Trains - France: Illustrated Books - Rail Routes and Stations

French Metre Gauge Survivors : Scenic Journeys Through Rural France

France was once dissected by a huge eclectic array of Metre Gauge Railways. Only a few examples remain, some of which are only relatively short sections of the former systems.

These are now largely attuned to the tourist industry. However these survivors do amply portray the lines of yesteryear, as they traverse the beautiful and contrasting French countryside.

Product details

Author:	John Organ
Details:	96 pages, 9 x 6.9 x 0.43 in (24 x 17.5 x 1.1 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	120 b&w photos
Language:	English
Publisher:	Middleton Press (GB, 2016)
ISBN:	9781908174888

Majorca and Corsica Narrow Gauge - Scenic Journeys on Two Mediterranean Islands

These Spanish and French islands in the Mediterranean Sea both possess extensive narrow gauge railway systems. Following a period of decline and threats of closure, they are now enjoying a renaissance with modern equipment and much modernisation of the infrastructure. By complete contrast Majorca is also home to an electrified scenic railway that still uses the same motive power that it has relied on for over 80 years.

This album records the changing fortunes of the railway systems of these attractive islands including many vintage views in addition to the contemporary scene.

Product details

Author:	John Organ
Details:	96 pages, 9 x 6.5 x 0.59 in (24 x 16.5 x 1.5 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	120 photos, maps
Language:	English
Publisher:	Middleton Press (GB, 2013)
ISBN:	9781908174413

Les trains de nos campagnes - Années 1960 - Lignes à voie étroite

In the aftermath of the Second World War, secondary railways comprised more than 8,000 kilometres of tracks, most of them narrow gauge, covered by steam trains and railcars serving rural areas neglected by the "main" railway.

But by 1960, these trains had almost all disappeared, victims of the rapid motorisation of the countryside and competition from roads.
The author travelled through most of the surviving networks at that time. His photographs, all unpublished, are a valuable testimony to the changes of that decade.

Product details

Author:	Christian Buisson
Details:	200 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 in (23 x 16 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	French
Publisher:	Editions Alan Sutton (F, 2020)
ISBN:	9782813811912

Au fil du Rhône en train

From the Swiss glaciers to the Camargue, the Rhône, initially a torrent, became a powerful river whose course has now been tamed.
Thanks to the furrow it dug in Switzerland and France, the railway was able to penetrate first into the heart of the Alps, then open up the path to the gates of the Mediterranean and the Orient in the northern regions of France.

The book presents this magnificent waterway and the railway lines that accompany it for almost its entire journey to the sea, with trains only leaving it to reach Marseille in the Bouches du Rhône department.
So, be careful when setting off on a train journey along the Rhône, in the Alps, on the shores of Lake Geneva, between the Massif Central and the Pre-Alps, and in the Provence.

Product details

Author:	Jean Tricoire
Details:	160 pages, 11 x 8.9 x 0.79 in (28 x 22.5 x 2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	La Vie du Rail (F, 2017)
ISBN:	9782370620651

Arrêt sur images 1950-1980 - par Jacques Defrance

This book retraces "in pictures" the career of Jacques Defrance, industrial designer at CEM (Cie Electro-Mécanique), better known as the creator of works on SNCF motor equipment, published since 1968 by La Vie du Rail.
For forty-seven years, always accompanied by his faithful camera bodies, Jacques Defrance scoured the French railway network in search of unusual images or new things.

The authors have set out to unearth some 300 unpublished photos from the 9,000 contained in the railway collection. Mainly in black and white, more timidly in colour, they show the sites, machines and eras that Jacques Defrance was fond of, such as the French metric railways, the Breton network, the Corrèze PO, the Canari, the Saint-Gervais, Paris and its suburbs, the end of steam, that of the Bastille line or the arrival of new equipment.

Product details

Author:	Denis Redoutey, Guy Defrance
Details:	145 pages, 10.6 x 8.7 in (27 x 22 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	300 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	La Vie du Rail (F, 2014)
ISBN:	9782370620057

Le chemin de fer de la Baie de Somme

On December 31, 1972, the last departmental network open to travelers in the Somme Bay area disappeared.
However, when one story ends, another begins thanks to a group of young railway enthusiasts who embarked on the takeover of the two Noyelles-Cayeux and Noyelles-Le Crotoy lines in a tourist form.

