La Combe Railroad

No, you’re not dreaming—a railroad track was actually built in the 1920s in this remote corner of the Provençal highlands. Back then, wood was used to shore up mine tunnels, erect telegraph poles, and make railroad ties. As a result, in this valley of La Combe, nestled between the headwaters of the Sasse River and the village of Bayons, a railway transported the timber harvested from its slopes. A small steam train handled the transport all the way down to the village, taking over from a cable car that served the valley floor, near the hamlet of La Combe. This hard labor was carried out mainly by Piedmontese lumberjacks and charcoal burners. It was certainly a difficult trade, but also a dangerous one, as some in the village recall or heard in their youth that, when this train first began operating, one of them perished under its wheels. Today, there are no more railcars, no more screeching brakes or wheels on the tracks, but a few walls or rusted remnants from that era (especially after crossing the Sasse and heading up the GR 6 near the ruins of L’Adret) remind us of this human adventure from the last century.