Metre-Gauge Tramways in Provence

Two TAM tramways, one from Cagnes-sur-Mer and one from Cannes approached the town from the south

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Calthrop said:

Something which I find a poignant oddity concerning the Tramways des Alpes Maritimes, is to do with several short lines of this undertaking which connected with the CF du Sud de la France's (still operational) metre-gauge line between Nice and Digne; to run up various Alpine valleys. These lines (electric of course, which Nice -- Digne was and is not) opened, if I understand, at a late date -- early or mid-1920s -- none lasted very long, and a couple had truly ephemerally short lives, of no more than half a dozen years: a fair number of French narrow-gauge lines / systems had working lives which were not at all long, but the above-described was exceptional even on that rather depressing scene !

Marvellous "period" pictures of the TNL Menton -- Sospel line: must have been a superbly spectacular run. "Going off at a tangent": I recall a book about the general British experience of holidaying on the Continent in the 19th / early 20th centuries, which quoted part of someone's nostalgic memoir of a "Maritime Alps" spell in spring 1914 -- shortly before World War I put a stop for a few years, to pleasant holidays in France. Brief approving mention was made by the visitor, of the "recently opened" Menton to Sospel tram route.

rogerfarnworth, I find your posts re South of France lesser lines, relaying your blog, fascinating. The old postcards which you reproduce, are a delight -- would love to know how and where they are "sourced".

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Taunton said:

Fascinating. Because we visit friends living in Grasse most years and are very familiar with all the switchback roads within the town, which nevertheless are straightforward to drive on. Am indeed surprised to find the featured line to Cagnes went out of town along the road right past their house (have sent them the link), a route which is still followed 100 years later by the hourly bus from Nice Airport to Grasse.

The main PLM railway to the town from the coast was closed in the big French closures of 1938, but SNCF reopened it in 2005, and the hourly (sort-of) emu stopping service will take you, somewhat tediously, all the way to Ventimiglia over the Italian border. May seem surprising that the railway to what is quite a significant town closed so early, but very few passengers seem to use the reopened (apparently at considerable expense) service. The station is really inconvenient for the town, oh for the funicular nowadays, because it is way down in what is really an outer suburb of the town, up against a cliff wall which prevented further direct progress. We arrived there by train one Sunday afternoon expecting to taxi onwards, only to find the entire area deserted, not even a telephone (presumably inside the locked modern station building).

Amused me on another occasion there that here at the end of a minor rail branch the Grasse station cafe was offering as a lunch combination "Formule TGV!"

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The Menton-Sospel line is the only one in the TNL network to have seen steam locomotives.

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This post focusses on the years immediately before the First World War. It was at this time that the network reached its fullest extent and it was the time when it was both in its best condition and carrying the greatest number of passengers. After the First World War things began to change and competition from other forms of transport increased.

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Tramway services left Plan du Var Station travelling North and diverged from the Nice to Digne line before reaching the Vesubie River. The images below are old postcards of the location of the junction and show the development of the site over a number of years. Initially a stone arch bridge took the road over the Vesubie, but when this failed it was replaced by the concrete arch bridge visible in some of the pictures.

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Before the tramway was constructed the Charles Albert Bridge was a suspension bridge (built by Marc Seguin in the mid-19th Century) [2] but this bridge was not designed to accommodate tramway loading. In 1913 it was rebuilt to accommodate the trams, just as was necessary with the Pont de la Mescla on the Tinée tramway. The replacement structure had six spans of over 30 metres in concrete built by the company Thorrand. In the foreground of the image immediately below, there is the Pont-Charles Albert stop and the lime kilns at La Lauziere overseen by the perched village of La Roquette sur Var, © Yann Duvivier. [6] This 'new' bridge was replaced in the mid-20th Century by the one which is in use today.

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I first looked at this tramway in 2013. It was only a short blog recognising the existence of the line in the valley.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...fer-de-provence-8-tramway-in-the-tinee-valley.

This line was 26.5 Km long and connected villages in the Tinée valley to Nice to Digne line. Like other lines of the Tramways Alpes Maritimes (TAM), the electric current was single phase. The civil engineering works (bridges, tunnels) were executed by the Department.

The line was built in 1911 and operation started on 1st April 1912. Landslides affected the operation of the line in the early months. The original opening was delayed from January to April because of landslides and on 2nd April a further landslide affected several hundred metres of track and destroyed power lines.

The line ceased operations in 1931.

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The line from Le Pont de Gueydan north to Guillaumes followed the valley of the River Var and ran through the Gorges de Daluis.

Marc Andre Dubout, writing in French, says that the line was probably the moist daring of secondary line construction work with very steep gradients, numerous tunnels, two remarkable bridges. He comments that it is the most impressive tramway from a tourist perspective with 'unique viewpoints and singular landscapes'.

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A Changing Urban Network in/around Nice

The 1930s through to the 1950s saw major changes in the urban environment. As elsewhere, the car began to dominate people understanding of progress. Other firms of transport, to a greater or lesser extent, took a secondary place. Independence, rather than interdependence, came to dominate political thinking. Strengthening democracy after the Second World War valued the perspective of the individual. By the end of the 1950s the place if the 'expert' in any debate was beginning to be challenged. No longer were people as willing to be told what was best for them. In a significant way, the car became a touchstone for that growing independence and self-confidence. The tram and the train began to be seen as part of the past rather than an important part of the future.

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