141-R conquering the Mediterranean

Auteur : Clive Lamming

The ‘M’ in PLM doesn't stand for Marseille. Many people believe that PLM stands for ‘Paris, Lyon, Marseille’, whereas the great network was intended to be the railway from Paris to Lyon and the Mediterranean, since it had a broad vision... When the 141-Rs were launched, the PLM no longer existed, having been replaced in 1938 by the SNCF. The line along the Côte d'Azur, an extension of the line from Paris to Marseille, offered the 141-Rs a perfect field of action, as its electrification was only completed relatively late, between 1965 and 1970.

Located on what became known as the ‘imperial’ line because it followed the river bank of the same name which ran along the left bank of the Rhône (in memory of the Holy Roman Empire), Marseille developed rapidly, especially as the service was extended to Nice in 1864 and Ventimiglia in 1869. By 1938, for example, when the port of La Joliette was being expanded and transformed, traffic was 10 times that of the 1850s, with 900,000 passengers and 10 million tonnes of goods passing through every year.

The magnificent Nice-ville station was opened in 1864. This masterpiece by the architect Louis-Jules Bouchot is located on Avenue Thiers. It's architecture is in the so-called ‘Spanish’ style, similar to that of Valenciennes, for example.© IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

THE MANY STATIONS IN MARSEILLE

Gare Saint-Charles is at the heart of the city's railway system. Since it is located in a cul-de-sac, close to the old town on a hilly site, all long-distance trains serving Marseille are required to stop and change direction, departing in the opposite direction. And this is still the case today for TGV trains from Paris to Nice that stop at Marseille.

This situation was not particularly troublesome in the days of steam and the 141-R and 241-P, as a change of locomotive was necessary in any case, and the manoeuvre was even fairly quick, as the locomotive supplied by the Blancarde depot could be put immediately at the end of the train for departure in the opposite direction, enabling the locomotive coming from Valence or Arles to clear the track on the platform. Marseille-Arenc was one of the largest low-speed stations on the PLM network between 1930 and 1950, thanks to its annexes known as ‘Joliette-Docks’ and ‘Voies des Quais’.

It served the port's various docks, and provided transit services for shipping companies, as well as being a local station for industrial companies throughout the northern part of the Marseilles agglomeration. It was also a major passenger station for traffic from what was then known as the Outremer region (overseas territories).

Its trains served the ocean liners sailing to Algeria (Compagnie Générale Transatlantique), Morocco (Compagnie Paquet), the Near and Far East (Messageries Maritimes), India and Australia (Compagnie Péninsulaire et Orientale). Finally, Marseille-Arenc was also the destination for fresh products from North Africa, making it one of France's biggest centres for vegetable and fruit shipments.

The La Voulte bridge, on the right bank of the Rhône, was the first new SNCF bridge built after the Second World War, linking La Voulte station directly to Livron station (on the left bank). This bridge marks the renewal of the French network and the massive introduction of reinforced concrete.© IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

THE END OF THE 141-R REIGN ALONG THE CÔTE D'AZUR

In the Mediterranean region of the 1960s, the 141-R remained the sole steam series in service. The Marseille-Les Arcs electrification system effectively eliminated steam traction in the rest of the region and in the Nice depot, and 141-Rs were even banned from the new Monte-Carlo underground station. The Marseille-Blancarde depot, which had once been very involved in steam traction, now only operated a few freight trains on the Alps line as far as Veynes and on the Estaque coast line to Port-de-Bouc and Miramas.

The amazing swing bridge over the Etang de Caronte on the Miramas line that allows the passage of sea vessels equipped with a fixed bridge that would otherwise have to take a kilometre-long journey along the shore lines.

The very interesting plan of Marseille's railway installations, published in Géographie des Chemins de fer by Henri Lartilleux in 1955, shows the complexity of Marseille's system. St-Charles, La Joliette and Vieux Port stations are remarkably ‘dead-ends’.

Charles and Blancarde shows that trains from Paris to Nice cannot serve Marseille unless they have to change direction at St-Charles station, which is at a dead end. This was to be a very serious inconvenience, and it remains so today.

ELSEWHERE, AT THE SAME TIME

KRIEGSLOK": THE WAR EFFORT TO THE POINT OF TEARS

The German Type 150 locomotive was a product of the German war effort, a time when pressing military needs drove locomotive manufacturers to abandon the classicism of protracted studies in favour of simplified locomotives ‘as quickly as possible’.

THE ‘52’, A LOCOMOTIVE UNLIKE ANY OTHER

The military requirements of the National Socialist Germany were such that they needed a locomotive capable of towing trains weighing up to 1,200 tonnes, travelling at a speed of 65 kph. These locomotives formed the 52 series. Around 6,400 units were built during the first months, and the ‘Kriegslok’ still remains the most numerous series in the world, with over 7,000 units produced if you include all the locomotives produced in occupied countries.

All non-essential parts are scrapped: access ladders or sophisticated systems such as servomotors. Superheaters were also removed, as were some of the indicators in the driver's cabin. The connecting rods were made from two ‘T’ sections welded together along their entire length to form an ‘H’: a bold simplification that would have caused engineers in peacetime to break out in a cold sweat. The chassis was made of welded metal sheets: forget the steel longitudinal members or the cast steel frame. These locomotives were so simple that any non-specialist firm could assemble them, which meant they were assembled in kit form all over Germany.

The famous German ‘Kriegslok’, or 52 series, in all its power and also in deprivation, since it was stripped of many accessories such as ladders and railings. These 7,000 locomotives would give the Germans hope of victory.© IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

AN ERA

Years 1948-1950 nice historical scene, when the streamlined carriages called "DEV" or "Forestier" came into service on the main lines. Everyone, or almost everyone, wears a hat or a scarf, except a handsome young man with broad shoulders and a flashy shirt, whose hair owes much to brillantine.© IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming