Five minutes at Villars-sur-Var station

It's a calm, sunny Sunday in early April in Villars-sur-Var. Spring is arriving.
It's really calm. Not a single person in view. The restaurant is closed.
The sound of an approaching railcar increases ...

La Portuguese moving with steam

The GECP Mallet steam locomotive E 211 moving with a good fire in the firebox will under suitable weather conditions create very nice clouds of mostly steam but also some smoke. The post presents photos from various locations, during a regular passenger trip from Puget-Théniers to Annot.

Vehicles in the Train des Pignes Steam Train

The steam engine, a goods wagon and five passenger carriages

Train des Pignes arrives in Annot

On hold in front of Annot station

Travelling with the Train des Pignes operated by GECP is not just another "what's-there-to-do" break from your vacation stay at the beach, with its sun and the blue sea. It's a cultural voyage, back to an era since long gone. But not only. In terms of technology it's a journey over more than a hundred years of time.

Let's start with what's in the front of your train.

Train des Pignes - Les Luganaises B-31, B-32

Passenger carriage B-32 at Annot station

The non-profit organization which operates the Train des Pignes heritage train, GECP, has two passenger carriages of this type. They belong to a serie of eleven carriages built by Schweizerische Wagons- und Augzügfabrik AG (SWS (Schweiz Wagonsfabrik Schlieren) - colloquially called "Wagi") in Schlieren in Switzerland.

GECP's two carriages, B 31 and B 32, were delivered to Rhätische Bahn (RhB), Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland, on June 1, 1911. The interiors were arranged into three compartments (three different passenger classes) and with toilettes, identified as ABC-608 and ABC-609.

The carriages were in 1933 fitted with new undercarriage. After WWII, their interiors were rearranged into two classes and they got new identifications, AB-1608 and AB-1609.

After more than 50 years of service for RhB, they were in 1965 purchased by Ferrovie Luganesi (FL) in the Swiss canton of Tessin. After rearrangement of the interiors into only class 2 compartments, they were put into operation for the line between Lugano and Ponte-Tresa, now identified as B-31 and B-32.

Wooden benches

When the carriages no longer were needed by FL, they were presented as a gift to GECP, to which they arrived on February 11, 1980.

B-31 and B-32 have been used for GECP's Train des Pignes heritage steam train ever since.

They have a length of 15.55 m (51.02 ft) and a height of 3.37 m (11.06 ft).

B31 has seating capacity for 68 passengers.

One compartment in B-32 has been rearranged to form a mobile souvenir shop.


See also Vehicles in the Train des Pignes Steam Train

(Ref traindespignes.fr)

Train des Pignes - Sud France JN-364

Goods wagon Sud France JN-364 at Annot station

This wagon was built in 1912 by Chantiers de la Buire in Lyon, as one of a set of total 70 units. It carried at Chemins de fer de Provence (CP) the identity J-2364.

The wheels are arranged so as to fit the rail layout of the 19th and early 20th century tramways of Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL), in order that goods could be moved without reloading to/from the harbour of Nice on TNL rails (1 meter gauge) and then with CP (1 meter gauge).

It is at GECP used as a service vehicle, to form part of the Train des Pignes heritage steam train.

Its length is 6.5 m (21.33 ft), height 3.15 m (10.33 ft), weight 7.2 t. I loads 15 t.

See also Vehicles in the Train des Pignes Steam Train


(Ref traindespignes.fr)

Train des Pignes - La Portugaise E-211

This steam locomotive was built in 1923 by Henschel & Sohn in a series of sixteen units - for the Portuguese Railways.

During the early 1970s it was based in Sernada, used to haul passenger and freight trains on the lines Val de Vouga/Espinho to Sernada and Aveiro to Viseu. In 1975 it was transferred to Lousado, where it provided service on the line from Famalicao to Povoa de Varzim.

After being transferred to the central workshops in Puerto Campanhã it underwent its last revision in service in 1976. Later on it was based in Regua where it pulled mixed trains and work trains on the line from Corgo Regua to Chaves. It was taken out of service in 1981.

Three years later, the Portuguese Railways offered to sell twelve steam locomotives no longer in use. One of them was the E 211.

It was offered to and bought by GECP and in July 1986 towed from Regua in Vila-Real to the GECP depot in Puget-Théniers.

