The Modern Tram Network in Nice 2023

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Nice is a picturesque city nestled in the French Riviera. It is renowned for its stunning landscapes, vibrant culture, and rich history. In recent years, one of the most remarkable transformations in the city’s infrastructure has been the development and expansion of its modern tram network.

In November 2017, I wrote two short articles about the History of Trams in and around Nice and the development of modern trams in Nice.

https://wordpress.com/post/rogerfarnworth.com/2332

https://wordpress.com/post/rogerfarnworth.com/2342

After those two articles about the modern trams, further articles have explored the old first generation electric tramway network in and around Nice, extending to Cannes to the West, Menton to the East and into the hinterland North of the coast. All of these can be found on this blog under the Railways and Tramways tab, and then under ‘French Railways and Tramways’ … ‘Railways and Tramways Around Nice’. Indeed at the time of writing that series of articles continues to develop. The most recent articles have focussed on the coastal tramways between Cannes and Menton.

In November 2023, it seems to be a good time to review progress on the growing tram network in and around Nice, particularly since we would be staying in the area for 10 days.

The modern tram network in Nice has undergone significant development and expansion over the past few decades. The initial line, Line 1, was inaugurated in 2007 as part of a city-wide urban revitalization project. Since then, the network has expanded to include two more lines: Line 2, which opened in 2019, and Line 3, scheduled to be operational in the near future.

I asked ChatGPT to give me a short introduction to the modern tram network, this is what that AI software came up with:

“The introduction of a modern tram network has had a profound formal impact on the cityscape of Nice. The sleek, contemporary design of the trams, characterized by clean lines and a bold colour scheme, seamlessly integrate with the city’s existing architecture. The tram tracks, which run through the heart of Nice, have been ingeniously incorporated into the urban fabric, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal of the city. The tram stops, with their modern structures and vibrant lighting, serve as architectural landmarks, contributing to the city’s cosmopolitan image.

The modern tram network in Nice plays a vital role in ensuring efficient and accessible transportation for both residents and tourists. Trams in Nice are known for their punctuality, frequency, and reliability, allowing passengers to reach their destinations quickly and comfortably. With dedicated lanes and priority at traffic signals, trams efficiently navigate through the city, avoiding congestion and minimizing travel times. Furthermore, the accessibility of trams is commendable, with low floors, ample space for wheelchair users, and clearly marked priority seating, ensuring that everyone can travel with ease.

The modern tram network in Nice also brings substantial environmental benefits to the city. By encouraging the use of public transportation over private vehicles, the tram system helps reduce air pollution and carbon emissions. Additionally, the trams in Nice are electrically powered, relying on clean energy sources, which further contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly transportation system. This commitment to environmental stewardship aligns with the city’s dedication to creating a greener future.

Beyond its formal and functional impact, the modern tram network in Nice fosters social cohesion and urban integration. The trams serve as communal spaces, bringing together people from different walks of life into a shared mode of transportation. This enhances the sense of community and interaction among residents and visitors, contributing to a vibrant and inclusive urban environment. Moreover, the tram system connects various neighborhoods, enabling better access to education, employment opportunities, and cultural amenities, further promoting social and economic development.

The modern tram network in Nice has transformed the city, both in its physical appearance and its provision of efficient and sustainable transportation. With its formal integration, efficiency, accessibility, environmental advantages, and social cohesion, the tram system has become an invaluable asset for the city and its residents. As Nice continues to evolve, the tram network will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the city’s future, ensuring that it remains a model of modernity and progress.”

…….. Chat GPT

A fine, and glowing, introduction to the tramway network but which says no more than any city might want to say as an introduction to the use of trams in its urban environment. Hopefully we can add considerably more specific detail relating to Nice’s tramway network.

First a reminder of the history of trams and tramways in Nice:

“The first tramway in Nice opened in 1879, was electrified in 1900, and was followed by a departmental network in 1906. The entire network was electrified in 1910. In the 1920s, the network had 11 lines, some of which were partially used for goods transport. However, the tram was criticised and was replaced by buses on some lines beginning in 1927. The last tramway in Nice ceased service on 10 January 1953. ” [1]

The Developing Network

The Tramway de Nice is a 27.5-kilometre (17.1 mile), tramway in Nice. It is operated by the Société Nouvelle des Transports de l’Agglomération Niçoise, which is a division of Transdev. [2] The network operates under the name ‘Lignes d’Azur‘. [1]

