Freight in France

[Dave Rowland]

Originally Posted by Madcaravanner

IF you get chance good luck but there is a lot of stored loco's still there apparently which block the view of the yard

You may be better off on the Station at Pierre des Corps as we saw very few over bridges if any from what I remember

There are three, in fact: Pont Jean Moulin, just east of St Pierre des Corps station, which spans the yard (MANY tracks) near the west end, and to the south west of the loco/unit depot; Pont des Epines Fortes, at the east end of the depot, and spanning far fewer tracks; and Avenue Marie Curie, near the west end of the yard, also spanning less tracks.
Sorry, when I previously described the yard as being north of the station, I should have said EAST. Doh!

[Rachel French]

Well, what a wonderful forum this is turning out to be. Everyone is so friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.
I've taken on board all your extremely useful information and note the comment about the best times being from Tuesday to Friday so I'll change my 'away day' from Sunday to midweek.
A couple of days ago at one of our local 'bargain shops' I bought the last copy of a 2010 French atlas and it was good to get information from because not only did it have a good scale (1cm = 2km) but it showed a lot of railway lines with crossings, stations and bridges, all very clearly marked.
What I need to look for now on the internet is a map of France showing all the railway lines so that I can get as varied locations as possible (from the busy lines to the rarely used ones) for the photos.
So thank you for all your information which I've started to put on a chart with all the places I need to visit and this will be added to on a regular basis. I'll no doubt be posting some of the resulting photos in due course.
I used to visit the GC line at Rothley and also visited Bridgnorth and Doncaster of numerous occasions, so it's nice to keep in touch with what's going on in the UK through the forum posts and photos. Now I've found this site, I can have my weekly fix of railway topics. What's so good about the photos is that they range from the very old steam engines to the most modern and up to date railway stock.
What started out as a lot of unknown is now turning into a wonderful organised project and I'm really beginning to enjoy myself. It's thanks to all of you that I've got this far. I thought I'd be on my own with this but far from it. Thank you!

[Silver Fox Phil]

Welcome to the forum and I look forward to seeing your photos.
Regards
Phil

[Dave Rowland]

Originally Posted by Rachel French

Well, what a wonderful forum this is turning out to be. Everyone is so friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.
I've taken on board all your extremely useful information and note the comment about the best times being from Tuesday to Friday so I'll change my 'away day' from Sunday to midweek.
A couple of days ago at one of our local 'bargain shops' I bought the last copy of a 2010 French atlas and it was good to get information from because not only did it have a good scale (1cm = 2km) but it showed a lot of railway lines with crossings, stations and bridges, all very clearly marked.
What I need to look for now on the internet is a map of France showing all the railway lines so that I can get as varied locations as possible (from the busy lines to the rarely used ones) for the photos.
So thank you for all your information which I've started to put on a chart with all the places I need to visit and this will be added to on a regular basis. I'll no doubt be posting some of the resulting photos in due course.
I used to visit the GC line at Rothley and also visited Bridgnorth and Doncaster of numerous occasions, so it's nice to keep in touch with what's going on in the UK through the forum posts and photos. Now I've found this site, I can have my weekly fix of railway topics. What's so good about the photos is that they range from the very old steam engines to the most modern and up to date railway stock.
What started out as a lot of unknown is now turning into a wonderful organised project and I'm really beginning to enjoy myself. It's thanks to all of you that I've got this far. I thought I'd be on my own with this but far from it. Thank you!

Try this, Rachel; it shows all the main lines, although I suspect a lot of minor lines might need a bit more work:-
http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/franc...-map-large.htm

Incidentally, have a go at searching for Villeneuve St Georges (near Paris) on Google Earth, and fiddle around until you find the HUGE yard there - there's a very large depot to the immediate west of part of the yard. The station at Villeneuve St Georges is very busy with commuter trains, long distance trains, TGVs and freight; it's on the line from Paris Austerlitz to Tours & Bordeaux, and Limoges and Toulouse.
If you want to photograph locomotives, try Toulouse Matabiau station; it's not only very busy, but the loco depot is right next to the station - I've managed to get the numbers of nearly 50 locos at the depot in a very short time without actually going to the depot!
It's always worth trying Google Earth to see what a place is like, where the yards & station are etc, and where the bridges are.

[Dave Rowland]

Sorry to appear persistant, but I've just found this site:-
http://florent.brisou.pagesperso-orange.fr/Lignes.htm

You can click on a region (Nord, Est, Sud-Ouest etc), and a list of all lines within that region - clicking on a line will give you a map of that line, complete with all stations and junctions etc. There's also an alphabetical index to all stations in the top left-hand corner. All very useful - I wish I was going to France!

[saxokid]

looking forward to seeing your photos..........................

[Royal scot]

Welcome am looking forward to seeing some french freight..