Old tram of Rouen

The old tram of Rouen was built after the war of 1870-1871 and brought into service in 1877. At that time to industrial and demographic growth, the old styles horse-drawn of transport, hackney carriages and Bus, set up since the end of the 18th century and gradually reinforced, were not enough any more to ensure the urban service roads.

The local municipal officials thus decided to adopt these new means of communication, invented with the the United States in 1832. Initially with animal haulage and vapor, the Tramway was electrified in 1896. Its network extended soon on the various districts from the center from the city on Right Bank from the the Seine, reached the municipalities of the northern plate, the heights of Bonsecours in the east, irrigated the textile valley of the Cailly in the west, crosses the river and served, in the south, the suburbs and industrial suburbs of left bank. The Tramway of Rouen then covered the agglomeration of 70 kilometers of line, the longest electrical communication of France to the Belle Time, contributing to successes of the events marking the history of the city: colonial Exposure of 1896, festivals of the Norman millenium of 1911.

Even if the Années 1920 still transfer a light growth of the traffic, the development of the network were finished, the competition of the road novel modes of urban displacement put a term at its monopoly. The rise to power of the Bus and Trolley bus, the crisis of the years 1930, and especially the Second world war which devastated the city Norman, condemned the tram to disappearance. The last motor coaches ceased circulating in 1953, after 76 years of service. Since 1994, new a tram was given in exploitation in the capital Norman.

First trams

Horse or vapor?

Integrated into the royal field of France after the conquest of the Normandy by Philippe Auguste, Rouen is remained one of the largest cities of the kingdom under the Ancien Mode. The 19th century saw there thriving, at the sides of the traditional activities of the Textile and the faience manufacture, new industries, Chimie, paper mill, as well as navigation on the the Seine, river which, since the Moyen-âge, constituted for Parisian the way of the sea. Napoleon said: “Paris, Rouen, Le Havre forms the same city whose Seine is the main street” . Rouen was thus, with Orleans, the first great French agglomeration with being connected by Railroad with Paris, on May 3rd 1843. The economic growth related to the blooming of the First Industrial revolution under the Second Empire and the increase continues of the population obliged the municipal authorities rouennaises, after the war of 1870-1871, to reconsider displacements inside the city like between the latter and the bordering communes expanding, informant of public utility a network with normal way and traction of horses adding up 9 lines for a development of: 27500 meters, namely:

line 1: Bridge of Pierre - Maromme (Half-moon), by the barrier of Le Havre and the R.N. 14 (: 6600 m).
line 2: Town hall - Darnétal, by the Saint-Hilaire place (: 3500 m).
line 3: Town hall - Sotteville-the-Rouen (Four-Ponds), by the Bridge of Pierre and the town hall of Sotteville (: 4800 m).
line 4: Bridge of Pierre - the Petit-Quevilly (Round Point), by the Saint-Sever church (: 3300 m).
line 5: Town hall - Botanical garden, by the Bridge of Pierre and the Saint-Sever church (: 2900 m).
line 6: Bridge of Pierre - Station Green street, by the quays, the streets Jeanne-with Arc and Ernest-Leroy (: 1700 m).
line 7: Bridge of Pierre - Saint-Hilaire Place, by the boulevards of Nitrière and Martainville (: 1500 m).
line 8: Town hall - Quay of the Mount-Riboudet, by the street of the Hotel-of-City, the place and the Cauchoise boulevard (: 1600 m).
line 9: Quay of the Mount-Riboudet - Station Green street, by the Cauchoise boulevard, the street of Crosne, the Old man-Market, the Rollon streets, Jeanne-in Arc and Ernest-Leroy (: 1600 m).

