Trains Historiques : De la Baie de Somme à la Côte Fleurie – Sur les rails de France – MG
Today, travelling
by train is a formality. THANKS. But far from speed records,
there is another way to escape on the rails of France. On board venerable steam engines
steeped in history or more contemporary regional trains, let’s explore these exceptional lines that have written the legend
of the railway in our regions. Discover the wonderful landscapes
of France by letting yourself be guided on the rails of its
most beautiful railway lines. Admire the Bay of Somme from
the seats of a rowboat that transported the first enthusiasts of
sea bathing in the last century. Skimming along the vast Normandy beaches
aboard the Côte-Fleuri train. And there it is, after the
countryside landscape, you emerge onto the sea. Or you can let yourself be lulled by one
of the most legendary dining cars in railway history
in the heart of the Aisne countryside. We are embarking on an
exceptional journey from Picardy to Normandy. Between discovering a
moving industrial heritage, and immersing oneself in the behind-the-scenes
of extraordinary villas. Everything you see
is from that era; it hasn’t changed. And immersed in the heart of amazing
protected natural areas. The field, he settles. With the same guiding principle as always, it’s like an Obelix,
it’s the magic potion. I fell into it when I was
very young and it’s part of me. Sharing a passion for these
fabulous machines that have crisscrossed and still crisscross these
regions that we love so much. The Bay of Somme, ranked among
the 50 most beautiful bays in the world. Over 7,000 hectares,
an impression of immensity, a formidable unspoiled space that hosts
one of the largest seal colonies in Europe. And it is aboard the little train of the Bay
of Somme that we will discover this paradise of
wild fauna and flora. An original and authentic journey that we
will take with Pauline, the train manager. Clément and Gilles,
two passionate railway workers who learned to tame this venerable iron horse. And finally, Maurice,
the president of the association that put this train back on track in the 70s. The people who take this train
today, they come here to live an experience, because it is really
an experience of a train like no other,
an initiatory journey to the end of the 19th century,
to the way that our grandparents, our great-grandparents, now,
had travelled. This 27-kilometer line connects
the small village of Le Crotoy, north of the bay, to that of Saint-Valery, to the south. It actually houses several
historic trains that have been fully restored by the enthusiasts of the association. Each of these oars, laden with history,
tells us about an era in the Bay of Somme. This step back in time to the days of our
ancestors, for whom these railways already rhymed with relaxation or rest, attracts
more than 180,000 visitors each year. It’s not every day that you
get to travel on a steam train. So ultimately, it’s a trip from yesteryear. Being in contact with
machines from the other century, this one is from 1906. That’s still huge. Halfway through,
at the small station of Noyelles, the train that left from Le Crotoy joins
the one arriving from Saint-Valery. This station is a dead end for the two
segments of the line that meet there. To go back in the other direction,
each locomotive must be turned around on this turntable. An operation that has become extremely rare on
French railway lines. Passengers can also take advantage
of this break to admire the fantastic restoration work carried out on these
carriages, the most beautiful of which, made entirely of wood, date back to 1920. These carriages truly
embody the Somme Bay railway , because they
truly represent the seaside resorts. When we talk about the seaside network,
when we talk about historical heritage, about what we wanted to preserve,
about the atmosphere we wanted to maintain, these carriages are
the most representative. The next leg to Saint-Valery, we have the chance to travel
aboard the magnificent Corpé Louvet of Gilles and Clément
. A little gem from 1906 of which our two
railwaymen are particularly proud. For them, driving this steam engine
is like a childhood dream. Like Jean Gabin in La Bête
humaine, they feel the monster vibrate, breathe or groan in the curves. In fact, we keep this machine running. We supply it with steam,
water, and brains. It needs steam to work. So this is his food,
this is what allows him to address himself formally. Therefore, to create this steam,
you need to have a fire being maintained. You need to have a correct water level
and a certain pressure, in this case, 12 bars, approximately 170 degrees. You can get burned. Pressurized steam is dangerous. So in this case,
I’m going to lower it to about 11.5 bars, and then I’m going to check my fire,
I’m going to check my water level. Besides, we know them, they are over 100 years old. So, they are old hags,
when, quietly, the old iron lady makes her way
through the bay at a speed of 25 km/h. An ideal pace to admire
the exceptional landscapes of the famous salt marshes, these moors saturated with sea salt
which have transformed the 72 km² of the Estuary into a formidable
maritime vegetable garden. This vegetable garden is the domain of Renette, a
fisherwoman on foot, and Yohann, a cook who loves to surprise his
customers with the unexpected flavors of the bay. Hello, how are you Renette?
Good morning. Still looking for
made products? How are you ?
It’s a beautiful vase today. Ah, there is the multitude. Good morning. Well, you see, in this area,
we are lucky to have samphire. I see that these are the first
samphire of early June. They are still very tender,
magnificent. They are beautiful and very
plump, especially. It makes you want to. Well, listen, treat yourself, let’s
taste a raw one. Frankly, all you have to do is serve
and eat directly on site. That’s samphire. Sea beans, if you prefer,
that’s more how it’s known. It is best known as a condiment. And that’s a bit of a shame, because he
couldn’t hide it at all. Honestly, it’s a top product. After the samphire, Renette gathers
three other sea vegetables. Sea esther,
which can be eaten like spinach, sea soda, nicknamed pompon,
which is enjoyed in salads or soups, and finally sea purslane, which is
often prepared as chips. We are 140 licensed
marine plant harvesters. We have to make concessions
in order to keep the product going. So, 140 people make a living
from marine plants. Let’s take a look. That’s great, Renette.
Attention. A good breath of fresh air.
That’s it. Before going to cook.
Alright, let’s head to the kitchen. Meanwhile,
our little train from the Bay of Somme continued its journey
towards Saint-Vaast Paris, our terminus. While the passengers
quietly admire the scenery from their carriage, Gilles and Clément continue to
work hard to maintain the pace. On a steam engine, their presence
is essential. One could do nothing without the other. We’ll see how fast
the mechanic can go. And so, depending on the rate that will be
given to his machine, we will supply all of this with water, all of this with coal, etc. The mechanic and I
hear some noises. We communicate with each other based on the noises. We don’t have a right-hand side here,
I know he’s going to slow down. When it decelerates,
I had to inject water because the pressure will rise again, etc. These are all reference points. When he whistles, those are
also reference points. The association of the Little Train of the Bay
of Somme brings together around one hundred volunteers and employs
around twenty employees. Without them, this railway line
would not have survived its closure in 1969, a victim of
competition from the car. Thanks to their mobilization,
this interruption ultimately lasted only two years. As early as 1971, tourists were
returning to the railways in the bay. We are passionate about this train because,
first of all, it has a unique history. It’s a regional train. There have been more of them in France since the late
1960s. It is in the Bay of Somme. And what’s more, this train
has a unique characteristic: we didn’t just
save locomotives and wagons. We also saved stations,
a railway line and an environment that are quite exceptional. So, we really saved a
railway heritage in the broadest sense. Just before arriving in Saint-Valery,
the association’s depot also deserves a short visit. Maurice himself, or one of the volunteers,
loves to tell the thousand and one anecdotes, sometimes improbable, of
protecting them with iron and steel. This 130-cailles locomotive, for example,
is one of the centerpieces of their collection. Built in 1889 to bore the
Panama Canal, it continued its career in Puerto Rico, before being bought
by Henry Ford, the famous automobile manufacturer. But Maurice’s favorite
is this one: a van, as they say in the business. This is the youngest machine
in our collection. It is also the network’s mascot,
since the network started thanks to this locomotive,
which is a fairly rustic locomotive, quite easy to maintain and drive. All the volunteers who are over 40 years old
learned to drive on this locomotive. This is a machine built in 1927
for heavy-duty work, particularly on railways. This is a locomotive that participated in
the digging of the Canal du Nord in the 1930s. Traveling on board the little train of the Bay
of Somme is therefore above all the promise of beautiful shared emotions. The ambient noise and the roughness
of the wooden benches, once synonymous with discomfort,
now contribute to the old-fashioned charm of this timeless excursion which
allows us to experience the train in a different way. This is truly a pleasure train. We’re talking about the concept of train travel. That’s it, the train is made
for exchanging, for sharing. And there you have it, we exchange a quick hello. We say goodbye,
farewells on the docks. It’s a cinematic image. Our
crossing of the bay ends in Saint-Valery. A charming little medieval village
where sailors from all over the coast used to come to take refuge when
westerly wind storms raged. Located on a natural promontory
overlooking the Estuary, the village has long been considered
a strategic location, hence the numerous fortifications,
still visible today, including the ramparts and
defensive towers that protected the site. A jewel of the Picardy Coast,
