Roanne – Andrézieux railway line
| Roanne-Andrézieux | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Route chain Lyon – Saint-Étienne – Andrézieux – Roanne
(since 1833) and planned route Chalons – Lyon in 1849 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Routing until November 24, 1857 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Routing from November 24, 1857 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Roanne – Andrézieux railway was the third railway line in France and the second with steam operation both in France and in continental Europe .
history
construction
The railway company Compagnie du chemin de fer de la Loire was founded on July 12, 1828 by the partners Mellet and Henry. The approval process lasted until March 21, 1830. On August 1, 1832 - with two locomotives from the start - the middle section between Balbigny and Saint-Bonnet-les-Oules was put into operation, on March 15 the northern section between Balbigny and Port of Le Coteau on the Loire opposite Roanne . Only after the route approval was confirmed on July 21, 1833, the southern section from Saint-Bonnet-les-Oules to La Quérillère could also be completed and put into operation on November 15, 1833.
This gave the route a connection to the Saint-Étienne – Andrézieux route and was able to serve its actual purpose, namely to transport coal from the mines around Saint-Étienne to an efficient shipping route.
The interconnected railway lines Le Coteau-Andrézieux, Saint-Étienne-Andrézieux and Saint-Étienne-Lyon together formed a line of 139.7 km in length, with sections extending beyond the transition stations a network of 145.2 km in length. However, it was not until 1844 that there was steam operation between Andrézieux and Saint-Étienne and thus from one end of the entire route to the other.
Mergers and reallocations
On September 30, 1853, the three companies merged to form the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Rhône à la Loire , which three months later became the Compagnie du chemin de fer du Grand Central . The split on July 19, 1857 in an Orléans and a Lyoner society and the Lyoner became part of the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée , until the creation of the SNCF .
As early as December 25, 1855, it was decided to re-route large parts of the Roanne – Andrézieux line. On November 24, 1857, the new route, which is less winding and steep, but a third longer, went into operation.
Northwestern connection
The railway company had intended to lead the line over the stone road bridge from Roanne, built in 1834, to the Pont du Coteau on the left bank of the Loire to Roanne. This was strictly rejected by the city of Roanne. This was particularly disadvantageous for the railway from 1838, when the Canal de Roanne à Digoin was built to the left of the Loire . The railway bridge from Roanne to Le Coteau was not put into operation until November 3, 1858, as the last section of the line from Saint-Germain-des-Fossés via Roanne to Le Coteau. Saint-Germain-des-Fossés had a connection to Orléans since June 19, 1854 . The Paris – Orléans line had existed since May 2, 1843.
Pont du Coteau in Roanne (built 1834, photo 1909)
Railway bridge in Roanne (built 1858, photo early 20th century)
Feurs train station
Saint-Galmier-Veauche train station
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Drives
Different drives were used on the line: From the beginning, the two locomotives from two different English manufacturers, one from George Stephenson , the other from Fenton, Murray & Jackson, were in use. Until the re-routing in 1857, there were two steep sections of the route where fixed steam engines pulled trains uphill using wire ropes. After one of them exploded in 1834, horses and oxen were pulled on this ramp for ten years. The trains rolled downhill without a drive.