Paris

Haute Provence-Le Train de Pignes (1)

A MUST if you are in Nice or Haute Provence, is to make a tour, a trip, a voyage, even a stop with the TRAIN DES PIGNES. A picturesque train, transporting you 150 K from Digne to Nice in a conventional way but with a steam train section from Puget-Theniers and Annot.

Steam train

In fact, the steam locomotive part is only in service between Puget-Theniers and Annot from May to October.
It is since 1980 that a group of volunteers, started this experiment of a steam train winding through the backcountry of the Cote d'Azur in three hours.
You must not start at a specific station, you can get on the different stops it has on its way.
The steam train section starts only at Puget-Théniers towards Annot (20 km). Departures are from station Puget-Théniers. Tickets are for sale in the stations of Nice and Puget-Théniers.
Until Puget you ride in a more conventional train (rail-car).
The narrow-gauge railway snakes and rattles its way along the Var valley between Nice and Digne. Mostly used by villagers from the arrière pays for getting to and from Nice, it can also be used as the starting-point for an unusual day out.

Rail-car

The 09:00 train from Nice to Digne is a busy one. At first, the ride is no different to any city tram as it crosses Boulevard Gambetta and stops at bus-shelter type "stations” all the way to the shopping megalopolis of Lingostière. You finally leave the city behind at St-Martin du Var.

The diesel-driven train runs on narrow-gauge track that is a metre wide, not the usual 1.4m. It makes the journey a little like riding a camel: you rock and sway along at a leisurely pace through the magnificent valley of the Var. The track follows rushing rivers and steep-sided mountain valleys, many not accessible by car, and the view is magnificent. The ride is an adventure. The stations are old, tiny and personal, with everything on a human level. At the little village of Le Fugeret, in the beautiful Vaire river valley beyond Annot, the train climbs up through a tunnel and loops around on itself so it can get enough altitude to continue the trip north past Méailles.
Every now and then you reach one of the line's real stations – stations that look like turn-of-the-century stations almost anywhere in the world: cream, canopied structures with redbrick detailing and flowering shrubs at the doorways. At some of these, the engine driver pops out for a chat with the stationmaster – everyone on the train seems to know everyone else, passengers and railway staff alike. Between Méailles and Thorame, the track passes beneath the mountains, with a 3.5 km tunnel carved through the heart of the rock. On the 150 km journey, the track climbs to an altitude of 1000 m above it's starting point in Nice, with inclines up to 3%. If you're on a day excursion, you can take the train out to one of the stations along the way, visit the town, have a picnic or go for a walk or hike, and catch a later train back again. At many of the stations you will see picnic walks and hiking trails marked by signboards. There is a guidebook showing 75 hikes you can take from stations along the rail line.
Here are some schedules (without guarantee, it is better to phone first or fax
Tel 04 97 03 80 80   Fax 04 97 03 80 81
Schedule: one way:   Puget-Theniers 9.35 to Le Fugeret 11.25
                     Return      Puget-Theniers 15.25 to Le Fugeret 16.35
To get to Puget-Theniers you can take the rail-car (auto-rail) from Nice. Schedules are supposed to be departure Nice: 8.00 arrival Puget 9.20 and return Puget 17.50 to Nice 18.30

Train de Pignes in Haute Provence to Cote d'Azur Site Home - What's New? -Feedback - About Jack- Travel/Art Links
	Haute Provence