The Nice to Levens Tramway – Part 2

Tourrette-Levens to Levens via Saint-Blaise

The first part of the journey from Nice to Levens can be found on this link:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/the-nice-to-levens-tramway-part-1-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-54

It brings us through the southern outskirts of Tourrette-Levens, past the perched village and castle on our right before joining Boulevard Léon Sauvan in the centre of the lower part of the village.

I drafted a blog a few years ago which focussed on the pinion expressed by others that the tramway found its way from Tourrette-Levens to Saint-Blaise before heading north to Levens, a route which requires quite a detour and a significant lengthening of the journey time compared with the more direct route along what is now the M19 to Levens. That blog can be found by following the link below:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/16/chemins-de-fer-de-provence-11-the-levens-tramway-via-saint-blaise

The featured image at the top of this blog is a copy of a map from the 1800s. Careful inspection of the image will show the purported route of the tramway between St. Blaise and Levens, marked as a road (or track) on the map. The quality of roads in the area at this time was poor. Images on postcards show that roads were little more than dirt tracks alongside the trams. When they were first installed the trams must have been a major step forward for transportation in Les Alpes Martimes. The possible route between St. Blaise and Levens is marked on Satellite images later in this blog.

Sadly, the planned route of the tramway between St. Blaise and Tourrette-Levens is much less clear. And analysis of satellite images does not provide a great deal of information about any possible route

I have come to the conclusion that the route via St. Blaise and Aspremeont was considered but never built. This is suggested by Jose Banuado[1] and By Jean Robert [2] as pointed out by 242T66 on the Passions Metrique et Etroite Forum[3].

So, in the sprint of all good railway modellers’ ‘might have been’ stories which support their layouts. Here is my might have been, for the route via Aspremont and St. Blaise. ……..

A ‘Might Have Been Tramway Route’ Between Tourette-Levens and Levens, via Aspremont and Saint-Blaise!!

What might have been …………….. A relatively sharp left turn took the supposed tramway out of Tourrette-Levens towards Aspremont on what is now the M719. On the first satellite image below the junction can be seen middle-right and the rout heads up to the centre-top of the image before exiting top left. The two houses in the top-left corner of the image can be seen on the bottom-right of the following image, for a short distance the route travelled roughly in a Westerly direction before turning north to follow the contours around a small valley, then rounding a hillside before leaving the image close to the top-left corner. I ahve not been able to find any images which relate to the tram route between Tourrette-Levens and Saint Blaise and so am not able to be absolutely sure of the route, form this point on, however the lie of the land suggests that the tram will have followed what are now the roads linking Aspremont and Saint Blaise.The road out of Tourrette-Levens is named Route d’Aspremont (M719). It follows the contours as much as possible, to keep gradient shallow for the trams. The route shows clearly on the map below.Aspremont was approached from the East. The road running North to South narrows to not much wider than what would have been the formation of the tramway in the region of La Plaine and La Prarie above. The road, by now, is known as Route de Tourrette.The route then curves to the East to approach Aspremont.Aspremont is to the left of the satellite image below and the tramway route comes in on the right of the image just below centre. It approaches the perched village  curving southwards before taking a hairpin turn in the market area of the village before heading northwards on the Route de Castagniers.On the image above, the trams from Tourrette-Levens arrived from along the road on the immediate right of the chapel and trams from Saint-Blaise (and Levens) arrived from the left of the picture. The route out of Aspremont is shown on the image below.Travelling north from Aspremont the tramway followed the Route de Castagniers high above the valley of the River Var on a ruling grade downwards towards the junction of the road to Castagniers and Saint-Blaise.
The route continued approximately northwards, high above, the Var through La Loubiere and La Croix de Fer, still on a gently downward grade. At La Croix de Fer (below) the tramway turned away from the Var to head westwards towards Saint-Blaise.As the trams approached St. Blaise they were still running on a downward ruling grade and had to negotiate two hairpin bends as they approached the village. The tramway stayed above the village itself heading for what was in its day a suspension bridge carrying the route over the valley of a fast flowing tributary of the River Var. The replacement bridge can be seen in the google streetview image below.The original bridge was an 80 metre long suspension bridge just outside St. Blaise. Built for the tramway in 1908, it also carried the St. Blaise to Levens road. This graceful suspension bridge was destroyed during the Second World War.The replacement bridge was not built until 1953, by which time, in this scenario, the trams were long gone!After crossing the Pont de Massena the trams headed along the M14 towards Levens. In our imaginary scenario, these next few satellite images show the route from Levens to St. Balise to meet up with the Pont de Massena.

