Bonjour à tous , I would like to introduce you to one of the most beautiful lines in France : la ligne des Hirondelles (or in english Line of Swallows) This line is located in the Jura department (near the mountain of the same name) and not far from the Swiss border. It is a 67 km/41mi non-electric and single track line where the distinctive feature of the line is the train passes over numerous viaducts , tunnels , crosses many forests and you are at high altitude, its highest point is 948m, you will be able to see the towns below. Furthermore, since it's not far from the mountains, when it's really cold you can get a snowy scenery. The line reminds me a little of Semmeringbahn line but as Caravatt said, it looks more like a mix of Mittenwaldbahn and Berninalinie. The line serves the following stations + altitude in meters : Andelot (636 m) Champagnole (541 m) Champagnole Paul-Émile Victor (543 m) La Chaux-des-Crotenay (714 m) La Chaumusse - Fort-du-Plasne (843 m) Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux (905 m) Morbier (860 m) Morez (737 m) And Saint Claude (441 m) Trains : - X 73500 Coradia A TER "Mobigo" - X 73500 Coradia A TER "Franche Comté" - X 2800 (even though it's not mandatory as it's only used for certain excursion trips but it had been running well on the line until 2006) Layers : - IA TGV (Paris - Lausanne) at Andelot station (no stop at the station and TGV use an other line after Andelot to go to Switzerland) If possible, with the Lyria livery. Morez station is a dead end, so to go to Saint Claude (or Morbier depending on where the train goes), the driver has to change cabs to go in the other direction, except for Thames Valley Branches, if I'm not mistaken, which has no other routes do that in TSW. I could have proposed extending the line to Dole (so Dole - Saint Claude and the line would be 123km/76 mi), but the line is very long to travel : 2hours from Andelot to Saint Claude, It's already quite long And 3hours Dole to Saint Claude , you understand now, I chose Andelot after personally I wouldn't mind it. Furthermore, trains that run between Dole to Saint Claude are quite rare; most of the time, you have to change trains at Andelot because the majority are going to Pontarlier on another line. Fun fact now : The line takes its name from this section of the line between Morbier and Morez During the construction of the viaducts, the locals who could see the builders suspended in mid-air and made them look like swallows. Saint Claude was not a terminus before 2017 because the line goes all the way to La Cluse station. But due to a lack of funding for renovation work, between Saint Claude and Oyonnax ,the line is closed. As for the remaining section between Oyonnax and La Cluse, TER trains who use the Bourg-en-Bresse to Bellegarde line serve the still-open stations of : Oyonnax, Bellignat and Brion-Montréal-la-Cluse , the other stations are closed. This is my first suggestion, so please be kind I got my idea mainly from a few websites, Wikipedia and the YouTuber Aiguillages who made a video about it (a very good video by the way, I recommend it), and if I've forgotten or made a mistake about something (because I don't know the line perfectly, I live in the Paris suburbs) ,you can always tell me so I can modify or add it. The video is in French but has English subtitles: And un grand merci at Caravatt for help
Superbe Don't know what to say... You've nailed the route style that appeals to me the most: a sort of Mittenwaldbahn and Bernina combo! Had never considered this route before, preferring the nearby "la Bosse" (Dole-Vallorbe), albeit set in early 00s! The stock/operator would be the same, anyway: TER FC(then)/Mobigo(now) Two tips: You should mark St-Claude and Anderlot in yellow too, so users can navigate and understand that map better! Also recommend this: https://openrailwaymap.app/, as it contains detailed layouts and many usefull info Total support! Thx for sharing this beautiful corner of France man Yep, but since there are only 5 Franche-Comté' XGCs, they're mostly seen on the Besançon > Locle-Col-des-Roches (Ligne des Horlogers). It wouldn't make sense to introduce them here, since they wouldn't change the gameplay (Imo)
Thanks for the website, it's very interesting. I'll edit my post. I have a question though: regarding rolling stock, is the X 73500 the only one used? Isn't the X 76500 used on the line?
