Semur-en-Vallon Museotrain | Pays du Perche Sarthois

a Journey unexpected

A small station hidden away in a bucolic setting welcomes you! The stationmaster will be waiting for you to board the Decauville train.

The Museotrain is reached by a small steam train with a whistle, along narrow rails, through a wild wetland, as if in a jungle of mossy, exuberant greenery.

The buildings cover an area of 650 m², displaying 13 items of railway equipment dating from 1876 to 1969. The museum is the work of volunteers from the Compagnie du Chemin de fer de Semur-en-Vallon, an association founded in 1966 to offer you this unique journey. The Museotrain retraces the railroad of the Roaring Twenties and the life of Paul Decauville in an interactive and entertaining way, through a life-size reproduction of the Decauville workshops of the time.

You’ll enjoy an immersive experience thanks to the videos and soundtracks that accompany your visit.

Here you’ll find the iron store, the wagon park, the workshops where major overhauls are carried out, luxury cabins and lounges, and workers’ wagons.

The association’s volunteers have recovered and restored thousands of objects and machines, from a semaphore in Sablé-sur-Sarthe to an old Parisian metro car.

You’ll then embark on a fifteen-minute return walk through the woods and marshes.

A remarkable immersive journey!

Opening hours

July and August: open daily from 2:30 pm to 5 pm

May, June and September: open to groups by prior arrangement

The Museotrain has been awarded the Tourisme et Handicap label and is accessible to all.

Rates

Adults: €9.50

Children (aged 5 to 14): €6.50

Free for children under 4

Group: adult: €8.50 / Child: €5

Who was Paul Decauville?

Paul Decauville was a French industrialist. He is best known for inventing and developing the Decauville railway, a narrow-gauge transport system used in mining, quarrying and construction.

His innovation revolutionized the transportation of goods and materials in the extractive industries, and was widely used around the world until the advent of mechanization.

Associative work outstanding

The adventure of the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Semur-en-Vallon began in 1966, when a group of volunteers decided to open a second leisure lake in the Sarthe region. Opened in 1968, it quickly attracted visitors from all over the region with its various attractions. In 1972, the daring idea of adding a network of old railroads around the lake gave birth to the Petit Train de Semur. In the 1980s, the project to preserve the region’s railway heritage gained momentum, leading to the creation of a depot, the beginnings of a “museum” and the extension of the train’s circuit. In 1990, a first version of the “Muséotrain” opened its doors, followed by a station in 1995.

Since then, volunteers have worked tirelessly to bring the site to life, safeguarding and restoring railway equipment, offering visitors an authentic glimpse of the 1920s-1930s in the heart of the Sarthe countryside, through the authentic Muséotrain de Semur-en-Vallon.

Christian Pottier, president of the association, is the son of Robert Pottier, a former letter carrier with a passion for trains, who over half a century ago began an exceptional collection of the equipment and documents presented here today. He embodies the spirit of Muséotrain and coordinates this team of volunteers with a master’s hand!

Christian Pottier

25 years ago, we created the Museotrain, which was still very much in its infancy, and today it has become our raison d’être. The train is the pretext for visiting the Museotrain.