1966 . She laid the foundation stone for the Luchon-Superbagnères ski area - the largest ski area in the Pyrenees and the second largest ski area in France .
history
The pharmacist Ludovic Dardenne from Luchon initiated the establishment of the Société des chemins de fer et hôtels de montagne aux Pyrénées (CFHMP) in 1911. The company should set up a tourist station in the Pyrenees. The company's board of directors also included Jean Paul, chief engineer responsible for running the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi (MIDI), who dreamed of a tourist station based on the model of those in Switzerland. In 1911 the company successfully subscribed to a share capital of two million French francs , so that on July 15, 1911, construction of the track for the rack railway could begin.
For the construction, an SLM steam locomotive was imported from Switzerland, which was driven on its own wheels from the train station to the valley station by laying overhung rails on the road, which were laid in front of the locomotive and dismantled again after it had passed through.
The opening of the company between the Luchon and the plateau of Superbagnères above the village was on August 17, 1912. The railway only allowed the building material for the hotel to be transported up the mountain, but it could not be opened until 1922 because of the First World War .
A funicular connected Chaumière - the first stop after the valley station - with the spa district of Bagnères. Because the terminus of the railway line operated by MIDI from Montréjeau was 1200 meters from the city center of Bagnères, an electric tram was to be built from the station to the valley station of the mountain railway, but it never came into being.
The mountain railway was in operation all year round because it was also used by skiers and tourists in winter. One trip took 45 minutes. The train was used by almost 80,000 passengers annually. Passenger numbers rose continuously until the end of the 1950s. After a road to Superbagnères was built between 1961 and 1962, however, the number of passengers declined, so that in 1963 it was decided to discontinue the railway. At the end of the winter season 1965/66, after 54 years of operation, the last train of the cogwheel railway ran, but operation was not officially closed until the end of 1966. The rolling stock was still maintained, so that it could be handed over to the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune in April 1972 in perfect condition.
Since the cog railway was closed, the Bagnères-de-Luchon ski area was only accessible by road. In 1993, a cable car was built between Bagnères-de-Luchon and the ski area.
Technology and operation
The rack railway had some technical similarities with the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune further west . It also used rack rails based on the Strub system and used three-phase alternating current with a voltage of 3000 volts from a two-pole overhead line for the drive . The electricity was obtained from the Picadère power station, which was located on the One at the entrance to Luchon.
The meter-gauge route was 5.65 kilometers long and had three alternative stations, an intermediate station and a stop. The valley station in Luchon was about 630 meters above sea level, the mountain station at over 1800 meters, so that about 1,170 meters had to be overcome. The largest engineering structure was the 88 meter long Viaduc du Mail Trinquat. As with many rack-and-pinion mountain railways, the trains ran in subsequent train operations .
Rolling stock
When it opened, the vehicle fleet consisted of three SLM He 2/2 locomotives with electrical equipment from BBC , and a fourth was delivered in 1914. The locomotives were powered by two slip ring motors, which together had an output of 320 hp. They were used together with two presentation cars, which together could carry 120 people. During the ascent, the speed was 7.8 km / h, while the descent was 8.2 km / h.
In 1938, a fifth locomotive with the accompanying wagons from the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune joined the fleet.
There were also ten passenger cars, four flat cars for transporting goods, as well as a catenary tower car and a snow plow.
Accident on February 28, 1954
On Sunday, February 28, 1954, a serious accident occurred on the rack railway. In the evening around 5 p.m., skiers boarded the first train going downhill in Superbagnères. During this time the Luchon station management was waiting for a call from Superbagnères, telling him how many trains to send uphill to bring all the expected passengers down into the valley. Because there was no call, Luchon sent two trains in the direction of Superbagnères. When the call came, it was announced that only one train was necessary. The station management of Luchon then contacted the Mi-Sahage crossing station with the instruction to send the second uphill train back to Luchon immediately. At the same time, the first of the three trains traveling downhill from Superbagnères reached the Mi-Sahage junction, where it was directed to the siding to make way for the two uphill trains.
