This is a great recognition for our yellow train. It is one of the most beautiful trains in the world in Dominique Krauskopf’s book which has just been published by Vilo.
The author, passionate about trains since childhood, takes us aboard 23 mythical lines around the world: the Orient-Express, the Trans-Siberian, the Andalus express, the Machu Picchu train or the Maharaja express in India.
A journey that takes us from the Andes Cordillera, to the rice fields of Thailand, passing through the Mongolian steppes and the Catalan country!!! Because our Yellow Train has its place in this prestigious list, listen!
At first it’s a crazy bet. At a time when we put on the steam engine, we made the choice of electrical energy to supply the yellow train, with the third electric rail and the creation of the Bouillouses dam to provide electricity. Work started in 1903, there were up to 1,500 workers to complete the section linking Villefranche to Mont-Louis in 1910. It was not until 1923 that the line was extended to Latour de Carol. Even today the journey is grandiose through magnificent landscapes, around twenty tunnels and around fifty works of art, including the Séjourné viaduct and the Pont Gisclard.
– Raphael Gaillarde
With Hélène Legrais, novelist and historian, we retrace the history of the train in the PO, since the arrival of the train in rank of Perpignan in 1885. In a few years the development is dazzling and in the 1930s, the railway, at its peak, allows you to travel anywhere in the department from Cerbère to Prats de mollo, passing through Cerdagne, the Agly valley, Aspres or Barcarès, listen!
– F Berlic
With Pierre Girone, we board the cockpit of the yellow train. He has been a driver on the Villefranche-Latour de Carol line since 2003 and he tells us how proud he is for a Catalan to drive this train. He also recounts those exceptional moments after the snowfall when he leads the way in the snowplow locomotive, listen!
– Dominique Andre
At the end of the program we also discover another mythical PO line, that of the Fenouillèdes red train. A journey that takes us from Rivesaltes to Axat.