Route Historic Vivarais Railway - Cfv, Ardèche Railway, Route Saint-jean-de-muzols / Lamastre - France

The Vivarais Railway (Chemin de fer du Vivarais) is a French historic railway, also known as "Le Mastrou". It's an ancient metric-gauge route, non-electrified and single track served; with a total length of 32.6 km - 20.3 mi.
The railway is set in the Ardèche territory, a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (South-East of France).
The route starts from Saint-Jean-de-Muzols (130m high), goes through Boucieu-le-Roi, and then ends in Lamastre (373m high). With a total height difference of 243m. The gradient isn't constant and often varies along the route, even with particularly challenging points.
This route is used only for historical and commemorative purposes, with services carried out during the Spring-Autumn period. There are also some winter events, such as Halloween and Christmas Galas.

LINE STRUCTURE
These are the stations present in the nearly 33 km - 20.5 mi of the route:
- Tournon-Saint-Jean(Rolling stock depot and passenger stop)
- Troye
- Mordane
- Clauzel
- Colombier-le-Vieux ( passengers stop)
- Boucieu-le-Roi (mid-station for water refueling of the engines and passenger stop )
- Tincey
- Arlebosc
- Le Garnier
- Le Plat-Empurany
- Lamastre (Headquarter, rolling stock depot, workshop and passenger stop)

At the two terminal stations of the route (and in the middle one too), there are: a water tower, a coal depot and a turntable.
The line doesn't have electronic signaling; only some old French manual signals for secondary lines appear here. Level crossings are managed via remote control barriers.

The plan of the Vivarais Railway:


KEY POINTS OF THE ROUTE
-The Troye viaduct, (km 6), 4 arches of 20 m
-The Mordane tunnel, (km 9), length: 265 meters
-The Arlebosc viaduct, (km 21), 5 arches of 12 m
-The Garnier viaduct, (km 23,) 6 arches of 12 m

ROLLING STOCK

STEAM:
- SLM Winterthur type 030+030T, "Mallet" locomotive N°403


- SACM type 030+030T, "Mallet" locomotive N°414
Two more engines of the same type, N°404 and N°413 still present on site, but not in operational conditions.

DIESEL:
- Billard & Cie. A80D self propelled railcar N°314


- Billard & Cie. A80D self propelled railcar N°316
- Billard & Cie. A150D self propelled railcar N°213
- Billard & Cie. A150D self propelled railcar N°214
- BB400 Diesel-mechanical locomotive, BB404


- Type X and Y, shunting and service locotractors.
- X5000 self propelled Railcar, specimens X5001 and X5002.

In addition to the power rolling stock, there's a range of freight wagons and passenger carriages, all metric gauge. The respective trailers of the railcars are also present; also manufactured by Billard & Cie.

That's pretty much everything you needed to know about this route. I hope this presentation has been useful in understanding this little gem of French railway engineering. Below I leave some additional photos, representing the most interesting places on this route.

Good evening.
Caravatt.

 

Tournon-Saint-Jean Station


Boucieu-le-Roi Station


Garnier Viaduct


Troye Viaduct

Let me know yours, if you also like small historic railways, such as the recently updated West Sommerset Raillway.

 

SACM 030+030T Mallet Locomotive N°414


Billard & Cie. A80D N°316 hauls an A150D.


Billard & Cie. A150D N°214(on right side) next to an X5000


Type X, shunting and service locotractor (Y is the same, just green)


Some examples of rolling stock: green and cream are the B 61s; the ebony and cream an AB4 93. There are also other carriages, such as the AB 91 and the C 136, in pure Far West style!