Clarens-Chailly-Blonay Railway

Clarens-Blonay
Ce 2/2 No. 2 below Fontanivent
Route length:	5.6 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	750 volts  =
Maximum slope :	87  ‰
Legend 0.0 Clarens Lac 378  m above sea level M. VMCV from Vevey VMCV to Villeneuve 0.2 Clarens-Gambetta 382  m above sea level M. Evasion Vallorbe – Domodossola 0.5 Clarens CFF 402  m above sea level M. 0.9 Tavel 423  m above sea level M. Baye de Clarens 1.9 Chailly 474  m above sea level M. Baye de Clarens Montreux – Fontanivent (82 m) from Montreux 3.5 Fontanivent from Lenk 555  m above sea level M. 4.0 Brent 566  m above sea level M. Baye de Clarens (112 m) by Chamby from Les Pléiades 5.6 Blonay 620  m above sea level M. after Vevey

The Clarens – Chailly – Blonay railway , abbreviated to CCB , officially Compagnie du chemin de fer Clarens – Chailly – Blonay , was an electric meter -gauge railway in Switzerland.

history

The railway opened on November 23, 1911 and connected the village of Clarens , today a district of the city of Montreux on the Vaudois Riviera , via Chailly and Fontanivent with Blonay . On January 1, 1956, buses took over the operation, the line was then dismantled. Today the bus route 214 operated by the transport company Vevey – Montreux – Chillon – Villeneuve (VMCV) travels the same route.

After the tramway Vevey – Montreux – Chillon – Villeneuve had switched its catenary system in 1913 from the originally two-pole slotted tube contact line with 480 volts direct current to the catenary system with 600 volts direct current common in trams (and the financing was secured), a connecting line was established on July 4, 1915 from the original end point in Clarens, immediately above the road crossing of the Simplon Line , to the landing stage of the Compagnie générale de navigation sur le Lac Léman (CGN). This route used the tram tracks on a short section near Gambetta Square. On October 31, 1943, this extension was given up again due to lack of demand.

The vehicles were maintained by the Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway (MOB) in their workshop in Chernex. For this purpose, the motor vehicles drove regularly from Fontanivent to the neighboring town and back again via the Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway. The staff also provided the MOB and were therefore also responsible for operational management.

Route description

Van Hool bus 107 in front of Fontanivent train station. The railway line of the Clarens – Chailly – Blonay-Bahn passed the station on the right.

In Fontanivent, the train coming from Chailly crossed the Route des Collonalles and then crossed under the Montreux – Lenk railway in the Simmental . There followed a still existing spiral tunnel. After the railway was closed, it was used to grow mushrooms . The tunnel portal towards Fontanivent is buried today. After exiting the tunnel, the route continues within the loop of the railway line to Lenk im Simmental. In the area of ​​the loop, as well as the level crossing with the Route de Fontainevent, the route was two-lane for about 150 meters . In the Fontanivent station, the vehicles of the Clarens – Chailly – Blonay railway changed direction in order to merge into this street on a short embankment east of the Route de Brent. A short part of this embankment is still used as a siding by the Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway. The Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway also continues to use the track to the small wooden coach house of the Clarens – Chailly – Blonay Railway. However, after it became dilapidated, it was demolished. The foundation walls still exist today.

vehicles

Description	designation	Numbers	Construction year	Years of use	Manufacturer
Motor vehicle	Ce 2/2	1 to 3	1911	1911-1956	SIG / MFO
Summer car	C 2	11 (formerly CGTE 301), 12 (formerly CGTE 303)	1896	1930-1956	SIG
Summer car	C 2	14th	1896	1932-1956	SIG
Open freight car	M 2	1 and 2	1913	1913-1956	ACMV

The summer cars C ² 11, 12 and 14 came from the motor car series Ce 1/2 125 to 132 of the electric circuit of the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896 . The electrical equipment of the former Tramways Suisse (TS) was removed and the cars were designated as C ² 125 to 130. They then ran as C ² 301 ^" to 306 ^" with the former Compagnie Genevoise des Tramways Électriques (CGTE), today Transports publics genevois (TPG).

The summer carriages had benches in the longitudinal direction, with the passengers sitting back to back in the longitudinal axis of the carriage.

All vehicles were canceled after the route was closed.

Trivia

The Clarens – Chailly – Fontanivent-Blonay railway was built according to the standards of the Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway and was repeatedly used by vehicles from the aforementioned railway company. At first only the Clarens – Chailly – Blonay railway was mentioned . Because the railway line was largely laid out in the road planum, the term Clarens – Chailly – Blonay tram was later used.

literature

• Michel Grandguillaume, Jean-Louis Rochaix: Chemins de fer privés vaudois 1873–2000, 10 ans de modernization. Editions La Raillère, Belmont 2009, ISBN 978-2-88125-012-8 .
• Michel Dehanne, Daniel Croset, Michel Grandguillaume, Jean-Louis Rochaix: Chemins de fer privés vaudois 1873-2000. Editions La Raillère, Belmont 2000, ISBN 2-88125-011-8 .
• Michel Grandguillaume, Gérald Hadorn, Sébastien Jarne, Jean-Louis Rochaix (eds.): Chemin de fer Montreux Oberland Bernois, Du Léman au Pays-d'Enhaut . tape 2 . Bureau vaudois d'adresses (BVA), Lausanne 1994, ISBN 2-88125-009-2 .
• Michel Grandguillaume, Gérald Hadorn, Sébastien Jarne, Jean-Louis Rochaix (eds.): Chemin de fer Montreux Oberland Bernois. Du Léman au Pays-d'Enhaut . tape 1 . Bureau vaudois d'adresses (BVA), Lausanne 1992, ISBN 2-88125-008-4 .
• Jean Paillard, Jean-Louis Rochaix, Gérald Hadorn, Pierre Stauffer, Michel Grandguillaume: Les Tramways vaudois . Bureau vaudois d'adresses (BVA), Lausanne 1979.

Web links

Commons : Clarens – Chailly – Blonay  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Clarens – Chailly – Blonay-Bahn on www.tram-museum-archiv.ch
• Chemin de fer Clarens - Chailly - Blonay (CCB) In: discontinued-bahnen.ch by Jürg Ehrbar

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Original value. The electricity system was the same as on the Montreux – Zweisimmen line of the Montreux – Bernese Oberland Railway
2. ↑ On the first opened section Clarens CFF – Blonay 85 ‰
3. ↑ www.vmcv.ch Transports publics Vevey – Montreux – Chillon – Villeneuve, Réseau ( Memento of the original of 23 August 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed June 3, 2011) 
4. ↑ www.pospichal.net Clarens – Chailly – Blonay-Bahn (accessed on June 4, 2011)
5. ↑ Roland Kallman, Werner Boegli and Daniel Thomi: Le Tram à Genève, Histoire de la Compagnie imagée Genevoise des Tramways Electriques et de ses Précurseurs . Edition du Tricorne, Geneva 1976, chapter: Les caractéristiques du matérial roulant des TS, automotrice and voitures d'été
6. ↑ www.tram-museum-archiv.ch, Tram Museum Zurich, the history of the Clarens – Chailly – Blonay railway (accessed on August 24, 2011)
7. ↑ www.bahndaten.ch, Clarens – Chailly – Blonay-Bahn, commentary