HJ4164 SNCF, 3-unit set of "TEE Mistral" coaches, including 1 A4Dtux coach, 1 Vru coach and 1 A8tu coach, period IV

The fast train “Le Mistral”, named after the cold wind from north-west that blows through the Rhône valley to the Mediterranean Sea, was a very important service between Paris and Marseille since 1950 and extended until Nice in 1952, that always had in composition the best rolling stock of the French Railways at that time. In 1965 it has been elevated to Trans Europ Express and in 1969 the “new Mistral” has been introduced, with the last evolution of the long-distance Inox steel coaches built specifically (and consequently so-called “Mistral 69”), in the different types with compartments (A8u), open space (A8tu), restaurant (Vru), bar (Arux) and luggage van/generator (A4Dtux). The train composition leaving Paris included two sections, one limited to Marseille and the other heading Nice, for a total of 14 coaches reinforced with other coaches according to necessities. Usually, the locomotive for the traction was a CC6500, often with the “MISTRAL” emblem on the front (ex. Jouef model HJ2428/S). 

The TEE “Mistral” has been in service with this composition until 1981, when the TGV has been introduced on the Paris-Lyon line.