Sat down

I've only been on two trains in my life that have been declared a complete failure mid journey. Bizarrely, both have been on the same stretch of railway line between Beziers and Montpellier in southern France.

 

Here's the first failure. My Beziers-bound train had turned up at Montpellier pretty much on time, headed by little electric BB9619. This was one of 42 BB9400s which had been refurbished, fitted with push-pull gear and reclassified as BB9600s. The BB9400s had been pretty unloved due to their low weight and consequent issues with adhesion, but were perfectly capable of propelling local passenger trains about, so could therefore be used to free up other locos for freight use. They were used around Lyon and Avignon, with a couple allocated to Tours St. Pierre for St. Pierre-des-Corps - Tours shuttle trains.

 

Anyway, it soon became evident that 9619 was not well. We trundled slowly to Sete, unable to gain much speed. Things didn't get much better after that, and at Agde 9619 sat down and refused to go any further. We were all turfed off to catch the following EMU, which was catching up fast anyway. Here's 9619 at Agde, having given up all activity for the time being.

 

In 1999, when on a return visit to Montpellier, I took the train to Beziers again. On the return trip, BB7238 set off from Beziers with gusto, before there was a loud bang and we came to a grinding halt... just before Agde. There we stayed for an hour or two, until a CC6500 could be summoned to haul us onwards. I haven't travelled by train over that section since - I'm not sure it would end well...

Done