Historic Metre-Gauge Railways in Provence - Le Macaron

Alongside the work I've been doing on the Central Var Line l have been pulling together a series of posts about Le Macaron. This is the metre-gauge line along the coast between Toulon and Saint-Raphael. This is the first of these posts:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-1-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-36

The line was in operation from the end of the 19th Century until the late 40s and early 50s.

 

The second post in the series about the coastal line out of Toulon shows the competition it faced from other forms of transport and then focusses on the two main railway stations in Toulon ... first the PLM Station (SNCF now) and then the terminus of Le Chemin de Fer du Sud, the line that we will concentrate on in this series of posts.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-2-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-37

 

The third post looks at one of the competitors to Le Macaron. The tramways of Toulon (East). The network reached as far as the town centre of Hyeres.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/23/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-3-trams-in-toulon-and-hyeres-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-38

 

This is the next post in a series about the Chemins de Fer du Sud de la France's Coastal line between Toulon and Saint-Raphael. This post focusses on the PLM line which both competed for passenger traffic with Le Macaron between Toulon and Hyeres but also provided an essential link into the national network through the exchange sidings at Hyeres.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/24/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-4-toulon-to-les-salins-dhyeres-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-39

 

This post relates to the length of Le Macaron between the terminus in Toulon and the town of Hyeres.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-5-toulon-to-hyeres-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-39

 

The second length of Le Macaron - between Hyeres and Bormes-les-Mimosas.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-6-hyeres-to-bormes-les-mimosas-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-41

 

This next post takes us back to La Londes and allows us to discover the various branch-lines which left the main line here. These branch-lines served mining interests and a torpedo factory and provided significant amounts of goods traffic for the line.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/12/29/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-7-la-londe-les-bormettes-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-42

 

We continue our journey along Le Macaron, the Coastal Line of Les Chemins de Fer du Sud de la France. This length runs from Bormes to Cavalaire:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-6-bormes-les-mimosas-to-cavalaire-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-41

 

This length runs from Cavalaire-sur-Mer to La-Foux-les-Pins.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-9-cavalaire-to-la-foux-les-pins-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-44

 

These next two posts cover branch-lines which left Le Macaron at La-Foux-les-Pins.

First, the line which headed a short distance inland to Cogolin.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...-pins-to-cogolin-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-46

and second, the branch to Saint-Tropez.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...-to-saint-tropez-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-45

 

Having taken some time to look at the lines that left the main line at La-Foux-les-Pins, we are now able to head on along the line towards Saint-Raphael. This next stretch of the line passes the modern canal village of Port Grimaud and ends in the small town of Sainte-Maxime.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-12-la-foux-les-pins-to-sainte-maxime-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-47

 

And now the last length of Le Macaron. The distance from Sainte-Maxime to Saint-Raphael.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com...de-provence-48

There will be one further post in this particular series which will cover the locomotives and rolling stock on the line.

 

This final post on the Toulon to Saint-Raphael metre-gauge railway covers the locomotives and rolling stock on the line ......

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/01/26/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-14-locomotives-and-rolling-stock-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-49

 

In November 2018 my wife and I stayed in St. Raphael for 10 days. On a couple of those days, Jo and I were able to visit the old Chemin de Fer du Sud de La France station site alongside the old PLM station. The modern SNCF station seems to me to be just as ugly as I thought it would be. The site of the old metre-gauge station is now covered by the Gare Routiere. The structures which supported the old line alongside the main PLM line remain and are now in use by small retail outlets.

As far as we could tell the details given in the original version of the post below are all correct.

I have just added a postcript and some photos.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/1...to-saint-raphael-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-48

 

On Sunday 18th November, Jo and I travelled from St. Raphael via the Sunday Market in Le Muy to Hyeres. We enjoyed an hour or so on the spit of land extending out from Hyeres towards Iles d'Hyeres and we had lunch next to La Tour Fondue. We spent the rest of the day following Le Macaron from Hyeres to Sainte-Maxime. Nothing I saw on the journey caused me concern about the text of the series of blog posts I have written about the route and that I have already provided links to on this thread. I was able to take a few pictures while on the journey, although there was little time to stop if the full journey was to be completed in daylight! I will post a link to the photographs in due course. On the journey we were also able to make two detours. The first, to Les Bormettes and the site of the old torpedo factory at what is now known as Miramar. The second to St. Tropez.

The relevant links to my blog are:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2017/12/30/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-6-hyeres-to-bormes-les-mimosas-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-41

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2017/12/29/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-7-la-londe-les-bormettes-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-42

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-6-bormes-les-mimosas-to-cavalaire-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-41

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-9-cavalaire-to-la-foux-les-pins-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-44

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-10-la-foux-les-pins-to-saint-tropez-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-45

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-11-la-foux-les-pins-to-cogolin-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-46

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/01/08/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-12-la-foux-les-pins-to-sainte-maxime-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-47

 

This link contains, among other things, pictures taken on 18th November 2018 on and around the line of Le Macaron:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/11/18/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-15-november-2018-visits-to-the-line-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-81

It was a bright but blowy day on the Mediterranean Coast!

 

One final PostScript on Le Macaron from our holiday in St. Raphael ....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/11/19/ligne-du-littoral-toulon-to-st-raphael-part-15a-november-2018-visits-to-the-line-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-81a