Montluçon Festirail & 141R420 Clermont Ferrand - Montluçon - Clermont

Have not long got back to my hotel in Clermont Ferrand after an excellent day out with French Steam.

It started and finished in Clermont Ferrand with 141R420 on a railtour to Montluçon and back. The loco ran well all day but was hampered on the way out by lengthy speed restrictions on the single track secondary lines beyond Gannat. For some reason these restrictions largely didn't apply on the return! The return run was cracking with lots of noise and running up to line/loco limits even up the 1 in 66 hills. Some of the remaining speed restrictions helped with the noise!

At Montluçon the now annual Festirail event was the on. Amongst some diesels and Autorail the steam was 141R420, 141R840, which had arrived with a tour from Bourges, and 141TD740 which had run in from Guéret. 141R1199 from Nantes was due but lack of tickets sales on their tour made it uneconomic for the loco to come.

The locos were turned and posed in the part roundhouse which looked great, once the orange jackets were finally out of the way..... There were lots of people around, a great number seemed to be locals boosting the numbers brought in by the railtours.

The 2 Rs also topped and tailed a trip out to Commentry and back up the long 1 in 66ish climb. The train was packed to standing. It seemed to me R840, at the rear, did most of the work up the hill.

I only heard one other Brit speaking so wonder if there were any others at Montluçon?

Hopefully it will continue as an annual event and I'd recommend it to anyone coupled to one of the railtours.

 

Have put an album of photos together from the event which can be viewed here: http://www.martynbane.co.uk/france/june2010/june12/june12/index.html