Railway Tourist Haut Quercy — Attraction in Gourdon

If you are a train enthusiast or a tiny bit of an adventure seeker, then this is for you. If you are into air-conditioning and Prosecco you might want to just check out the brilliant station with it's copper bar. These are open carriages, the track is a bit rickety, you will get specks of soot(don't wear white), and the brilliant volunteers do their very best to make sure things run smoothly but sometimes.......anyway who cares as I'm on holiday. Lovely place full of surprises. As a serious warning if your children like to run wild in supermarkets, you'll have to ratchet them down as our wonderful commentator, encouraged you to move round the carriage to take photos.. with good reason. Plus, I have never been on a steam train before that actually stops and lets you get down and wander around, mid-journey. We got here as a last minute thing, basically from wearing ourselves out in 30 degrees in the fantastic Rocamadour. We had no bother just turning up and buying tickets at the booking office in the station but seeing how popular it is, probably best to book. I would also set some time aside for the town of Martel...its rather nice. Parking is slightly scattered if you cannie get into the station car park but there is plenty of street parking around the gare and car parks in the town a short walk away. We parked in the town which was free.....hurrah! Even if we could not have got tickets, I would have been happy wandering around the station, with it's brilliant copper fronted bar, museum, gift shop and a smattering of unusual engines and hardware. This is a bit weird but I have never seen a WWII weapons carrier converted to rail use before. Made my day. Then came the train. I'm not going to go into the history of the train as it is all online should you need it. If you don't speak French, the scrum is a bit daunting but there was plenty of room as we all elbowed our way....onto the wrong train. We all got off a bit sheepishly and when the actual train arrived everyone was visible more restrained. This was the last train of the day and people were keen. If you want the views without moving try and get a seat on the side of the train away from the station, or be prepared to move around because you will want to take shots of the glorious views. Of which there are plenty, looking back as you leave the station, the town is highlighted by the Eglise St Maur and to begin the journey is pleasant until you pass through the first tunnel when it becomes spectacular. The Dordogne valley is wonderful and this is a great way of seeing it, from 80m up, for 13kms, over tiny bridges and narrow tunnels. It's not quick, or smooth but rather wonderful and all for around 13 euros. All facilities are at the station....including bar, and the website advertises ramp'ed access to the train. My wife and I really enjoyed the experience but as Ollie said in a previous post...maybe...

Made a reservation at noon and ate an amazing pizza in the city. There was plenty of time to get back to the train station.

I recommend sitting at the side you get on the train because when you're sitting at the other side you see everything from a distance. Therefor you are unable to take nice pictures without the train or other people getting in the way.

The train stops twice at different places. When it's standing still in the last spot they fill up the train with coal, and it emmits a large black cloud. I recommend wearing black clothing because the train drives through a long tunnel leaving you and everyone else in the smoke it produced earlier. One of the people I went with had small pieces of coal on their white T-shirt because of the black cloud.

Other than that, the view was amazing and the information given on the way was clear but one small downside was: the woman didn't stop talking or yelling. I know it's supposed to be so we can hear it... but even when we were standing still she was...

First tip here…..pick a seat towards the back of the train if you want to avoid the smell of the coal and the coal dust and get better views! I had luckily read a review from a while ago which mentioned this and I’m glad I sat where I did. It’s about an hours trip along the side of a mountain. For large parts of the trip you are travelling through tunnels or through a channel that has been made inside the cliffs so the views are few and far between. You do get to an area where you can see out on the countryside below and you can see for miles and miles. Quite spectacular. You go over a bridge which reminded me of a very small version of the Harry Potter Glenfinnan Viaduct! The train gets to the end point and then it back the same way. I don’t know why but I thought it would do a loop and we would go back a different way! I enjoyed it. It was different and a reasonable price so I would recommend. The village of Martel is...