I think that the recreation of the Pau-Canfranc route would be a very interesting add-on, the route is about 90km long, in the last years of operation the speed could not be higher than 50km/h, due to the poor state of route The history of the line is quite turbulent, in 1856 the so-called “Manifiesto de los Arañones” appears, where the intention appeared to make a step that would connect France with Spain through the Somport pass. In 1870 the region of Aquitaine echoed the proposal and it was not until 1880 when it was taken into consideration by the French government. The original proposal commissioned in 1853 by the Madrid government contemplated passing through Somport. The international commission composed of engineers Decomblé and Page, preferred an easier route, avoiding the gradient of the ramps on the French side, which At that time they made the exploitation of the line very difficult. The French state never wanted to pass through Canfranc, despite the local interest of the Aquitaine government, since French political interests passed through a direct route with the Mediterranean ports with two proposed routes: -Toulousse-Perpignan-Lerida, avoiding the Pyrenean mountain range -and on the other hand a trans-Pyrenean railway from Ax-Les-Thermes to Ripoll On the other hand, the Spanish government wanted to pass through Somport because the region was more politically stable. The French and Spanish finally agreed to an agreement in which three major lines were created, the Perpignan-Lerida line, which entered service in 1870, the Aux-Les-Thermes-Ripoll line and finally the Pau-Canfranc line. Of the three, the one in Pau-Canfranc was the one that had the most delays in its construction and operation: It was affected by the First World War, which delayed the completion of the line in 1928. 10 years late as it should have been inaugurated in 1918. The stock market crash of 1929 meant a stoppage. The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 meant that the line was closed. Between 1940-1943, with the start of the Second World War, the government of General Francisco Franco closed the line again. Ironically, the line had its greatest traffic when the Nazis reopened the Somport pass to bring materials from Spain, the famous tungsten, and to pass gold and other merchandise from Switzerland-Germany-France through Somport to Madrid and Portugal, which was governed by the dictator Antonio De Oliveira Salazar. In the three years that it was under Nazi rule, the Spanish military were not happy about losing control of the station, 1,200 tons of goods passed through monthly Despite the supposed Spanish neutrality, Canfranc was a de facto Nazi enclave, and the town of Canfranc maintained a small contingent of German troops in those years, who had complete freedom to come and go through the town. In 1945-1948 the station was closed due to disagreements with the French government, and it was opened again in 1950. 1950-1970 was the longest period that the station had been open since 1928. 20 years in total. In the early hours of March 9, 1970, a freight cereal train consisting of two Bo-Bo 4600 locomotives lost brakes and derailed, destroying the L´Estanguet Brigde. For the SNCF it was the perfect excuse to close the line, between Pau-Canfrac, and closed the route between Oloron and Bedous-Urdos. RENFE, the Spanish part of the operation, wanted to close the part from Canfranc to Jaca, but strong regional pressure in 1975 forced its directors to cancel the closure of the line. In 2015 the Oloron-Bedous section was reopened again, leaving only 32km of road until Canfranc. On the Spanish side, the line was never closed, but it went into decline due to the lack of traffic. The deterioration of the line forced slow circulation of up to 40km/h. In 2020, a series of works began to relaunch the line for the future reopening: -Rehabilitation of the international station. -construction of the new station, next to the old one, which serves as a hotel. -UIC gauge track (1435mm) for connection with France, when the line opens again. -correction of slopes, curves, renovation of bridges and tunnels. -new signaling and security systems. -electrification of the route when the line opens again All this will mean that the speed limit will be 140km/h. Today the international station has been restored, a new track bank has been created, a new station and the track renovation work will be completed by December. Photos: Longitudinal profile, the line was created on a single track, it was electrified at 1500V DC to overcome the steep 4.5% ramps and pass the 7.8km of the Somport tunnel map of the route between Pau-Canfranc, with 97km, today only 32 are closed. Somport tunnel on the Spanish side, the photo shows the state of the line in operation, the Norte Company and MIDI shared similar electrification, identical signal system, and left-hand traffic, both were founded under French capital Canfranc Track layout , the Spanish part can be seen in (1671mm gauge ) and the French part in UIC gauge. The Canfranc international station was the jewel of the crown of this complex railway system, with 240 meters long and 13 meters wide it was one of the largest of its time, it housed a custom for french and spanish , a library, a hotel, one reception and the station itself. , created by the Spanish engineer Fernando Ramirez de Dampierre
