Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway
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The Saint-Étienne to Lyon line is a railway linking
History
Construction
Construction began in September 1826.
Technical data
To avoid difficulties in acquiring land, with no laws concerning compulsory purchase at the time, Seguin built several bridges and tunnels. Between 1827 and 1830 he dug the first tunnel from Couzon to Rive de Gier, with a length of 977 m, a second tunnel, only 400 m long, was dug in 1831 in Lyon. A third tunnel, 1.5 km in length, was dug under Terrenoire.
Instead of cast iron laid on stone sleepers as was then the practice in mines, Seguin decided to use iron rails on wooden sleepers.
Route
The railway followed the path of the
The line was at first meant to traverse Givors and cross the
Traction
During the first few months of operation, horses were used to provide the tractive power. Where the line descended the horses were carried in a truck for the 22 km descent and then hauled the train for the remainder of journey. For the journey up, one horse was used to haul 5 or six empty wagons. The trains were pulled at 3 or 4 km/h but ran down hill at a speed of 24 to 28 km/h.
For comfort, the Seguin company had placed drapes on the seats and used leather straps to open and close the windows. The first were cut out by passengers and made into clothes and the straps were used as belts!
Opening sections
From early 1831, the locomotive Seguin hauled twenty-four to twenty-eight empty wagons between Givors and Rive-de-Gier or seven full wagons. On 3 April 1832, the section up to Lyon was used for freight transport with a few passengers being accepted, who sat on straw in the wagons. The last section, to Saint-Étienne, was opened on 1 October 1832 for passenger use only, freight being accepted a few months later. On 4 April 1833 the line was opened in its entirety.
Rolling stock
In 1836, the company possessed 12 locomotives, 135 wagons and transported its passengers from end to end in six hours. Accidents were a regular occurrence as people would sometimes walk along the railway line. From 1844, the use of horse traction was terminated and the entire journey was done in only 2 and a half hours.
Outstanding structures
- Old tunnel of Couzon-Rive-de-Gier, built 1830, closed 1856
- New tunnel of Couzon-Rive-de-Gier, built 1856
- Pont de La Mulatière, bridge built in 1914
- Mulatière Bridge, built 1830
- Tunnel de Terrenoire, built 1829
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ "RFF – Map of electrified railway lines" (PDF).
- ^ Structurae
- ^ Gruner 1857, p. 58.
- ^ Chaulanges & Page 1948.
- ^ Merle 2013.
Sources
- Chaulanges, M.; Page, J. (1948). La Région de Lyon et de Saint-Étienne, sa Géographie, Son Histoire. Charles-Lavauzelle & Cie. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
- Gruner, Louis (1857). Description géologique et minéralogique du département de la Loire. Imprimerie impériale. p. 57. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
- Merle, René (2013). "Guillaume Roquille (1804–1860): avant-propos". Archived from the original on 2013-09-14. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
External links
- (in French) Line history on art-et-histoire
- (in French) Line history on culturerail