Train des Pignes - Châtel-Palézieux B-220

B-220 at Annot station

This carriage was built by Geissberger & Cie in Zürich, Switzerland, and on June 15, 1901, delivered to Chemin de fer de Châtel-St.Denis à Palézieux (CP), one of the smallest railways in the French-speaking part of Switzerland (Suisse Romande. Châtel-St.Denis and Palézieux are located N of Montreux, NE of Lausanne).

It was originally arranged into one 2nd class and one 3rd class compartment and identified as BC-3.

Over the years its interior was rearranged and it changed ownership several times, leading to identification changes.

• BC-20, when used by Chemins de fer Électriques de la Gruyère (CEG)
• BC-220, C-220 and B-220, when used by Chemins de fer Gruyères - Fribourg - Morat (GFM)

The interior was modified to have only one passenger class.

It was in 1968 handed over to Chemin de fer touristique Blonay - Chamby (BC) (near Montreux), where it was used for some ten years before being passed to GECP, where it arrived on July 20, 1984.

Restored over a two year period in GECP depot in Puget-Theniérs, it was put into service in October 1986. It has after then been in operation as part of the Train des Pignes heritage steam train.

Its length is 9.0 m (29.53 ft), its height 3.2 m (10.5 ft). It weighs 7.28 t.

See also Vehicles in the Train des Pignes Steam Train


(Ref traindespignes.fr)

Train des Pignes - Sud France B-505

This passenger carriage, by GECP used for the Train des Pignes steam train between Puget-Théniers and Annot, is of the type originally used for the two Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Sud de la France (SF) railway company narrow gauge (one meter) lines Nice - Digne and Nice - Meyrargues.

It was part of an SF order in 1892 for 8 carriages for the then so far inaugurated parts of the lines from Nice, viz. Nice - Puget-Theniérs and Nice - Grasse. They were built and delivered the same year by Desouches & David in Pantin, NE of Paris.

During WWI it was requisitioned for use by the French Army. On June 13, 1915, it was sent to Chemins de fer de la Camargue (Camargue Railway), and there used to transport workers to and from the gun powder factory in Salin-de-Giraud (near Arles, NW of Marseille).

In March the following year it left Camargue and was sent to the war zone near Verdon, to the 10ème Section des Chemins de fer de Campagne, a French military railway unit. It was there used for military transports on the narrow gauge line "Le Meusien" (owned by Compagnie Meusienne de Chemins de Fer) in the French department of  Meuse.

After the war, it was restituted to SF on April 12, 1919. However, the years of military had left some traces ... It took two years to get it back to operational condition, on 2 April, 1921, to be in duty at SF for another almost three decades.

When use of  steam engines ceased after WWII, it escaped from being scrapped. It was instead rearranged into a service vehicle, used for railway line maintenance work. To suit this purpose, the interior installations were taken out to make place for various kind of tools and supplies. Even a sliding door (!) was installed on its side to allow loading of bulky apparatus. It provided this service for about a decade, until it was retired during the second part of the 60s.

After the creation of GECP and its steam tourist train, it was made available to GECP on June 20, 1979 for its restoration.

The brutal modifications to its interior to more or less convert it into a goods wagon and the subsequent detoriation of the wooden parts had put it in a position beyond repair. Should it be scrapped or be entirely rebuilt? It was torn down into pieces in 1982.

Happily, among its membership GECP had an experienced carpenter. Under his leadership, the carriage was rebuilt with new parts and material, on the basis of the original blueprints. A work that took seven years to finish.

In 1990, the passenger carriage  B-505 was put back into service, once again hauled by a steam engine. And has been in service for the Train des Pignes heritage steam train for more than two decades since.

The length of B-505 is 12.3 m (40.35 ft), its height 3.25 m (10.66 ft), its weight 10.5 t. The seating capacity is 52 passengers.

(Ref traindespignes.fr) 

But B-505 isn't alone on the track ...

GECP has in addition to B-505 one more of the same type in operation, B-508. Together with B-505 it forms part of the Puget-Théniers to Annot steam train service.

B-508 in the Puget-Théniers workshop, September 2014

Passenger carriage Sud France B-508 at Annot station

And there are more in line ...

We find three more carriages in the GECP depot at different stages of restoration.

In an advanced stage of restoration, in the GECP workshop

Waiting for restoration, in the carriage shed

Waiting in the GECP trackyard

No doubt the volunteers at GECP are guaranteed to be kept busy for years to come ... !!

See also Vehicles in the Train des Pignes Steam Train