The Steam Train of the Cévennes

Long blasts of a whistle and strident jets of steam announce the departure of the train. Leaving from Anduze, it takes you to Saint-Jean-du-Gard, winding through tunnels and along viaducts, to let you discover the valleys of the Gardon and their superb views from the open carriages of old railway cars. 

A 13-kilometre trip that will enchant the old and young alike!

Description of the line

Immediately after leaving Anduze, the line enters a long 833 m tunnel that opens onto a majestic 104 m long metal bridge over the Gardon river, crossing the two rocky outcrops called Saint Julien and Peyremale, that together form "the Gate to the Cévennes".

The railway then crosses the Gypières and Amous Valleys on a 3 arch and a 6 arch viaduct, takingus to the exotic and botanic park at La Bambouseraie.

This 35-hectare estate has its own station, specially built by C.I.T.E.V. in 1987. All trains stop at this station, allowing you to visit what is one the region's main sights. The park is planted with rare exotic trees, but is most notable for its bamboos about one hundred different species ! Some giant bamboos can be more than 20 metre tall, with young shoots growing by more than one metre per day !

After leaving the Bambouseraie, the train goes past the old station at Générargues. The line then reaches wilder landscapes after crossing the Prafrance tunnel (114 m) that opens onto the great Mescladou viaduct, whose 11 arches span the confluence of the Gardon de Mialet and the Gardon de Saint Jean du Gard, which together form the Gardon d'Anduze. This is one of the line's finest panoramas, and the train slows down to let passengers admire the Gate to the Cévennes they have crossed a few kilometres earlier. Looking down, you may see fish sparkling in the clear water.

The train then picks up speed again and, after another short tunnel, goes through the halt at Corbès, just before the old mill of a former paper manufacture. Winding our way through a pine wood, we reach the station at Toiras-Lasalle after running over a superb 7 arch curved viaduct high above the river bed, whose width gives a clue to the Gardon's huge flow of water during the autumn floods.

Then comes another fine series of civil engineering works: a deep cutting with high retaining walls, a 6 arch viaduct over the road to Lasalle, and the Salindrinque rivulet, followed by the last tunnel of the line with its 157 metres. Its remaining course is through a green landscape of steep pastures, the realm of the goats whose milk is made into those delicious "pélardons des Cévennes".