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Driver’s Eye View - Vall de Núria Cog Railway - Part 1 - Ribes de Freser to Núria
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Driver’s Eye View – Vall de Núria Cog Railway – Part 1 – Ribes de Freser to Núria



I’d like to say a massive thank-you to the staff of the railway for their help in making this video.The Núria Rack Railway is located in the Pyrenees mountains in the North Catalonia region of Spain, it was opened in 1931 to serve the Vall de Núria mountain resort, it is the highest rack railway in Southern Europe rising more than 1,000 metres over its 12.4 km length, starting from Ribes Enllaç, adjacent to the Renfe Ribes de Freser station on the Barcelona-Puigcerdà railway line and finishing at Núria (altitude 1,964 metres)
The railway is the only means of transport to the car free mountain resort of Vall de Núria, located in the county of Ripollès. The train journey takes around 40-minutes serving two intermediate stations at Ribes-Vila and Queralbs located just after the start of the rack section and also the furthest point that can be reached by road.
Since opening on March 22nd 1931 the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge line has been electrified at 1500 V DC via an overhead power supply. It became part of the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) on January 2nd 1984. The first 5.5 km (3.4 miles) of the line is operated as a conventional adhesion railway with the remainder of the line operating as a rack railway using the Abt system with a maximum gradient of 15%.

Track Gauge – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in)

Music – Track – Composer – Source 00:22 & 36:34 – ES_Autumn in Nice – Trabant 33 – epidemicsound.com

This railway was included as part of a Rail Discoveries “Catalonia & Little Trains of the Pyrenees” tour, for more information please click on this link – https://www.raildiscoveries.com/tours/pyrenees-and-catalonia/

28 Comments

  3. Johann Peraus

    Hi Tim! It's really worth a trip, this railway 👍. I didn't even know they existed. Best regards from Hans and Cheers 🍻🇦🇹.

  4. Alfredo Di Stefano

    I thoroughly enjoyed the ride passing through the spectacular scenery. I enjoyed every moment of the ride. Thank you very much for your wonderful production.

  6. Mike Hoster

    Yikes, that is one long Tunnel….a potential end of the world hideout….I was about to ask where were the Cogs, then at the station they were…LOL…

  7. panikrystyna1

    Dziękuję za interesujący film. To ciekawe, że pociąg jest jedynym środkiem transportu, droga wchodzi w las i zamienia się w leśną dróżkę. Tunele świetne, widoki piękne. Pozdrawiam serdecznie.

  10. Neil Forbes

    14:46 The cog section begins……. Here we get our "teeth" into this video. I guess a trainee driver on this line would be an in-"dentured" apprentice? LOL (I can hear you groaning from here in Australia, Tim). P.S. I can't seem to get the little emoticons to work(I don't call them "emojis" as that's such an ugly word).

  12. John Cassels

    What a lovely railway! I wonder if they built it today, whether they would dispense with the abt cog system and just rely on adhesion all the way. Unless I have missed something, none of the cog sections seemed particularly steep. Running in winter snow may also be a factor I am underestimating. Thanks for sharing – this was a very nice enjoyable video.

  16. Laurence Yasner

    That was a neat train trip thru the mountains! I've driven numerous times in this area & frankly I didn't know that this cog railway existed! If I go back to this area of the Pyrenees I will definitely check out the train. Great video! Thanks! Merci bien, Muchas gracias

  20. Ferenc Timár

    Well, Tim, I think you had a very pleasant trip, and for us viewers, your excellent video brought quite a few pleasant moments, thanks for that! In my opinion, this railway is in no way inferior to the much better-known Swiss mountain railways. It also drives through a stunningly beautiful landscape!

  24. John McHardy

    Lovely mate. Got a better laptop now after drowning the other one. Very restful and scenic. First time I have taken a trip in the Pyrenees especially on the Spanish side. Thanks excellent work and very enjoyable. Cheers from Australia.

  25. Javier Guidou Nicaud

    Nice and interesting cab ride. A pity that the situation of the camera does not allow to appreciate these beautiful landscapes in the catalan Pyrénées.

  27. xen eelik

    Vall de Núria Cog Railway is like The Diakopto-Kalavryta railway in Greece.🚞
    Thanks for capturing the beautiful scenery around the railroad too !🥰

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