the village is full of its little architectural treasures,
with its cobbled streets and ancestral facades, whose history Hervé knows
by heart. We are in the Fishermen’s Quarter,
We call it the courguin, because the meaning of the word cour
means small and wage gain. These were people who did
n’t earn much money. So, small salary,
small income and small house. We had families, the parents,
four children and the grandparents who accompanied them, yes, we could
go up to eight, or even ten people. And there was only one room. This picturesque area is part of what is
now called the lower town. Nestled on the sides of an ancient
cliff, it provided shelter from the prevailing winds as well as from the rising
waters during high tides. Some of these
fishermen’s houses date back to the 19th century. Saint-Valery was indeed fortunate to have
been miraculously spared by the First World War,
which nevertheless largely devastated the Somme department. We can clearly see the
maritime tradition being respected. Among the decorative elements,
we see buoys, pebbles, and embroidery on the curtains. There is a soul, you might say,
in the neighborhood. It’s the streets that are perfectly
maintained, full of flowers, and the beautiful little colorful houses. Evidence from the navy, moreover,
because sailors always repainted the waterline of their boat. And every two years,
they would put the excess paint back on the doors,
windows and shutters. So, the colors come alive
on the facades of houses. Like the little train in the Bay of Somme
that provides access to it, the streets of Saint-Valery
also offer the opportunity for a journey through time. A time that seems to have stood still since the days
when fishermen’s children still laughed and shouted
while playing in these alleyways. This house, covered in flowers,
with its red shutters, was the old fishermen’s café. This is where they would come to get a quick
drink before leaving to warm up. These were alleyways in the 1900s
that were very crowded, with children, parents,
grandparents, well, everyone. There was,
in fact, a life in that neighborhood. And now, they are a little
more asleep, let’s say, because we don’t have many
fishing families anymore in Saint-Valéry. There are only two or three left. Whereas in the 1950s,
there were still 50 of them. This is where our
journey in the Bay of Somme ends. But upon leaving Saint-Valéry, railway enthusiasts will head west for the rest of this
journey aboard some of the most beautiful trains in France. For two centuries now,
Normandy and its magnificent fine sandy beaches have
also continued to delight holidaymakers. The phenomenon began
in the middle of the 19th century. The Normandy coast then became
a luxury destination where seaside resorts like Deauville,
Houlgate and Cabourg developed. The thousands of apple trees that bloom
here every spring offer a beautiful spectacle to passing city dwellers,
who soon nicknamed this part of the coast the Côte Fleurie (Flowering Coast). A nickname inherited by the regional train,
which today connects its seaside resorts. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. This is your driver speaking. Welcome aboard
train number 850 of 8567, bound for Iscabourg. And it is in the company of Guylaine,
who arranged to meet us at Deauville station, that we will
now discover it. What is interesting about this line
is that you travel through the landscape, but you also travel
through the architecture, since it dates back to 1880, the date of
creation of this line, in fact. We are in the heart of the Belle Époque
and it is really at the architectural level, a profusion of styles that is offered
to holidaymakers and villa owners. So, the characteristic
of this style is the mix. That is to say, we will borrow architectural styles
from different periods of history, which we will
compose and mix in the cities. At the time, each owner engaged in
a crisis of inventiveness to outdo their neighbors. We were going to see the picturesque chalets,
we were going to see these villas which were decorated in
very fanciful styles. So, all the way up to the roof, since we had these
ridge tiles that adorned the roofs. And we can also discover the different
materials that were used, such as brick or timber framing,
because this is the period when we return to regionalism and when we use
half-timbering, that is to say, we really return to the
architectural identity of the region. The quintessence of this architecture
so characteristic of the Côte-Fleury is found in Deauville, and more
precisely at the Villa Strasburger. It was built by the
Rothschild family in 1912, on the site of a farm
that belonged to Gustave Flaubert. A visit here allows you to relive this
prosperous interwar period. Rode. The charm of this incomparable residence
completely captivated our guide, Annie Claude. Well, here it is, I present to you the last
owner of the house, Ralph Beaver, Strasburger. Ralph Strasburger is an
