THE SITUATION OF THE SNCF NETWORK FOLLOWING THE LIBERATION

Auteur : Clive Lamming

In a France split in two by the demarcation line, only the railways could operate uninterrupted. A historical paradox represented by the case of Avricourt station, between Paris and Strasbourg, which regained its position as a frontier station that it had been between 1871 and 1918!

Most main lines only run one day train and one night train: very slow, heavily overloaded, with up to fifteen passengers per compartment in a train with as many as twenty or even twenty-five carriages per train! The night journey from Paris to Lyon, for example, took 12 hours, and used a type 140 freight locomotive, two carriages and thirty freight wagons. The Chaix timetable of 1944 only had 12 pages, and no guarantee was provided of the train's timetable.

A very rare collector's item, a Chaix timetable published by the SNCF in October 1944, when France was in the middle of the war with the Normandy landings by the Allies. The service was described as "provisional". © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

A NETWORK ALMOST ENTIRELY DESTROYED

Looking at the map of the SNCF network in 1944, one discovers that, on the few lines that were still active, it was possible to travel from Paris to Bordeaux, but without passing by Orléans, where the bridge over the Loire had been destroyed. Instead, passengers had to go via Nevers, Chagny, Lyon, Le-Teil, Nîmes, then up through the Massif-Central to Clermont-Ferrand, then back down to Limoges, Montauban, then up again to Bordeaux, a journey of almost 1,500 km and 24 hours... The operational staff were incredibly active and, while they were constantly obstructing the movements of the trains running for the occupiers, they were speeding up the others, while the track workers were rebuilding bridges and junctions in time for the 'useful' trains to pass engineering works that were to be destroyed again shortly afterwards.

On the eve of the landings on 6 June 1944, only the French colonial empire (except Indochina) and Corsica (since October 1943) had been freed, and the whole of France was liberated on 8 May 1945. At that precise date, as the map opposite shows, the SNCF network was practically unusable over long distances. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

REBUILDING AFTER THE ALLIED FORCES HAD MADE THEIR ADVANCE

The enemy army, the Allied armies, the Resistance fighters: everyone had their reasons for destroying the French rail network. But what was surprising was the speed and efficiency with which it was rebuilt. During the difficult years of 1943 and 1944, the SNCF re-established its lines immediately after the Allied troops had advanced. This is what happened on 28 August 1944, three days after General Leclerc's troops marched into Paris: the first train from Cherbourg arrived at Saint-Lazare station, albeit via Mézidon, Alençon, Le Mans, Chartres, Dreux and Maintenon.

By October 1st 1944, people could travel from Paris to Lyon, then Marseille, or to the north of France, using routes that were still very indirect but in service. In 1945, train traffic was just about 30% of the 1939 level, and in 1948 it was only 70%. The main problem was the lack of locomotives: from the 17,000 to 18,000 pre-war locomotives, only 12,000 remained on French soil, but barely 3,000 of them were really usable, and the rest were not, because of a lack of parts, of time and facilities to repair them, not to mention a lack of manpower to carry out the repairs.

A staggering sight of a magnificent large "lower deck-cage" bridge blown up at several points. It is possible that these are the viaducts over the Marne, on the eastern outskirts of Paris.

The astonishing speed with which SNCF railwaymen repaired the main lines of the French national network between September and December 1944, a period of four months! And to think that they did it with hand tools, ladders, piles of stones and wooden wedges.

American light locomotive type 140-U (less well known than the 141-R) used for freight trains, landed at Cherbourg in 1944. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © doc. revue « Chemins de fer » AFAC.

Very basic repair of a structure, perhaps on the Seine, with props, scaffolding and beams. Two locomotives are being used for testing. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

ELSEWHERE, AT THE SAME TIME

THE TRAIN'S LOCOMOTIVE THAT WAS WORTH 10,000,000 DOLLARS!

This train was the American "Twentieth Century" which, from the late 1930s onwards, had an extraordinary type 232 locomotive, called the "J3a", with a spectacular fairing, whose design was primarily intended to affirm the company's brand image.

THE AGE OF DESIGNERS

Raymond Loewy is perhaps the greatest of them all. He designed literally everything, from Studebaker cars to Coca-Cola bottles. But he was up against another giant: There was Henry Dreyfuss, and the choice of the New York Central Lines was ultimately very successful, as Dreyfuss's famous bullet-shaped J3a locomotive totally overshadowed Loewy's slightly too round and heavily wrapped locomotive. Dreyfuss designed cars that seemed very spacious and uncluttered, thanks to the combination of windows, mirrors and partitions, which made you forget you were on a train. In this battle, Dreyfuss's 'Twentieth Century' triumphed.

Magnificent and emblematic locomotive type 232, series "J3a" of the New-York Central RR network seen in 1940. The bodywork is the masterpiece of designer Henry Dreyfuss (1904-1972). © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © Collection Trainsconsultant-Lamming

THE MOST LUXURIOUS TRAIN IN THE WORLD

In 1926, the "Century" brought in 10 million dollars. The fleet consisted of 122 cars and 24 locomotives, type 232 or "Hudson". Trains were in operation throughout the day, and the President of New York Central Lines was given a personal report every day on compliance with timetables, incidents, delays and the number of passengers carried. The train therefore remained in the spotlight, in terms of both the hierarchy and the media... Its average speed was emblematic of the "a mile a minute" system, i.e. 96 km/h, with peak speeds of over 160 km/h.

AN ERA

Locomotive type 230.K, No. 249, dated 1908. It concerns the 103 to 280 speed series known as "type K Est", seen here in Troyes station, around 1950. A 141-R is visible on the right of the photograph. © IXO Collections SAS - Tous droits réservés. Crédits photo © document HM Petiet.