Chemins de fer du Morbihan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Port-Navalo station in Arzon with the CM train, 1920

The Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Morbihan (CM) is a former French railway company . It was commissioned in 1892 by the General Council of the Morbihan Department to build a meter-gauge railway network to open up the Breton department. The manufacturer of railway vehicles and operator of branch lines SCF Verney was involved in the company.

In 1921, the CM had 402 km of railway lines in the Morbihan department and 120 km in the adjacent Loire-inférieure department (since 1957: Loire-Atlantique department ). From the First World War, it suffered increasingly from competition from the street and from obsolete material. In 1939 the General Council decided to close its network on branch lines and to entrust the CM with bus services . In 1939, rail passenger transport and part of the network were given up, and the rest of the rail transport by 1948.

The company continued to operate as a bus operator . It was completely taken over by SCF Verney in 1968, renamed Compagnie de Transports du Morbihan (CTM) and has been a subsidiary of Transdev since 2015 .

history

Railway in the Morbihan department

Vannes terminal station of the CM on the forecourt of the PO station, 1910

The railroad reached the Morbihan department at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century. In 1855, the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) received the concession for the later Savenay – Landerneau railway along the south coast of Brittany. This was opened in 1862 from the direction of Nantes via Vannes to Lorient and in 1864 - with a branch from Auray to Pontivy - on to Châteaulin .

As early as 1862, the Breton MPs had spoken out in favor of a railway line from Vannes to Dinan via Ploërmel . In 1882 the PO opened the section from Questembert (near Vannes, branch of the Savenay – Landerneau line) to Ploërmel. In 1884, the Compagnie des Chemins de fer de l'Ouest (Ouest), which operated the Paris – Brest line , opened the line from Mauron to Ploërmel. The Auray – Quiberon railway has also been in use since 1882 .

In 1878 the Freycinet Plan was adopted, which laid the basis for local branch lines . From 1884 there was discussion about opening up the rural areas and the small towns in the Morbihan department with a rail network.

The Compagnie des chemins de fer du Morbihan (CM)

Pont de La Roche-Bernard , combined road and rail bridge over the Vilaine
Sarzeau station around 1910

In 1892 the first concession of the General Council was awarded to the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Morbihan (CM) , and the route was opened in 1902. The company also received a concession from the neighboring Loire-Inférieure department for its north-west; this department granted concessions to various companies. With the construction of the bridge Pont de La Roche-Bernard over the Vilaine in 1911, both networks were connected. They were operated with a shared fleet of vehicles and managed from Vannes.

Most of the lines were opened between 1902 and 1907, the last to follow in 1921 was the Port-Louis – Baud line . In 1934 the tram La Trinité – Étel was taken over, which was converted to road operation the following year.

From 1931 attempts were made to make operations more cost-effective by using multiple units . In 1939, passenger transport was switched to regular buses and part of the network was abandoned. Freight traffic ended in 1947 and the tracks were dismantled by 1948.

Route network of the CM

Route network in the Morbihan department, CM routes green

First network in the Morbihan department (1902)

The first licensed network was opened in 1902. It consisted of a wide arch that connected Lorient and Vannes via Plouay , Baud , Locminé and Locqueltas . In Locminé a line branched off to Ploërmel. In 1903 the connection followed from Vannes to La Roche-Bernard via Theix , Surzur , Ambon , Muzillac , Diston-Arzal and Marzan . These routes were served until 1947.

Second network in the Morbihan department (1905)

The second network was in the northwest of the department with its center in Pontivy. From there, routes led from 1905 to Moulin-Gilet (near Réguiny on the Locminé – Ploërmel route) and via Guémené-sur-Scorff to Meslan . 1906 followed the connection from Plouay (on the first network) via Meslan to Gourin , there was a connection to the line from Carhaix to Rosporden des Réseau Breton , the narrow-gauge network of the neighboring department of Finistère . This network was largely abandoned in 1939, the Plouay – Gourin line not until 1947.

Further routes in the Morbihan department (1910–1921)

In 1910 a line from Surzur to Port Navalo was put into operation, opening up the Rhuys Peninsula . In 1915 a branch line followed from Ploërmel to La Trinité-Porhoët . Both lines remained in operation until 1947.

In 1921 the line from Baud to Port-Louis via Hennebont , Merlevenez and Plouhinec was added, which was only used until 1939.

Network in the Loire-Inférieure department

Timetable Pornic – Paimboeuf 1914

The two departments and the CM agreed in 1902 on a line from La Roche-Bernard to Saint-Nazaire with two branches, from Méan to Penhoët and from Trignac to Montoir-de-Bretagne . From Herbignac to Saint-Nazaire, the route ran through the Grande-Brière moorland . Another route led from Herbignac via Piriac-sur-Mer to Guérande . These routes were opened in 1907.

As early as 1906, the connection from Pornic to Paimbœuf was opened south of the mouth of the Loire with a branch from La Plaine to Préfailles . This route was only connected to the rest of the network by ships. With the exception of the La Roche-Bernard – Saint-Nazaire connection (closed in 1947), these routes were abandoned in 1938/39.

More buildings

vehicles

Saint-Gildas, locomotive n ° 15 from Pinguely

Steam locomotives

All steam locomotives were machines without running axles with the wheel arrangement C (three driven axles). The first twelve locomotives were ordered from Corpet-Louvet and commissioned in 1902. Up to 1914, 33 more "light" locomotives were supplied by Pinguely , the same manufacturer delivered four in 1905 and one "heavy" locomotive in 1936.

Railcar

Former CM railcar from Brissonneau et Lotz on the Franzburger Kreisbahnen in Stralsund , 1956

In 1931 four accumulator railcars were procured. In 1936 five railcars with combustion engines from Brissonneau et Lotz followed , and in 1938 two more. Three of these "Type Morbihan" railcars were brought to Germany by the occupiers in 1942 to the Franzburger Kreisbahnen . The railcars remained there even after the end of World War II until they were scrapped.

dare

In the Morbihan department, mostly two-axle passenger cars with open platforms were used. The company owned a saloon car , 39 cars 1st / 2nd. Class , 99 2nd class cars and 37 half baggage cars , whose passenger compartments were also in 2nd class.

Bogie wagons with open platforms were purchased for use in the Loire-Inférieure department - two wagons 1./2. Class and 28 2nd class cars.

In addition, the CM had 286 freight cars.

More material

In 1934, the CM took over the material for the La Trinité – Étel tram . From 1941, the German Navy used thirteen wagons, which came from the Société générale des chemins de fer économiques , in the area around the port of Lorient.

Received vehicles

  • Factory plate of the Pinguely n ° 101 of the Chemins de fer du Morbihan

  • Pinguely n ° 101 from 1905 (FACS), formerly Chemins de fer du Morbihan, status 2007

  • Pinguely n ° 101 from 1905, condition 2013, refurbished

  • Pinguely n ° 103 from 1905, ex Chemin de fer du Vivarais , ex CM, as a monument in Tournon-sur-Rhône

  • Lantillac train station

traces

Surzur station building
Old embankment of the railway line from Port Louis to Baud in Plouhinec

Individual train stations have been preserved, e.g. B. Herbignac train station. The routes can still be made out in sections in the terrain. In a number of places there are street names such as Rue de la Gare (Bahnhofstrasse), which indicate the former rail link.

Web links

Commons : Chemins de fer du Morbihan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • René Hulot: Petits trains du Morbihan et de Loire-Inférieure , La Vie du rail, 1993, 175 pages. ISBN 978-2-902808-44-1
  • Jean-Charles Huitorel: Cheminots: mémoires du Réseau Breton , Gestes & paroles, Le Télégramme, Brest, 2003, 117 pages. ISBN 978-2-84833-035-8
  • Henri Domengie: Les petits trains de jadis - Ouest de la France , Éditions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 1990 ISBN 2-903310-87-4
  • Jean-Pierre Nennig, Un chemin de fer d'intérêt local en Loire-Inférieure , JPN, 2003, 208 pages. ISBN 2-9519898-0-6
  • Yannic Rome: Grandes et petites histoires des tramways et petits trains du Morbihan. Le Faouët, Liv'Éditions, coll Mémoire du Morbihan , 2005, 246 pages. ( ISBN 2-84497-070-2 ).
  • Jean-Pierre Rigouard: Gares et tortillards de Bretagne , Trains d'ici, Cheminements, 2007, 407 p. ISBN 978-2-84478-609-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historique de l'entreprise at http://www.lactm.com , accessed on November 5, 2015
  2. ^ "De Questembert à Ploërmel", Jean-Pierre Rigouard, 2007, p. 43.
  3. ^ "De La Brohinière à Ploërmel", Jean-Pierre Rigouard, 2007, p. 107.
  4. ↑ René Hulot, 1993, p. 11.
  5. ^ Yannic Rome, "Histoire: pourquoi un" rond-point de l'ancienne gare "à Theix? La gare et le petit train de Theix », Bulletin municipal de Theix, n ° 112, avril 2005, p. 21 archived at Wkiwix, accessed on November 5, 2015
  6. ^ Revue Voie Étroite n ° 220 juin / juillet 2007, p. 37.