American businessman who made his fortune in the press. When he bought this house from
the Rothschilds in 1924, he divided his time between France and the United States. The Strasburger family occupied the villa
until Ralph’s death in 1959. Since then,
the decor has remained the same. Here you are in the office
of Ralph Biver, Strasburger. So here, everything you see
is from that era, it hasn’t changed since the family left,
whether it’s the old telephones or the telephone exchange. This device, which is quite
curious, was used to keep the gentleman’s hats in shape. Ralph Strasberger did not
choose Deauville by chance. A great fan of horse racing
and a horse breeder himself, he wouldn’t miss the
racing season for anything in the world. At the time, it took place
every year, in August. These are the lounges. You will of course find many
paintings of horses, since that was the gentleman’s great passion. Strasburger intends to make this residence
one of the most prestigious and sought-after villas in Deauville. When he is there,
no fewer than 36 people work there daily to organize the
social events that attract all the celebrities who
also spend the summer on the coast. There were orchestras here
that provided entertainment in the evenings. Who could have sat here? Perhaps
financial figures, American figures,
political figures. Which is such as the maharajas
of India, for example, who came to the races in Deauville
in the 1930s, the old Aga Khan and the Begum. Rita Hayworth and Ali Khan have
come here very, very often. Moreover, Ali Khan really enjoyed
coming to see the gentleman to talk about horses. The villa is a concentrated expression of the refinement of the era. These four floors house no fewer than 13 bedrooms and seven bathrooms. So here you are in
Ralph Biver’s room, Strasburger. In total, 1,365 square meters of luxury
worthy of the greatest Parisian palaces. And some surprising items,
like this individual sauna reserved for the owner of the premises. We filled these small drawers with water,
plugged everything in, and waited for it to heat up. Our heads were here, our
hands were here, and we were waiting. We were waiting to melt. Like most of the mansions and other
charming residences of Côte-Flery, the town in Strasburger might
not have existed without the tremendous rise of the railway in the 19th century. It all began in 1863,
when the first railway line connected Paris to Deauville. The town thus becomes the
closest seaside resort to the capital, which naturally benefits
the entire Côte-Flery. Holidaymakers, that’s what
they were called at the time, when they wanted to come
to the seaside resort of Beuzeval-Hulgat,
they would stop at the Deauville train station. Afterwards,
it was necessary to take an omnibus and have more than two hours of travel
on a barely paved road through the sand. In other words, going on to Hulgat
or Cabourg was part of the expedition. The idea of extending the line
between Deauville and Cabourg therefore quickly became the obvious choice. But its realization would face
numerous obstacles for more than 20 years. The train goes through the countryside and does not run along
the seafront because it was necessary not to devalue the land
that developers were going to sell. And then, those who already had their villa,
as owners, did not want to have their sea view disfigured. So, there were also petitions at that
time precisely to ensure that this line was diverted and that it
passed inland. That’s why this train takes a big
detour and goes considerably further from the coast. The majority of the current route of the line linking Deauville to Houlgate is therefore more than two kilometers from the sea. Passengers can thus enjoy
the verdant landscapes so characteristic of the Pays d’Auge. A little further on,
a short stop at the Villiers-sur-Mer guardhouse allows you to reach
the beach where you can admire one of the obstacles that had to be bypassed
to build the line and which Marine knows well. In fact, the story goes that in the past,
when fishermen were at sea on board their boat,
they had the impression, when seeing these large rocks,
of seeing herds of black cows weighing on the sand, at the foot of the cliffs. We can still see some of
these black cows all around us. Except that it takes a lot of imagination
to see cows instead of those rocks. Rising to a height of around one hundred meters,
the black cliffs stretch for nearly 5 kilometers between
Villiers-sur-Mer and Houlgate. These geological formations date back
to the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They are therefore over a
hundred million years old. And for two centuries,
holidaymakers who come to relax here have made a habit of searching for
fossils of marine animals. The black cliffs also
contributed to the birth of paleontology in France,
following the discovery in the 18th century of remains of dinosaurs
