18 Days in France - Tournon

Tournon Steam Train (Train de l'Ardeche) - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WE ARRIVED at our dock in Tournon, France, sometime during the night, and awoke ready for our adventure of the day, a short coach ride across the river to the Tournon-sur-Rhône railway station servicing the now tourist-driven Tournon Steam Train. Historically, citizens of the area traveled by a similar steam train to get from one village to another (or further). Just a year ago, we had ridden a similar train on our 2025 Celebrity Apex ocean cruise with our good friends, Todd and Heather, in Flam, Norway. Given that we were pretty far north in the world at that time, it seemed like mother nature chose that one day to give us rain and drizzle. But for me, surprisingly, I got some pretty nice "atmospheric" images.

Steam Locomotive - Tournon Steam Train - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

TODAY'S TRAIN ride was in many ways similar. It was an old, narrower gauge train driven by a steam locomotive. The open cars (they were closed with windows in Flam). One of the things I have learned during our travels over the year is just how challenging shooting from a moving vehicle is - especially when there are windows involved. In fact, I will go so far as calling it a proverbial "crapshoot." When I do get a nice (or even just acceptable) image, it is as much due to luck as it is skill or equipment. Today was no exception. Not only were we moving along at a pretty good clip, but even though there were no windows to provide ugly reflections, it was one of those cloudless, blue-sky days, yielding harsh lighting conditions. Back home at the computer, I was disappointed not to really get anything I though was very good.

BUT AS I often say here, it is one of those probable once-in-a-lifetime gigs. So you do what you can. This is the third "scenic" train ride we have taken during our travels (beginning back in 2020, on Alaska/Yukon's White Pass Railroad). One of the shots I have aways tried to get is the one of the rest of the train up ahead of us, rounding a track (preferably even crossing a bridge). So far, I have been successful, as shown above (and in the opening image).

Tournon Steam Locomotive - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

WHEN DOING my research prior to this trip, there were two things I wanted to try to make photographs of. The first was that fact that there would be an opportunity to capture (possibly even dramatic) steam around the locomotive. I did get a few like that, though lighting conditions meant some pretty intensive "post-processing" to get the image looking acceptable (in my view anyway).

Hand-operated "Armstrong" Turntable - Tournon Steam Train - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THE SECOND thing was the turntable used by the engineers to turn the locomotive around for the return trip. At both ends, the locomotive had to re-connect with the opposite end of the train in order to pull it in the opposite direction (I never figured out how they turned it around back at the main station). A little "Google" research turns up more than I ever wanted to know about these things (but if you are a train buff, I recommend you look up "train turntable" and watch a couple of the You-Tube videos that pop up - they are interesting). This is known in the industry as an "Armstrong" type turntable. One might think it was designed by an engineer by that name. But no. It is more obvious than that. It can be operated by one man with just "arm - strength," as the image below illustrates. You cannot really see it here, but the entire mechanism balances on a large plate with bearings in the middle, while the ends run on a rail around the circumference of the turntable pit. The key is to get the locomotive balanced on the center of the pivot. Fascinating to watch.

Engineer single-handedly pushing the locomotive balanced on the turntable 180 degrees around - Tournon Steam Train - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

I HAVE only seen something like this one other time; at Powell and Market Streets in San Francisco, where two workers push the car 180 degrees around on a turntable to reverse directions. It was pretty cool.

The end of the Tournon Steam Train - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

THERE IS a small, but interesting museum at the station which is part of the admission for the train ride. Of course in our case, Viking took care of all the ticketing, times, etc. But you can certainly do this on your own. It is hard to see the size of the parts of the wheel drive mechanism I photographed, but they are huge. There is also a collection of railroad lanterns, and a couple specimen cars.

Steam Locomotive wheel-drive components
Tournon Steam Train - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved

I THINK I have mentioned that our visit to France was during a period of record high tempuratures, and today was no exception. High 90's (F) were common most days, with a couple actually exceeding 100. This day was no exception, and by the time we returned to the ship, we were ready for a cold drink and some welcoming air-conditioning. Apparently, it is a tradition for Viking crew members to greet returning passengers with their red umbrella line on from time to time. Today was Lofn's turn. It made for an engaging photo, even given the challenging lighting conditions.

Viking Lofn - Tournon, France
Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved