Chemin de Fer de la Rhune

Chemin de Fer de la Rhune
Train the Chemin de Fer de la Rhune at the valley station
Route length:	4.2 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	3000 V 50 Hz  ∆
Maximum slope :	250  ‰
Rack system :	Strub
Dual track :	single track
Legend 0.0 Col de Saint Ignace 189 m Alternative point 4.2 La Rhune 905 m

The Chemin de Fer de la Rhune , also known as Train de la Rhune or Petit train de la Rhune , is a rack railway operated with three-phase current of 3 kV and 50 Hz with a two-pole overhead line in the west of the Pyrenees . It leads from the Col de Saint Ignace pass (169 m) to the La Rhune mountain (905 m). The railway belongs to the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and is operated by the Établissement public des stations d'altitude (EPSA) .

history

The first section of the railway was opened on April 25 and the second on June 30, 1924, by the Société des Voies Ferrées Départementales du Midi (VFDM) and leads to the 905 meter high mountain station at the top of the mountain. Construction of the line began before World War I and the vehicles were delivered in 1914. From 1935 to 1937 the VFDM shut down its entire network, only the rack railway remained, but now as an isolated railway line. Therefore a workshop had to be built. Due to financial difficulties, a train set had to be sold to the Luchon – Superbagnères mountain railway in 1938 . During the Second World War , regular operations had to be stopped, only supply trips to the strategically important summit were carried out after the German occupying power had set up a radar station there. After the end of the war, traffic increased again, so that in 1972 and 1979 various rolling stock was purchased from the above-mentioned mountain railway, including the third train sold in 1938. The concessionaire from 1989 to 1995 was the Société Hydroélectrique du Midi (SHEM). 1996 let to Veolia Transport is part of CFTA , which from 1995 to 2012 operator of the train was on from the mountain railway superbagnères acquired undercarriages two cars for a fourth train rebuild.

The average speed of the train is 8 km / h, so that the 4.2 km long route is covered in around 35 minutes. It is only in operation in summer and runs every half hour if necessary. In winter only supply trips for the television station on the summit are carried out.

vehicles

Today there are six of the seven locomotives originally built for this line and the Luchon – Superbagnères line with the numbers 1–6. These were built as follows:

• 1912 with the serial numbers SLM 2233–2235 for Luchon No. 1–3, No. 3 in an accident in 1954
• 1914 under the serial numbers SLM 2428–2431 for La Rhune No. 1–3 (of which No. 3 from 1938 Luchon No. 5) and Luchon No. 4

Of the eight passenger cars that have an axle with a brake gear on the valley side and a bogie on the mountain side, six belong to the original equipment of the railway, but two of them were in Luchon from 1938 before they could be bought back in 1972. The two other cars were built in 1996 according to the original model on underframes, which Luchon could also buy in 1979.

The locomotives are always coupled downhill so that the wagons cannot escape. The locomotives are also equipped with a speed monitor that triggers emergency braking as soon as the speed exceeds 9 km / h.

literature

• Henri Domengie: Les petits trains de jadis - Volume 7: Sud-Ouest de la France. Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya 1986, ISBN 2-903310-48-3 , pages 163-164, 216 and 248
• 1924-1983 Chemin de fer à crémaillère de la Rhune. Société des Voies Ferrées Départementales du Midi 1983 (brochure published by the railway)
• UT im Stadtverkehr 1977, issue 4
• Individual evidence:

1. ↑ Pierre Laederich: La crémaillère de la Rhune , in Connaissance du Rail No. 167 (March 1995)
2. ↑ Walter Hefti: Rack railways of the world. Birkhäuser Verlag Basel and Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-7643-0550-9

Web links

Commons : Chemin de Fer de la Rhune  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the mountain railway @ La Rhune Chemin de Fer de la Rhune

Coordinates: 43 ° 18 ′ 33.2 "  N , 1 ° 38 ′ 5.7"  W.