and marine reptiles. Fossils are everywhere here. Some of them are still embedded in
slabs of stone, so we can just make them out. We have oysters, we will find
mussels, we will find sea urchins. This is a small ammonite fossil
which also comes from the black cow cliffs, a little bit rarer. And that’s what people
like to come here for. These are quite interesting fossils
because of their shape, a little bit like snails, even if they don’t necessarily
belong to the same family. So, they come in all shapes and sizes. You can find smaller ones too. The Black Cow cliffs form
a strange, almost lunar landscape. The peaks,
the spits and the fairy chimneys are cut by deep
ravines, separated by flows of clay mud. A landscape unique in France, but one in
which it is best not to venture alone. In these ravines, there are mudslides
in which it is very easy to get stuck. On the surface,
it looks dry, it looks solid. Except that if you step in there,
you can get stuck. It’s
a bit like quicksand. It is commonly said that after
the fossils which are found in large quantities here, the second thing
is boots which are also found in large quantities
at the Vache-Moire cliffs. With a bit of luck and a minimum
of precautions, small fossil enthusiasts will return to the train
with pockets full of souvenirs. Because our journey is not over. After Villiers-sur-Mer,
the route continues through the Normandy countryside to reach
Houlgate, our last stop, before a radical change of scenery. A few hundred meters further on,
the line does indeed approach the beach, revealing a
breathtaking view of the sea. We cross the town and will
emerge after the Villa Lecarillon, which you can see here; it’s magnificent,
particularly in the neo-Gothic style. And there you have it. After the countryside landscape,
we emerge onto the sea. The train runs along the beach;
that’s the impression we get here. Taking this train is truly a journey
in itself. This is truly the start of the holidays. It’s the ultimate reward
with the view over Cabourg. Aristocrat, businessman,
Parisian bourgeois, but also renowned painter and writer,
who made the legend of Norman tourism, all one day wanted to take
the Côte-Flery train to experience that moment, sitting on their bench,
their eyes amazed by what they were discovering. There are a lot of famous painters who came
to the coast. Painters like Edgar Degas came,
Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caibot, who came to both Trouville
and Meusval-Hulgat. Many writers also took
the train, including Georges Sand, who liked to stay at the Grand Hotel
in Cabourg, and also Marcel Proust, who came as a teenager
with his grandmother to the Grand Hotel in Houlgate, and who returned for seven
years, from 1907, to the Grand Hotel in Cabourg. Seven years spent admiring the foam
of the waves from his room at the Grand Hotel, in which he wrote part
of his major work, In Search of Lost Time. An ode to nostalgia,
in which the writer pays an amused tribute to the little
train of Côte-Fleury. I was going to take the little
local railway train, whose nicknames I had learned from Albertine
and her friends. It was sometimes called the Little Train,
because of its countless detours, the TACO, because it didn’t move,
the transatlantic, because of a terrifying siren it
possessed to make passers-by park. Yves Cabourg station
is the terminus of the line. So this is where we leave the
Côte-Fleury train for another remarkable railway in northern France. It is in the Aisne department,
north of Paris, that this new gem awaits us. Its name: the Little Train of Vermandois. It connects the city of Saint-Quentin,
famous for its Art Deco architecture, to Origny-Saint-Benoît,
23 kilometers further east. This time, we will travel aboard a magnificent
1928 dining car , experiencing the charm and luxury
of yesteryear, for an unforgettable ride. Usually, it is this magnificent 1917 steam-powered building that pulls the convoy. But with the weight of years,
the old lady sometimes breaks down, like today. In this case, Antoine,
the association’s driver, has to rely on a very young
girl who is barely half a century old. Checking coolant levels
, high temperature before the fan. This impressive machine is
a BB 66000 with a diesel engine. It’s good. The V16, in its classic version,
let’s say, produces 1400 horsepower. Turbo, of course. That’s the V16.
So. This super-powerful engine is a relic of a
bygone era, the “Thirty Glorious Years,” during which burning phenomenal quantities of diesel
was not a problem. That’s how we gauge it. 3,000 maximum. 1900 litres, there is still some left. On a day like today,
we’ll consume about 50 liters. That’s about three liters per kilometer. A level of consumption that would make
more than one environmentalist in the 21st century furious. But for Antoine and his colleagues
in the association, it is a rare piece of our
railway heritage that it is vital to continue to maintain and operate.
