shorthistory

This is a succinct description of the development of rural secondary railways in France between 1870 and 1914. These lines were mostly narrow gauge, built economically, and the rail services provided were designated "Les Petits Trains", the Little Trains, by the rural populations served. These trains may have been physically small and quite unreliable, but, nevertheless, they rendered great service to country communities for many decades, until the Age of the Motor Car arrived.

Throughout the 19th century, the main railway network in France was built under the control of the central government which planned the network, financed and constructed the first railway lines, while offering "long term operating concessions" to private companies to lease the infrastructure of the new lines and to construct stations, locomotives, rolling stock and operate services.at their own risk.

The first priority of the government was to link Paris with all the main towns, ("prefectures"), in France and, of course, this represented large, profitable, traffic flows which attracted investors. Ultimately, eight large railway companies emerged from the turmoil of this period; the Compagnie de Chemin de fer de l'Est, du Nord, de l'Etat, de l'Ouest(absorbed by l'Etat in 1909), du Midi, de P.L.M., and Alsace-Lorraine. These companies were nationalized in 1938 to form the S.N.C.F.

But these large railway companies were not interested in constructing secondary railway lines linking small towns and villages, which could be seen, already, as unlikely to be a profitable activity. On the other hand, there was a huge demand from the rural population to be given better transport for access to the towns and cities. All wanted their own community linked to the main railway lines.

So the central government was obliged to force the railway companies to construct some of these unprofitable secondary lines by making that.a condition of its approval of their main line expansion plans. Even so, the large railway companies delayed as long as possible the construction of these secondary lines.

To simplify and speed up the construction of these lines, in 1865, a law was passed which delegated authority directly to the departments and communes to organize the construction of local "secondary" lines.

In order to give further impulsion to the construction of local railways, following the disturbances caused by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, a new law was passed in 1879, the so-called Freycinet law after the Minister of Public Works who promoted it..

This law identified two categories of railway lines; those in the national interest, being, principally, the main lines linking the prefectures, known as RESEAU D'INTERET GENERAL, and the little rural railway lines linking the sous-prefectures, and smaller towns and villages, being in the local interest and constituting the RESEAU D'INTERET LOCAL.

This new law simplified the formalities of construction of railways lines of all kinds out in the countryside and a plan was set to construct some 9,000 km (5,650 miles) of secondary lines by the end of the century.

By 1914, in fact, a total of some 18,000 km ( 11,250 miles) of secondary lines had been constructed in rural France. Each of these secondary lines was seldom more than 20-30 km long, but they were often linked together in a a kind of departmental network via the main prefecture. Sometimes the lines crossed into neighbouring departments, although this was always difficult to arrange.

In fact, the most difficult task of the local authorities was to choose between the many conflicting schemes and routes proposed by the population. The next most difficult task was to choose and supervise the concessionaire of the line. Many of these entrepreneurs were surprised to discover the costs of constructing and operating these little lines. While some lines were initially profitable, many were not and the entrepreneur would become increasingly dependent on subventions from the local government. In the end, this source of funds would cease and the line would close.

Some departments were successful in building and managing a network of secondary railway lines. Others were quite unsuccessful.

Obviously, many kinds of difficulties were faced by the early railway promoters. As far as the little railways were concerned,all had to be constructed at the least cost which required the avoidance of expensive bridges, tunnels and the use of light rails and small locomotives. In the desire to serve as many communities as possible, the little lines twisted and turned across the countryside; the train services were slow, especially as most trains were mixed (passenger/freight), and shunted freight wagons at each station.

It was found that narrow gauge lines could be built more economically than standard gauge lines. So many secondary lines were built to metre gauge ( 3ft 3" gauge) or even 0,60 cm gauge ( 2 ft gauge).

Most of these little lines carried three trains a day in each direction with an extra train on market days.

Station square at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, Seine et Marne on the main line to Paris.

On the left is the Hotel Buffet de la Gare.

In front a horse drawn taxi, perhaps. The absence of any motor vehicle, suggests the scene is around 1910.

Opposite is the steam train to Montreuil, some 45 km away along a picturesque valley, a journey of a little over two hours.

Two or three trains a day were operated until the 1930's when the metre gauge line gradually lost first its passenger trains and then in 1947 the freight trains were withdrawn.

Many of the secondary lines followed the side of an existing road, to save the extra cost of construction of an independant route. The large railway companies were sometimes pressured by the central government into taking over secondary lines and completing their construction, particularly where extensive civil engineering was needed ( viaducts, tunnels).

In such a way, the Paris-Orleans Company ( "PO") was obliged to constuct a mountain railway across the Massif Central from Montluçon to Neussargues in order to gain access to the south of France. See here from more details.

The secondary railway lines, built in the 19th and early part of the 20th century to provide access from the country to the towns, were often heroic enterprises because as we have seen, they were mostly built at the least cost and as a result the train services were often unreliable due to incidents and derailments. Nonetheless, the little trains were affectionately viewed by the population which had, in fact, no other choice of transport.

The First World War would change everything.