Réseau Breton

Route network

Monument locomotive E415 in Carhaix

Railway trolley number 3 of the Réseau Breton (RB), on the Blonay – Chamby museum railway in 2011

Standard gauge A2E from Soulé in Paimpol

The Réseau Breton , abbreviated RB , was a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway in Brittany . It stretched around the town of Carhaix-Plouguer in the east of the Finistère department and was in operation until 1967. The maximum extent was about 425 kilometers. With the exception of the re- tracked Guingamp – Carhaix and Guingamp – Paimpol lines (now standard gauge ), all other parts of the Réseau Breton have been converted to bus service. The Mallet E 415 locomotive is the only locally preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive in the network and is a monument at Carhaix station. Otherwise only remnants of the railway station and route, as well as a few vehicles on museum railways, are reminiscent of the Réseau Breton, which was one of the largest narrow-gauge networks in France .

stretch

The routes range in four departments. At the beginning of the 1950s, more than 100 locomotives and 1,100 wagons were in use.

• Carhaix– Morlaix , (1891 to 1967)
• Carhaix– Guingamp , (1893 to 1967, then switched to standard gauge )
• Guingamp– Paimpol , (1894 to 1924, then three-rail track , narrow-gauge traffic discontinued in 1953)
• Carhaix– Loudéac , (1896/1902 to 1967)
• Loudéac– La Brohinière , (1904/1907 to 1967)
• Carhaix– Rosporden , (1898 to 1967), from 1906 to 1947, Gourin was connected to the network of Chemins de fer du Morbihan .
• Carhaix– Châteaulin , (1904/1907 to 1967)
• Châteaulin– Camaret / - Le Fret , (1923/1925 to 1966/1967)

Carhaix, the center of the railway network

Up to 500 people were employed at the Réseau Breton in Carhaix: at the train station, in the locomotive depot and in the workshops. In the 1920s, with the expansion of the network, the population of Carhaix increased by 2000.

literature

• Connaissance du Rail (Numéro spécial): Le Réseau Breton . Editions de l'Ormet, Valignat 2004.
• Jean-Charles Huitorel: Cheminots . Editions Le Télégramme, Brest 2003. ISBN 284833035X .
• Henri Domengie: Les petits trains de jadis - Ouest de la France . Les Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya 1990. ISBN 2903310874 .
• Gordon Gravett: Réseau Breton . The Oakwood Press, 1999. ISBN 0853615365 .
• Reun an Hir: By Road, Rails and Waves - Brittany's Transport system through the Centuries . Mouladurioù Hor Yezh, Lesneven 1990.

Web links

Commons : Réseau Breton  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• History and technical data of the C'C mallets (E410 to E417) on malletlok.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le train à la conquête de l'Ouest; Publishing house ouest france, Rennes, Hors-série, 2013