Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises

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Chemins de fer des
Montagnes Neuchâteloises
BDe4 / 4 No. 7 in La Chaux-de-Fonds
BDe4 / 4 No. 7 in La Chaux-de-Fonds
Route length: 20.47 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system : 1500 V  =
Maximum slope : 40  ‰

The Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises ( CMN ), officially Compagnie des Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises , is a former railway company in the canton of Neuchâtel , Switzerland .

history

The Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises (CMN) came into being on January 1, 1947, as a result of a merger of the Ponts – Sagne – Chaux-de-Fonds-Bahn (PSC) and the Régional des Brenets (RdB). The Private Railway Aid Act of 1939 provided for the possibility of making contributions to financially heavily burdened private railways; Section 2 of 1941 provided financial aid for the PSC and the RdB. Linked to this, however, was the condition to merge the two Neuchâtel meter-gauge railways; a demand that also affected other smaller private railways and led to a whole series of mergers.

At the request of the canton of Neuchâtel , three transport companies controlled by the cantons were merged retrospectively as of January 1, 1999 by means of a merger agreement of May 27, 1999. The Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises (CMN), the Transports du Val-de-Ruz (VR) and the Régional du Val-de-Travers (RVT) were taken over by the newly established "TRN SA", the Transports Régionaux Neuchâtelois ( TRN) based in La Chaux-de-Fonds .

Railway lines

With the merger, Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises qualified for financial contributions from the federal government. Both the 16 km long railway line from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Les Ponts-de-Martel of the Ponts – Sagne – Chaux-de-Fonds Railway (PSC) opened on July 26, 1889 , as well as the one on September 1 Opened in 1890, the 4 km long railway line from Le Locle to Les Brenets des Regional des Brenets (RdB) has been modernized and electrified with 1500 volts direct current. The electrical operation began on May 13, 1950 on the railway line from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Les Ponts-de-Martel and on July 1, 1950 on the railway line from Le Locle - Les Brenets from Le Locle.

New rolling stock also had to be procured for electrical operation. To this end, the Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises obtained offers for new vehicles. As it turned out, the offers of the Swiss manufacturers were well above the budget and the expectations of the railway company, so that, contrary to common practice at the time, an Italian manufacturer was considered as an exception. Five CFe 4/4 1–5 multiple units and two associated Ct 11–12 control cars were ordered and delivered. Car body and mechanical components were supplied by Officine Meccaniche Reggiane from the Reggio region that gave it its name , while the Italian BBC subsidiary Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri (TIBB) from Vado Ligure supplied the four traction motors per railcar ; only the other electrical components were supplied by the Geneva-based Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron (SAAS). The railcars could operate both among themselves in multiple control and in pairs in multiple control with a control car or alone with a control car. This concept later served as a model for the De 4/4 401-403 baggage car, the BDe 601-608 and the associated Bt 701-706 control car of the Chemins de fer du Jura CJ , which were procured in 1952 and 1953 .

Since the two routes have no direct connection to each other, the situation arose that the vehicles were tied to one of the two routes for the long term, although they had not been procured route-specifically. Originally, as a rule, three railcars and a control car were assigned to the PSC depot in "Ponts", while the RdB depot "Les Brenets" had two railcars and a control car.

From 1966, the CMN transported open standard gauge wagons on the route to Les Ponts-de-Martel, initially on rented CJ roller stools. From 1970 roller stools from Schaffhausen and GFM were taken over. Since the demolition of the loading facility in La Chaux-de-Fonds, wagons have had to be delivered from Tavannes or Glovelier, something that has so far not been done.

After more than 30 years in operation, the question of refurbishing existing vehicles or buying new ones arose. In the case of all unprofitable regional railways, the discussion about the continuation or discontinuation of all unprofitable regional railways did not spare CMN either. As an urgent measure, the BDe 4/4 3 was modernized in 1986 by the Biel-based Carrossier Ramseier & Jenzer (R&J); BDe 4/4 2 and 5 went through the same procedure in 1987.

With the decision of the canton of Neuchâtel to maintain rail operations on the La Chaux-de-Fonds – Les Ponts-de-Martel line in the long term, two BDe 4/4 6–7 multiple units were acquired. The vehicles delivered in 1991 come from the Ateliers de constructions mécaniques de Vevey (ACMV) in the mechanical part and from Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) in the electrical part and are a further development of the Nyon – Saint-Cergue – Morez Railway in 1985 to the French-speaking Swiss meter -gauge railway (NStCM) and Lausanne-Echallens-Bercher-Bahn (LEB). Another identical railcar, the BDe 4/4 8, was delivered in 1996, whereby some of the spare parts obtained in 1991 were used for the construction of this third railcar in order to reduce the increased unit price.

Since the three railcars BDe 4/4 6–8 are sufficient for handling the timetable traffic between La Chaux-de-Fonds and Les Ponts-de-Martel, the modernized railcars BDe 4/4 2, 3 and 5, as well as the 1993 one, were also used Bt 12 control car modernized by R + J moved to the Le Locle – Les Brenets route. The power unit BDe 4/4 1 was demolished in 1997 by the CMN except for the undercarriage. A new body from “Lauber et Fils” was put on the undercarriage, and the vehicle came back into operation in 1998 as the Ast 21 saloon control car. This is compatible with both the BDe 4/4 6–8 railcars and with nine railcars built after 1985 by the Chemins de fer du Jura (CJ); The other way around, an exchange is also possible, so six control cars of the CJ are compatible with the railcars BDe 4/4 6–8.

