A small bright yellow train with cherry red trim has meandered its way through the French Catalan Pyrenees in the Languedoc Roussillon region near the Spanish border, connecting remote and isolated mountain villages for over 100 years. Popular with travellers, le train jaune tracks through dramatic alpine scenery over towering bridges, tunnels gouged through the mountains and a number of viaducts.

The train departs from the travel wonder medieval village of Villefrance-de-Confluent. Before boarding the train, a short walk to Fort Liberia that stands guard over the town helps stretch the legs. Offering a stunning view of parenthesis-shaped Villefrance, the view shows the tightly packed stone houses, narrow streets and intact (and UNESCO heritage-listed) medieval defensive walls that protected the small town for centuries from Spanish sieges. The village has lots of witches and broomstick models dangling from doorways and shop windows, protecting the population from the evil mountain spirits.

While chilly at first, the train includes two open carriages (they were referred to as les bains or the bathtubs) that gives the full effect of the fresh mountain air and the engineering marvel (built before World War 1) of getting a line through this mountainous countryside. The track bends and curls between mountains, ploughing into the inky darkness of a tunnel when no other paths are available. At several points on the journey, the train travels high via bridges and viaducts over the forested valley floor including the vertigo-inducing Séjourné Viaduct with its dramatic double-decker arching.

Tiny stations whisk past, the train only stopping at more major stops unless signalled by a passenger to stop. The lion’s share of travellers stay on the train for the entire return journey. The village of Olette features tall narrow houses that cling to the cliff edges with the confidence of mountain goats. Several of the villages appear frozen in time, their grey stony houses having weathered centuries of harsh winters.

The train is powered by an electric current along a third rail, produced by a hydro plant from a nearby dam (so it is a green train too!). And the train needs all its power too as it climbs to Bolquère-Eyne, France’s highest rail station at almost 1600 metres, with all the spirit of the “I think I can” children’s story.

More reassuredly, as the little yellow train crosses a plateau and tumbles down into the final stop at Latour-de-Carol, is the news that the train boasts three separate braking systems each capable of stopping the train alone. The train travels through lush farmlands, dotted with caramel-coloured cows and large rolls of hay readying for the harsh mountain winters.

It was strongly recommended to get off at Bourg-Madam (a hotel owner reassures me “Latour-de-Carol is boring”), three stops from the end, walk through scenic surrounds for around half an hour (up hill) across the Spanish border to the quaint town of Puigcerdà with its historic belltower and return in time to pick up the train on its return leg.

Operated by French rail (and so available on rail passes), the Yellow Train offers a refreshing and relaxing day among stunning mountain scenery and tiny medieval villages of yesteryear.

Notes
Photos: Séjourné Viaduct, Gisclard Suspension Bridge.
Map courtesy of SNCF (French National Railways).

Languedoc-Roussillon Vacations

Read Part One of the journey down Devil's Nose firstly.

Along the platform, enthusiastic street vendors parade a wide variety of food and drink to sate empty and dry bodies. Small kids dance along the train’s roof with the aplomb of Russian circus performers balancing trays of tasty morsels and shuffling currency with the flair of a central banker. No-one leaves their seat on the roof for fear of losing it with the influx of new passengers – possession being ten-tenths of the law on Ecuador railways!

The train finally starts its journey down the Devil’s Nose past a sequence of abandoned buildings. The sun has comfortably won the temperature battle as passengers have shed any semblance of winter clothing and try to catch any cooling breeze and hide from the harsh equatorial sun. The train rides past a junction in the line before a crew member clambers down and switches the junction. The train proceeds in reverse a further distance before repeating this same technique, zig-zagging down the mountain-side until we arrive at the abandoned town of Sibambe, with its shell of a railway station and church. We all get to stretch our legs for a few minutes before the train commences its slow journey back to Alausi, simply reversing its journey and struggling up the steep slopes of the Devil’s Nose.

With dust-encrusted skin, slight sunburn from the mountain sun and sore legs from perching on the roof all day, most agree that it is good to be off this train that only a few hours earlier, people had rushed onto with excited anticipation. The switchback engineering is more interesting to read about than see, the views are pleasant rather than spectacular and the towns somewhat sad as they slowly fade from their colonial glory. Yet, in many ways, the Riobamba-Devil’s Nose train is a travel wonder worth experiencing.

Riobamba Vacations

Riobamba has the sad rundown feel of a former major colonial railroad town on the line between Ecuador’s capital and its largest city. Impressive Spanish-styled buildings flaking from age house shoe repairers, clothing vendors, merchants and a surprising number of barber shops. A grand church, an uninspiring coffee and a reasonable religious art museum pass away an hour but the whole town has this tired slightly bored feel to it. The fresh aromas of charcoal start to fill the streets as barbeques are stoked for the evening fare including the prized cuisine of guinea pig.

Nearby Parque 21 de Abril offers an afternoon view to the spectacular volcano, Chimborazo and other Andean peaks. Remarkably, the snow-capped peak of Chimborazo (at only 6300 metres above sea-level) is the point on the Earth furthest from the centre of the Earth, because the Earth isn’t truly spherical and this mountain is extremely near the equator. It is over two kilometers further away from the Earth’s centre than Mt Everest.

Walking to this vantage point, you could easily be mistaken that only westerners live in this town. Riobamba swells with multitude of travellers three afternoons a week for the early morning departure of the train journey down the Devil’s Nose (Nariz del Diablo). In a true feat of engineering, a railway was cut through the Andes over a hundred years ago including a series of switchbacks to get the train down the steep gradients of Devil’s Nose. Sadly, today this train only runs for the benefit of tourists with a sequence of storms, earth tremors and landslides causing considerable damage to a sequence of track preventing through journeys.

Wiping the sleep from tired eyes, the train departs at a dawn-cracking 7:00am. With no food on the train, it was good advice to be a fair bit earlier to grab a quick breakfast and to be strategically placed to stake a position on the roof of the train. The weak rays of sunshine do little to break the bitter icy temperatures as passengers huddle like emperor penguins closely for warmth, pulling beanies over their ears and hiding their hands up jacket sleeves. The train gently meanders through pleasant countryside and farmland occasionally revealing superb views of the Andes. The early nerves of being tipped off the rocking train have eased as people have settled in, chat and enjoy the mid-morning journey, before stopping to pick up more travellers at the dull-looking town of Alausi.

Read more at Riding the Devil's Nose Part Two.

Photo: Train Overview

Riobamba Vacations