The city was authorized to reassign the establishment and the exploitation with one or more dealers. It quickly chooses the only serious candidate, a British citizen , Mr. Gustav Palmer Harding, representing on the continent the Merryweather firm, constructor of locomotive with vapor. This decision confirmed the close railway links maintained since nearly one half-century between the city Norman and the Perfidious Albion. The concern for Mr. Harding being obviously to promote the machines worked out by its company, it took a long time to impose its views on the municipal authorities. These last, finally convinced, authorized it to exploit with vapor the line of Maromme (line 1), brought into service on December 29th 1877. Merryweather, whose deposit was located avenue of the Mount-Riboudet, ensured the traction of the convoys then. Of reduced size, restricted weight (4,7 T), these reversible engines with two coupled axles, entirely covered with a case out of wooden, had the aspect of a normal car not to frighten the horses. They towed cars with imperial whose lower compartment was closed, the covered but laterally open upper part.

Success and questioning of the first modes of traction

In front of the success of the first connection, its prolongation until the Saint-Hilaire place was not long in being quickly open, on June 1st 1878. Mr. Harding then founded the Compagnie of the Trams of Rouen (CTR) and put in exploitation new sections, those of the town hall to the Mount-Riboudet (line 8) and Darnétal (line 2) inaugurated in traction vapor, respectively the September 3rd 1878 and June 23rd 1879. On the other hand, lines 4,5,6 and 3, crossing districts with the too narrow streets, were entrusted to the horses at the time of their startup, the October 3rd 1878, December 12th 1878, February 6th 1879 and September 27th 1879. Line 9 was not built because of technical difficulties.

During more than 6 years, engines (the park gathered to 23 machines) and horses coexisted on the network rouennais. Moreover, the machines caused the anger of the residents, which showed them to dirty their curtains, to break their crystal glasses and of the coachmen whose animals were frightened by the horn of the mechanic and the noise " infernal" convoys.

The electrification of the network

The mediocrity of the horse-drawn service and the prospect for large the colonial Exposition which was to open with Rouen on April 1st 1896 led the municipality to consider, in 1895, the extension and the electrification of the network. Finally, after long debates, the town hall accepted the project of the CTR. The electrification was then entrusted to the company Thomson Houston, whereas the " was elaborate; first réseau" , rich person of 10 lines with normal way, news or taking again the old layouts:
Bridge Crow/Maromme (line 1) - Which occurred of the Mount-Riboudet/Darnétal (line 2) -/Station Town hall of Sotteville (line 3) - Beauvoisine Place/Botanical garden (line 4) - Beauvoisine Place/Place of the Carthusian monks (line 5) - Town hall/Round Point with the Petit-Quevilly (line 6) - Bridge Crow/Station Green street (line 7) - Town hall/Street of Lyons (line 8) - Circular by the boulevards and the quays of the Right Bank (line 9) - Park Sotteville/Four-Ponds (line 10).

The longest electrical communication of France

Popular passion and the installation of a second network

Work of infrastructure and construction of the powerplant, street Lemire, were carried out with an astonishing celerity. A first motor coach was brought into service on January 22nd 1896, the electrified network was delivered with fifteen days in advance on the program; the last horse-drawn tram circulated on July 19th on the line of Sotteville. As of its first turns of wheels, the novel mode of transport had a considerable success (in 1896, more than 15 million passengers are transported), the motor coaches were taken by storm by of Rouennais enthusiastic. The park of traction, composed of 50 vehicles, had to be reinforced by the ordering of 25 new machines as of the first year of service. They were traditional trams with two Essieu X driven by two engines of 25 CV (one by axle) and of a capacity of 40 places. Thanks to the popular success, the network was supplemented: prolongation of line 10 until Saint-Etienne-of-Rouvray the inaugurated on April 16th 1899, construction of one 11th section of Maromme to Our-Lady-with-Bondeville (December 17th 1899), of one 12th of the Saint-Sever church to the barrier Saint-Maur (February 6th 1908), on which the convoys being able to comprise to 3 vehicles circulated to 20 km/h, departures spreading out every 20 minutes. After being itself run up against many difficulties to which the CTR aggravated by this unforeseen competitor was not foreign, the new company called Electric Traction E. Cauderay, subsidiary of famous General Compagnie of Traction, was seen allotting, by the decree of July 17th 1899, the concession of 5 routes: Park of Orleans/Amfreville-the-Semi-Way (line 1) - Quay of the Stock Exchange/Bapeaume (line 2) - Quay of Paris/Église of the Petit-Quevilly, by the Pont Boieldieu (line 3) - Quay of the Stock Exchange/Bihorel (line 4) - Place of northern Boulingrin/Cimetière, by the Monumental one (line 5). The first circulations took place as of on January 18th 1900 on line 1, the other sections were brought into service on March 10th of the same year, but, vis-a-vis the opposition of the CTR, the tram of the Petit-Quevilly had to be amputee of part of his course, its terminus established street Leon Malétra.

