Unusual French train routing

[Czesziafan]

I am wondering if anyone can throw any light on the route of the SNCF service shown in the attached image of a destination board I have had for some years.
I would like to know why the train is routed from Calais via Lille to Amiens instead of travelling directly before heading towards the Ceinture and the PO main line south.
I would think the board dates from the 60's / early 70's, and it was presumably a summer service.
Can any of the timetable experts out there provide any information please?

 

[Gloster]

I would think that it was so that it could pick up passengers from the populous area around Lille. Calais and cross-channel passengers might not fill a train out of season, but in season it might be effectively a relief.

 

[Alfonso]

I'd guess to pick up or drop off a portion going somewhere else. Trains from calais maritime used to have portions going all over the place...Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and I'd imagine there may have been a portion from Amsterdam or Brussels heading south, too

 

[Gloster]

I have had a look through various old Thomas Cooks and can’t find anything. As it doesn’t appear to have a train number, seat numbers or anything else on it, I wonder it it was a regular train. (The 64 at the top could be a coach number, but I reckon it is just to make the board easier to find when they are all in a row in the store.) It could be for a regular relief or party train, but not one that always had the same train number or formation.

There is also the call at Amiens: most important trains from the Lille direction called at Longeau instead to avoid the reversal. Although it might just be a cover-all shorthand.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

It looks to be the destination card for the door window of a 'Corail' coach so post 1975. Looking at a few Thomas Cooks for the period I can't see anything - the closest is the auto sleeper Boulogne Mtme (TAC) to Biarritiz. Lille Flandres would require reversal as well.

 

[AndrewE]

There is also the call at Amiens: most important trains from the Lille direction called at Longeau instead to avoid the reversal. Although it might just be a cover-all shorthand.

it's a puzzle, but it would have definitely have been one for me if it had been running when we were exploring the Pyrenees. I have searched my 1974 Cook's Continental but can't find anything it might be.
I wonder whether it might be a plate for an extra through chartered coach to serve a tour group? It's still difficult t understand why it is routed via both Lille and Amiens.

Maybe it was a motorrail?
Bingo! The index map shows A1-6 running Lille to Amiens and [in 1974] there was a "Car-Sleeper Train" which started at Boulogne and called at Lille [n.b. "Seclin"] and Amiens to Biarritz. Origin and destination might have varied a bit year to year?
I'll upload a pic when I have done one...

@Sir Felix Pole: snap!

 

[Czesziafan]

That's very interesting. Looking at the image it seems this train had 2 portions; one from Calais, the other from Lille, which the respective departure times confirm.
Perhaps it was a single portion working in other years .
If this was a motorail service, perhaps the routing via Amiens with the reversal was to get the cars facing in the right direction for offloading at Biarritz.

 

[Gloster]

That's very interesting. Looking at the image it seems this train had 2 portions; one from Calais, the other from Lille, which the respective departure times confirm.
Perhaps it was a single portion working in other years .
If this was a motorail service, perhaps the routing via Amiens with the reversal was to get the cars facing in the right direction for offloading at Biarritz.

I doubt that if they wanted to turn the car wagons they would do it as early as Amiens: there are an awful lot of places later in the journey where the train could be diverted and put you back where you were. It is best to leave the turn as late as possible. As it is in Thomas Cook Amiens was probably a call to pick up passengers and cars, not an unadvertised one for operating purposes.

I am also wondering if this is for a strengthening carriage, which would explain the basic details on it.

 

[AndrewE]

That's very interesting. Looking at the image it seems this train had 2 portions; one from Calais, the other from Lille, which the respective departure times confirm.
Perhaps it was a single portion working in other years .
If this was a motorail service, perhaps the routing via Amiens with the reversal was to get the cars facing in the right direction for offloading at Biarritz.

is it possible tha the passenger coaches were through, but the Lille people had to leave their cars to be loaded and go to sit on the platform awaiting the train, getting on while the car wagons were shunted onto the back?

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Another interesting point is that the Boulogne service is shown as running to Biarritz Ville (which closed in 1980) rather than the current main line station, so this Hendaye coach would have to be detached at Bayonne and worked forward by something.