The first line opened on 24th November 2007 and replaced bus lines 1, 2, 5 and 18. From the start, the system had 20 No. Alstom Citadis trams in service, providing a tram every seven minutes. Wikipedia states that “since its inception, the number of passengers has increased from 70,000 per day in 2008 to 90,000 per day in 2011. The frequency has gradually increased to a tram every four minutes in 2011.” [1]

The success of the trams resulted in the city authorities deciding to create additional lines. “The West-East T2 Line serves the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport to the West through the construction of a multimodal centre and the Port of Nice to the East. This line runs through a tunnel in the centre of Nice. A future extension of the West–East line, North along the Var valley, is proposed. Another extension, running further West from the airport, across the River Var, is also proposed. [3] In addition, the Nice authorities decided to extend Line 1 to the Pasteur neighbourhood.” [1]

The extension along the Var valley mentioned in the Wikipedia article is now, in 2023, operational as Ligne 3.

The Modern Tramway in Nice: Ligne 1 is shown in red; Ligne 2 in dark blue; and Ligne 3 in cyan. This is the network as it existed in November 2023 at the time of our visit. [3]

A further line, Ligne 4, is now under development with public consultation having taking place in October 2021 and archaeological investigation in St. Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer undertaken between April and July 2023. [6]

The public inquiry for Ligne 4 was held in June and July 2023. [7] The proposed route is shown below. [8]

The Public Inquiry decided in favour of the creation of Ligne 4, with two reservations and one recommendation:

Reservation 1:

Boulevard Marechal Jean must be reconsidered, not as the route of the proposed line but in order to mitigate present congestion. Specifically, the authorities must: create shaded spaces; separate and reduce circulatory flows as much as possible for reasons of calm and safety; increase and promote as much space as possible reserved for pedestrians; use permeable surfacing; take advantage of the arrival of the tram to make Boulevard Marechal Juin attractive in order to revitalize businesses, professions and other activities. “The Commission, without calling into question the choice of route, requests that a new development proposal for Boulevard Maréchal Juin be submitted to public consultation at the most appropriate time.” [9]

Reservation 2:

Related to access provisions to one specific location, a clinic. The Commission required that, in addition to a ramp currently proposed, a suitable mechanised/motorised means of access from the tram stop to the clinic should be provided. [9]

Recommendation:

The current proposals only allow for one parking space for a funeral hearse for the Sainte Famille church in Cagnes-sur-Mer. The commission saw no reason why 4 such spaces could not be provided to give adequate provision for religious services without blocking the tramway. The commission also asked that the authorities give consideration to greater investment in the planned local park-and-ride provision to allow “the construction of underground parking lots, thus creating a landscaped public garden with an interesting perspective.” [9]

In the light of, often, protracted planning procedures in the UK, it is worth noting that the Inquiry finished towards the end of July and that the full report and summary report were published and available to the public by 7th September 2023, around 5 weeks after the closure of the Inquiry!

Looking further forward a fifth line is being considered. Ligne 5 will run from Drap to the eastern centre of the city of Nice.

A Focus on Ligne 1 …

On 27th May 2008, Railway Technology reported on the development of the first line which had opened in November 2007.

A map of Ligne 1. [24]

“The system’s distinguishing technical feature is the use of batteries aboard the trams to avoid the necessity of erecting overhead line equipment (OHLE) on two sections of the route. This was felt necessary to protect the character of the distinctive Italianate architecture and also because of restrictions such structures would put in the way of Nice’s carnival processions, both relevant to the area’s substantial tourism industry.” [4]

Apparently, the relatively short distances involved lent substance to the belief that battery operation was was more appropriate than the alternative Alstom OHLE-free system, APS. That alternative system has been used in Bordeaux and was due to be installed on “systems in Angers, Reims, Orléans and the Al Safooh tramway in Dubai, the more elaborate Alimentation Par le Sol/APS (ground-supply) format requires specialised equipment aboard the vehicles and also in the permanent way.” [4]

There are sections of grassed tracks throughout the system and Nice took the opportunity to undertake significant reworking of space, excluding general traffic from specific areas which then became tram/pedestrian only areas. That possibility has also been embraced in the ongoing development of the different lines which make up the system in 2023.