There, it’s fine. We’ll heat it for about 5-10 minutes,
enough time to fill the air circuits
and so on, and then we can go. Today, on the verge of disappearing,
this locomotive was once one of the most used for
passenger transport on the French network. It could reach speeds of 120 km/h. We honk our horns to signal that we are
ready and about to start moving. Since we are on a maneuver where
I decide when I start and especially when I stop,
he gave me an order and I am at the head of the movement,
I warn him that we are going to start. The person Antoine is warning with his horn
is his colleague who is ensuring the safety of the operation that will follow. This morning, the train was
rented for a wedding. Therefore, the most
beautiful car in the collection must be installed. It is a living transmission. The idea is to offer people
a reconstruction of what the railway was like before, in the days of third
class, of steam locomotives, and what the railway was like which
revived France after the Second World War. So there we are,
we have just entered the inner sanctum of the two dining cars,
the VR35-85, the jewel of our collection. So, restoring this car
represents 8,000 hours of work over more than a year. Made in 1928,
this car is part of a small series built for legendary luxury trains
such as the Orient Express. Equipped with an onboard kitchen,
a bar and 42 seats, it notably circulated in France,
then in Italy, as these period advertisements show. But the cabin contains many other
treasures that the members of the association have managed to restore
to their original state. The original Chinese lakes, in their place,
which had been preserved for 70 years. It was exceptional and it is probably
the only one in the world that benefits from these lakes in China in their
original location. Another thing too,
since it’s a 1928 car, we were in the middle of Art Deco,
we observe the floral motifs on the coat hooks, the corolla shapes,
the cornucopia shapes. We are completely in the Art Deco style,
which is perfect for Saint-Quentin, which is developing its Art Deco heritage. Saint-Quentin, the starting point of our
journey, boards this dream train. At the end of the First World War,
the city was almost 80% destroyed. During the 1920s,
the city rebuilt itself with the desire to forget the great carnage of 1418. The time was one of euphoria and this
positive effervescence was reflected in a new architectural movement
where everyone could do as they pleased. Art Deco was born. Marjorie knows this story well,
since her family has lived in Saint-Quentin for many generations. According to her, the station buffet is
undoubtedly one of the most iconic places of this period. When I give guided tours
and present Art Deco things, yes, I can’t help but
think about my ancestors who came back after the war with only 20 percent
of their city, where they said to themselves: Well,
now we have to roll up our sleeves, we have to
rebuild, we have to keep living. That corresponds to the
Roaring Twenties in general. The population is both devastated
and at the same time, we are really living… It is entirely human to experience a renewal. With its colorful mosaic,
decorated glass roofs, and innovative geometric shapes , the station buffet, a
place of passage by definition, becomes a place that
invites dreaming and travel. It was indeed
the station buffet. People would come to eat a light meal,
but I think people still appreciated coming between trains
to take a lunch break in a place like that. Just a
few meters from the buffet, our little train from Vermandois has just
stopped at Saint-Quentin station. The bride and groom and their guests, who have
booked the dining car, are eager to get on board. If they chose to celebrate their wedding
in such an original place, it’s because there are definitely enthusiasts
like Antoine among the guests. That one is from 1962. It’s a genet. Yes, because I believe there was
a driving force that wasn’t there before, which allowed us to…
We have a separate locomotive from 1917. It’s not the same age.
It’s not the same technology either. These moments of sharing with the public are
the greatest reward for the volunteers of the Association
du Petit Train du Vermandois. The real pleasure is
in maintaining the equipment. It is also in the fact of seeing
surprised people, children amazed by a locomotive. Well, diesels
have less of an effect, but a separate locomotive has a huge effect. People, even at a certain age,
come and say: I remember when I was young, this is the kind
of train I used to take. When people also discover that the
third-class seats are going to be made of wood in the Eastern carriages,
all these things trigger something. The groom, the groom, the groom, the groom.
