Le Truffadou Steam Railway

 This time we are taking you over the pond to the Dordogne, Martel is the home of Le Truffadou. We were looking around for places to visit and this came up ...... a Railway, oh alright then!

The Truffadou used to run from Bordeaux to Aurillac and took from 1880 to 1884 to build, it came into use in 1889. In the early days it was used to transport Truffles ..... hence its name.

Today it is a very popular tourist attraction, it is out in the 'sticks' but when you get there its easy parking, and you are made most welcome.

It has to be borne in mind, it is a rather warm climate so open trucks are the order of the day.

Clearly they do not have an upholstery department.

As you leave the station, you go through a cutting and into a tunnel.

On exiting the tunnel you are rewarded with this view.

It is very popular.

The ride is an out and back, through tunnels and high up on the escarpment. It's very leisurely with a sight seeing/photo halt when ever they feel like it. I must relate an incident at this point, the carriages are open, the locomotive is coal fired and you go through tunnels. A French lady in our carriage was wearing a pink dress ( not a good idea ), it is a continuous gradient uphill on the return so the little loco is working hard. The tunnel becomes a funnel, and smuts are inevitable ..... on exiting the tunnel she looked like Mr Blobby , but with black blobs instead of yellow. I can confirm we all had a giggle at her expense.

This gives you an idea of the height the line is.

I just like this photo, they do not have PTS ( personal trackside safety).

In glorious technicolour.

And here we are back where we started, a good fun ride in spectacular countryside.