Tramway du Mont Blanc

Well it wouldn't be one of our holidays without a bit of railway photography, would it?

It wasn't the most auspicious of starts... the parking for the Mont Blanc Tramway was quite some way out from the Saint Gervais Le Fayette station.  After the 15 minute walk, we thought we'd hit the 'facilities' then get some lunch, before going up on the tram.

For a massive station, and a tourist gateway to Mont Blanc, there was a distinct lack of facilities.  The toilets were what we were coming to think of as "SNCF Standard", to wit; small, flooded, filthy, and stinking.  Most French mainline stations are still manned, but clearly someone has gone on a successful strike in the past and won the right for the workers never to wield a plunger or mop.  The only thing I can say was this was slightly better than Moutiers, where the SNCF station (served by TGV and Eurostar) had a loo where the females was overflowing with faeces, and the gents appeared to be in use as living accommodation for drug addicts, with only one urinal of 5 not overflowing onto the floor.  Back at Le-Fayette, the irritation mounted when we found the large and well-appointed station buffet, to serve this tourist interchange, was in fact a poorly-appointed building site.

Bizarrely there was not one mini supermarket or similar hereabouts, just tons of restaurants who all wanted booking in advance.  We'd not been anywhere in the Alps up to this point which didn't have a little shop, so this was a bit annoying given we'd not bought a packed lunch. 

So yes, our mood was not terrific when the time for our tram up the mountain finally came, though we did manage to get the last packed of sliced white bread and a pack of cheese slices from the ill-stocked corner shop near the station, the only game in town.

Vintage tank loco near the terminus.

The trams themselves, built by Stadler for this season, were very impressive though.  Smooth, comfortable, and quiet.

At the terminus.

And there is Mont Blanc.  Annoyingly, the line wasn't working up to the snowline, as they're still rebuilding it.

We arrived at the last-but-one station, where there was an astonishing lack of anything to do.  Or toilets, which on a hot day where we were trying to stay hydrated, was a little vexing.  You also had to queue up at the portacabin station building to buy a ticket for a train back down, so we spent most of our time here in a line waiting to arrange our trip back don the mountain (these shots were taken from the queue).

Nice scenery on the downward trip.

The second-last station on the descent is actually the main station on the line (and naturally has insufficient parking).  It has toilets, a shop, somewhere to buy food, and absolutely no clear way to enjoy it as you have to book your train.  You couldn't just get off, and get on a later service.  In the end we stopped here for 15 minutes, so an announcement we could get off and on wouldn't have gone amiss.

Sidings back at the lower end.  

To be honest, a mixed day.  It was an enjoyable trip when actually on the trams, but the experience around it (and the lack of facilities at either end of the line) shows just how well the UK does tourist railways.  As I type this, we've just got back from Wales, and encountered numerous preserved railways half way up mountains with tiny stations which manage to have cleaner, working toilets, let alone well-stocked cafes.  So yeah, worth doing for the ride, but certain aspects of the day left a sour taste in the mouth...