Railway research
9 August 2019 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeAs usual, I came up with dialogue for a scene first, then had to do some belated historical research to check that it was actually possible afterwards!
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rga_0035-1121_1931_num_19_2_4576
The railway from Paris to Lyons opened in 1856 (well before Raoul was born).
The station at Chagny is actually a junction, although at least one of the lines seems to have been a freight branch subsequently closed: Chagny-Dôle.
https://www.lignes-oubliees.com/index.php?page=dole
The other line is a cross-country one to Nevers, completed in 1867.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Nevers_%C3%A0_Chagny
There was, at least later on, a loco shed at Chagny:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:ODOUL_-_CHAGNY_-_Le_D%C3%A9pot_des_Machines.JPG
The Paris terminus is the Gare de Lyon
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/12e_Arrondissement%2C_Paris%2C_France_-_Open_Street_Map.png
It was burnt down during the Commune and reconstructed in 1872–3. The current station dates from 1900 and is a replacement for the five-platform terminus of Raoul's day:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris-Gare-de-Lyon#La_gare_de_1855
In 1873 it took 16 hours to reach Marseilles (1088 km)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Paris-Lyon_%C3%A0_Marseille-Saint-Charles#Chronologie_des_temps_de_parcours
Local trains currently take 3–4 hours to reach Chagny from Paris (330 km) as versus 2 1/2 hours via TGV, changing to local services at Dijon. There are still only two or three through trains per day; my guess of two trains per day (based on Leroux' description of the services to Perros-Guirec) was probably not too far out.
At a very rough guess the 1873 timing might have been about 5 hours (one third of the time taken to Marseilles)
In 1851 the express to Dijon took 7 hours and to Chalon 8hr 15; Chagny lies between the two. Since the route was not yet fully constructed it took another 12 hours at this era to reach Lyon by boat!
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rga_0035-1121_1931_num_19_2_4576 (p486)
Edit: the distance to Lannion (the nearest railway station to Perros-Guirec in Raoul's day) is 424km, and the modern journey time is 3 1/2 hours. In the 1880s he catches 'the evening train' and arrives at dawn — so at least six hours, probably eight. In fact, since it's midwinter dawn may well not be until seven or eight am, making for a journey of ten hours or so.... but the distance is 100km further, and I suspect the route is rather more minor and countrified. The route through Dijon and Chagny is the main line to the South.
Assuming an afternoon train, our voyagers aren't going to arrive at the château before dark, given that they'll have to travel an unspecified distance from the station as well. Although they must be approaching midsummer by now; I reckoned mid-May for Christine's Lapp, plus three to four days before her escape, plus another ten to twelve days before she meets Raoul, and an unspecified amount of travelling time from Halvestad to Paris; at least a week, I should think. That puts us into the first week or so of June at this point.
I also spent a long time researching the locations of telegraph offices in Paris in order to locate one credibly en route to the Gare de Lyon, but abandoned this on the realisation that I didn't want to be committed to a specific geographic location for the putative Hötel de Chagny! Since there was a telegraph office at the Gare de Lyon, Raoul can perfectly well plan to use that.
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rga_0035-1121_1931_num_19_2_4576
The railway from Paris to Lyons opened in 1856 (well before Raoul was born).
The station at Chagny is actually a junction, although at least one of the lines seems to have been a freight branch subsequently closed: Chagny-Dôle.
https://www.lignes-oubliees.com/index.php?page=dole
The other line is a cross-country one to Nevers, completed in 1867.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Nevers_%C3%A0_Chagny
There was, at least later on, a loco shed at Chagny:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:ODOUL_-_CHAGNY_-_Le_D%C3%A9pot_des_Machines.JPG
The Paris terminus is the Gare de Lyon
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/12e_Arrondissement%2C_Paris%2C_France_-_Open_Street_Map.png
It was burnt down during the Commune and reconstructed in 1872–3. The current station dates from 1900 and is a replacement for the five-platform terminus of Raoul's day:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris-Gare-de-Lyon#La_gare_de_1855
In 1873 it took 16 hours to reach Marseilles (1088 km)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_de_Paris-Lyon_%C3%A0_Marseille-Saint-Charles#Chronologie_des_temps_de_parcours
Local trains currently take 3–4 hours to reach Chagny from Paris (330 km) as versus 2 1/2 hours via TGV, changing to local services at Dijon. There are still only two or three through trains per day; my guess of two trains per day (based on Leroux' description of the services to Perros-Guirec) was probably not too far out.
At a very rough guess the 1873 timing might have been about 5 hours (one third of the time taken to Marseilles)
In 1851 the express to Dijon took 7 hours and to Chalon 8hr 15; Chagny lies between the two. Since the route was not yet fully constructed it took another 12 hours at this era to reach Lyon by boat!
https://www.persee.fr/doc/rga_0035-1121_1931_num_19_2_4576 (p486)
Edit: the distance to Lannion (the nearest railway station to Perros-Guirec in Raoul's day) is 424km, and the modern journey time is 3 1/2 hours. In the 1880s he catches 'the evening train' and arrives at dawn — so at least six hours, probably eight. In fact, since it's midwinter dawn may well not be until seven or eight am, making for a journey of ten hours or so.... but the distance is 100km further, and I suspect the route is rather more minor and countrified. The route through Dijon and Chagny is the main line to the South.
Assuming an afternoon train, our voyagers aren't going to arrive at the château before dark, given that they'll have to travel an unspecified distance from the station as well. Although they must be approaching midsummer by now; I reckoned mid-May for Christine's Lapp, plus three to four days before her escape, plus another ten to twelve days before she meets Raoul, and an unspecified amount of travelling time from Halvestad to Paris; at least a week, I should think. That puts us into the first week or so of June at this point.
I also spent a long time researching the locations of telegraph offices in Paris in order to locate one credibly en route to the Gare de Lyon, but abandoned this on the realisation that I didn't want to be committed to a specific geographic location for the putative Hötel de Chagny! Since there was a telegraph office at the Gare de Lyon, Raoul can perfectly well plan to use that.