In July 1888 the metric-gauge railway line running from Saint-Georges-de-Commiers to La Mure (SG – LM) was officially opened. The network was essentially for industrial use, carrying coal extracted on the Matheysin Plateau down to the lowlands.
The choice of location for the network's departure and arrival stations was therefore dependent on the possible "connections" with the PLM* network which ran on the Grenoble-Veynes line. As a result the platforms, service shops, garages, coal storage depots and transhipment platform for the automatic transfer of the coal from the SGLM coal cars to the trains operated by PLM (which became SNCF in 1938) were built next door to the PLM station (today the station for the Chemin de Fer de La Mure).
In 1988 most of the coal installations were knocked down since the Chemin de Fer de La Mure no longer transported coal, which was now taken by road. However, SGLM found a new vocation in providing a tourist attraction. As a result, today there remain all of the network's historical installations required for it to operate: the service shops, the forge, the joinery workshop, etc. that one can make out under the sawtooth roof of the SGLM station.
It is not currently possible to visit the workshops.
* PLM: the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean railway company.
Pour en savoir plus sur l'histoire du Chemin de fer de La Mure : présentation de matériels sur les voies de la gare de la Mure et exposition à l'intérieur de la gare.
The industrial use of coal began in the 19th century, mainly around the La Motte-d'Aveillans Basin. The coal produced in the concessions was taken to surface installations built on the Le Pontet site.
When, in 1903, the first electrification trials were conducted on the railway line between La Motte-les-Bains and La Motte-d'Aveillans, the Compagnie des Mines de La Mure seized the opportunity presented by the new hydroelectric power, produced at low cost very close to the pithead to electrify its installations. So it was that electricity arrived in the galleries on 12 January 1903 to provide lighting, power the generators and for all power requirements (winching, ventilation, hauling, etc.).
Although all of the mining installations have been dismantled, a few remnants of this history remain, such as fine stone masonry gallery entrances and the public "Baths & Showers" building. The Mine Image underground museum has been put together from these remains. Made possible by eyewitness accounts and the efforts of the former miners, the museum recounts the technological history of the mine through a series of displays in the former underground galleries.
La Mine Image – Musée souterrain – 38770 La Motte-d'Aveillans – 04 76 30 68 74
