Voies ferrées du Dauphiné
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The Voies du ferrées Dauphiné were a network of three narrow-gauge railway lines in space Grenoble in France , which in 1893 by the railway company Société des voies ferrées du Dauphiné opened (VFD) and from 1920 by their successors départementale Régie des voies ferrées du Dauphiné (also VFD) was operated. On November 10, 1964, the last narrow-gauge line was given up, but a short re-tracked section remained in normal-gauge freight traffic for a few years.
history
Société des voies ferrées du Dauphiné
In the early 1890s, the newly founded Société des voies ferrées du Dauphiné applied for permission to build a meter-gauge railway line in the Romanche valley from Jarrie via Vizille and Livet to Bourg-d'Oisans . The railway to be built southeast of Grenoble was to start at the long-distance station of the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) in Jarrie. The corresponding concession was granted on February 17, 1893 and construction of the railway began soon afterwards. Already in the early construction phase, consideration was given to directly connecting this railway with the departmental capital Grenoble. In this regard, two possible route variants were examined. The first led from Jarrie to the north via Le Pont-de-Claix and promised an uncomplicated construction. Of the 14 km long route, 13 km would have been straight, outside Grenoble the few curves would not have been less than 100 m radii. The maximum gradients would have been 10 ‰, and the desired end point near the PLM train station in Grenoble would have been easy to reach. In contrast, the second route variant, which should branch off in Vizille and lead there via Uriage and Gières , was winding, with ramps of up to 50 ‰. In addition, the 22 km long route should have been led through the center of Grenoble.
Possibly due to pressure from the Uriage health resort , the second option was chosen. The route from Grenoble via Le Pont-de-Claix to Jarrie was later implemented by other companies. On May 20, 1893, the VFD received approval to build the railway from Vizille via Uriage and Gières. From then on, both VFD lines were worked on simultaneously. In Vizille, shortly before the central station separating the two lines, the VFD depot was built on the line to Uriage . In Grenoble, the train ended at the long-distance station of the PLM. In addition, a track led to the transhipment station in the north with the PLM, which was initially called Grenoble-Abattoirs, later Grenoble-Polygons.
On June 23, 1894, a train from Vizille to Grenoble and back ran for the first time on a trial basis. Both routes were inaugurated on the following July 2nd, when a train with invited guests drove from Grenoble via Vizille to Bourg-d'Oisans, where a banquet was awaiting them.
On June 30, 1898, a third route was opened, which continued from Gières to the valley of Grésivaudan . It initially led to Domène and was extended to Froges between 1908 and 1914 . Between 1900 and 1903 the Grenoble – Vizille line and the branch to Domène were electrified. In the absence of freight railcars , freight traffic was still carried out there with steam locomotives .
From Grenoble to Uriage, the VFD initially recorded a satisfactory volume of traffic. In 1916 the railway company earned 18,882 francs per kilometer on this section . The other parts of the network were less busy. Following a resolution of the General Council of August 23, 1918, the activities of the VFD - due to mismanagement, especially with regard to the route from Jarrie to Bourg-d'Oisans - were initially placed under strict observation and soon afterwards under administrative administration. The findings were:
- very bad condition of the tracks and the 259 freight cars
- Four of the fourteen steam locomotives were not in running condition
- rotten chassis of the 16 electric railcars with partial missing of the contactors
- problematic condition of the depot
Régie départementale des voies ferrées du Dauphiné
On May 4, 1920, the administration was lifted and the Régie départementale des voies ferrées du Dauphiné took over the business. The purchase agreement was signed on October 27th and was finally confirmed by a decree of January 12th, 1921. The new operator quickly repaired the tracks and equipment.
In the following eleven years, the company was fundamentally modernized. The narrow and winding local passage of the Jarrie – Bourg-d'Oisans line in Vizille was abandoned in favor of a bypass on its own railway body and the new Vizille Terrasse station was built to the west of the village. The previous separation station in the center of Vizille was henceforth called Vizille Château, the route from Uriage was extended through the village to Vizille Terrasse. The repair of the railcars, locomotives and wagons was followed by the acquisition of additional vehicles. Thus, the VFD, which subsequently in its capacity as a state enterprise ("Régie"), was able to further troubled railways such as B. took over the Tramway de Grenoble à Chapareillan (TGC), initially competing with the increasing road traffic. On the section from Grenoble to Gières, suburban traffic was set up with frequent intervals. In the Grenoble – Vizille route, VFD buses were finally used, which took the shorter route via Le Pont-de-Claix and largely replaced the passenger trains between Uriage and Vizille.
