Fête de la Vapeur Saturday 27th April 2013
The Saturday morning cavalcade of locomotives from St. Valery Canal
to Noyelles began at 08.15
with a std gauge shunter heading along the embankment.
About 08.40 the Renault std gauge autorail leaves Canal depot and
is seen about to cross Rue des Prés Sales.
It was shortly followed by a Billard draisine belonging to Association
des Chemins de Fer des Côtes-du-Nord (ACFCdN).
The Renault seen in the mist across the marsh with the draisine
to be seen at far right of picture.
Next was a train consisting of a diesel "en cours de restauration"
with the days loco coal supply for Noyelles and a van,
hauled by VFIL Lumbres diesel loco built in 1948.
Hot on its heels was the "Rame Sprague" the Parisien métro
train, which was to run shuttles between Noyelles & St. Valery Port.
A real mixed train hauled by Pinguely 0-6-0 no 101 with 2 passenger
coaches from Association des Amis du Petit Anjou.
St. Valery Canal depot was out of bounds for the weekend but a long
lens caught this shot from the prés sales.
A 5 loco train is ready to depart with Bébert and Marcia
standing alongside the K&ESR coach.
The 5 locos: Corpet-Louvet 0-4-0s no 25 & no 11, Corpet-Louvet
0-6-0 no 75, Corpet-Louvet 2-6-0 no 1 and
Blanc Misseron Mallet 0-4-0 + 0-4-0 no 101 head to Noyelles.
A nice shot of the 5 across the marsh.
The CFBS metre gauge X-212 Verney railcar on the embankment with
the lifting bridge on the D940 in background.
Still wreathed in steam the 5 are now about halfway across the embankment
towards Noyelles...
....followed by the metre gauge autorail.
So it was then time to ride the train to Cayeux sur Mer - picture
taken on the climb out
of St Valery Ville station. We were banked by a diesel loco as the
rail was wet & slippery.
Our loco no E332 came off the train at Cayeux, was watered, and
moved over to the pit road and great attention
was given to the fire. There was then discussion between crew members
and the guards...
...which culminated in the train & steam loco being diesel hauled
back to St Valery whilst the steamer recovered boiler pressure
on its freshly cleaned and remade fire. The diesel was taken off
at St Valery and E332 then continued unaided to Noyelles.