Towards the concentration

This second network was definitely less productive than the first; for 16 kilometers of ways, the convoys only transported: 1460000 passengers in 1901, is: 91000 per kilometer. Administrative problems, the spectacular accident of Monumental on November 6th 1908 and a considerable deficit led CGT to get rid in 1908 of this second network to the profit of the central Company of tram and railroads. The latter become for the occasion the Company rouennaise of Trams or CRT reassigned its rights, in 1910, with the CTR finally removed from its transitory rivals), the CTR reorganized the lines from the point of view of a more coherent service road of the agglomeration. It also completed the extension of the network with the startup of the last routes, by prolonging line 12 to the Racecourse on January 1st 1910, by reaching the town hall of Wood-Guillaume on June 4th 1911 and that of Mount-Saint-Aignan on March 15th 1913; the last section, conceded under the railways of local interest, connected Grand-Quevilly (street of the Church) and, by junction, the town hall of the Petit-Quevilly, on August 1st 1915. The network then reached its greater extension with 70 kilometers of line (by counting the tram of Bonsecours).

The tram during the First World War

The First World War did not go, as much as elsewhere, to affect the service of the trams. After a short disturbance related to the massive mobilizations of August 1914, the CTR was made a duty maintain a service normal during the four years of conflict. It mitigated its lack of manpower by the multiplication of overtime, the suppression of the vacation, the employment of the personnel of the deposits to traction; the receivers, with their greater satisfaction, almost all were promoted wattmen. Starting from 1916, women (old of more than 24 years in 1916, of more than 23 years in 1918) compensated the men in the control of the trams, but, sexism of the time obliging, these " wattwomen " could circulate only on the lines known as easy, those of Mount-Saint-Aignan, Wood-Guillaume or of Monumental with strong declivities were prohibited for them.

To satisfy the military needs, the network prolonged the section of the Racecourse to the castle of Madrillet, sits of an important base of the British task force. It also establishes a connection with the station Saint-Sever to allow the routing of the casualties made by railway convoys to the principal hospitals of the city. These installations, built in times records, disappeared found peace.

Operational difficulties to the closing of the network

A hard recovery and beginnings of competition

For lack of maintenance, ways and materials were found in sorry state at the end of the hostilities, whereas the expenditure increased in a vertiginous way. This delicate situation became dramatic after the serious fire of the deposit of Trianon which, on November 30th 1921, destroyed 70 motor coaches out of the 155 had by the CTR. Successive rises of tariffs made it possible to avoid urgently, but with the new convention of December 29th 1923. were announced the reorganization of the network and the nearest arrival of a hard competitor for the tram: the Bus. Transport by rail was then the object of critical sharp, one reproached him the insufficiency of the number of places offered, the slowness and the discomfort of its cars, its obstruction of center town whereas the motor vehicle traffic " explosait". A new accident on the line of Monumental, on October 5th 1925, precipitated the events, the trams lost their first route.

