The Train Jaune: Over the Pyrenees to the Highest Station on the SNCF Network
Occitanie, France
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Train Jaune Rider
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275
XP
+100 France
= 375 total
2 days
The Train Jaune: Over the Pyrenees to the Highest Station on the SNCF Network
275 + 100 XP
The Train Jaune climbs through the Pyrenees from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol on a metre-gauge line opened between 1910 and 1927, fed by a third rail at 850 volts, through 19 tunnels and over the last railway suspension bridge left on a working line in France - the Pont Gisclard, named for the commandant who designed it and was killed on it in the load trial of 31 October 1909. At the top of the line are Vauban's citadel of Mont-Louis and two solar furnaces.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Board the Train Jaune at Mont-Louis-La Cabanasse, in an open carriage if the season allows, and ride down the Tet valley over the 253m Pont Gisclard and the 236.7m masonry Pont Sejourne at Fontpedrouse
2
of 5
Get off at Bolquere-Eyne, at 1,592m the highest station on the SNCF network, and walk up onto the Col de la Perche above it where the gradients on either side reach 60 in a thousand
3
of 5
Walk the ramparts of Mont-Louis, Vauban's citadel at about 1,600m, UNESCO-listed since 2008 and still home to the army's commando training centre
4
of 5
Visit the solar furnace inside the walls at Mont-Louis, the one Felix Trombe built in 1949 to prove the idea after his 1946 experiment at Meudon, and which the big furnace at Odeillo was then modelled on
5
of 5
See the Odeillo solar furnace at Font-Romeu, in service since 1969 and with Parkent in Uzbekistan one of the two largest in the world: a parabola 60m across facing 63 steerable mirrors on the hillside, concentrating 10,000 times the power of the sun onto a spot a metre wide and up to 3,300 degrees C
Board the Train Jaune at Mont-Louis-La Cabanasse, in an open carriage if the season allows, and ride down the Tet valley over the 253m Pont Gisclard and the 236.7m masonry Pont Sejourne at Fontpedrouse
Get off at Bolquere-Eyne, at 1,592m the highest station on the SNCF network, and walk up onto the Col de la Perche above it where the gradients on either side reach 60 in a thousand
Walk the ramparts of Mont-Louis, Vauban's citadel at about 1,600m, UNESCO-listed since 2008 and still home to the army's commando training centre
Visit the solar furnace inside the walls at Mont-Louis, the one Felix Trombe built in 1949 to prove the idea after his 1946 experiment at Meudon, and which the big furnace at Odeillo was then modelled on
See the Odeillo solar furnace at Font-Romeu, in service since 1969 and with Parkent in Uzbekistan one of the two largest in the world: a parabola 60m across facing 63 steerable mirrors on the hillside, concentrating 10,000 times the power of the sun onto a spot a metre wide and up to 3,300 degrees C
Before you go
The line closes twice a year for renovation works, in April and in October - check the TER Occitanie traffic page before you plan the day.
You travel in open or closed carriages depending on the season; the open ones are cold and windy even in summer at 1,500m.
In summer the train is very busy and seats should be booked in advance. On a return ticket you may break the journey, but you must say so when you buy it.
Mont-Louis is still an army commando training centre, so parts of the citadel are closed and the town's solar furnace is visited by guided tour only.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
275 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
375 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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