The only associative structure that manages a tourist railway of this importance in France, the Baie de Somme railway has become a major tourist structure on the Picardy coast, welcoming nearly 130,000 travelers each year on 27 kilometers of rail network.
Tracing this railway epic, the book will also allow the reader to discover the history, geography, biodiversity and heritage of the Baie de Somme throughout the pages and during the journey. In collaboration with the CFBS.

Product details

Author:	Maurice Testu
Details:	96 pages, 8.25 x 5.9 x 0.28 in (21 x 15 x 0.7 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	French
Publisher:	La Vie du Rail (F, 2013)
ISBN:	9782918758730

Paysages ferroviaires français

This album of railway photographs is entirely devoted to the unpublished collection of a man that train enthusiasts know well. An aviation officer working for the Air France company; Guy Rannou was an excellent photographer.
Passionate about the railway world, he crisscrossed France for fifty years to capture snapshots of trains crossing the French landscapes, particularly on secondary lines.

Product details

Author:	Guy Rannou, Yves Broncard
Details:	160 pages, 12.8 x 9.7 x 0.63 in (32.5 x 24.5 x 1.6 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	La Vie du Rail (F, 2013)
Series:	Images de trains (23)
ISBN:	9782918758570

La côte d'Azur - Balade en bord de mer 1955-1985

This volume XIX of "Images de trains" invites you to browse an album of railway memories of the Côte d'Azur, between La Ciotat and Vintimille: from the sailors of Toulon to the flamboyant Estérel massif, from the Croisette to the Baie des Anges and from the radiant Principality of Monaco to the Italian border where the Alps taste of the Mediterranean, you will discover the diversity of landscapes and atmospheres that were offered to travelers as far as the Riviera...

The authors stopped at the "Mistral years". The Mistral, undoubtedly the most prestigious train of the SNCF, always at the forefront of technical developments in the areas of comfort and speed, linked Nice to Paris between 1952 and 1982.

To illustrate these rich hours, they drew on the photographic collection of the famous weekly La Vie du Rail and selected the best color shots.
Contemplating with them the Côte d'Azur in the colors of the Mistral is to witness the changes in the landscapes and the railway universe of a region that is still as attractive as ever.

Product details

Author:	Paul-Henri Bellot, Serge Coccoz
Details:	160 pages, 12.6 x 9 in (32 x 24 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	La Vie du Rail (F, 2011)
Series:	Images de trains (19)
ISBN:	9782918758242

Les petits trains de Ch'Nord - Histoire des voies ferrées d'intérêt local du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais

The most complete work on the secondary metre-gauge lines of Anvin-Calais, Aire-Berck and the Compagnie des chemins de fer des Flandres. Many unpublished photographs, plans of equipment and installations.

Product details

Author:	Claude Wagner
Details:	280 pages, 11.2 x 8.25 in (28.5 x 21 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	French
Publisher:	LR Presse (F, 2011)
ISBN:	9782903651671

Sur les rails de Provence - Alpes - Côte d'Azur

This splendid album explores all aspects of the Provençal railway scene, from the major routes of the Rhone Valley, the Côte d'Azur and the TGV Méditerranée to the most daring mountain lines that rush towards Dauphiné and neighbouring Piedmont.
The region also had a large number of secondary railways including the legendary "Train des Pignes".

Product details

Author:	José Banaudo
Details:	280 pages, 12.6 x 9 x 0.87 in (32 x 24 x 2.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	653 b&w and color photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	Les Editions du Cabri (F, 2011)
ISBN:	9782914603539

Paris-Strasbourg - De la Compagnie de l'Est au TGV

A strategic issue and theatre of conflicts between France and Germany from 1870 to 1945, no other major line has had such a unique and too often dramatic history. Departing from the Gare de l'Est, we speed along at the rhythm of steam towards the Marne, the lands of Champagne, Lorraine and Alsace.
Perhaps you will be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the famous and unforgettable Mountain locomotives of the Compagnie de l'Est...

Jean-Pierre Rigouard is a tireless cartophile. Passionate about the history of the French railway, he could not miss the railway event of 2007: the opening of the high-speed line between Paris and Strasbourg.
The author draws up a panorama that is both historical and technical of the route, stations and machines.

Product details

Author:	Jean-Pierre Rigouard
Details:	128 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.28 in (23 x 16 x 0.7 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	many b&w photos
Language:	French
Publisher:	Editions Alan Sutton (F, 2006)
ISBN:	9782849105504