Tuesday, October 27, 2015

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - SEP/OCT 2015 - CANFRANC PYRENEES

Our journey from Tours, France to Zaragoza was a long one which took us over the Pyrenees via the Canfranc Pass.  We took a short break in Canfranc to go and see the railway stations, Spanish and French.  Only the Spanish side is in use with 5 trains a day.  The French station was built c1914 and was in service for less than 30 years.There are signs of trackwork leading up to Canfranc which we understand is an attempt to get skiing traffic to the area.
Explanatory text from Atlas Obscura.com
Despite its grandeur, the luxurious station was overtaken by warfare, Naziism, and a train accident that forced its abandonment in 1970.
Only eight years after it opened, the station and the tunnel across the Spain-France border were closed after tensions during the Spanish Civil War. After the war, the 800-foot-long station reopened and enjoyed a brief period of success before the outbreak of WWII.
During the early points of the war, the train provided a lifeline for Jews able to escape through the railway and station, but by the early 1940s, the Nazis had taken control and a Swastika flew above the Art Nouveau station. Under Nazi control, gold plundered from murdered Jews left occupied France on the rail line bound for Portugal and Spain. After the war, Nazi war criminals slipped through allied hands on these same tracks.
During the 1950s and 1960s, after years of warfare, the station finally returned to business as usual, but the end of the station was in sight. In 1970, a huge steamer jumped the rails and crashed. No one was killed, but the wreck effectively shut down the railway. The station was slowly abandoned, beginning yet another new phase of life for the slowly decaying building.

The simple Spanish station with the train and just under half of the French grand station disused

The main doorway with the goodsw loading bays to the left

The goods loading  bays to the right

Carriage dumped at the side of the tracks

Main entranced to the French station

Timetable for the current Spanish service

Monday, October 26, 2015

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - SEP/OCT 2015 - CAF TRAM FACTORY

During our visit to Zaragoza we had a visit to the CAF tram factory which was very interesting.  We were greeted and taken to an area full of photographs of various vehicles they had built over the years, then given a slide presentation of the work in progress, jobs finished and jobs in the pipeline.  After this we were taken into the workshops and given a guided tour, with photography allowed to see jobs on the go.  Apparently they were between large contracts, so the site was not as busy as usual.





The picture gallery



Wiring in progress



Trams for Tallinn  in progress

Budapest

Tallinn



Budapest interior

Putting the decal stripe on a train


Tallinn

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - SEP/OCT 2015 - MIRANDELA

Last transport visit of the holiday to Mirandela metro, quite a depressing sight. The line to Tua is now operated twice a day by taxi.  Personally I can't see the line lasting much longer without some large investment.

What a sight greeted us at Mirandela station. We weren't sure if this train was running until the driver appeared and turned on the engine

Apparently thee were 6 of these trains, but only this one is running


Lots of advisory notices in the station

At the platform getting ready to depart

Works car




This notice is advising that the route to Tua is now twice a day by Taxi


Tracks towards the points

Lots of graffiti on view



The driver/conductor doing his rounds.  The fare was €1.70 return and he ran out of tickets, so those who could not have a ticket rode free.

At Cachao station

Cachao station



Tracks not welded and gave a  very rocky ride

Construction plate

Trainn on way back into Mirandela station after going through the points

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - SEP/OCT 2015 - OPORTO

Another old favourite revisited.

Coming down the hill towards Sao Bento station

At Carmo, changing the destination stencil to Massarelos

Good timing

Near the depot

Controller and stencils

We didn't ride the metro this time, took this shot on the bridge in the twilight

The funicular was working with only one passenger car

The one car leaving Batalha

Leaving Carmo on a rainy Sunday morning

Loved the old shop front and tram in the rain

AUTUMN TOUR OF FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - SEP/OCT 2015 - SINTRA

On leaving Lisbon for Porto we made the usual visit to Sintra - what a delight. We had a hired cross bench car for our early run to Praia da Macas on a sunny but cool day.

No 6 at Praia

No 6 sideways

BTH Controller

Waiting for the service car at Galamares

No 3 arrives from Sintra

The crossing

No 2 off its trucks

Car 2 trucks

Special tram back to the bus!

Outside the children's centre