Vehicle fleet

Steam locomotives
  • G 3/3 1 Le Doubs (1890) SLM 618, ex RdB, parked by SBB for a future railway museum - the later Museum of Transport in Lucerne - from 1950 to 1968 in Vallorbe . 1968 loaned to the Blonay – Chamby (BC) museum railway
  • G 3/3 2 Le Père Frédéric (1890) SLM 619, ex RdB in Les Brenets in a mausoleum (closed locomotive monument made of concrete and glass below the Les Brenets train station)
  • G 3/3 3 Les Brenets SLM 716, ex RdB, parked defective in 1937, broken off in 1950
  • G 3/3 4 La Tourne (1904) SLM 1563, ex PSC, canceled in 1950
  • G 3/3 5 Tête de Ran (1904) SLM 1564, ex PSC, canceled in 1950
  • G 3/3 6 (1915) SLM 2529, ex PSC, sold to CJ in 1951, there G 3/3 9, broken off in 1956
Railcar
Control car
  • Bt 11 (1950) Reggiane , ex Ct 11
  • Bt 12 Berthe (1950) Reggiane , ex Ct 12
  • Ast 21 (1998), conversion from BDe 4/4 1
Passenger cars
  • BC 1-3, SIG 1889, ex PSC, 1951 canceled
  • C 4, SIG 1889/1929 ex BC, ex PSC, 1951 canceled
  • C 6, MFB 1891, ex PSC, 1951 canceled
  • C 7, SIG 1925, ex PSC, 1950/56 redrawn to B 2 15, canceled in 1969
  • C 8, SIG 1925, ex PSC, redrawn as B 2 16 in 1950/56 , discarded in 1974, canceled in 1989
  • BC 9, SIG 1890, ex RdB BC 1
  • BC 10, SIG 1890, ex RdB BC 2 , parked by the SBB for a future railway museum - the later Museum of Transport in Lucerne - from 1950 to 1968 in Vallorbe . 1968 loaned to the Blonay – Chamby (BC) museum railway
  • C 11, SIG 1890, ex RdB, 1951 canceled
  • C 12, SIG 1897, ex RdB, 1951 canceled
  • C 13-14, SIG 1897, ex RdB, 1902 ex NCB C 3-4, 1951 canceled
  • C 15, SIG 1891, ex RdB, 1928 ex BC 3, 1951 canceled
  • CF 21 SIG 1890, ex RdB, parked by the SBB for a future railway museum - the later Museum of Transport in Lucerne - from 1950 to 1968 in Vallorbe. 1968 loaned to the Blonay-Chamby Museum Railway (BC)

Note: As part of the class change in 1956, only the C 15 and 16 were reclassified to B 15 and 16. The two cars that are still on the Blonay-Chamby museum railway were drawn at that time and still have their original designation.

Baggage cart
  • FZ 10 MFB / SIG 1891, ex PSC, 1924 ex CF 5, 1951 canceled
  • FZ 11 SIG 1889, ex PSC, broken off in 1955
Freight wagons
  • G / K 21–26 ex PSC,
  • G / K 27 1954 ex O 53
  • G / K 31 ex RdB
  • Kklm 34–35 ex BAM 152–53, 35 converted to X 111
  • K / M 36-38 ex PSC
  • E / L 41 ex RdB
  • H / O 41-47.49 ex PSC
  • Ua 91-92, ex VBSch 96, 91, roller stool

The Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises initially only attached the capital letter of the UIC designation to the freight wagons (e.g. G instead of Gk).

Allocation of BDe 4/4 1–5 and Bt 11 + 12
  • PSC - From 1950 to 1987: 1, 2, 4 and 11; from 1987: 2, 4, 5 and 11
  • RdB - From 1950 to 1987: 3, 5 and 12; from 1987: 1, 3 and 12

Since the beginning and to this day, the vehicle fleet on the Le Locle – Les Brenets railway line has had central buffer couplings with two lateral coupling hooks ( balancing lever ). The rolling stock of the PSC route was equipped with an automatic GF coupling (GFN) in accordance with the subsequent CJ.

See also

literature

  • Sébastien Jacobi: CMN, Centenaire des Chemins de fer des Montagnes neuchâteloises . Compagnie des CMN, La Chaux-de-Fonds 1990.
  • CMN, Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises. ANAT, Neuchâtel 1987.
  • R. Scholz: The Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises , special print from «Railway Amateur» No. 9, 10, 12/1964 and 2-3 / 1965.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry of the "Compagnie des Chemins de fer des Montagnes Neuchâteloises" in the commercial register of the Canton of Neuchâtel
  2. ↑ Martin Gut: TRN Voie étroite / TRN Schmalspur in: Category News in Brief (Nik), Eisenbahn Amateur (magazine) No. 11, 2014, page 531
  3. ↑ www.le-rail.ch: Description and history of the rolling stock from 1950
  4. ↑ www.le-rail.ch: Description and history of the rolling stock from 1991
  5. ^ Directory of the rolling stock of the Swiss private railways 1950, published by the Federal Office of Transport