The innovation to resist

That did not prevent the CTR from beating all its records of multitude in 1928 with more than 30 million transported travellers. As of 1929 however, the Autobus seized the narrow streets of the center as well as sections with weak traffic (Carthusian monk, Maromme, Circulaire…). The trams continued to run and did not intend to be made évincer, also undertook one great operations of restoration and modernization of the material during the decade preceding the second world war. Between 1928 and 1932, 75 motor coaches of the first generation were rebuilt, whereas the single class was essential, allowing the use of only one agent per car.

Dynamic, the workshops rouennais reflect as in point two prototypes, of traditional design, but provided with a double collapsible door with before and of a compressed-air safety device for one, electric for the other, which were used as models for a series of 25 cars called " Nogentaises". 25 new trailers, vestibulées, supplemented this work of progress. In 1931, was built a motor coach " révolutionnaire" equipped with brakes discs and the treadle drive, which did not give, fault of financial means, of descendants. The Thirties also transfer the arrival of the Trolleybus, cumulating the double advantage of the electric traction and the adherence of the tire; these newcomers supplanted the old trams on the lines of the Mount-Saint-Aignan, Sotteville and Saint-Etienne-of-Rouvray the. In 1938, the park of traction however was reinforced by the arrival of the " Parisiennes" , 10 reversible oars coming from the capital.

The Second world war and end of the tram

The Second world war struck hard the city Norman and its grid system. Already, in 1939, the mobilization and the requisitions had reduced the number of circulations; the enemy advance, in 1940, forced the genius to dynamite the Pont S, on June 9th, which paralyzed the relations by trams between two banks until in 1946. With the German occupation, the lines were gradually reopened but the service was reduced. The difficulties were such during this painful period that the leaders of the CTR had to improvise maintenance workshops in the open air. The Bombardement S of spring 1944 reflect a term with this pretense of exploitation by their massive destruction, in particular the destruction of the power station of the street Lemire.

August 30th 1944 saw the end of oppression Nazi E and the release of the city which was going slowly to bandage its wounds. The assessment of the black years proved to be catastrophic: on the 76 motor coaches circulating in 1939, 24 had been destroyed, 25 were damaged; ways and air lines were mutilated; the deposit of Trianon had been touched on several occasions by the bombs. A slow resumption of the traffic could however take place thanks to devotion of the personnel and sometimes with the voluntary assistance of the users who took part in the operation of the trailers. In 1945, 38 motor coaches and 14 trailers were in operating condition, but, in spite of the re-establishment of the passage on the the Seine for the trams on April 20th 1946, the war had condemned this first means of transport of mass of the agglomeration Norman which the last convoy circulated on the line of the Racecourse. However Rouennais did not forget the irreplaceable services rendered by their tram, they organized a burial of first class to him. Indeed, a few moments after ultimate regular circulation, a procession of honor made up of three motor coaches led those, acclaimed by crowd, of the Town hall to the deposit of Trianon. The tram deserved such a homage well after 76 years of service.

Funicular and tram of Bonsecours

Projects of service road

Bonsecours, located on a plate at the south-east of Rouen, laid out until in 1890 only of rare slow trains ensuring the connections with the capital Norman. However, this commune attracted many walkers, allured by the splendid panorama which one enjoyed on the Méandre S the the Seine, and a crowd of pilgrims going to the Sanctuaire dedicated to the Vierge.

A first project of railway of mountain, more known under the name of the " trams of granit" , was presented in 1876 per Mr. Cordier; it was one of these eccentric ideas of which often gratifié us transport by Rail at the 19th century. To mitigate the low adherence of the traditional ways, Mr. Cordier planned a track made up of two flagstones of Granit enchased in the Béton and comprising between them a continuous beam of guidance. The line of: 2200 m, whose departure was fixed quay of the Stock Exchange, would have been attended by vehicles motorized with vapor of a capacity of 30 places only, but able to circulate as much on the public highways that on their special infrastructure! In addition to its adventurous technical side, this line would have involved a considerable investment, the slope of 100 ‰ driving with Bonsecours not requiring less than 30 Viaduc S an overall length of 250 Mr. One imagines easily that the project was quickly abandoned.