In this scenario, the tramway left Levens on the road now called the  Avenue General de Gaule and then turned right onto the Route de Saint-Blaise (M14) and then followed that road all the way to Saint-Blaise.

Please note,again, that the description in italics above and the images which go with it are of an imaginary, “might-have-been,” route of the Levens tramway. Ultimately, this “might-have-been” scenario, is supported, primarily, by just two things. The suspension bridge at Saint-Blaise, shown some distance above, and the profile of the possible route through the Village of Saint-Blaise.

The Actual Tramway Route Between Tourette-Levens and Levens, along what is now the M19!!

I hope the text above has not confused you too much! It is a “flight-of-fancy” based on a few sources which I used when looking at the route back in late 2017 while on holiday in Nice. I think some lengths of the road, and probably the suspension bridge were built with an alternative tramway route in mind. But the tramway was never built.

The actual tramway route followed what is now the M19. According to the works of Jean Robert [2] and José Banaudo,[1] the tram to Levens did not pass through Saint Blaise but followed, mainly on the shoulder of the M19, sometimes on the road and also a few kilometres on an independent formation. The route travelled through Moulins-de-Tourette, Tourrette-Levens, Laval and Ste Claire, to end at the place called Les Traverses, below the village of Levens. The line was put into service in June 1908.

An extension of one km was under construction towards Levens-Village in 1914, but the works were delayed and then suspended by the war and, despite some sort of recovery after the war and the construction of a 95-m-long tunnel in a semicircle the permanent way was not laid and the extension was never opened.[3]

242T66 comments about the Masséna suspension bridge at Saint Blaise: “it dates from 1911 and was destroyed by bombing in 1944. Since 1953 it is replaced by a concrete bridge with a large arch. Given that an itinerary had been planned to pass the tram through Aspremont, Castagniers and St Blaise, which would have served a larger population but at the cost of a longer and more expensive line than that of the valley, it is possible to think that the road from St Blaise to Levens and the suspension bridge had been made with the idea of ​​being able to pass the tram.”[3]

So, back to Tourette-Levens, and this time no flights of fancy!

The station at Tourrette-Levens was on Boulevard Léon Sauvan in the centre of the lower part of the village. As trams left the centre of Tourrette-Levens they followed the present M19.

The road and the tramway swing sharply away to the East after leaving the northern edge of Toureete-Levens.

The M19 is known as the Avenue du Canton de Levens and swings north as it meets the valley of the Rio Sec. It runs high above the river in the valley below. It then crosses the river and travels on its North-East bank, towards La ColumbierLe Plan d’Arriou, below, is followed by Le Columbier.The route continues along the M19 towards Levens through Laval and closely following the North-East bank of the Rio Sec, along the Route de Levens and then Avenue Felix Faure before entering the area of Saint-Claire (the third image below). As Avenue General De Gaulle stretches ahead of us we atart to pass thorugh the locations of early 20th Century images. The first is of a tram in the snow.In the modern image, there is no snow, the trees are planted approximately in the line of the tramway and, of course, the roundabout is new!This next pair of images are difficult to tie together but the bend in the road in the modern image correlates to the bend in the centre of the older postcard. As can be seen in the old postcard the tramway was separated form the untarmacked (dirt) road by a small kerb, and the road was only wide enough for one vehicle.Just round the bend, in the modern image above, we reach the location of this next postcard which is well composed with the tram in the foreground in front of the small hamlet with Levens sitting nicely under the hills beyond. The modern image below shows the same location in the 21st Century. The railings and buildings tie down the location, the trams are long-gone and the road is now a much more substantial.The postcard above shows the road/tramway coming in from the right towards Les Traverses and heading towards Levens in the background. Trams continued along the road towards Levens, through Les Traverses and on towards Saint-Roch where they terminated in the valley below the village of Levens.The Saint-Roch terminus is shown below.Again the modern image approximates the camera position from the postcard as best can be. It was always intended that this terminus of the tramway should be temporary. The promoters planned to access the centre of the village of Levens and work was well underway at the advent of the Great War. That conflict resulted in all works being placed on hold, despite most of the infrastructure being in place. The buses now follow the planned route for the trams from Saint-Roch to Levens Village.

