Chemin de fer Pont-Vallorbe

Le Day – Le Pont

Le Day station with Travys train

Route profile Vallorbe – Le Day – Le Pont – Le Brassus
gray: route section owned by SBB
blue: section from Travys

Route length:

8.7 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Power system :

15 kV 16.7 Hz ~

Maximum slope :

40 ‰

Legend

	Vallorbe SBB
3.15	Le Day wedge station	787.2 m above sea level M.
	SBB to Lausanne
9.4	Les Epoisats former stop
9.52	Culminating point	1018.3 m above sea level M.
	Tunnel du Mont-d'Orzeires (431 m)
11.63	Le Pont	1007.8 m above sea level M.
	Travys to Le Brassus

The Chemin de fer Pont-Vallorbe (PV) was a Swiss railway company that existed from 1886 to 1890. The short railway line is now owned by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB). The SBB operate the route continuously from Vallorbe to Le Brassus . The continuation from Le Pont to Le Brassus used to belong to the Chemin de fer Pont-Brassus (PBr) and, since 2001, to Travys .

history

Locomotive No. 201 with its later owner Régional Porrentruy – Bonfol (RPB)

After electrification, the SBB used the Fe 4/4 18509 to 18511 in the Vallée de Joux , which were equipped with a recuperation brake due to the great gradient between Le Pont and Le Day .

The Chemin de fer Pont-Vallorbe opened the railway line from Le Day to Le Pont in the Vallée de Joux on October 31, 1886 . The nearly 8.5-kilometer branch line branches off from the Vallorbe – Lausanne line after 3.2 kilometers in Le Day . The management was carried out by the Suisse-Occidentale-Simplon (SOS) and from 1890 by the Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS), which was created through the merger of the SOS with the Jura-Bern-Lucerne . The rolling stock was provided by the PV.

Freight traffic did not develop as expected. The mining of the iron - for the removal of which the railway was built, among other things - stalled, and no economic operation was possible from the income from the transport of wood and ice over the short distance. In addition, the proceeds from the 2.7 kilometer Le Day – Vallorbe section went to the SOS and JS. Although the Chemin de fer Pont-Brassus (PBr) opened the 13.3 kilometer extension of the branch line to Le Brassus on August 21, 1899, operating expenses increased significantly more than income in 1890. On January 1, 1891, JS bought the railway company in the form of 5,600 ordinary shares at CHF 200, i.e. for CHF 1.2 million. The railway's debts of 545,000 francs were taken over by the canton of Vaud and the municipalities à fond perdus .

When the Jura-Simplon Railway was nationalized on May 1, 1903, the line came to the SBB. Freight traffic increased significantly during the two world wars. The lack of energy led to an intensification of forestry including charcoal burning in the wooded Vallée de Joux. The villages along the Lac de Joux were also visited for the summer and in winter for ice skating or tobogganing. The economic crisis in the 1930s led to a marked decline in freight and passenger traffic. On October 2, 1936, the route along the Chemin de fer Pont Brassus was electrified , so the operation could be simplified.

Today's operation

Passenger traffic is operated continuously from Vallorbe via Le Pont to Le Brassus by the SBB every hour . Additional trains run during rush hour, some of which are connected to Lausanne .

Rolling stock

List of locomotives that were used in the PV:

designation	PV / SOS no.	PV name	Manufacturer	Construction year	JS no. from 1891	RPB no. from 1901	RPB name from 1901	comment	discarded
from 1887: E3 from 1902: E 3/3	201	Le Risoux	SACM	1886	751	751	Allaine	from 1929 Basel Dreispitz	1948
from 1887: E3 from 1902: E 3/3	202	Le Sentier	SACM	1886	752	752	Vendline		1924

swell

Hans G. Wägli: Swiss rail network and Swiss rail profile CH + . AS Verlag, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-909111-74-9 .
Peter Willen: Locomotives in Switzerland, standard gauge traction units . Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1972.
Thomas Frey and Hans-Ulrich Schiedt: Pont – Vallorbe. In: bahndaten.ch, data on the Swiss railways 1847–1920. Via Storia, Center for Transport History at the University of Bern, accessed on February 1, 2018 . (Statistical data; the comment incorrectly refers to the PSC instead of the PV.)
Alfred Moser: The steam operation of the Swiss railways 1847-1966 . 4th updated edition, Birkhäuser, Stuttgart 1967.

Individual evidence

^ Jura-Simplon-Bahn-Gesellschaft; Management report to the Board of Directors on the purchase of the railway from Le Pont to Vallorbe. Signature: SWA Verkehr B 12.4 Title: [Jura-Simplon-Bahn - Bern. Document collection]
↑ Thomas Frey and Hans-Ulrich Schiedt: Pont – Brassus. In: bahndaten.ch, data on the Swiss railways 1847–1920. Via Storia, Center for Transport History at the University of Bern, accessed on February 1, 2018 .

[1] Jura-Simplon-Bahn-Gesellschaft; Management report to the Board of Directors on the purchase of the railway from Le Pont to Vallorbe. Signature: SWA Verkehr B 12.4 Title: [Jura-Simplon-Bahn - Bern. Document collection]

[2] Thomas Frey and Hans-Ulrich Schiedt: Pont – Brassus. In: bahndaten.ch, data on the Swiss railways 1847–1920. Via Storia, Center for Transport History at the University of Bern, accessed on February 1, 2018 .