In 1897 the wine production
of Tuchan and the surrounding area was estimated rather generously at 75000 hl – the equivalent of 10 million bottles. This justified adding a line from Ferrals in
the Corbières to Tuchan linking them up to Lezignan and on to the Midi network
to Bordeaux (which is probably where most of the wine was heading !)
It wasn’t full steam ahead
though as each village wanted to be included and in 1900, the planned route was
extended by 5 km. People in Tuchan were
up in arms as it made their journey more expensive so in August 1900 it was
agreed that the extension would go ahead but that the ticket price for people
from Tuchan and the surrounding Hautes Corbières would be reduced to compensate
for the additional 5km.
But the immediate problem in
Tuchan was to decide which way the line would go after Tuchan. Towards Paziols and the Pyrénées Orientales or
towards Padern further inland and on to the deepest corners of la France
Profonde.
After much heated debate and
wasted energy (as is still so much the case down here) the tracks never made it
further than Tuchan. The train line was
to be extended using the profits from the first section – profits that
unfortunately never materialised.
After all (or most) of the
village politics had been settled, the station finally opened in Tuchan in
1905 !
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