Trams reached Levens (Saint-Roch) in 1908 – work had started on the line in 1906. It was abandonned by the mid-1930s. Throughout the life of the service, there was only limited take-up of the service by the public, three trams ran each day in each direction along the full length of the route, supplemented by some partial services.[4]

Two interesting views came to light while looking at images of Levens for possible evidence of the route of the trams. Both seem to show a viaduct or aqueduct.Some discussion about these images on Passions Metrique et Etroite resulted in what is now little more than a garden wall with arched openings being found on the Route de la Roquette.So, is it just that, or is it the remains of an ancient aqueduct. In the postcard images it seems more substantial than in the google earth images from 21st Century. What is it?

References

1. Jose Banuado; Nice au Fil du Tram Vol. 2, Les Editions du Cabri, 2005.
2. Jean Robert; Les Tramways de Nice et de la Côte d’Azur, 1988.
3. 242T66; Passions Metrique et Etroite Forum; Archéologie Ferroviaire, les TAM; http://www.passion-metrique.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8464&start=60, 26th March 2018.
4. http://transporturbain.canalblog.com/pages/les-tramways-de-nice—de-l-apogee-au-declin/31975780.html, accessed 15th March 2018.

The Nice to Levens Tramway was part of the TNL (Les Tramways de Nice et du Littoral) and full details of the network can be found on my blog at the following link:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/the-network-of-the-tramways-of-nice-and-the-littoral-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-53

The line to Levens was an extension of the line from Place de Massena to Saint-André-de-la-Roche – Ligne 14 of the network in Nice. Trams for Levens were numbered 30.

The lower part of the route is highlighted on the Google Satellite images here. This covers the length from Tourrette-Levens to Nice (or vice-versa) and is in three parts, the first image shows the length immediately north of Les Moulins. The second, the length south of Les Moulin’s through the present day quarries north of Saint-André-de-la-Roche. And the final length covers the route from Saint-André-de-la-Roche to Place Massena. Place Massena is just visible north of the coast at the bottom of the last image above.

Our journey on the tramway starts at Place Massena in Nice.

Trams for Levens left Place Massena along the road at the centre-rear of the postcard image above. Rue Gioffredo heads to the right in front of the shop buildings at the rear of the square. Trams then turned right onto Boulevard Carabacel and left onto Avenue Gallieni, before heading out of Nice alongside the River Paillon on Avenue de Marechal Lyautey and Avenue Joseph Raybaud.

The tram route left the River Paillon on the line of the M19, Quai de La Banquiere which then becomes first the Route de Levens and then the Avenue du Haut-Pays. The following images give an impression of the route, although it must be born in mind that the quarrying enterprise north of Saint-André-de-la-Roche has expanded considerably in recent years.

There were small deviations in the route of the tramway from the modern M19, although most of these were very short, only a matter of a few metres, and were usually the result of engineers seeking a path for the wider, newer road. This is true at La Clue, shown above.

The first ‘significant’ deviation that I can identify, away from the line of the main modern M19 is shown on the adjacent map. The Avenue de Haut-Pays splits either side of the River Banqiere over a short distance. The newer, wider road is to the West, the older road which follows the route of the tram is to the East of the river. When the trams were in use the road surface would not have been of the highest quality and the roads were still relatively narrow. The picture below shows where the two roads named Avenue de Haut-Pays split. The bus stop shown on the map is on the right of the picture. There was inadequate room to widen the old road at this location, so a new road was built along with two new bridges over the River (La Banquiere).This next picture shows the point where the modern M19 rejoins the older and narrower road/tramway.The tramway approached Les Moulins on a steady grade before branching off the lower road through the village and crossing a tributary of La Banquiere (Ruisseau de Rio-Sec) at a higher level. These next pictures show the tramway formation leaving the main M19 road along what is now called Chemin de l’Ecole des Moulins.The bridge over the Ruisseau de Rio-Sec also crossed the road up the valley – Le Chemin de Tralatorre. Immediately after crossing the valley the tramway entered a tunnel which took it back into the main valley of La Banquiere above the village of Les Moulins.The route, including the viaduct and the tunnel, appears clearly as Chemin de l’Ecole des Moulins on the map below.

The tramway remained above the valley floor, first following the Chemin de l’Ecole des Moulins and they a footpath which is now named Sentier de la Gorghette until it reached what are now the outskirts of Tourrette-Levens. The map above and that alnogside these notes shows the route. The images below show the same length of road directly above and to the East of the main M19.

