Perusing my photos of France and French railways for my up-coming book on European Railway Travel, I was surprised to find how many excellent images I had in my collection.
I’ve made about a half dozen trips through France over the years, and I’ve generally had good weather.
In reviewing my selection I’ve decided to cull these two images from consideration for the book.
This train photo is of an SNCF train but it’s not in France, and rather in Basel, Switzerland. More to the point, the lighting isn’t wonderful, and the setting is awkward.
I chose it because it’s a contemporary photo of an SNCF locomotive-hauled passenger train (which are becoming increasingly rare in France.) I have better SNCF photos than this one for the book.
I liked this Eiffel Tower image because it shows the scale of the structure. However, I have some really stunning views of this Parisian icon that better capture its majesty. This one gets the axe.
The SNCF in Basel… I remember being amazed at the station in Zurich, watching trains from a number of other countries pulling in. There was a really sleek one just in from Budapest. It had cabin attendants in sort of 1950s-retro uniforms. I noticed that, too.