“The European Investment Bank made a €150m loan for the project which had a total cost of approximately €560m, of which just over 70% related to creating the tramway. Areas of expenditure indicative of the demands of the setting included storm water drainage works (€25m), rebuilding of Place Massena (€13m), public lighting (€4m) and tree planting (€1m).” [4]

At the time Railway Technology produced their article, they could write that, “The 8.7km double-track 1,435mm gauge line, with two brief sections where tracks diverge through narrow streets, forms a ‘U’ configuration, the two arms largely serving demand in residential areas and institutions. The base is near the southern end of the main thoroughfare Avenue Jean Médecin and the two open spaces near the Old Town, Place Masséna and Place Garibaldi, respectively 440m and 470m sections without OHLE. These ‘gaps’ are joined by a 320m section with OHLE between Opéra-Vieille-Ville and Cathédrale-Vieille-Ville stops where trams run conventionally.” [4]

Ligne 1, has only seen minor changes since it was first opened. Its western terminus is at Las Planas, and it is there that the line has its depot. “Built on sloping ground, the complex makes use of the restricted site by a line spiralling over the entry tracks beyond the Las Planas stop to give access to the depot proper and a short test track. Located close to the A8 autoroute, Las Planas also incorporates a park-and-ride facility.”

Its Eastern terminus was for some time at Pont Michel but an extension to Pasteur was completed in 2013.

Ligne 1 was initially supposed to transport 65,000 passengers/day. But it was quickly adopted by the people of Nice. Today, Ligne 1 can transport nearly 100,000 passengers/day and supports the ongoing development and attractiveness of the neighbourhoods it passes through. “Around 126,500 residents and more than 42,000 jobs, or 37% of Nice’s population and nearly a third of the city’s jobs, are less than 400 metres from the line. With 22 stations and a frequency of one tram every 4 minutes, Ligne 1 allows residents of the city to reduce their travel time.” [5]

An Atom Citadis Tram on Ligne 1, crossing Place Garibaldi in Nice. The tram uses onboard nickel metal hydride batteries to cross this and Place Masséna, © Mirabella and authorised for use under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). [22]

At its opening, Ligne 1 was operated by a fleet of 20 No. 20 Alstom Citadis type 302 trams. “The fully air-conditioned, 100% low-floor, modular five-unit double-ended trams could be extended in response to the high take-up of the service. Roof-mounted Ni-MH (nickel-metal hydride) traction batteries with an operational life of at least five years were supplied by Saft under a €2m contract, giving trams a range of up to 1km at a maximum speed of 30km/h with air-conditioning in operation, the switching of power being either from the overhead line or the batteries is activated by the driver, with the pantograph fully lowered when running without OHLE.” [4]

“Each tram’s driver console features visual and audio indications of the need to operate the power changeover sequence. The batteries recharge from the overhead supply while in conventional operation. There is no additional external infrastructure needed to operate the trams under battery power over the OHLE-free track.” [4]

The approximate Ligne 1 end-to-end journey time is 30min. “The control centre is at the depot, linked with trams and to the extensive network of video monitoring of the system. Benefiting from road traffic exclusions and priority at crossings, in this totally urban setting, trams can attain an average 18km/h, as opposed to 11km/h for buses.” [4]

The approximate Ligne 1 end-to-end journey time is 30min. “The control centre is at the depot, linked with trams and to the extensive network of video monitoring of the system. Benefiting from road traffic exclusions and priority at crossings, in this totally urban setting, trams can attain an average 18km/h, as opposed to 11km/h for buses.” [4]

A Focus on Ligne 2 …

Ligne 2 connects the Airport with Nice’s Port Lympia, traversing central Nice. It connects with Ligne 1 at Avenue Jean Medecin and at Place Garibaldi.

A plan of Ligne 2, Nice. [25]

Following the success of tram Ligne 1, the mayor of Nice, Jacques Peyrat, decided to create a new line crossing Nice from east to west. This line would make it possible to serve the entire western district of the city which represents around 200,000 people, to transport more passengers (around 105,000) than with buses (around 70,000) as well as to reduce road traffic.

Between 2007 and 2008 a dedicated bus route to the Airport was provided, but the election of  Christian Estrosi as Mayor in March 2008 put an end to that project. [18]

On 25th June 2008, “Christian Estrosi announced that Ligne 2 would be built on the Promenade des Anglais, which would have made it possible to reduce costs and build the line more quickly as there would have been little or no traffic preparatory work to be done. The trams would have to be powered from the ground in order to prevent an overhead line damaging the view.” [18]

“The controversial project along the Promenade was finally abandoned when on 9th October 2009, the mayor of Nice announced that Ligne 2 of the tramway would be built through the city, abandoning the route along Promenade des Anglais. The revised project meant that Ligne 2 would be 8.6 km long, including 3.6 km in tunnel. on the surface, the line would serve Nice-Côte d’Azur airport, the planned Saint-Augustin multimodal station (connection with the SNCF, the future TGV and the future tram Ligne 3) then would pass through Avenue René-Cassin, Avenue de la Californie and Rue de France. From the intersection with Boulevard François Grosso, the route would run underground with the stations Alsace-Lorraine, Musiciens, Place Wilson (near the future new town hall of Nice), Garibaldi, Île de Beauté (Port of Nice ) and Place Arson. The route would then return to the surface as far as a terminus at Nice-Riquier SNCF station.” [18]

The intention was for the work to be completed in 2016:

2013: construction of the tunnel in the city centre.

