Nice to see you on here Alain. Will we need to start a French language section of the forum soon?!
A few years ago, two fellow volunteers from the steam programme at Exporail and I got to tour around France to see various narrow gauge steam railways and explore their training systems for volunteers. At the airport we rented a lovely 6 speed manual diesel car and set off. It was a fascinating (and delicious!) trip.
We had arranged to stop in at Pithiviers and were greeted very warmly. We got a nice tour of their museum, shops, and, of course, took a trip down the line.
The railway will stay anchored in my mind for owning the loco which won the "loco we'd most like to take home" prize: a little ex-industrial shunter originally used inside a factory, which was bought by the association in pieces, including the original all-copper boiler and restored. It's a tiny little loco, designed for one man driving, though it's much smaller than even a quarry Hunslet. You can find a picture here about halfway down the page. Look for the Schneider, built 1870.
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/france03.htmAll the best!