As for the rolling stock, this line was represented by the 7100-7600 series locomotives, they were identical except for the speed relationship between the transmission, the 7400 used developed up to 90km/h. In 1918 the engineers were impressed by the English Bo-Bo Single Cab locomotives designed by Mr Raven and manufactured by LOVE-Kerr. The MIDI commissioned CEF to build 50 double cab locomotives at 1500V DC with a rheostatic brake system. The M1 engine had an unprecedented success, it had four poles, weighed 4.1 tons and developed 395 hp at 210 amp, that engine was a success and was in service from 1922-1985. The traction system could operate in three positions, series, series-parallel and parallel and allowed the traction points to be raised or lowered without losing traction effort. The rheostatic system was located at the ends of the locomotive, behind the cabins and could expand the metal so much that the doors were stuck in the frame and could not be opened. However never gave any problems on the strong ramps of La-tour de Carol or Pau, These series of locomotives were in service from 1922 to 1988 and some were modified over the course of their lives with new driving cabs, and new doors and windows. These locomotives also had multiple MU control for double traction, in the last years of their life, many of them lost this system, to remain as shunting locomotives photos: BB MIDI locomotive in its original livery, you can see the sleeves of the MU connection Here you can see the modification that the series had both on the sides of the box and in the cabin with new windows, headlights, and elimination of the front door other changes are on the rectangular tops, Another locomotive from the same series, these locomotives were making passenger and freight routes on the trans-Pyrenean routes until 1988, Image of the cabin, the recovery brake steering wheel on the right side is missing from the desk, the cabins underwent modifications throughout their long life, and today those that are preserved have different controls, with different positions in the cabin, this is one of these arrangements. these locomotives series has two electric brake system: Recovery braking was for passenger locomotives and rheostatic braking was for freight Locomotives, Another difference was the maximum speed, in passenger locomotives it was 90km/h, in freight locomotives it was 60km/h due to the gear ratio.
In this part we will see a little more about this route. The Z4400 units appeared in 1935, were a later development of those that existed on the interurban lines of Paris, these units were designed to be commuter trains, originally they only had a single motor car with a double cabin, they were 1 class or 1 and 2 units. class, and the end cabin could be closed, expanding the space, they could circulate as a single unit, with a trailer car with a cabin or with two motor cabin units, these motor vehicles equipped with toilets, electric lighting and heating, and comfortable seats. As for the configuration, each cabin car could transport 24 passengers in first and second class in double seats with armrests. In third class they could transport 44 passengers in triple and double seats, the toilets were arranged in the central part. At this time they could function as isolated units, or if they had to have more capacity, in double composition. In the 60s and 70s there was only a second-third configuration with a cabin engine car. Both bogies were equipped with two traction motors, their classification was Bo´Bo They operated at 1500V with a power of 640kWatt, They had a mass of 78 tons, 21,250 meters long and were equipped with a rheostatic and vacuum brake, the first units did not have windshield wipers, they would later be equipped with them. Its maximum speed was 90km/h. They also had a double pantograph These units were in service until the end of the line, and would be retired from the SNFC motor fleet at the end of 1985. In this photo you can see the EMU in Bedous, from the cab car, And in this other one, you can see the original motor car In this photo you can see the Z4400 traveling through the Aspe Valley, on the left you can see the high voltage towers for powering the traction substations Of the most unique infrastructures that the route had, one of them was the helical tunnel that is located in Forges d'Abel, and allows a height of 80 meters to be overcome. In this photo taken shortly after the inauguration of the line, you can see the upper exit of the tunnel. In this second photo you can clearly see the lower part of the entrance to the helical tunnel, in the background, a train pulled by a 4500 faces the ramps towards Canfranc The helical tunnels were not typical of the Pau-Canfranc Line, in the other one proposed by the Latour-de-Carol they had to be made by both the French and Spanish sides, to overcome the differences in height. In other countries they were also used as an elegant solution to overcome the steep ramps of railway Lines