The satellite images travel in sequence from the south to the north, starting at Les Moulins and heading towards Tourrette-Levens. The swimming pools evident on these satellite images would not have been present when the tramway was in use and there would have been far fewer buildings hidden in the landscape.

The last in the next sequence of images is not a satellite image, rather it shows the point at the edge of Tourrette-Levens today where the tramway entered the town. The camera is facing approximately southwards looking down the Sentier de la Gorghette.

Turning to face north once again, this next view looks down the line of the tramway towards Tourrette-Levens. Subsequent images take the tramway down into the village.In Tourrette-Levens, we have a few pictures of the tram/tramway while it was in operation. The first image is very small, but it shows a tram on the main street (now the M19) of the village, Boulevard Léon Sauvan. The image below shows a tram bound for Levens sitting at the stop in Tourette-Levens. The fact that trams were able to pass at Tourrette-Levens is evident in the presence of two sets of rials which created the passing place. The image bears a copyright stamp from the Retro Photo Catalogue.[1] The image which follows that also bears a copyright stamp but is from Cartes et Patrimone.[2] The full details of the sites which hold the copyright are shown in the references below. The two images are from the same series of copyright free postcard images from the turn of the 20th Century. They are numbered sequentially, 3250 and 3251 and probably come from the camera of the same photographer. (I’d appreciate any details that readers can provide).

The route of the tramway continues from Tourrette-Levens towards Levens. This was one of the routes which drew my attention some years ago because it seemed to follow a far more difficult route to Levens than the present road. My first stab at a blog on the line from Tourrette-Levens to Levens can be found on this link:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/16/chemins-de-fer-de-provence-11-the-levens-tramway-via-saint-blaise.

I hope that link provides a taster for the next post (part 2 of this journey) which will hopefully provide more details about the route of the tramway between Tourrette-Levens and Levens.

References

1. Retro Photo: La Banque d’Images Anciennes; http://www.retrophoto.fr/catalogue/pellicule/localite/35874/label/TOURRETTE%20LEVENS, accessed 20th March 2018.
2. Cartes et Patrimone; https://www.cartes-et-patrimoine.com/alpes-maritimes-tourrettelevens/carte-postale-ancienne-ville-tourrettelevens-ph008971-p-170864.html, accessed 20th March 2018.

 

 

 

 

Tramway de Nice et du Littoral

There were a series of tramways which extended different arms of Le Tramway de Nice et du Littoral (TNL). We have already followed the route of the Sospel to Menton tramway which extended the coastal/urban line between Nice and Menton into the mountains close to the coast. Menton to Villa Caserta, opened in October 1911 and Villa Caserta to Sospel opened in 1912.[3]

The TNL was a tramway network that served Nice and the municipalities of the Alpes-Maritimes department between 1878 and 1953.

Around 1833, a Monsieur Legrand, owner of the Hotel de France which is sited on what is now the Quai des Etats-Unis, bought a large omnibus in Paris and three large horses. He ran a twice daily service from Nice to Le Pont de Var which at the time marked the border between France and Italy.[10] The fare was 40 centimes.

One of his competitors, Monsieur Laupias, proposed in 1845 two services at an hour’s frequency between Cagnes sur mer and the Place Saint Dominique, as well as between the Paillon and the Faubourg du Ray. In 1854, another service commenced linking Pont Vieux (Place Garibaldi) with Le Ray.

After Nice was attached to France in 1860, the PLM railway arrived in 1864 and Nice became a preferred tourist destination for a wealthy class of traveller. At the same time, the town was growing north of Paillon. Urban planners adopted a network of perpendicular roads, but of a fairly modest width, sufficient, however, to encourage the circulation of horse-drawn omnibuses. By 1865, a network of horse drawn omnibus routes had been established.[9]

Monsieur Laupias was responsible for the expansion of the network of l’Entreprise Générale des Omnibus de la Ville and the railways. He set up two new lines: one between the PLM station and the port, and the other between the Place Charles-Albert and the Saint Barthélémy district of the city.

