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Tramways de l'Aude

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rogerfarnworth

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My wife and I are spending a week or so in a village to the southwest of Carcassonne in France during September 2018. A little bit of research highlighted the existence of a network of metre-gauge tramways in the Aude. These tramways were only in operation for a few decades in the early part of 20th Century. Other matters will take priority during much of the time that we are in the department but I am interested in these lines and have pulled together a blog which gives an overview of the lines and which is based around a French Wikipedia article about the lines.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/08/27/tramways-de-laude-overview-part-1

The plan is to look at the different lines in turn in future posts.

Tramways de l'Aude Sketch Map.png
 
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Calthrop

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Very interesting material in your linked "overview" as above -- thanks. I find it striking -- and sad, but not altogether surprising -- that a good many French local metre-gauge systems serving individual departements were, as here in Aude -- and as you remark -- decidedly short-lived: closing in their entirety, before World War II. W.J.K. Davies in his Minor Railways of France says of the Aude system, that it used in its latter years, a few De Dion railbuses; and that after its takeover in 1930 by the "bus-minded" Societe Generale des Transports Departementaux, its rail operations were rapidly phased out -- closure of last of same, in 1932: another alternative to the 1933 and 1934 suggestions, in your overview (not that there's any reason to think that Davies is infallible !).

I often tend to confusion -- have to think for a moment to get it straight -- between the departements of Aude; and Aube, far away in the east of France. Aube had a small departemental metre-gauge system -- just a couple of shortish lines -- which survived until a few years after World War II.
 
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If you should visit Lagrasse Abbey (SE of Carcassonne) then the Musee 1900 has a display including a "model" of the branch of the TA system from Lezignan.
 
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This next post follows up the first overview of the Tramways with information which comes from the first of a series articles from 1961 .....

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/08/31/tramways-de-laude-overview-part-2

This second part of the overview of Les Tramways de l’Aude is based on the first of a series of three articles provided by Loco-Revue in its magazine in late 1961, written in French by C. Lacombe. It is not a direct translation, and it seeks not to repeat information already provided in the first post in this series. [1] Inaddition a short set of notes are provided about the Compagnie du Midi which also served the department de l’Aude. Another post will look at the remaining articles by C. Lacombe. ….
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Very interesting "overview 2" -- thanks. The gen there seems to wrap it up, about date of system's demise: nothing more on rail w.e.f. 1 / 1 / 1933. Once that ruthless Societe Generale des Transports Departementaux got their hands on the outfit -- speedily, "curtains" for rail operation.

Interesting that the system suffered owing to no track maintenance throughout World War I. One does get the picture that France was extremely hard-hit by that war... Departing from the subject of Aude; but am reminded of a curious anomaly in that connection, read of long ago in a French publication. There was a longish independent standard-gauge system which ran eastward out of Lyon; quite a long extension to same, was built and opened in the midst of World War I -- if the article which I'm recalling, explained why doing this was adjudged permissible and indeed necessary notwithstanding the war, I've forgotten the explanation. Much of the article was given to telling of the teams of men who built the line and laid the track: they were "billeted" in villages en route, and it seemed that various high jinks ensued between them, and local ladies whose menfolk were away at the war. Lucky guys, enjoying this rural idyll instead of being in the trenches; it would seem that France too, had scenes of perceived white-feather-merchants and shirkers.
 
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This is the third part part of the overview and covers much about the locomotives and rolling stock on the line.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/08/31/tramways-de-laude-overview-part-3

On 28th December 1910, the train for Olonzac painfully climbed the coast of Felines, with a strong head-wind in the storm. But the Corpet-Louvert 0-6-0T reached the top of the gradient despite the strength of the wind. However, on the last curve before the pass which separates the departments of Aude and Herault, and 50 m from the summit, the train suddenly exposed its flank to the enemy and the three passenger cars and the van overturned against the embankment.

