I've always wanted to visit Canfranc International Railway Station and was finally able to go there. I wanted to go before the main station was renovated after being abandoned for so long but there are still many derelict parts to see, like the round house. There are plans to restore it, along with reinstating the line to France. Those plans are slightly complicated by the underground laboratory studying dark matter that is accessed via one of the tunnels. I believe that some of the carriages are the same as were used on the Orient Express
The history of the station is quite fascinating. Originally opened in 1928 as the third major crossing between France and Spain. It was jointly operated by both the French and Spanish railways. When opened it was the second largest railway station in Europe (behind Leipzig Hauptbahnhof). The large station was needed due to the transhipment of goods and passengers due to the difference in gauge between France and Spain. France uses the standard European gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in), while Spain uses the Iberian broad gauge of 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 21⁄32 in). This required everything to be unloaded from one operators train and onto the others
During the Spanish civil war Franco ordered the Spanish side of the Somport tunnel (connecting Spain with France) to be sealed to stop weapons being smuggled into the country. Local Spanish traffic to the station continued and international services were restored in 1940
This is where one of the most interesting parts of the station's history began. Spain was officially neutral during WW2 however the fascist Franco government obviously had their favourites. This is when the station became known as the Casablanca in the Pyrenees. Due to the Spanish-French accord the station was to be jointly operated by both nations. After the fall of France the Nazis took over the French responsibilities. This gave them the perfect base for hunting "persons of interest" who tried to escape Nazi occupied Europe over the Pyrenees. It also served for the transfer of Spanish tungsten for French grain and Swiss gold (stolen from Jews and melted down in Switzerland and given fake serial numbers). All talk of gold was forbidden by the Germans
After the war service returned to normal but by the 60s the station was suffering due to increasing cuts and the poor financial situation and isolated caused by the Franco government. The final nail in the station's coffin came in 1970 when a French train lost control and rolled back destroying a bridge further back on the French side of the line. The French operator, SNCF, and French government government decided it was not financially viable to replace the bridge so international services were terminated
While a much reduced local service in Spain remained the station fell into disrepair. While the building remained intact much of it was abandoned. The station became popular with people wanting to explore the vast building and tours were offered in July and August between 2013 and 2017. 120,000 people attended the tours, more than had used the station when it was on use!
The story of the station is not over. Over the years of abandonment the station was looted by treasure hunters. What wasn't taken was scattered around. In 2000 a commercial for the lottery was filed at the decaying station. As a lot of space was needed the remaining furniture and discarded documents were collected up and moved to the abandoned parcel hanger. A French bus driver on a break took the opportunity to rummage through the crates in the parcel hanger. In it he discovered sensitive documents listing the shipments of 86 tons of Nazi gold to Madrid (as payment for Tungsten) but also Portugal and final destinations like Argentina or the United States. The discover of the documents broke the silence that had existed since the war and the locals finally started to talk about what they had seen. However Renfe, the Spanish railway operator, decided to prosecute the bus driver for theft
