Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard

The Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard SA (PAC) is a tourist railway company in Le Châtelard in the Swiss canton of Valais .

Since 1975 it has opened up the excursion area around Lac d'Emosson , above Le Châtelard, in the municipality of Finhaut, with three exceptional mountain railways - the so-called Parc d'Attractions . The most popular hiking route is the ascent to Lac du Vieux Emosson , on the banks of which archosaur tracks can be seen in summer .

The PAC in Le Châtelard VS Funiculaire is connected to the Martigny-Châtelard railway of the Transports de Martigny et Régions (TMR) from Martigny, and via the SNCF railway line from Chamonix .

history

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) built a number of transport lines above Le Châtelard for the construction of the Barberine dam and the «Le Châtelard» power station. The funicular from Le Châtelard to the water castle (Château d'Eau - Les Montuires) of the power station was opened in 1920; the Barberine weight wall, which dammed Lac d'Emosson, and the first power station were put into operation in 1925. When the Emosson reservoir was greatly enlarged in 1974 using the new Emosson arch dam, the old funicular railway no longer seemed necessary to the SBB and should be demolished.

The Lac d'Emosson, the destination at the upper end of the "Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard"

Depending on the season, the Lac d'Emosson reservoir is not yet completely filled on June 22, 2008, so that the crown of the old “Barberine” dam is still visible above the water level.

On a private initiative, this led to the establishment of SA des Transports Emosson-Barberine (SATEB), which set itself the goal of protecting the funicular from being demolished. For this purpose, a light railway with a 600 mm gauge was prepared for tourist operation as the Petit Train Panoramique d'Emosson . The SATEB opened tourism in 1975 on the funicular railway, the Feldbahn, and in 1977 a monorail cog railway at the Emosson dam.

Between 1989 and 1991 the now much too small cogwheel train ( Habegger type ) from the foot of the dam to the lake was replaced by the modern minifunic . The company changed its name to Trains Touristiques d'Emosson SA (TTE) at the end of 1999 and then to Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard VS SA (PAC) at the beginning of 2004 .

Lanes

Historic funicular

The Barberine funicular, built by SBB in 1920, was known as the Funiculaire historique until 2012 ; With a gradient of up to 87%, it was the steepest two-cabin funicular in the world until the opening of the new Stoosbahn in 2017. The meter-gauge cable car overcomes a height difference of 700 meters over a length of 1310 meters.

As a special feature, a ballast wagon was still in use in the upper quarter until October 21, 2012. When the upper passenger car approached the ballast car, the speed was reduced and the one without coupling it was pushed upwards. The ballast wagon compensated for the increasing weight of the pull rope of the lower passenger wagon. When moving down, the journey was also slowed down and the ballast wagon stops at the buffer stop located on the side of the track.

For the 2015 season, the funicular system was modernized and equipped with new vehicles.

Panoramic train

The second section of the funicular is followed by a 600-mm field railway, which was built in 1975 on the route of the 750-mm industrial railway to the hamlet of Emosson and the Barberine construction site operated by SBB in the 1920s and is known as the Petit train panoramique (narrow gauge -Panoramabahn) has been reopened. It runs on a gentle slope over terraces and through six tunnels. The closer the train travels towards the arch dam, the steeper the mountain slopes become. At the end, the passenger can look down vertically around 200 m to the Bouqui Gorge. The trains usually run with accumulator locomotives (Ta 2/2 5-8, built in 1952); Steam trips are sporadically organized by the “Vaporistes du Châtelard-Emosson” association, using the original Bn2t “Liseli” steam locomotive (Jung, make no. 1693, built in 1911). In 2012, public steam trips took place on 4 selected weekends.

The petit train panoramique is the only 600 mm light railway that is in the Swiss timetable and offers regular steam operation.

Minifunic

The third and last section of the field railway is the Minifunic from 1991, which leads from the foot of the dam to Lac d'Emosson. The funicular replaced a monorail (monorail cog railway ), which ran on the same route, but was not able to cope with the volume of traffic. The minifunic overcomes a height difference of 140 meters on the approximately 260 meter long route . The track width is 900 mm. The two cars run on two separate tracks, but are moved by a single rope and have a device that keeps the floor of the car horizontal regardless of the track incline.

gallery

At the “Le Châtelard, Gare du Funiculaire” valley station. The view from the valley station shows the beginning of the track leading uphill until it disappears in a first tunnel. It is the world's steepest funicular with 2-cabin operation.
Historic funicular with ballast wagons in motion
Historic funicular with ballast wagons just below the mountain station at around 1800 m
Side view of the funicular cabin with the ballast wagon pushed in front just below the «Les Montuires» mountain station.
Funicular at the Les Montuires mountain station, where you change to the panoramic train.
Funicular in the “Le Châtelard, Gare du Funiculaire” valley station behind the SBB power station building
"Liseli" steam locomotive (Jung 1693) with a view of Mont Blanc
"Liseli" steam locomotive (Jung 1693) with passenger train on panorama train
Steam locomotive «Liseli» crosses a return train with battery locomotive no. 7 in the alternative station no.
Steam locomotive «Liseli» (Jung 1693) with waiting minifunic cabin above in the transfer station «Pied du Barrage»
Minifunic d'Emosson, the funicular from the foot of the dam to the top of the wall
The Lac d'Emosson, the destination at the top of the "Parc d'Attractions du Châtelard". The huge dam and Lac d'Emosson can be seen from the minifunic cabin.