The groom, the groom. Let’s go! Be careful,
you’re keeping a close eye on things from your end. We need to make sure that no
one gets off the train. We’re going
for 22 here. We’ll put in 200. And basically, it’ll take us a little over an
hour to get there, nice and easy, without pushing ourselves. But before leaving Saint-Quentin with
Antoine and the Vermandois train, a short detour to a magnificent
green setting nearby is a must. Just a few dozen meters from the station
, right in the middle of the city, lies the amazing marsh of the island. And it is aboard a
traditional boat that we will discover it in the company
of Christophe and Bruno. It’s a teal, a dividing teal. A male, so naturally,
you’ll have the female who will be in a corner. We are now in the middle
of the nature reserve. This place is called
the bird pond. This is truly the most
peaceful spot in the Marais d’Ile. Around it, there are reedbeds,
groves of ground, the alder forest set back,
and then the pond which is connected by channels to the rest of the marsh. This reserve, covering
more than 47 hectares in a wetland environment, is home to
numerous plant and animal species. Here, we
mainly have phragmites reed. That’s typical of the sector. These floating islands,
made of reeds, are providential refuges
for migratory birds returning from Africa in spring and summer. It’s very dense. So, it is very easy
to build your nest there, to get stuck in the reeds,
and then to hide there. So, the birds in there, in fact,
are quite little bothered by flying predators. They will be able to hide easily. You see there? The little grebe
is a small fishing bird. The nest is there. A floating nest so that it can follow
the variations in water level. If there is a flood, the nest will float,
will rise naturally. Reeds are rich in insects. And we have spiders,
lots of spiders. The plants are rich in sap,
there are many aphids, many aphids. And in fact, we have many
species of small birds. Small insectivorous birds. With a little patience,
it is not uncommon to spot some of these migratory birds
like this grey heron. Luck, he lands. There is
a colony of herons present on the Île Marsh. There are a few dozen couples. And every year, they return to
settle in from the beginning of February. We count them by listening to them.
You need a good ear. It’s not something everyone can do. We try to estimate the number
of couples from one year to the next. If there’s a new arrival,
a new species, we’re happy. If some of them are no longer here,
that’s a little less encouraging. They serve as a kind of indicator
of the site’s quality, the site’s condition, and the site’s health. The flora is also being
closely monitored, such as the emblematic flower of the Marais,
the great ditch, which was becoming increasingly rare. Its preservation required significant
modifications to the plot. So, the great moat, it’s right there. It is a plant in the
buttercup family, the ranunculus. Unlike our
buttercups, which hug the ground. Here, it managed to grow
to 70, 80 cm high. It was a
completely forest-like atmosphere. The forest had taken hold. The plant survived
in a few patches of light. We pushed back the forest and then
we lowered the ground level. It was very, very favorable for him. There, we have several thousand
feet unfolding. Previously, these wetlands were
maintained by large mammals such as reindeer,
deer, or beavers. Today, if humans did not take
over, some species of fauna and flora would disappear. A few kilometers away,
the Mariers train has just passed the Itancourt station and is traveling
peacefully towards Origny. On board, the guests are delighted. We personally didn’t experience the era
when travel was done like that, but yes,
it has charm, a great deal of charm. Here, we take
the time to look. And people say hello to us. Inside the locomotive, the atmosphere
is decidedly more serious. You need to stay focused to monitor
the track and especially the level crossings. The risk of a collision is
the bane of drivers like Antoine. A train like ours today
weighs approximately 230 tonnes, in working order,
between the locomotive which weighs 70 tonnes and the train behind
which weighs 160 tonnes. The energy of a train,
even when it is not going fast, is very strong and if you ever
hit a car, this energy will pass into the car
and it will destroy the car. Fortunately, Antoine has experience. He has known this route
for almost 40 years. It’s safe to say that she holds
no secrets from him anymore. And every time he uses the horn,
his memories come flooding back. It reminds me of childhood things
because when I was little, I used to see my father driving
trains on Saint-Antonio-Aurélie. Three years, can you imagine how much of an
impact that can have on people? It’s like an Obelix,
it’s the magic potion. I fell into it when I was
very young and it’s part of me. This passion for old
trains is very contagious. All over the world,
volunteers are working hard to safeguard their railway heritage. Rys is one of them;
this Welshman regularly comes to France to help his friends
on the Petit Train du Vermandois. The first business route that