After the takeover of the TGC on January 1, 1931, a second track connection was created in Grenoble between the two railways, which enabled the VFD railcars to use the TGC depot Île-Verte.
Second World War
At the beginning of the Second World War , the number of daily train pairs between Uriage and Vizille was increased again to ten as the number of buses was limited and they slowed down after the conversion to wood gasifiers . From 1941 onwards, the lack of rails, copper, insulating material and spare parts became noticeable. Emergency solutions had to be resorted to more and more frequently, and vehicles and systems were becoming increasingly worn. Nevertheless, operations continued under increasingly difficult conditions. In 1944 there were acts of sabotage, especially in the depot in Vizille, with the main aim of disrupting freight traffic to the industrial connections in the Romanche Valley.
During the last years of the war, the drivers deliberately reduced their speed in the corners of Grenoble. Passengers could leave the moving train and avoid the controls by the occupiers on arrival. Often during curfews stayed passengers at the depot Ile-Verte in the vehicles to the increasingly nervous German strip not to fall into their hands.
post war period
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After the liberation , the railway was in a deplorable condition. The tracks, the overhead lines and the substations needed to be renewed, the railcars had to be replaced. The Régie therefore shifted passenger traffic via Uriage to Vizille again to road buses on December 1st, and on February 1st 1948 also suburban traffic to Gières. Until 1951, a pair of trains operated on Sundays between Grenoble and Uriage served as a repeater for bus traffic. The route was initially retained for freight traffic, with two pairs of trains per day running between Grenoble and Vizille. In 1950 the railway administration procured four diesel-electric locomotives from Brissonneau et Lotz for freight train service on the Romanche route.
stretch
Jarrie-Bourg-d'Oisans
The line from Jarrie was single-track and was not electrified. The three-pronged terminal station Jarrie to 265 m in height was just south of the receiving building the PLM, the western track was at the main platform. The track to the multi-track freight station crossed three PLM tracks at the same level, there was a goods shed and a reloading hall, and from 1948 also a loading crane. Between 1949 and 1951, the main line to Vizille Terrasse, where another reloading facility was built, was given a third track .
After Vizille, and beyond to the terminus, the route followed the course of the Romanche River. The initial tour through Vizille with the separation station (terminus of the Grenoble line) in the street space in the center of the village was abandoned in the 1920s. Vizille Terrasse, an extensive railway station facility, was built near the river, which was supplemented by standard gauge tracks and three-rail tracks after the Second World War. It eventually comprised more than 20 tracks and a locomotive shed for diesel locomotives of both gauges. With the abandonment of meter-gauge operation at the end of 1964, most of the narrow-gauge tracks were dismantled, and normal-gauge operation has now also been discontinued.
At the Péage-de-Vizille train station, the new route met the old track again. Largely next to Route nationale 91 , the railroad reached the multi-track Séchilienne station , where a calcium carbide works provided a considerable volume of goods. At Gavet, the track changed over to a brick arched bridge on the south bank of the river. In Les Clavaux there was an industrial connection, in the factory with up to 150 employees - thanks to the abundant electricity from hydropower - chemical products were produced up to 1930, then aluminum by means of electrolysis . Rioupéroux was also an old industrial town. The paper mill there, which was also converted to the production of aluminum, but also calcium carbide and silicon in the 1920s, had extensive track systems in addition to the three-track VFD station. In Livet, where the Romanche was crossed again, there were a total of three chemical plants with sidings on both sides of the river.
While the distance rose by only 35 m in the first 6 km to Péage-de-Vizille, from there to the third river crossing on the Pont de l'Aveynat there was a difference in altitude of 402 m over a distance of 17 km. The last on the way station was Rochetaillée with three, later four through tracks. The station building of the Bourg-d'Oisans terminus at a height of 720 m was located between the double-track passenger and goods area. A cattle loading ramp built around 1905, a small depot with an initially four-unit locomotive shed and a rail connection to a coal mine 600 m away completed the facility.
Grenoble – Vizille
The end point for the passenger trains was initially on the side of Rue du 4 Septembre on the main platform of the PLM long-distance train station. The simple track system consisted of the platform track, a bypass track and a pull-out track. The freight trains ended further north at the Grenoble Abattoirs or Grenoble Polygone reloading station, which was also used by the narrow-gauge railways TGC and Société Grenobloise de Tramways Electriques (SGTE) or the predecessors of the latter and had treatment systems for the steam locomotives. Around 1900, a double-track station was built on the Place de la Gare next to the freight track on a central platform shared with the TGC, with its trains stopping at the opposite edge of the platform. For a number of years there was a direct connection between the old and the new terminus via a track triangle .