These horse-drawn services were ultimately short-lived as Nice began to talk about inaugurating tram services as a result of seeing tramways being developed in industrial cities further north in France. Several attempts were made to implement tramway working. One of these endeavours even sought to make use of compressed air to propel the trams.[11]

The Société Financière de Paris , associated with the Société de Travaux Publics et de Constructions, was responsible for the construction and operation of a horse-drawn tramway network in 1876 in the city of Nice. The first horse drawn tramway service was commissioned on 27th February 1878 and inaugurated on 3rd March. A series of 4 lines made up the early network … Place Massena to Magnan Bridge, a separate line from Magnan Bridge to Saint Helena, and two other lines from Place Massena, one to Saint-Maurice and the other to Abattoirs. The lines were single-track and of metre-gauge.

Soon after the first lines were completed the tramway system was placed in the care of the Compagnie Generale des Omnibus in Marseille. This arrangement lasted until 1887 when that company went into liquidation. After its collapse, La Société Nouvelle des Tramways de Nice (SNTN) resumed operation of the network.

In addition, in 1895, the Compagnie Anonyme des Tramways Electriques of Nice-Cimiez was awarded a concession for a new tram line, between the street of the Hotel des Postes and the zoological garden of Cimiez. This line was a 600mm track-gauge and used electric traction batteries because of its steep gradients, the design was seen by the promoters at a technical exhibition in Lyon in 1894.[10]

Cimiez: the appearance of the first electric tram

A casino, a zoological park and a theatre were established in Cimiez, near the Roman arena. After flirting with the idea of a steam powered service from Nice to Cimiez, the owners of the site set up the Compagnie Anonyme des Tramways Electriques of Nice-Cimiez

Unofficially the trams started running on 27th February 1895, the service was interrupted on 10th March because of fire at the generating plant. The servicecresumed on 20th June but was halted on 12th July as the required legal processes had not been followed. Eventually, on 22nd November the company was declared as being ‘d’utilité publique'[4] and an official inauguration took place on the 25th November

The 3.9 km long line had very steep gradients, 8 trams were in service on the line. Six daily services were provided in the winter and a half-hourly service was available in summer months. Stops were on request, except on the steepest sections of the line. The trams were powered by an 8bhp motor and had a maximum capacity of 32 people. Redesign of the trams took place very early in the life of the tramway, the wheelbase and overall length of the trams were shortened and the single 8bhp power unit was replaced by two 50bhp motors. The people of Nice nicknamed the trams the “slugs”.[10]

The Cimiez tramway was again taken out of operation in 1899, to allow a revision to the electrical power system and tompermit integration with the wider metre-gauge tram network in the City of Nice. The line was operating again by January 1900.

La Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL)

Within two years of its foundation, La Société Nouvelle des Tramways de Nice had been replaced by La Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL). The company set itself a series of goals relating to the improvement an expansion of the urban network:

• to create a Coastal Network , extending from Cagnes to Menton , with connections to other networks in Nice and at Contes .
• to electrify the urban network.
• to resume operation of the Cimiez line, abandoning the accumulator tramway and converting it to metric gauge.

The company was effective in meeting its initial goals and it created an extensive network centred on the Place de Massena in Nice. A few images of the Place de Massena follow ………

Lines opened or reopened as follows:[1]

• Nice – Cimiez , January 1900
• Place Massena – Villefranche-sur-Mer , February 1900
• Nice – Saint Laurent du Var, February 1900
• The port – Saint Maurice, February 1900
• Nice – Cagnes, March 1900
• Nice – Contes , June 1900
• Nice – Beaulieu, June 1900
• Magnan – Saluzzo (via Lépante Street), November 1902
• Gambetta – Massena (via avenue Joseph Garnier), November 1902

All the lines were electrified by underground gutter as soon as they were put into service, and a fleet of 100 motor-trams was ordered.

In total, for the construction of the 12 urban lines and the first 3 sections of the suburban network, it took only 2 years to lay a total of no less than 94 km of network (150 km of single track)! From 31st December 1899, the tests of the first of the Thomson-Houston, Thomson-powered motor-trams, equipped with 2 engines of 35 bhp were carried out inside the depot at Sainte Agathe. There were 30 of these yellow and white trams in two classes. The initial plan had been to provide a limited number of 1st Class trams. This idea proved unsuccessful and the 1st Class trams were later converted to standard class. When first in operation these 6 1st Class trams were marked with a colour code.

Service frequency on the urban network was high. Generally, services started at 5.30am and ended at around midnight. However, the first departure from Cagnes-sur-Mer (for the florists) was scheduled at 3am! A TNL kiosk was built in 1901 to act as a ticket office and an information desk at the heart of the network.

