Les Carnets du Train Jaune – The characters of the line

Born in Perpignan on 23 August 1866, General Councillor for the Canton of Saillagouse from 1895 to 1926, Member of Parliament from 1906 to 1924, Under-Secretary of State for Finance from 1920 to 1921, died in Paris on 17 November 1926. A monument (” Le ministre mort pauvre… “, The minister who died poor) pays tribute to him at the entrance to Mont-Louis.

Born in Saint-Étienne in 1842, died in 1925, he was a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and a “Ponts et Chaussées” engineer who supervised all construction work on the Cerdanya railway line.

1869 – 1960. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and director of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi, it was he who made the decisive choices for constructing the Cerdanya line, in terms of equipment, track and power generation.

He was one of the main architects of Font-Romeu’s tourism development, through Société des Chemins de fer et hôtels de montagne aux Pyrénées, a subsidiary of Compagnie du Midi.

Born in Foix in 1828. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he was Chief Operating Officer of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Midi from 1856 to 1861. Under the Third Republic and various governments, he was Minister of Public Works from 1877 to 1879 (he launched his famous plan to reorganise waterways and rail transport), Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the Council, Minister of War, candidate for the presidency of the Republic in 1887, member of the Académie des Sciences, member of the Académie Française. He died in Paris in 1923.

Born in Nîmes in 1844, graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, commander in the Military Engineers, pioneer of cable-stayed bridges, he died in an accident on 31 October 1909 during tests for the La Cassagne rigid suspension bridge, which he designed.

Born 1851 in Orléans, died 1939 in Paris. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, “Ponts et Chaussées” engineer, member of the Académie des Sciences, designer of the Fontpédrouse viaduct.