In the avenue Félix Viallet, passenger and freight lines merged. A second track laid out by SGTE was added there at the turn of the century. The two tracks were used from 1903 by the vehicles of the two companies in directional operation, but VFD and SGTE used separate contact lines . To the south of the Place de la Bastille (today: Place Hubert Dubedout), the route was relocated from Rue Docteur Mazet to Boulevard Edouard Rey. A three-track communal station existed on the Square des Postes. There, freight wagons could be handed over to the CEN (merged with the SGTE in 1902) and from 1920 to the Tramway de Grenoble à Villard de Lans (GVL). In 1925 it was supplemented by the Grenoble Échanges station located south of it off the line.
The following single-track line was used together with CEN, although two separate, double-track stations were built at Place Malakoff (today: Place Bir Hakeim). Then the track left Grenoble through the city gate Porte Très Cloîtres, which lost its archway with the construction of the overhead line. A little further in Paganon it changed from the middle of the road to the side of the road. An industrial connection with 14 points branched off from the station of the same name . The machine factory there produced grenades during World War I , which the VFD brought polygons in block trains to Grenoble.
The PLM route to Chambéry was crossed on a bridge with ramps of 44.5 ‰ on both sides with a minimum radius of 50 m. In Gières, where the line turned from east to south, the station building was between the two tracks. On the way to Uriage, it followed the valley of the Sonnant mountain stream with ramps up to 44.3 ‰. Uriage station also had a central platform with a station building on it. There was also a small depot there with a five-hour shed and industrial connections to a cement factory and a gas works. A siding for freight cars was added in the 1920s.
At the three-track station Les Alberges, the highest point on the line was reached at 417 m. The Vaulnaveys Marchandises train station, located between Vaulnaveys-le-Haut and Vaulnaveys-le-Bas , with a freight hall and a siding to a sawmill, also had three tracks . In Vizille, the VFD depot was located on the north side of the line, then the track in the road area ran through a short tunnel. On the Place du Château the separation station Vizille - from 1932 called through station and Vizille Château - was reached.
Gières – Froges
The route from Gières to Froges was opened in four stages:
- 1898 from Gières to Domène,
- 1908 on to Lancey,
- 1913 on to Brignoud,
- 1914 to the final station in Froges.
All trains on the railway began or ended in Grenoble. In front of the Gières station on the line to Vizille, the track branched off in the street space and immediately afterwards had its own double-track station. Since the route ran south of the Isère in its valley, but the densely populated villages were built on hills due to the risk of flooding, gradients of up to 50 ‰ had to be overcome there.
The railway was characterized by numerous connections to industrial companies and the stations of the parallel standard-gauge PLM line. There were important companies in Lancey (paper mill), Brignoud and Froges ( electrometallurgy ). In addition to the two-track terminus in Froges, there was a separate locomotive shed and another siding.
Depot
The depot was on the eastern outskirts of Vizille on the route coming from Uriage. All steam and diesel locomotives and most of the electric railcars were located there. All vehicles were serviced and repaired there, and some of the electric multiple units and diesel locomotives were rebuilt.
vehicles
Unless otherwise stated, the length specifications refer to the length over the buffers . Information like "130" denotes the axle sequence , whereby the first digit stands for the number of leading axles , the second for the axles that are jointly driven in a frame and the third for the trailing axles. The letter "T" means tank locomotive .
Steam locomotives
- In the years 1893 and 1894, 16 identical steam locomotives of the type 030 T were delivered by Blanc-Misseron . The three-axle tram locomotives with the company numbers 1-16 had two driver's cabs , they were 6.80 m long, 2.20 m wide and 3.25 m high. The two-cylinder machines, equipped with an automatic air brake and a handbrake, had an output of 150 hp . In the course of electrification, five of these locomotives were sold. a. numbers 13 and 16 to the Fourvière Ouest-Lyonnais (FOL). After the "Régie" took over the business in 1930, four machines were scrapped. Numbers 1, 10 and 14 survived until 1939, numbers 2 and 3 until 1949. By the time they were scrapped, the latter had covered 710,000 and 751,000 km, respectively.
- With the number 20, a "real" type 040 T locomotive built by Pinguely was added in 1906 for the demanding section from Séchilienne to Livet . In 1922, the "Régie" acquired three almost identical locomotives (no. 17-19). They could drive on tracks with a radius of 25 m, were 7.02 m long, weighed 27 t when empty and had 315 hp. In 1951 the numbers 17-19 were scrapped, the number 20 sold after a mileage of 747,000 km.