The installation of the funicular and the tram

Finally, it is in 1892 that Bonsecours was connected to the “lowlands “thanks to construction, by two Swiss engineers, Misters Ludwig and Schopfer, of a Funiculaire with water counterweight. Declared public utility on June 8th 1892 and inaugurated 19 same month, this railroad of mountain, 400 m length and rising to 132 m above the river, started from Eauplet on the edges of the Seine to lead on the esplanade of the Basilica. Each car, being able to transport 90 people including 50 sitted, was equipped with a water tank filled in 5 minutes; 12 daily outward journeys and returns were envisaged, more the days of great multitude. Already heavily penalized by the irregularity of the boat of Eauplet ensuring the correspondence with Rouen, the funicular had to face before the end of the century a dangerous rival: the Tram. Under consideration as of 1889 in traction vapor, then electric starting from 1895, the new line whose exploitation was entrusted to the Company of the Tram of Bonsecours, was brought into service on May 21st 1899. Of a length of: 5600 m between its two ends (the Bridge Crow and the crossing of the RN 14 with the way of Belbeuf), this route saw circulating of the motor coaches (7 at the most) more powerful than their counterparts rouennaises. The machines, in front of being able to swallow strong slopes (up to 90 ‰), had two engines of 38 CV and could accommodate 48 passengers, plus 42 others if a trailer were harnessed to them.

Different destinies

Daily Soixante-douze outward journeys and returns ensured the success of the tram which transported close to: 700000 travellers in 1901 against: 140000 for a funicular in full financial decrepitude (: 210000 passengers in 1898), the tram was thus going to ensure only the service road of Bonsecours. Its history merges then with that of the network rouennais; its service was definitively stopped on February 24th 1953.

The tram of Trianon

Need for a better service road of left bank

The Banlieue S of left bank were, at the beginning of the 20th century, principal the recipients of the demographic expansion of the agglomeration rouennaise, in particular the communes of Sotteville (the large city cheminote) and of the Grand-Quevilly, but these localities did not have a grid system jointly sufficient. If the Company of the Trams of Rouen had brought into service some lines well, those answered badly waitings of the residents eager to use of fast connections between the periphery and the center town. Thus line 4 of the CTR, which had its origin places Beauvoisine, finished with the roundabout of Trianon at the end of the botanical garden. Its prolongation towards the south to the roundabout of the Heathers, place of bursting of the communications towards the new cities, and the racecourse where were held each Thursday of the important horse competitions, had been considered but remained always outstanding.

Tired of these excuses, a personality sottevillaise, Mr. Hulin, ship-owner and owner of the castle of the Heathers, asked for in 1903 the concession of a horse-drawn tram line way of 0m60, of type Decauville, which would ensure the connection between the roundabout of Trianon and the racecourse while following the road of Elbeuf, that is to say a course of 2 km, as well as the displacement of the terminus beyond the racecourse to the entry of a vast cemetery which the authorities envisaged to establish and near a shooting range. The trams rouennais not being opposed to the installation of a route which did not carry damage to them, the declaration of public utility as a railroad of local interest was obtained on March 10th 1905.

A small train in the city

Work could then begin and the line was brought into service the 1" April 1906, although the official authorization of opening dates only from the 28 of the same month. This short section of: 2200 m, only open to passenger transport, presented a rectilinear layout between the roundabout of Trianon and the racecourse, the way of 0m60 was established in verge of the street of Elbeuf between the trees bordering this artery and the fences of the grounds around (of which much belonged… to Mr. Hulin), and this material was garaged with the deposit located near the racecourse. The frequency of the service road was particularly high, since the number of daily outward journeys and returns amounted to 30, the totality of the line being traversed in 10 minutes with the maximum speed of 25 km/h was catastrophic: 0,39, were replaced by tractor drawn convoys. Two locomotive with vapor Orenstein & Koppel of the type 020T, whose chimneys had been provided with a device spark catcher to avoid the possible fires during circulations in skirt of forest of the Rouvray, were placed at the head of oars of two open cars (of the portable lamps) accommodating 16 travellers each one.