Three years later, on 28th November 1913, Train No. 144, towed by Corpet-Louvert No. 40, consisting of three freight cars, two passenger coaches and a van, left Narbonne at 9:55am for Thézan. The wind blew violently and the locomotive struggled against it. Even so, the trip seemed to be going relatively well. However, just 6 km from its destination after the train had passed Saint-Andre Station, the wind redoubled in violence. The locomotive swayed heavily but remained on the track, so did the three freight cars, but the two coaches and the van were lifted bodily and thrown into the vineyard alongside the track.
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Your continuing "overview", I find absolutely fascinating: very informative concerning this m/g system, about which I had hitherto known very little.

Reading that the very short section (about 2 km., by my measuring) La Nouvelle -- Port La Nouvelle -- the final stretch of a longer line running from further inland -- carried a significant summer passenger traffic (one takes it, from the standard-gauge station to the beach), appreciably more -- in the season -- than any other part of the system: the wishful-thinking mechanism begins to work overtime. If only (in a situation of a kind which occasionally did come to pass in various corners of the world) this one brief section had been retained on rail, for summers only, 1933-on; and by what would have had to be a series of miracles, had continued thus in use, right up to the present day...
 
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On 6th September 2018, my wife and I visited a series of towns and villages in the Aude before visiting the Citadel in Carcassonne. We managed to combine an interest in ecclesiastical history (Saint Dominic and the Cathars) with some visits to spectacular castles and churches and two of the tramway routes serves by the Tramways de l'Aude.

I have been working on the post below with a view to publishing it after travelling the route, which we did today. First thing in the morning, we walked the first 3 kilometres of the tramway which left Fanjeaux heading for Bram. We then drove the route of the tramway from Fanjeaux to Saint-Denis in our little hire car.

We went on to follow another of the tramway routes, but more of that on another occasion!

I hope you enjoy this post.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/06/tramways-de-laude-fanjeaux-to-st-denis/
 
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Your posts re Tramways de l'Aude continue to be fascinating -- many thanks.

A rather topic-drifting observation: all the old postcards which you reproduce, are highly interesting: but in certain ones of those, some villages in Aude come across as decidedly dingy, dismal-looking places -- "le belle France" in not-so-beautiful mode !
 
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Here in France at the moment. Probably the same variation in villages as in the UK, although many of these small local communities were agricultural communities living on the breadline.

The same villages now, look quite pretty, with very little changed, so it may be that rural photography at around 1900 was not of the highest standard?
 
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The impression is got, that the whole postcard "thing" was rather different a hundred years ago: it would seem that pretty well every community in "civilised" Europe (and often in the less-civilised parts too), however small and mean, had postcards of itself and surroundings, on sale; people were into sending postcards in a bigger way than now -- one suspects, often to genuinely communicate, in the absence of assorted means of so doing, which are now universal. Postcards would seem to have little role nowadays, other than those with pretty or comic content, to send to people from one's hols.
 
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Just back now from 6 days in France. We were able to travel along parts of, or along full length s of the lines I have been looking at in this series of posts up to now. On 6the September 2018 we travelled along the line from Fanjeaux to St. Denis and then crossed over to Lastours and followed the line from Lastours to Carcassonne. On 10th September we were able to travel along part of the line from Belpech to Castelnaudary.

This post covers the line from Lastours to Carcassonne.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/09/11/tramways-de-laude-lastours-to-carcassonne

This line passed through areas of significant industry in the early 20th Century. Areas which are now essentially rural but which in those days were primarily wealth generating. The decline of this industries and that of the tramway seemed to go hand in hand.
 
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It has been a few weeks since my last post on the Tramways de l'Aude This next section is the length from Caunes-Minervois in the Aude to Siran in Herault.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/10/09/tramways-de-laude-caunes-minervois-to-siran

Topography in this area means that road gradients and curvature at the time of the building of the tramway were such that at times the tramway had to find its own route. There are two such significant lengths on the tramway in the first part of its journey with the Departement of Herault.
 
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Tim R-T-C

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Lovely posts on a fascinatingly rare topic. I'd love to model some of these routes, would make a beautiful layout.

Calthrop said:
The impression is got, that the whole postcard "thing" was rather different a hundred years ago:
Click to expand...

It is amazing to see that postcards of accidents, such as train and boat wrecks, were pretty commonplace. Imagine the repulsion these days if they were for sale these days!
 
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