- In August 1914, a 130 T locomotive acquired second-hand from the Chemins de fer départementaux de Rhône et Loire (CRL), also built by Pinguely, was added. With the VFD, it kept its old company number 12. Between 1915 and 1917, three more of these machines followed by the CRL (numbers 21 and 22), of which the number 10 was only on loan. No. 10 was returned in April 1921 and returned to the VFD in 1942. In 1929 the Tramways de l'Ouest du Dauphiné (TOD) bought two more locomotives of this type (No. 23 and 24) for a rental price of 500 francs per month each. rented. Between 1930 and 1935, locomotives 41 and 42 were used in front of cement trains for the Chambon dam, which was under construction . The 130 T were over 7.70 m long, weighed 23 t when empty and had 245 hp. In 1951 the last of these machines were sold or scrapped.
- The three locomotives with the numbers 25-27 of the type 030 T were built by Corpet-Louvet in 1913 and bought second-hand in 1920 for 75,000 francs each. The three-coupler units, which arrived in December 1920 (No. 25) and February 1921, were 6.58 m long, their empty weight was 16.5 t and their power was 135 hp. They could only be used in front of passenger or light freight trains. It was scrapped in 1949.
- The 130 T No. 30–32 were also purchased used. Built in 1909 at the Établissements Piguet , the three locomotives came to the VFD in 1921. Their length was 7.70 m, the empty weight 22 t, their power 200 hp. In 1942 the No. 30 (to the Tramways bretons ) and the No. 31 were sold, the No. 32 was scrapped in 1945.
- With the 030 T 33, 34, 51 and 52 four unusual machines came onto the tracks of the VFD. They were built by Pinguely around 1909 and brought in 1939 by TOD, which is now also operated by the "Régie". Locomotives 51 and 52 had driver's cabs at both ends of the vehicle; they were converted to air brakes in 1941. Numbers 33 and 34 kept their suction air brakes and remained foreign bodies with the VFD, they were only used in shunting in Jarrie. By 1950 at the latest, three of these locomotives were no longer used. Machine no. 51 was acquired and repaired by the Chemin de Fer du Vivarais (CFV). With its original number 31 and the additional name ISÈRE, it operated on the Tournon – Le Cheylard line , but was robbed of its second driver's cab there. Length 7.59 m, curb weight 19 t, output 200 hp.
- 130 T 6 and 7: These two cogwheel locomotives were put into service in November 1946 (No. 6) and February 1947, respectively. Of the two machines that were built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory (SLM) around 1913 , No. 7 first went to the Chemin de fer Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) after the electrification of the Furka-Oberalp Railway (FO) . After they were acquired by VFD at a price of 37,200 Swiss francs each , they kept their old company numbers with a second occupation. They were 8.75 m long, weighed 34 t when empty and had about 480 hp in adhesive operation. They were mainly used on the section between Séchilienne and Livet. By far the most powerful locomotives on the railroad, they were sold again after the diesel-electric machines arrived in March 1951.
- The former BAM locomotives 1 and 7 were loners without numbers. The small machines of the type 030 T were only in use at the VFD from 1947 to 1951 at the latest. They were 225 hp, 6.96 m long and weighed 20.2 t when empty.
- In April 1920, the VFD rented two 130 T, which came from the Compagnie des Tramways de l'Ardèche (TA), which had already been discontinued . The locomotives built by the Établissements Piguet developed 200 hp, were 6.98 m long and weighed 22 t. They returned to the Ardèche department the following year .
Diesel locomotives
- In 1950 Brissonneau et Lotz delivered four diesel-electric locomotives, which were given the company numbers T 1 to T 4. The machines , which rest on two two-axle bogies, were equipped with two 12-cylinder Renault 517 J engines, each with an output of 300 hp.
- For the 3 km long three-rail section from Jarrie to Vizille Terrasse, VFD built two standard-gauge diesel locomotives in its own workshop for cost reasons , which were presented in 1951. The small three-axle machines designated as T 11 and T 12 had an 8-cylinder Willème engine and a six-speed mechanical transmission . They had a central driver's cab between two equally long stems, were 7.60 m long and made about 200 hp. Soon after, two similar locomotives were built, the T 13 and T 14.
- In December 1955, the T 10, a four-axle standard-gauge diesel locomotive, was acquired from the SNCF state railway . It also had a center driver's cab, the BB wheel arrangement and was built by the Compagnie de chemins de fer départementaux (CFD) in Montmirail . A locomotive of the same design was added later with the T 15.