Menton and its Trams[14]

The coastal network took 3 years of work to reach Menton and to create a branch-line between Place Saint Roch and Place Caserta. The trams provided strong competition for the PLM along the coast and the PLM took every opportunity to obstruct the construction of the underpasses and bridges required for the line, and prohibited the installation of a terminus in front of the station at Menton. Finally, the TNL decided to drop their passengers 25m  from the PLM station, at the foot of the climb to the station yard. The trams finally provided a service to Menton by 22nd December 1902, and the connection with the station was operational by July 1903.[12]

Completion of the line to Menton provided a continuous service from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Menton. By this time the TNL had over 94km of lines, 29km in Nice, 12km in Cagnes, nearly 16km of the line to Contes and nearly 38km of tracks on the line to Menton via Monte Carlo.

The shoreline was itself a tourist object: the panorama of the Mediterranean and the villages did not lack charm. On the heights of Beaulieu, the tram takes the pose with a platform abundantly stocked for the occasion.Another view of the coast line with a motor-tram running on the Corniche at Villefranche sur Mer. The road was still made only of dirt and gravel, and in the shadow of the tramway there is a cart pulled either by a donkey or by a horse.An attempt to provide a reversible train with two motor-trams framing a trailer-car on the line of Monte-Carlo. The power of the leading motor-tram proved to be inadequate for the load.  

The Tramway Company of Monaco

The Compagnie des Tramways de Monaco was founded in 1897 by Mr. Crovetto, a Monegasque entrepreneur. The company obtained concessions for a number of different lines, as listed below before, in 1908, becoming part of the TNL:

• Place d’Armes – Saint Roman, opened on May 1898
• Gare de Monaco – Place du Gouvernement, opened on March 1899
• Casino – Monte Carlo Station, opened May 1900.
• Nice – Monte CarloCarlo, opened in 1900.

The Cote d’Azur is a stunning series of headlands, towns and villages alongside the azur-blue waters of the Mediterranean sea. Wikipedia has produced an excellent introduction to the coast-line – Road by the sea[2].

This line connected towns and cities along the Corniche: Nice, Villefranche, Beaulieu, Monaco and Monte Carlo by a route established on the Basse Corniche. The line opened towards the end of 1903 and was quickly followed by the completion of an extension from Monaco to Menton just in time for Christmas 1903. The line was separate from, but connected to the tramway network in Monaco.

Further Extensions

The  network continued to grow. The TNL began to extend inland into Les Alpes Maritimes department creating a network of single track metre-gauge lines which served key villages and towns in the hinterland. It also extended and consolidated it presence in the urban areas along the coast. The departmental network not provided extended access into Nice and the coastal towns for local people, it was perceived as creating significant opportunities for tourism.

The Departmental Network

The departmental network included 14 proposed lines shared between the TNL, the TAM and the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Sud de la France . The TAM was actually a subsidiary of La Compagnie des chemins de fer du Sud de la France and the larger company decided to confine tramway operations to the TAM despite having a shared track-gauge. Other blog posts provide details of some of these TAM lines, particularly:

• https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/25/tramway-between-vence-and-cagne-sur-mer-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-17
• https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/28/the-tramway-between-grasse-and-cagnes-sur-mer-part-1-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-20
• https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/the-tramway-between-grasse-and-cagnes-sur-mer-part-2-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-21
• https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/tramway-between-grasse-and-cannes-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-22

The lines were shared out using geographical criteria which resulted in the TNL being offered the following concessions:

• The Pont-de-Saint-Jean (municipality of Villefranche-sur-Mer ) – Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat , opened in December 1907
• Nice – Levens , opened in June 1908.[13]
• Cagnes – Antibes and Cap d’Antibes, opened in February 1909
• Tales – Bendejun , opened in February 1909
• Peille Bridge – La Grave de Peille, opened in 1911
• Menton – Sospel
  • Menton – Villa Caserta, opened in October 1911
  • Villa Caserta – Sospel, opened in April 1912[3]
• The Grave of Peille – L’Escarène , this line was not built.

All these lines were declared ‘d’utilité publique'[4] on 10th February 1906.[1]

Once the network opened its line from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Antibes it was able to connect to the tram network in Cannes .[5]

Developments in the Urban Network

One further line was introduced in 1908, that between Magnan/Le Madeleine and the centre of Nice.

