Small train Pierrefitte – Cauterets – Luz
The narrow-gauge railway Pierrefitte-Cauterets Luz- placed for the railway Lourdes-Pierrefitte a continuation in the Pyrenees is.
history
After the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Midi (Southern Railway Company) had completed its line from Lourdes to Pierrefitte-Nestalas in the summer of 1891, it came back to a project that had been considered earlier (1878) to further develop the Lavedan area by extending it . After detailed negotiations - including about the wishes of individual municipalities regarding the routing - the planning subsequently concentrated on the construction of a meter-gauge electric local railway, which with two branches into the valleys of the Gave de Cauterets and the upper reaches of the Gave de Pau (Gave de Gavarnie called).
The construction work began in 1894 after the concession was granted to two private contractors. This they transferred in 1896 to the Société du chemin de fer de Pierrefitte à Cauterets et à Luz (PCL) , which was incorporated at the same time into the Compagnie Centrale de Chemins de fer, de Tramways et d'Électricité . The following year, on June 22, 1898, freight traffic from Pierrefitte (463 m) to Cauterets (932 m) began on the western branch line of eleven kilometers ; Passenger traffic followed there on April 1, 1899. The two switchbacks that initially existed below the Calypso stop were replaced by corresponding loops in 1901, which shortened the journey time.
The eastern branch line from Pierrefitte to Luz-Saint-Sauveur (711 m), which only separated from the western one at the Nestalas stop and was then twelve kilometers long, could be used from February 1, 1901. The DC voltage was 600 volts. The official inauguration of the entire operation of the PCL lines took place on April 13, 1901 in the presence of the French Minister of Agriculture, Jean Dupuy . Passenger traffic was coordinated with the trains on the main line to and from Lourdes and at times reached 12-15 pairs of trains in summer. In contrast, three daily connections were sufficient for local traffic in winter.
The growing competition in motor vehicle traffic after the First World War was initially more noticeable on the branch line to Luz. After a direct bus line from Lourdes via Pierrefitte and Luz to Barèges withdrew more and more passengers from the railways, traffic to Luz was stopped in 1934; only a modest freight traffic to the nitrogen works in Soulom was still served until 1939.
The closure of the older branch line to Cauterets was also planned for 1939; because of the conditions of the war and post-war period, however, it was able to assert itself against the street competition until April 1, 1949; Only when the most important freight customer, the Peñarroya mine ceased operations and costly renovation work was pending, did this railway also have to cease operations. The tram in Cauterets after the La Raillère thermal baths, which opened in 1897 and also belonged to the PCL, remained in operation until 1970.
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