Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze

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Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze
Le Lonzac train station, early 20th century
Le Lonzac train station , early 20th century
Route of the Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze
Routes of the Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
POC train at Treignac terminus , before 1914

The Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze was a narrow-gauge railway in southwest France , which operated a Y-shaped route network with a gauge of 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) in the Corrèze department .

history

Tulle station with POC train and narrow-gauge track on the house platform under the hall , at the front crossing of both gauges , on the right the regular- gauge tracks, around 1910

The so-called Freycinet Plan provided for the construction of a railway line from Uzerche on the main line Orléans – Montauban via Tulle and Argentat to Aurillac in a law of July 17, 1879 . In view of the challenging terrain, the meter gauge was chosen in order to avoid the construction of larger engineering structures. The concession for the construction and operation of the railway received a contract of 17 June 1892, the railway company Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO), the relevant law was adopted on 20 March 1893rd The required Déclaration d'utilité publique for the Tulle – Argentat, Tulle – Uzerche and Seilhac – Treignac routes took place on January 30, 1897.

Starting in the small town of Tulle, the Société de construction des Batignolles built these railway lines at the beginning of the 20th century, for whose operation PO-Corrèze (POC), a subsidiary of PO, was founded. Further routes to Aurillac and Salers did not go beyond the planning stage.

On February 14, 1904, the section from Tulle to Argentat was put into operation, the northern line via Seilhac to Uzerche followed on June 30 of that year. The branch line to Treignac began at the Seilhac separation station . Between 1912 and 1960 trains of the meter-gauge Tramways de la Corrèze also used the track of the southern route between Tulle and Saint-Bonnet-Avalouze , where their own network began with the endpoints Ussel and La Roche-Canillac .

The passenger traffic of the Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze was stopped on November 3, 1969, on May 31, 1970 also the freight traffic. On January 14, 1972, the network was officially shut down.

description

The bridge in Uzerche , in the foreground the Pont Turgot road bridge of the D 3 over the Vézère
Uzerche-Ville train station when it opened in 1904

The railway ran on its own route and had numerous engineering structures, its parameters were chosen with a view to possible later change of gauge to the standard gauge. The route lengths were 33,600 km (Tulle – Argentat), 31,927 km (Tulle – Uzerche) and 29,074 km (Seilhac – Treignac). The longest tunnel was the tunnel de Pandrignes (1378 m) on the route to Argentat. The longest bridge with 152 m led over Départementsstraße  3 in Uzerche has twelve arches, it has been preserved as a footpath.

The center of operations was the 212 m high Tulle station , which functioned as a joint station for PO and POC. As early as 1871, coming from Brive , a regular-gauge PO railway had reached the city. Due to the limited space and in order not to unnecessarily cross the regular-gauge tracks, the track of the narrow-gauge railway was laid under the station hall on the 93 m long house platform . Like all meter gauge tracks in the station, it was designated with a lower case letter and given the "track number" b. Track a was a short siding, tracks c and d butt tracks on the north side of the reception building. In the freight yard , two meter gauge tracks were framed by standard gauge tracks, which allowed reloading from wagon to wagon. There was also a reloading hall and a four-rail track on the loading route . The depot was about 800 m away between the standard gauge tracks to Brive and Meymac . The train handling was therefore also carried out in the station area, where a gas pump for the diesel railcars was located between tracks b and c .

In the direction of Uzerche, the route rose continuously to Seilhac to 447 m. Between this separation station and Saint-Jal was the highest point of the line at 467 m. Then it went downhill again, with ramps of up to 25 ‰. Four tunnels with a total length of 268 m and six bridges (total length 458 m) had to be built between Tulle and Uzerche. The branch line to Treignac reached, with gradients of up to 30 ‰, its apex with 547 m at Affieux , its terminus was 42 m lower.

