Subject: Re: Station for sale Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:58 am
I am looking into the line.
One things i just realized, there's going to be a TGV line to Rouen/Le Havre and there's lot's of talks to do a Y in direction of Caen. It could be with the actual lines after Rouen, that could mean the one of your station (easy to do just have to electrifed the line). If the TGV station is built in the south of Rouen it's more likely to happend.
I think it will be good to investigate.
Bearcastle
Location : Brie
Subject: Re: Station for sale Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:19 am
For the TER there's 14 train per day, it's going to be 18 soon (the region want more TER).
I read as well about the modernisation of the line. Caen/Rouen is one of the project (and priority). They are going to electified the line (that's sure now, just read another paper about it in the next 10 years maybe less).
As I am working for the Fret I could say for sure that if the line is electrified that change a lot of thing. It will become easier for us to go to Rouen and Le Havre.
Carl Hibbs Admin
Location : Haute Normandie - visitors welcome
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:10 pm
Well we went all the way for a second more serious visit with the estate agents and had a long chat with the mayor and his secretary.
The train service is likely to be reduced rather than increased (at the request of the conseil general/regional or whoever) and there are only 2 freight services per week.
So we had a good poke around and as usual you can never take enough pics but here are about 40 for you to wince or cringe over !
As you can see graphically there is an awful lot of work to be done to even consider any form of habitation. The roof on the single storey annexe part is completely shot and needs total replacement. That sounds dramatic but it could be quite a straightforward flat roof installation.
All the electricity needs rewiring and so does the plumbing. There is no mains water in most of the village (and no charges...) water is drawn from wells and there is large (thankfully modern) installed pump and filter. Every door and window needs some repair or replacement although the glass is sound and intact and the wood is not too rotten after 109 years.
There is no heating watsoever and no central hot water system.
There is some damp upstairs on the ceiling but otherwise appears solid but of course the toilet and bathroom facilities are......
The plus points are that it has been left virtually untouched since the SNCF sold it. Including redundant relay and signalling equipent. Under the paint in the 'guichet' is all solid hardwood.
There is no construction permission or development on neighbouring land and the mayor lives opposite on the other side of the line and is a great railway fan and said he will do all he can (except give any money) to help restoring the station.
Looking at rough estimates for the work we would need at least 20,000 euros on top of the purchase price just to get the basics done plus another 10,000 to make it half liveable.
Not the sort of money we have at the moment unless......of course we can find some great benefactor (or benafactrice.....).
The annexe would make a great self-contained gite with 56sq m of living space. The main part has 5 bedrooms upstairs and the 'salle d'attente/guichet' would make a great dining room living area with an office to one side used as a kitchen.
To be continued.....after much domestic discussion
Last edited by Carl Hibbs on Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:56 pm; edited 5 times in total
clive_t
Location : Portsmouth, England
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:31 pm
"the mayor lives opposite on the other side of the line and is a great railway fan and said he will do all he can (except give any money) to help restoring the station"
Spoken like a true politician...
Now that's what I call a winter project for one's railway!
So, are you going for it?
Carl Hibbs Admin
Location : Haute Normandie - visitors welcome
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:35 pm
clive_t wrote:
Now that's what I call a winter project for one's railway!
So, are you going for it?
If we can find about 30,000 euros up front then it could be viable.
Everything around the place is good.
The two neighbouring villages, - La Fontaine Soret (which the station comes under) and La Riviere Thibouville are immaculate and fiendly. La Riviere Thibouville has all the simple basic needs and is just 700 mteres away.
Schools and colleges are nearby, There are lakes and tourist activities and there is even some employment locally. The whole area is beautifully kept and doesn't have the often decaying aspect of some French villages.
Plus all that and you are still just within commuting distance of Paris.
clive_t
Location : Portsmouth, England
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:51 pm
Good luck mate, wish you well with it!
Bearcastle
Location : Brie
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:25 pm
Negotiation to make the price lower is on the way i think
The Maire, they are mistaken as it's the Conseil Régional and not the Conseil Général who decide about transport like train.
There's plan for all the region link to "Le grand Paris" and the TGV
There's going to be more TER , like i said before. As the TGV is going to go to Rouen and probably on the south bank, this is getting interresting to go from Rouen to Caen and Deauville. I don't know yet if they are going to built a new line from Rouen to Caen, but if not this line will be the one. And there's some regional willing to move for some train from Rouen to Rennes that is in the objectiv as well, with electrification.
For the freight train it's more complicated to know for a nearby future, but I am sure that an eletrified line change a lot's of things.
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:34 pm
All that is interesting reading but a lot of it is little more than ideas or proposals.
Just as the idea of reopening the old line from Evreux to Rouen via Louviers which is a more direct North South route and reopening other links in the area.
It is evident that there will be some changes in Haute Normandie but it is mostly speculation at the moment.
We sat down and looked at the 'servitude' for the SNCF for the property together with future written proposals and requirements from the SNCF to the mairie for the line and infrastructure and there is no mention even about electrification.
What happens in 2020 is another story. The SNCF will be all private then and many of it's former employees might have to actually start working for a living (not you of course... )
I will have built my own full size railcar (in brass) and be a running private rail taxi service all over the former state network.
The only future activities we saw were concerning the demolition of the crossing keepers house, replacement of the fencing, mandatory signage replacement on the station and upgrade of the level crossing barrier equipment.
The mayor said his office would have to be advised and consulted before any proposal for electrification takes place and that hasn't happened yet.
Obviously the SNCF and local authorities are at odds with each other!
As it satnds at the moment the 2 and 3 car AGCs pass almost silently at about 100kph, less noise than a Mobylette!
Last edited by Carl Hibbs on Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:01 pm; edited 2 times in total
Carl Hibbs Admin
Location : Haute Normandie - visitors welcome
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:12 pm
It doesn't look like the seller will drop the price by very much so we're in negotiation this evening about obtaining the plot of land next to the station for free thus doubling the existing land we would have.
This would give us nearly 3000sq metres and an extended platform frontage of around 100 metres long.
Bearcastle
Location : Brie
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:39 pm
In fact the SNCF will do nothing about the line. It only pay a right to use it as does any private railways company now, all the line belong since few year to RFF.
Not sure the Maire could do anything against the electrification, the Prefet prevail in this kind of things.
But it's true that all the new train are quite silent (that's dangerous too you cannot hear them comming).
I will try to see the grafic of the line for the freight train.
Carl Hibbs Admin
Location : Haute Normandie - visitors welcome
Subject: Re: Station for sale Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:11 pm