An old railway line through the countryside of south-west France has become a hit with tourists after being saved by a group of enthusiasts.
The 17km line from Roumazières to Confolens (Charente) was originally opened in 1887.
Roumazières, a small town, had a large opencast mine for clay and an associated roof-tile works. It lies roughly halfway between Angoulême, the prefecture of Charente, and Limoges, the prefecture of Haute-Vienne.
The purpose of the line was to create a junction on the newly built railway between Angoulême and Limoges and open up the area around Confolens, an isolated market town, so that it could develop.
CFCL
The advent of road transport meant the railway was never profitable, and it was shut for passengers in 1940.
It was then used for occasional freight before SNCF, which had taken over the line just before World War Two, decided to close it for good in 1985.
“There were a number of people in the locality who loved railways and did not want to see the heritage waste away,” Denis Quentier, president of the Chemin de fer Charente-Limousine association, told The Connexion.
A vélorail tourist trainCFCL
“In what seemed a crazy scheme, they formed the association in 1992, with the idea of keeping it as a tourist line – SNCF did not want a connection with the line between Angoulême and Limoges, which at the time was still running.”
Since then, the Angoulême to Limoges line has shut and, although there has been talk of reopening it in 2030, the necessary funding has not materialised.
Line saved for pedal-powered vélorail
CFCL
Initial work for the association involved cutting back trees and bushes that had overgrown the line, as well as replacing some of the wooden sleepers.
The line has been used for both vélorail and tourist train services ever since. Trains run weekly in the summer, and for special occasions such as Easter, Halloween, Christmas and corporate events.
The vélorail operates year-round with half-day excursions from either Confolens to Manot (a village halfway on the line) or Roumazières to Manot.
This summer, there will be hour-long trips on one of the tourist trains, called Bleu d’Auvergne, between Confolens and Roumazières, with a guide explaining the history of the line and the region. Return tickets cost €12.
“We have around 30 members in the association and 12 are active volunteers who do a lot of the work, especially the maintenance in winter,” said Mr Quentier.
“I am hopeful that we now have an established tourist attraction for the region and have managed to save a bit of the industrial and railway heritage of the region and country.”
