Although France is Britain's nearest neighbour, French railways haven't featured on many of my trips. Infrequent trains, erratic timetables and the total foreignness of the place made visits hard work in a way that other European countries weren't. A great shame as many of the locos were superb.
These pictures were taken on visits to the superbly scenic but lightly trafficked main line along the Mediterranean coast, north of the Spanish border, on the trunk route through the Saverne Gap west of Strasbourg and on the long cross-country Paris - Belfort route, before DMUs took over long distance passenger traffic from the CC72100 diesels . All the photos were taken on trips since 2008.