Full steam ahead for WWI wagon restoration

The Trains & Traction association, which has its workshops in Chaillevette and is run by volunteers, added the carriage to its collection, which is something of a living history museum.
“It’s a historic monument, so we will research every tiny detail to ensure we restore it to the identical state it was in when it arrived in France,” says Christian Guittard, vice-president of Trains & Traction. “The plan is to unveil it in 2018 for the massive centenary Armistice celebrations which are planned in La Rochelle. So we’ll have to work hard to be ready in time.”

The WWI wagon originally arrived in La Rochelle by boat from the US in 1917 and was used to transport soldiers and equipment to the front. After the war, it was left behind in France, and was used as a freight wagon on the French SNCF network right up until the 1980s. Trains & Traction bought it last year.

The group already has two working steam engines, five working diesel ones and is currently in the process of restoring a third steam locomotive dating from 1891 and a sixth diesel locomotive from the old coal mines in Lorraine from the 60s.
As well as the steam trains, the association also owns an ever-increasing collection of rolling stock, including an SNCF passenger carriage dating from 1905, equipped with simple painted wooden benches made of slats, and for heating, a wood-burning pipe stove. “At the time, all the SNCF’s passenger carriages were like that,” says Mr Guittard.

As well as restoring locomotives and rolling stock, the association operates Le Train des Mouettes (The Seagulls Train) as a tourist service between Saujon and Tremblade, 21kms away on the Saujon-La Grève line.
It stops at Fontbedeau, Mornac-sur-Seudre, Chaillevette, Etaules, and Arvert. The line is a very old one, originally constructed in 1876, and only became part of the SNCF network in 1938.
A year later it was closed to passenger traffic, and used solely for freight, but that too was abandoned by 1980 and part of the line, from La Tremblade and La Grève, was dug up.

The line was re-laid as a tourist attraction in 1984 by the Association du Chemin de Fer Touristique de la Seudre but they gave it up in 2002, and it was then operated by Veolia Transport until 2006. No trains ran on the line at all in 2007.
Trains & Traction took over the running of the line in 2008, operating it from May-September with a daily timetable throughout July and August.
They also run very popular special services for Easter and also at Christmas when Santa is aboard the train. Return tickets are €14 for adults and €9 for children. (There is no need to book ahead, just be sure to arrive early to buy your tickets.)
“We sold around 4,000 tickets last year,” says Mr Guittard.

Driving a steam train, he says, is a total pleasure, and every child’s dream. All the volunteers love it, and especially enjoy watching children’s faces when they see the train. “They are amazed and excited,” he says. “So surprised that it’s real and not just a film – they all want to come into the cab and see the controls.”

Buying steam trains and rolling stock is expensive, as is the equipment and materials needed to restore them, and obviously these expenses are not covered by membership subs and ticket sales alone. “We get donations from companies looking to lighten their tax burden,” says Mr Guittard, “and funding from the French heritage authorities. And that’s how we finance our activities.”

The association has around 100 members from all over France who pay €30 a year for membership, but only a few are former cheminots (railway workers). The vast majority join to support the association, but around 15 of them live locally and volunteer to work on the trains every Tuesday.
“Our Tuesdays are hard work but they are also sociable and fun because we all have at least one common interest,” says Mr Guittard. He says the volunteers are mainly men, although some women volunteer in the summer to be ticket sellers and conductors. “We welcome everyone. It doesn’t even matter if they don’t know anything about restoring or driving trains at the beginning. We’ll teach them what to do and how to drive a steam train.
“And we don’t care about nationality. We already have a British man on the team, anyone is welcome to volunteer.”