Froissy Dompierre Light Railway

Coordinates: 49°55′24″N 2°43′45″E / 49.92333°N 2.72917°E / 49.92333; 2.72917

Froissy Dompierre Light Railway (P'tit Train de la Haute Somme)
Franco-Belge 0-8-0 type KDL
Locale	France
Terminus	Froissy - Dompierre
Commercial operations
Name	Le P'tit train de la Haute Somme
Built by	British and French armies
Original gauge	600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in)
Preserved operations
Operated by	APPEVA (Association Picarde pour la Préservation et l'Entretien des Véhicules Anciens)
Stations	4
Length	7 kilometres (4.3 mi)
Preserved gauge	600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in)
Commercial history
Opened	1916
Closed	1972
Preservation history

Alco WDLR locomotive at the Ffestiniog Railway 1995 gala.

The Froissy Dompierre Light Railway (CFCD) is a 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) narrow gauge light railway running from Froissy (a hamlet of La Neuville-lès-Bray) to Dompierre-Becquincourt, through Cappy, in the Somme department, France. It is run as a heritage railway by APPEVA (Association Picarde pour la Préservation et l'Entretien des Véhicules Anciens) and is also known as P'tit Train de la Haute Somme. It is the last survivor of the 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) narrow gauge trench railways of the World War I battlefields.

History

Service Map in 1923

In 1915, the French Army built a railway along the Somme Canal between Péronne and Froissy. Between 1916 and 1918 the railway was at the Allied front line, and transporting 1,500 tonnes of materials daily. At Froissy, the metre gauge Réseau Albert connected with the CFCD.^[1]

After the war, the railway was used in assisting with the reconstruction and also to bring food into the villages it served. New lines were laid including a zig-zag to reach the Santerre Plateau. The line was by this time being used for the transportation of sugar beet to the sugar refinery in Dompierre. In 1927, a further deviation was built to avoid Cappy Port, which required a 300 metres (330 yd) tunnel. The line was extended to Chaulnes in 1931. The line escaped World War II with little damage, although one train of molasses was attacked by a British aircraft. Two Coferna diesel locomotives were acquired in 1942, working alongside the Feldbahn 0-8-0s. The steam locomotives were retired in 1946 and replaced by three Plymouth loco-tracteurs. The extensions to Péronne and Chaulnes had been removed by 1954 and increased competition from road traffic meant that the line ceased operations in 1972, by which time a preservation society had already started operations.^[1]

Preservation

APPEVA was formed in 1970 with the aim of preserving a 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) narrow gauge railway as a working museum. The CFCD was a good location, being between Paris and Lille near A1 motorway and close to Amiens. APPEVA operated its first train in June 1971 between Cappy and Froissy, a distance of 1 kilometre (1,100 yd). By 1974 the line was operating as far as the top of the zig-zag and in 1976 the full line to Dompierre was opened to traffic, following improvements to the level crossing on the Santerre Plateau. In 1996, a new museum was opened in Froissy.^[1]

The line starts from the Froissy terminus and follows the towpath along the Somme canal to the little station of Cappy. It then runs through a curved tunnel more than 200 metres (220 yd) long followed by a bridge to cross the road from Cappy to Chuignes and a zig zag which was built after WWI to allow locomotives to climb the very steep slope towards the Santerre upland area. Once on the Santerre, the line runs on the side of the road to Dompierre. The terminus is located near the former sugar refinery of Dompierre.

APPEVA owns or has in store 9 steam locomotives, of which three are operating and some are considered as a Monument historique, and 24 diesel engines. The Froissy Dompierre Railway operates from April till the end of September, on Sundays and holidays, and every day of the week (except Monday) in July and August. The journey between the Froissy museum and the Dompierre terminus takes one hour. The CFCD is twinned with the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.

APPEVA publishes a monthly magazine in French devoted to narrow gauge railways and touristic railways (Standard, metric and narrow gauge) called Voie Étroite.

Museum

0-6-0 WT Decauville

The Musée des chemins de fer Militaires et Industriels (Military and Industrial railways Museum), located near the line terminus in the hamlet of Froissy (French commune of La Neuville-lès-Bray), features a large collection of 600mm gauge railway material, steam engines, diesel engines and wagons, in an 1800 m² exhibition hall inaugurated in 1996.

It also features an interesting Fairbanks-Morse speeder of 1917, used by the US Army.

Route

	0.00	Froissy
		Railway museum of Froissy
	1.80	Cappy
		Tunnel of Cappy
		"Le Z" (zig zag)
	4.60	Plateau du Santerre
	7.00	Dompierre

Rolling stock

Steam locomotives

Diesel locomotives

Passenger stock

The CFCD operates a variety of open and closed passenger stock, most of which is built on chassis of freight vehicles dating from World War One.

Freight stock

The CFCD has a variety of goods wagons, both open and closed, that date from World War One, and also examples of wagons from the industrial use of the line after World War One.

See also

• Narrow gauge railway

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Froissy Dompierre Light Railway.

• APPEVA, official web site
• Voie Étroite, official web site
• Description of a visit to the line