After the two uphill trains had stopped on the main track, the brakeman of the second train pushed the switch behind his train so that the train going downhill could leave the switch. Shortly afterwards, a temporary worker who was only employed during the season accidentally set the exit point on the valley side again, so that it led back towards the main track. The gears of locomotive No. 4 were lifted out of the rack or damaged by the wrongly set points, but at the same time the locomotive cut open the points so that the wagons did not derail. The train drove without brakes at a speed of 80 km / h in the direction of the curve above La Soulan. The two wagons derailed and came to a stop. The locomotive drove on, derailed above at La Soulan due to a broken rail caused by the high forces and crashed into the Bagnartigue gorge. The accident site could not be reached by any rescue train because all traction vehicles that were still intact were above the accident site. The remaining passengers therefore had to be evacuated with the material ropeway of the Lac d'Oô hydropower plant.
The accident claimed nine lives: six skiers who were fatally injured when they tried to jump out of the moving train, the two train drivers who fell into the gorge with the locomotive and a seven-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a sled accident and because of the railway accident could not be brought to Luchon for medical treatment in time.
photos
Train on the Mailh-Trinquat Viaduct
Postcard with train in winter
Train at the curve above La Soulan
preserved track body (2010)
literature
- Leymarie, André., Impr. C. Lacour: Le chemin de fer à crémaillère de Luchon à Superbagnères, 1912-1966 . C. Lacour, Nîmes 2004, ISBN 2-7504-0702-8 (French).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Superbagnères. In: luchon.com. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (French).
- ^ Thierry Lefebvre: Ludovic Dardenne et le chemin de fer à crémaillère de Superbagnères . In: Revue d'Histoire de la Pharmacie . tape 100 , no. 378 , 2013, p. 277-278 (French, persee.fr ).
- ↑ Issue advertisement. In: L'Express du Midi. April 3, 1911, p. 4 , accessed November 17, 2019 (French).
- ↑ La crémaillère. In: Superbagnères la pionnière. Retrieved November 18, 2019 (in French, first picture shows the locomotive).
- ↑ La crémaillère. In: Superbagnères la pionnière. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (Fri-FR).
- ↑ luchon.com: Superbagnères (French) , accessed on February 4, 2020
- ↑ a b Miscellaneous: An electric rack railway from Bagnères de Luchon to Superbagnères . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 62 , no. 9 , August 30, 1913, p. 121 .
- ^ Henri Cavaillès: La houille blanche dans les pyrénées françaises . In: Annales de Géographie . tape 28 , no. 156 , 1919, ISSN 0003-4010 , pp. 448 , doi : 10.3406 / geo.1919.9248 (French).
- ↑ L'accident du 28 février 1954. In: Superbagnères la pionnière. Retrieved November 17, 2019 (Fri-FR).
Existing routes: Jungfrau Railway 1898 | Gornergratbahn 1898 | Chemin de Fer de la Rhune 1914/24 | Corcovado mountain railway 1910
Lines that were later re-electrified: Veltlinbahn | Ferrovia Alta Valtellina | Mont Cenis Railway | Trento burner | Bolzano – Merano | Firenze-Bologna | TEL Tram Lugano 1896–1910 | StEB Stansstad – Engelberg 1898–1964 | BTB Burgdorf – Thun Railway 1899–1933 | SSS / SStB Schwyzer trams 1900–1914 | SBB / BBC three-phase operation Brig – Iselle 1906–1930 | Great Northern Old Cascade Tunnel 1909–1927 | RhW Tram Rheineck 1909–1958 | RENFE Gérgal – Santa Fe-Alhama 1911–1966 | SBB Sion – Brig 1919–1927 | EB Hasle-Rüegsau – Langnau 1919–1932
Earlier three-phase electrifications : Riffelalptram 1898–1960 | Hotel tram Évian-les-Bains 1898–1908 | Wöllersdorf military track 1902–1911 | BrMB Brunnen-Morschach Railway 1905–1969 | CFHMP Luchon – Superbagnières de Luchon 1912–1966 | Mühleggbahn 1950–1975 | RAG cog railway opencast mine Gruhlwerk 1927–1949
Test operations: Three-phase test operation from Siemens & Halske | Ganz test track on Óbuda Island | Three-phase test operation Brig – Iselle