Le chemin de fer de Cerdagne

We took a trip on the Petit Train Jaune as far as the WHS of Villefranche-de-Conflent in April 2017. The timing was somewhat out of season, meaning not only were there very few passengers, but also that the train wasn’t running from Latour-de-Carol but instead from Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via. Confusingly, the end stop is not called Villefranche-de-Conflent, but Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains.

We had arrived driving across the border from Andorra through a tunnel. Entering the tunnel, the evening was sunny, bright and dry - exiting the tunnel in France a few minutes later, it was foggy and covered in snow! Before our overnight stay at Ur, we stopped off at the train station in Latour-de-Carol to procure information about where to get the train the following day. We had to do this as, despite many hours online research and Google Translate, the SCNF railway company’s website proved impenetrable to organising the trip in advance. A printed timetable at Latour tipped us off that the train would depart the following day from Font-Romeu (better known as a ski-resort) shortening the journey from 62km to 32km. 

However, there would be no return train and instead we would return via an hour-long bus for the seemingly incredible price of one euro. This would leave us back in Font-Romeu outside the Tourist Information office, whereas the Little Yellow Train Station was almost 5km away. So in an unusual move for us, we went to the Tourist Information Office to figure out what to do. They …