The first half of the trip from Villefranche to Latour de Carol is, as you’d expect, through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees but after that it levels out into more normal scenery and finishes the run in the very disappointing Latour train station. In years gone by this must have been a major terminus when you look at the sheer size of the station but there’s little to show for all that past glory now so most people seem to take the first train back.
The whole route is very popular with hikers and the train needed to stop at almost all of the courtesy stops on the return journey to pick up parties of walkers.
The train has the ubiquitous open-top carriage but it doesn’t seem overly practical to me as three hours out in the sunshine of southern France adds up to a serious case of sunburn. To get the typical photos of the train crossing aqueducts etc. you need to be in either the first carriage or the last one. The “standard” photo of it is taken from the roadside between Villefranche and the first stop at Olette.
Although most people seem to take the train from the “start” of the line in Villefranche, a much better day-trip would be to start from Latour de Carol instead as Villefranche seems to be the only stop on the line where there is a lively and interesting town just beside the train station.
You can only book the train on the day which at least gives a reasonable chance of getting on the trip if you arrive early enough. It’s 32€ for the trip.
Our next adventure will be to take the Red Train though it doesn’t seem to be as interesting as there are none of the mountain gorges to pass through and besides you can drive along the entire route.