Magnan is a valley located west of Nice. Today it is urbanised and used to designate one of the districts of Nice. The river which flows through the valley is called Le Magnan (or Torrent de Magnan).[6] This is a short coastal river of 12.6km in length. Le Madeleine[7] was the small village with a chapel in the valley.

The line from Menton to Sospel

This line connecting Menton to Sospel was opened on April 15, 1912, as part of the construction of the departmental network. Its length was 18km . It marked the last extension of the TNL.

The peak of the tramway network and its demise

In fifteen years, the growth of the population of Nice and the surrounding towns and villages necessitated a rapid development of the network. The advent of the Great War prevented any further development of the network.

At the end of the war, the network was in need of an in-depth modernization programme. However, it was not until 1924 that the authorities granted the TNL the authorization to increase tariffs.

A refurbishment program was initiated, significant improvements were intended for the trams themselves but these improvements were not introduced in full.[12] Changes were made in different ways to different batches of limited numbers of trams.

A major study in 1921, looked at the possibility of providing a tramway tunnel under Monaco, but the proposal did not see the light of day.

To speed up service and reduce operating costs, a system of fixed and optional stops was introduced. Buses began to be introduced by the TNL in October 1921 under the company name, Société Anonyme Niçoise de Transports Automobiles, to serve remote villages where the tram no longer operated. The TNL also bought its own buses.

10 Schneider Type H buses similar to the one above were purchased. They were similar to those in use in Paris. They arrived in Nice in 1925. They were followed in a short period of time by 3 Somua MAT2 buses.

Despite reducing revenues, the TNL decided to build a new series of trams strongly inspired by the Parisian L-type, and adapted to the Nicois metre-gauge track. Eight reversible motor trams were were ordered along with trailers. The trams were 200bhp and had a 3.60m wheelbase. These performed well on straight track but found the windowing nature of much of the network difficult.

After the Great War, very quickly, other forms of transport began to develop in competition with the tramways. These began to be regarded as more modern than the tramways. A number of accidents occurred on the network which began to result in a lessening in confidence in trams as an appropriate form of transport beyond the immediate urban areas.[8] There was an increasingly vociferous anti-tram lobby.

The above images show the extent of the tram network in 1925, both within Nice and along the coast.[13]

In 1925, the TNL network had 144 km of track, & a fleet of 183 motor trams and 96 trailers.[15] The tramways were also used to transport goods and a series of wagons were also purchased. Goods were transported within Nice to and from the station of Le Chemin de Fer de Provence. Coal was transported from the port to other parts of the city, and cement, lime and gas were transported from the cement factory in Contes to various areas of Nice. The Sospel to Menton line was used for construction materials for the building of the railway line from Nice to Breil-sur-Roya.

Initially, it was the coastal tram lines that suffered strongest competition from road vehicles. But, across the whole network, cars and lorries and their inherent flexibility came to dominate the public’s choices over transport use. The coastal lines between urban centres disappeared between 1929 and 1932. By 1934, the longer suburban lines had all disappeared. Nevertheless, the tramway was not yet banned from the city, even if criticism from part of the population was growing. 

In 1927, André Mariage[16] took the presidency of TNL and STCRP, amplifying the hostility towards the tramway. The election of Jean Médecin at the head of the municipality, who was a virulent opponent of the tramway, seemed to legitimise those who saw the tramway as a symbol of the past.

Over following years the municipality decided to close different urban lines and by 1939 only four lines remained open:

• Line 3: Abattoirs – La Madeleine – Trinidad Victor
• Line 9: Port – Saint Augustins
• Line 22: PLM station – Carras
• Line 35: Rue Hotel des Postes- Cimiez

During the Second World War, two urban lines were reopened as the buses which had been gradually being introduced were requisitioned for the war effort:

• Line 6: Level crossing – Pasteur
• Line 7: Level crossing – Riquier

And two lines into the hinterland: the one to Contes and the one to La Grave de Peille.

The network had, by the end of 1942, 48 motor-trams and 22 trailers (some motor-trams were rebuilt in 1942).

After the Second World War, the tramway systems, having suffered from years of war/occupation and neglect, were replaced by trolleybuses . The trolleybuses were put into service from 1942 on the Cimiez line (line 35). The last tram ran on the whole network on 10th January 1953.

