Old French Railways/Tramways

[mikeyh]

For those of you that mught be interested this is about my project;
The French Railway system was initially built to link up all the big cities with Paris and the many companies were not interested (lack of profit?) in providing local services. In 1865 a law passed allowing each Department (The equivalent of Counties) to be responsible for their own lines. To keep costs down most lines were built to metre gauge with tighter curves (no need to buy so much land) and smaller stations. I spend my time ,when not modelling, researching these lines, photographing old buildings etc. Heres a few pics I have taken and some old postcards (All postcards are still in the Publi Domain or from my collection so no problems with copyright).

Riberac station (now a holiday home for SNCF employees)


Parcoul-Medillac (the other end of the line)


Th old toilets in my friends Garden (he lives in the old station







I'll post more later if you're interested

Mike

Mike

[mikeyh]

Of course the research and the photos become the patterns for my buildings on my layout. One more interesting fact is that the french always put a layer of sand/gravel mix over the ballast (because most lines ran through the towns and villages and it made it safer for the cyclists/horses). This has the effect of making the track more to scale and looks much better.

Mike

[ACLR]

great pictures mate thanks for sharing

[steamyjim]

Interesting pictures!

[SillyBilly]

Sounds like a very exciting project!

[mikeyh]

and some more pics all from around 1910







mike

[mhlr]

wow, very interesting!!! I also look at pictures of old cornish mineral lines etc. to base my railway on.

[mikeyh]

I buy loads of old postcards from ebay (france) They're only about £1 each and the postage is cheap to. Good source of info for historical lines!

Had a good Christmas so far?

Mike