A transitory existence

The line was not profitable for as much: the operating ratio fell to 0,32 for the year 1907 and the number of the transported travellers rose with: 34000 against: 60000 envisaged. Except for Thursday, day of horse-races, and Sunday when the Tramway conveyed many walkers in love with stroll forest, the material rolled with very little of passengers, often with vacuum. Moreover, the high number of outward journeys and returns prohibited with the Tramway the possibility of ensuring the correspondences of the network of Rouen, so that the users of the small line waited the roundabout of Trianon a long time. If this last wish were accepted without reserve by the departmental authorities, the reduction of the service was matched certain conditions, as can indicate it to us this extract of the report/ratio of Mr. Soulier (General adviser of Rouen, 6 {{E}} canton) dated May 6th 1908:

It is of course that, since it is only about one minimum, the Company will remain always free to start the number of trains necessary to transport the travellers who will present themselves, that it will satisfy this condition, its own interest is guaranteeing, and, while giving more complete satisfaction to the public, its material will be employed judiciously, instead of rolling to vacuum during part of the day to the detriment of its maintenance. Being given the little of frequentation of this line the days of week, except Thursday (races), one can perfectly admit the reduction with 10 of the voyages for the part going of the racecourse to the forest, but, with regard to the part of the way of Trianon to the racecourse, it appears essential to the chief engineer (Lechalas) to maintain the minimum of voyages to 30, if not it would be a kind of abandonment of the line, because at this small distance, it will be able to be established an appreciable traffic only on the condition of presenting frequent departures.

These modifications of the service undoubtedly reduced somewhat the running costs, but the operating ratio remained dramatically low: 0,33 for the first ten months of the year 1908. Thus was completed the short history of the Tramway of Trianon, first railroad of local interest victim of economic logic but especially of two congenital errors. A preliminary draft was launched in September 1987 before the Déclaration of public utility does not intervene on April 22nd 1991. Work could thus start, the material being ordered near GEC-Alsthom and, on December 17th 1994, Rouen found, with the inauguration of the first line in form of Y, its tram.

Appendices

Bibliography and sources

Departmental records of Seine-Maritime.
municipal Files of Rouen. high-Norman
Herve Bertin, Small Trains and Trams , Cénomane/Life of the Rail, Mans, 1994.
Jacques Chapuis, “the urban transport in the agglomeration rouennaise”, regional and urban Railroads , 71,72,73 and 74.
Jacques Chapuis and E. Naillon, “the urban transport in the agglomeration rouennaise”, Life of the Rail , 1089.
Jean-Luc Bayeux, Public transport in the agglomeration rouennaise , 26, Collection History (S) of agglo, Agglomeration of Rouen, 2003. (To read on line)
Jacques Chapuis and Rene Hulot, “the tram of Trianon to the forest of Rouvray”, in regional and urban Railroads , 51.
Jean-Claude Marquis, illustrated Little story of transport into Seine-Lower than the , CRDP, Rouen, 1983.
Rene Running, the Time of the trams , ED. from the CABRI, Chin, 1982.
Henri Domengie, Small Trains of formerly: West of France , ED. from the CABRI, Breil-on-Roya, 1989.

Related bonds

Rouen
Tramway of Rouen
Public transport rouennais
Gare of Rouen Bank-Right-hand side
Gare of Rouen Bank-Left-Saint-Sever
Transporter bridge of Rouen
Tramway
Tramway of Le Havre
Liste of the trams of France

External bonds

the Tram of Rouen on the site of the Museum of the urban transport, photographs of the last motor coaches in Historical circulation
of the TCAR
Site of the Federation of the Friends of the Secondary Railroads

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