was preserved was in Wales. That was 608 years ago. This is important to preserve the Mona Lisa and Rodin’s works. But these are also things
that we must preserve. These cars are
witnesses to history. I find that in France we still have relatively little
culture of bearing witness to the beginning of the industrial era. Because
what is a steam locomotive? This is the industrial revolution. It’s the use of steam,
the mechanization of trades. So, we also start by bearing witness to all of this. In a few minutes,
our train will arrive in Origny-Saint-Benoît, without a terminus. This provides an opportunity to travel about ten
kilometers further east to admire another exceptional trace of
the region’s transition to the industrial era. In the 19th century,
these gigantic red brick quadrilaterals made the small town of Guiz famous throughout Europe. These buildings form what is known as
the Familister, a social utopia conceived by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Godin. In 1869, the worldwide success of these
coal stoves enabled him to finance this new ultra-modern district
exclusively reserved for the employees of his factory, whether boss,
engineer or simple worker. It is a place
of social diversity based on the principles of solidarity and fraternity. The downside is that we have to
learn to live together. Obviously, there were rules of conduct,
rules of respect for places and people. This model of an ideal society, unique
in the world, has survived for almost a century. Today, the Familistère is open to visitors. Some of the apartments are
still occupied by tenants. And despite the years,
the spirit of the place has survived. I am the fifth generation
on my mother’s and father’s side, and until 1968, my family on both
sides was a sterile family. Jean-Baptiste Godin’s utopia is based
on a simple principle: to offer all his employees the same comfort as the
wealthiest social classes. Nearly 2,500 people were then housed
around these vast inner courtyards which resembled a village square. In this pavilion,
there were also parties. So it was
not only a place for exchange, but also a place for celebration. The 500 dwellings benefit from exceptional comfort
and, above all, hygiene for the time. Bright apartments,
air circulation and even access to drinking water are all signs of a
quality of life that was previously inaccessible to the working classes. It’s not a mattress underneath. It’s an 11-kilo layer of bran. And so, when the baby
peed, all you had to do was remove the wet, soiled bran
and replace it with dry bran. And so, the child was
always lying comfortably. So, this is to show that, down
to the smallest detail, Mr. Godin will seek everywhere
to improve people’s hygiene and comfort. But it is in another building that
the improvement in the quality of life of the
hysterical families of the time is fully measured. I’m taking you to the hygiene building,
that is, the place where we have all the services that use a lot of water,
including laundry. All of this was supplied with hot water
using recovered water from the factory. And with the slope, it happened, we washed,
we rinsed with hot water and the dirty water went into the Oise. I came here again with my mother
and when we came back here, there was this smell of laundry,
of soap, that just enveloped us. And I still remember it. Residents also have access to their
own cooperative store, as well as a theatre, a school, a library and a nursery. They even benefit from a
social protection system. It’s a city within a city,
indeed, since you can find everything there. Besides,
the people from the city, you could say they were a little jealous
because in retaliation, they called us the people from the pile of bricks. I know, there are 10 million bricks
here, but it’s a nice pile of bricks, all the same. The adventure of this Familistère
ended in the late 1960s. This is where our
railway excursion between Picardy and Normandy comes to an end. Paris, aboard the Little Train
of Vermandois, the Regional Train of the Côte-Fleuri
or the picturesque trains of the Bay of Somme. Another way to discover France
by combining the pleasure of escape, the charms of nostalgia
and the certainty of leaving again, with your head full of wonderful memories.
Monter à bord d’un train centenaire, longer les prés salés de la baie de Somme à 25 km/h, frôler les plages normandes de la Côte Fleurie, puis retrouver le luxe des voitures-restaurant d’autrefois dans l’Aisne : ce voyage propose une autre façon de découvrir la France.
Pour découvrir les merveilles des plus belles régions de France, c’est ici – Abonnez-vous 👉 http://bit.ly/3zjR2Vj 🙏
Entre Picardie et Normandie, les lignes historiques racontent un siècle et demi d’évasion : locomotives à vapeur sauvées par des passionnés, gares préservées, gestes d’anciens cheminots… mais aussi des paysages rares, des phoques de la baie de Somme aux falaises des Vaches Noires, jusqu’aux villas fastueuses de Deauville.
Le parcours mène aussi au Familistère de Guise, une utopie sociale née au XIXᵉ siècle, où l’on inventait déjà le confort pour tous.
Un itinéraire hors du temps, fait de patrimoine vivant, de cuisine du littoral, de salicornes et de souvenirs de mer…
Réalisé par Jean-Luc LÉNÉE.
© MORGANE PRODUCTION