Rail buses
- In the 1920s, Adolph Saurer AG used one of its rail buses from Grenoble via Vizille in the Oisans for advertising purposes . Due to its small capacity, the vehicle proved unsuitable.
- The VFD took over a Berliet rail bus from the CEN for passenger transport between Jarrie and Vizille Château. Since it - unlike the Saurer rail buses - did not have a rotating device under the floor of the car, turntables were installed for it in Jarrie and in the Vizille depot . The 9.05 m long, 7 t heavy vehicle pulled a single-axle luggage trailer during operation. In 1938 it was sold and then scrapped.
- The Crochat company supplied a four-axle petroleum- electric railcar with a motor and a running bogie. The bidirectional vehicle came used to the VFD, where it replaced the Berliet rail bus. After 1940 it was shut down.
Electric railcars
- The two-axle bidirectional railcars 1001 to 1016 were built in 1902 at the Vizille depot. They came to Brill -Untergestellen, her large wheelbase of 3.60 m required in view of the tight corners (23 m radius in Vizille) movable axes . The DC voltage of 600 V was tapped from the overhead line using pantographs . The two traction motors of a vehicle each developed 65 hp. Air brakes, rheostatic electric brakes and hand brakes were used as braking systems . The railcars did not receive compressors until 1913 , before the compressed air required for braking had to be topped up at the terminus and, if necessary, at the subway stations.
- The railcars were able to pull several cars with a total weight of 29 t over ramps of up to 50 ‰. They were 8.60 m long, 2.00 m wide and 3.20 m high. In addition to 6 seats in 1st and 14 seats in 2nd carriage class arranged on longitudinal benches, there was standing room for 10 on each of the semi-open platforms. The car bodies , made of wood and painted green , had seven windows on each side.
- In the mid-1920s, the "Régie" ordered two four-axle railcars from Société Franco-Belge , the electrical equipment of which was provided by the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques . The vehicles with the road numbers 1020 and 1021 were 13.87 m long, 2.30 m wide and 31 t in weight; due to their length, they received two pantographs. The car bodies with large windows had access to an approximately centrally arranged boarding platform on both sides, which led to two compartments with a total of 36 transversely arranged seats exclusively for the 1st class. 2nd class passengers had to take a seat in the sidecar, of which two to three were usually carried.
- The two vehicles delivered in August 1917 pulled "express trains" from 1930 with only a few stops between Grenoble and Vizille, with travel times between 54 and 65 minutes. After a fire that completely destroyed the wooden car body, the 1020 railcar was rebuilt. He received a steel car body and a small luggage compartment. Due to its changed appearance, it was nicknamed "sous-marin" (submarine) by the railway workers. After passenger traffic to Vizille was discontinued in 1946, the two railcars hauled the additional Sunday train to Uriage until 1952.
- For the intended end of the steam traction on the freight line to Grenoble Polygone, the VFD procured the T 1 freight railcar before 1905. The two-axle vehicle with a Brill underframe was 6.00 m long, 1.80 m wide and 2.95 m high. Its empty weight was approx. 12 t, the output was approx. 130 HP. In the 1920s, it was probably converted into a catenary vehicle and decommissioned around 1940.
- Other freight railcars were the T 2 (ordered in 1922, four-axle), T 4 and T 5 (delivered in 1929, two-axle). T 3, a two-axle electric locomotive with a central driver's cab, was acquired second-hand and sold on to the paper mill in Lancey. Three other factories in the Romanche valley had small electric locomotives that also ran on the VFD tracks when they were handed over.
Web links
literature
Henri Boyer, Patrice Bouillin: Les voies ferrées du Dauphiné . 1983.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dominique Allemand, Patrice Boullin: Le Tramway de Grenoble à Chapareillan . Imprimerie Boulevards Bouvarel Réunis, Grenoble 1985, ISBN 2-905447-02-8 , pp. 61 .
- ↑ Dominique Allemand, Patrice Boullin: Le Tramway de Grenoble à Chapareillan , S. 121st
- ↑ Henri Boyer, Patrice Bouillin: Les voies ferrées du Dauphiné , p. 28
- ↑ Henri Boyer, Patrice Bouillin: Les voies ferrées du Dauphiné , p. 35
- ↑ Dominique Allemand, Patrice Boullin: Le Tramway de Grenoble à Chapareillan , p. 28
- ↑ Locomotive Pinguely Bicabine n ° 31 at train-du-vivarais.com, accessed on May 5, 2018