Rolle – Gimel tram

Rolle – Gimel
Place de l'Union in Gimel-les-Bains with Ce 2/2 No. 1 around 1922
Route length:	10.546 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	650 V  =
Maximum slope :	84  ‰
Minimum radius :	20 m
Top speed:	18 km / h
Operator:	Société du chemin de fer électrique Rolle – Gimel
Opening:	August 12, 1898
Shutdown:	September 30, 1938
Legend 0.0 Role port 377  m above sea level M. 1.1 Rolle-Gare (CFF) SBB to Geneva 394  m above sea level M. Role SBB of Lausanne Cargo handling role 1.5 depot 398  m above sea level M. Germagny 432  m above sea level M. Montbenay Versoix-Mont 2.5 Mont-sur-Rolle Eglise 476  m above sea level M. 2.6 Mont-sur-Rolle Maison de Ville 491  m above sea level M. La Ferme Mont-Dessus 4.0 Bugnaux 605  m above sea level M. 6.0 Granges 707  m above sea level M. 6.4 Signal de Bougy 718  m above sea level M. 7.7 Marais 707  m above sea level M. 8.0 Essertines-sur-Rolle 698  m above sea level M. Saint-Oyens 10.1 Gimel évitement 716  m above sea level M. Gimel AAG to Allaman 10.5 Gimel-les-Bains 735  m above sea level M.

The overland tram Rolle – Gimel (RG) ( French : Chemin de fer électrique Rolle – Gimel ) was an electric tram on the north-west bank of Lake Geneva in the Swiss canton of Vaud .

Routing

Roll through town with Ce 2/2 No. 3 around 1930

The line, which was up to 84 per thousand steep, ran from the boat station in the small town of Rolle on the shores of Lake Geneva via the Rolle train station on the SBB Geneva-Lausanne route , which was then a little above the village center, up the Mont-sur-Rolle vineyards and over the Signal viewpoint de Bougy with the park in the green from Migros to the terminus on the edge of the village of Gimel, then known as the summer resort Gimel-les-Bains . There it was connected to the Allaman – Aubonne – Gimel (AAG) overland tram , to which, however, there was no rail connection.

In the ascent to the Singal de Bougy stop, there was an uninterrupted gradient of 58 to 69 per thousand over a length of 5 kilometers. The minimum radius was 20 meters.

history

The 10.5-kilometer meter-gauge line was opened on October 12, 1898, two months after the Allaman – Aubonne – Gimel overland tram was completed. Operations ceased on September 30, 1938 for economic reasons.

Power supply

The overland tram initially produced its electricity in its own small power station in an extension of the depot building. This generated direct current with a voltage of 650 volts using two gas engines powered by coal gas . The performance of the two Thury - generators was given as 26 kilowatts. In addition, accumulators were used as a reserve and to cover power peaks. As early as 1904, one of the two generator groups was replaced by a converter system, which was fed by the then newly built overhead line network of the Compagnie vaudoise des forces motrices du Lac de Joux et de l'Orbe . In 1930 the previous power generation systems were replaced by a mercury vapor rectifier with an output of 100 kilowatts.

Rolling stock

Motor car Ce 2/2 in the winter of 1901/02

Freight motor car Fe 2/2 in the winter of 1901/02

The RG had four electric motor vehicles, the three Ce 2/2 1 to 3 were used for passenger traffic and the Ke 2/2 11, later renamed Fe 2/2, for freight traffic. Trailer wagons were not used, but trolleys for luggage and lighter goods could be added to the motor vehicles .

The passenger motor cars were delivered in 1898 by the Swiss Industrial Society (SIG) in Neuhausen and the Compagnie de l'Industrie Électrique (CIE), a predecessor of the Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron in Geneva . They had a characteristic, streamlined lantern roof, which was atypical for Switzerland, with rounded corners towards both ends of the car and already had closed platforms.

The passenger motor cars and the goods motor car were painted green on delivery. The former were later repainted gray / white or light blue / white. It is not known with certainty which color tones were involved. However, it can be assumed that the fir green used in the vehicles of the SBB or its predecessor company Jura-Simplon-Bahn (JS), the gray-white, for example, that of the Montreux-Berner-Oberland-Bahn (MOB) and the light blue Tramways Lausannois (TL) shade used.

After the cessation of operations, the motor car Ce 2/2 1, which had been rebuilt in 1921 after an accident, was handed over to the neighboring Allaman – Aubonne – Gimel overland tram, where it was used as Ce 2/2 4 for a few years. All other vehicles were canceled.

Description	designation	number	Construction year	Manufacturer
Passenger car	Ce 2/2	1 to 3	1898	SIG , CIE
Goods motor wagons	Ke 2/2	11	1898	SIG , CIE
Low side car	M.	21-26	1898-1918	SIG

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} 1908 new electrical equipment from MFO
2. ↑ later Fe 2/2

literature

• Gustav Röhr, Hans Schweers and Henning Wall: Switzerland's narrow-gauge paradise . Volume 1, Aachen 1986, ISBN 3-921679-38-9
• Michel Grandguillaume, Jean Paillard, Jean-Louis Rochaix and Gérald Hadorn: Les Tramways vaudois . BVA (Bureau vaudois d'adresses), Lausanne 1979, ISBN 2-88125-001-7

Web links

Commons : Strassenbahn Rolle – Gimel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Portfolio PP 770 - Société du chemin de fer électrique Rolle-Gimel. In: Directory of economic holdings in archives in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Association of Swiss Archivists (VSA) 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Jürg Ehrbar: Chemin de fer électrique Rolle-Gimel. In: discontinued railways in Switzerland.