In Tulle, south of the 56 m long bridge over the Correze , the track to Argentat crossed the track of the standard-gauge railway line Tulle – Meymac. Immediately afterwards it passed the depot, initially ran for almost 2.5 km without any notable incline and turned east into the valley of the Saint-Bonnette . Behind Saint-Bonnet-Avalouze, where the railway turns again to the south, followed a 11,395 m long ramp with gradients of 5.4 ‰ to 25 ‰ to the highest point with 401 m behind Pandrignes- Saint-Paul. The 1378 m long tunnel de Pandrignes was the most important structure of the POC. The following section led, with a gradient of up to 30 ‰, down into the valley of the Souvigne , which was reached shortly before Forgès . For the last 10 km from there to Argentat, the track had been laid right next to the national road 120 .

In the Uzerche PO station at an altitude of 321 m, the POC passenger trains ended at a partially covered central platform , at the other edge of which the regular-gauge trains in the direction of Montauban stopped. Since this train station was out of town, the Uzerche-Ville train station near the city was built two kilometers from the terminus.

The Argentat and Treignac terminus and important intermediate stations had two-story reception buildings and goods sheds, while the PO buildings in Tulle and Uzerche were also used. The Seilhac separation station had a central platform with a short roof.

business

With the exception of the Tulle and Uzerche stations, there were no signals on the route; the route was cleared and blocked by telephone. The mainly agricultural department of Corrèze had a high number of dirt roads, on average every 256 m a road or a path crossed the track. Of the 370 level crossings on the same level, only 20 were guarded.

In January 1969 the railway had 120 employees, including 30 drivers . The railcars ran at maximum speeds of 50–55 km / h, the speed of the locomotive hauled trains was limited to 40 km / h.

In 1946 the most passengers were counted with 388,600 people, in 1969 there were only 171,650. In contrast, freight transport developed positively. The focus was on the delivery of coils to a company in Argentat and the removal of wood. In 1956, 38,990 tons of goods were transported, in 1967 51,216 tons.

vehicles

The POC's Mallet 101 has been preserved as a museum vehicle

Steam locomotives

At the opening of the railway had ten tank locomotives the wheel arrangement 1'B (French 120T), which in 1903 Société de Construction des Batignolles were built. The machines had road numbers 61 to 70. In 1906, the manufacturer Société des Ateliers de construction du Nord de la France (ANF) added four mallet locomotives with the BB wheel arrangement (French 020 + 020; numbers 101 to 104).

Diesel locomotives

Two four-axle diesel locomotives of the BB 400 series (BB 401 and BB 402) were procured in 1962 for freight transport and shunting . The machines built by Brissonneau et Lotz later came to the Chemins de fer de Provence (CP). At a maximum speed of 40 km / h they could pull up to 16 wagons with a total weight of 140 t, 10% more than the 020 + 020 and 50% more than the 120T.

Railcar

From the late 1930s, diesel multiple units were used almost exclusively for passenger transport. In 1938 De Dion-Bouton delivered eight vehicles that were passed on to the Tramways de la Corrèze in the early 1950s. They were replaced by eleven railcars from Billard (types A 80 D and A 150 D) and two from SCF Verney (X 211-212), which also ran with sidecars or in multiple units . The two Verney railcars came to the Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent in 1967 , the billiard railcars stayed with the railway until they were discontinued.

dare

The railway owned 30 two-axle passenger cars with open platforms, 9 baggage cars and 152 freight cars .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The Déclaration d′utilité publique (declaration of public benefit) was the prerequisite for land expropriations

Web links

Commons : Chemin de fer du PO-Corrèze  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Tulle, une gare au parfum de paradis pour ferroviphiles in: Ferrovissime No. 98, p. 58 ff.
  2. ↑ Bulletin des lois de la République Française , Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1879, Series XII, Volume 19, No. 456, pp. 6–12, accessed on April 5, 2019
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Il ya 50 ans, c'était le début de la fin du POC in: Ferrovissime No. 100, p. 74 ff.
  4. ↑ Bulletin des lois de la République Française , Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1893, Series XII, Volume 46, No. 1546, pp. 841-846, accessed on April 5, 2019
  5. ↑ Bulletin des lois de la République Française , Imprimerie Nationale, Paris 1897, Series XII, Volume 54, No. 1854, pp. 841-842, accessed on April 5, 2019