Lines disappeared slowly over a period of years: the line to La Grave de Peille closed in 1947, line 22 closed at the end of 1948. The line to Contes and Line 6 closed in 1950, and lines 3 and 9 closed in 1951. Line 7 was the last line in operation and closed, as we have already noted, on 10th January 1953.

Rolling stock 

Motor-trams[1]

• No.1 to 100, were sourced from the workshops of Saint-Denis.
• No. 101 to 106, were sourced in 1903 from Brissonneau and Lotz.
• No. 111 to 130, were delivered in 1904 by Thomson-Houston.
• No. 151 to 170, came in 1906 from Thomson-Houston.
• No. 201 to 216, were sourced  in 1910 from Thomson-Houston.
• No. 251 to 258, were delivered in 1925 by les Établissements Soulé.

Trailers[1]

• No. 301 to 316, delivered in 1908 by les Établissements Soulé.
• No. 351 to 358, delivered in 1925 by les Établissements Soulé.
• No. 401 to 418, commissioned in 1902, and were former horse trams.
• No. 501 to 515, delivered in 1901 by  les Établissements Carde.
• No. 516 to 520, delivered in 1901 by les Établissements Carde.
• No. 600 to 619, commissioned in 1900, and were former horse trams.
• No. 700, commissioned in 1900, a former horse tram.
• No. 731 to 736, commissioned in 1911, and converted from former motor-tram cars No. 101 to 106.
• No.801 to 812, (initially numbered 201 to 212), bought second-hand in 1903 from les Chemins de fer Nogentais.
• No. 813 to 822, (initially numbered 213 to 222), delivered in 1905 by les Établissements Carde.
• No. 901, commissioned in 1916, built by TNL workshopsworkshops.
• No. 921, commissioned in 1927, built by TNL workshops.

References 

1. Tramway de Nice et du Littoral;  https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Nice_et_du_Littoral, accessed 5th March 2018.

2. Route du bord de mer (Alpes-Maritimes); https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_du_bord_de_mer_(Alpes-Maritimes), accessed 5th March 2018.

3. The Sospel to Menton Tramway Revisited; https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/the-sospel-to-menton-tramway-revisited-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-51the-sospel-to-menton-tramway-revisited-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-51.

4. This term is a standard French term for a transfer of status for a company, a definition is provided on this link: http://projaide.valdemarne.fr/la-reconnaissance-dutilite-publique-definition-et-demarches, accessed 14th March 2018.

5. Tramway de Cannes; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramway_de_Cannes, accessed 14th March 2018, c.f. Trams in Cannes; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Cannes, accessed 15th March 2018.

6. Magnan; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnan_(Nice), accessed 14th March 2018.

7. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_quartiers_de_Nice#Magnan_ou_La_Madeleine, accessed 14th March 2018.

8. See for example: https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2017/11/28/the-tramway-between-grasse-and-cagnes-sur-mer-part-1-chemin-de-fer-de-provence-20 and https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/the-sospel-to-menton-tramway-revisited-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-51the-sospel-to-menton-tramway-revisited-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-51.

9. Transports en Commun de Nice TNL; http://www.nissalabella.net/tnl.htm accessed 13th March 2018.

10. Les tramways de Nice : avant l’électrification; http://transporturbain.canalblog.com/pages/les-tramways-de-nice—avant-l-electrification/31975770.html, accessed 13th March 2018.

11. Les tramways de Nice : avant l’électrification; http://transporturbain.canalblog.com/pages/les-tramways-de-nice—avant-l-electrification/31975770.html, accessed 13th March 2018; c.f. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/10/17/the-mekarski-system-compressed-air-propulsion-system-for-trams, accessed 15th March 2018; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekarski_system, accessed 15th March 2018; and http://www.tramwayinfo.com/Defair.htm, accessed 15th March 2018.

12. Les tramways de Nice: de l’apogée au déclin; http://transporturbain.canalblog.com/pages/les-tramways-de-nice—de-l-apogee-au-declin/31975780.html.

13. The GS Tram Site: Nice/Cannes and Area, France and Monaco 1925; http://www.tundria.com/trams/FRA/Nice-1925.shtml, accessed 15th March 2018.

14. Photographs and Postcards showing the trams of Menton can be found at http://menton.tramways.monsite-orange.fr/index.html, accessed 14th March 2018.

15. Trams in Nice; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Nice, accessed 15th March 2018.

16. André Mariage; https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Mariage, accessed on 15th March 2018.