2016: commissioning of line 2 from Saint-Augustin to the port.

The Public Inquiry took place in December 2011 and January 2012 and some changes were made to the scheme as a result. These included:

  • The Eastern terminus being placed on the Cassini Quay at the Port.
  • A new stop being included at Sainte Helene.
  • Compensation being made available to traders affected by construction work.

In 2013, the line was divided into two sections. The first part between CADAM, Magnan and the Airport was given a target completion date of 2017, the remainder was scheduled for completion by 2019. [18]

Tramway Ligne 2 Nice during final trials at the end of the on-street construction phase, © Jesmar and included here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED). [25]

As the scheme developed the programme had to be amended. In June 2018, the length of the line between Magnan and CADAM was opened; in December 20th18, the length between Grand Arenas and the Airport terminal was completed; in June 2019 the length between Magnan and Avenue Jean Medecin was commissioned; and the final length to Port Lympia opened in December 2019. [18]

The cost of the work was estimated at 770.7 million euros, including 758.7 million euros for the work defined in 2009 and 12 million euros to cover modifications made by the public inquiry. This was financed by: the State (52.8 million); the general council of Alpes-Maritimes (50 million); the regional council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (26 million); the European Regional Development Fund (3 million); and the airport company (between 10.2 and 12.6 million); the city of Nice (50 million); the General Investment Commission (4.69 million for rolling stock purchase); a loan from the European Investment Bank (250 million); and a loan from the city’s deposit and consignment fund (250 million). [18]

A New Depot

A new depot was built for Ligne 2 alongside the Ligne 1 depot at Henri Sappia.

A schematic plan of the new depot. The storage lanes are to the left of the diagram, numbered ‘2’ in the legend. [18]

The Henri Sappia depot is too small to accommodate all the trains from Ligne 1 and Ligne 2 simultaneously, a new depot has been built next to it. It is also the operational centre for the line. It is located between the A8 motorway and the Nikaia Palace with a total area of approximately 40,000 s². It is large enough to accommodate the 44 m trams of Ligne 2 as well as Ligne 3 and the future Ligne 4, around sixty. It is made up of a maintenance workshop, a storage centre of 2,860 m², a centralized control station of 130 s² and parking for two hundred and fifty vehicles. [18]

Ligne 2 Alstom Citadis X05 Tram at Nice Airport, © Snoopy 31 and used under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED). [23]

The Trams

Alstom Citadis X05 trams are in use on Ligne 2. Unlike Ligne 1, the new tramway does not feature overhead contact lines on the entire surface section of the route. This option was requested by the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropole to integrate the new tramway line into the urban landscape while preserving the city’s architecture. Instead, the line has been installed with intermittent charging in stations. [20]

Alstom supplied its latest ground-based static charging technology, SRS, which allows a tram to charge safely and automatically in under 20 seconds while stopped at a tram stop. The trams are equipped with an on-board energy storage device, Citadis Ecopack. Equipped with this technology, trams can charge up at each station as passengers get on and off, without extra stopping time and without driver intervention. [20]

Citadis X05 trams incorporate new technologies designed for lower energy consumption. The vehicles incorporate a 100% low-floor design. They have balcony-style windows, multi-purpose areas, LED lighting, CCTV cameras, emergency intercoms, electrical braking, permanent magnet motors and sensor-based air-conditioning. [21]

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems installed in the trams contain separate controls for passengers and driver zones. Each bogie offers a 750mm-wide central aisle. The entrance height of the intermediate front doors is 326mm and 342mm. The trams’ crash absorption resistance complies with the EN15227 standards. [21]

Each motorised bogie of the vehicle is fitted with two air-cooled permanent magnet traction motors. They provide a maximum acceleration of 1.3m/s² and permit deceleration of 1.2m/s², while the compression load is 400kN. [21]

The contract with Alstom was worth €91m and covered the delivery of 19 Citadis X05 trams and all necessary land-based static charging points. The contract also includes options for up to 18 further trams and associated energy charging systems and maintenance services. [21]

A Focus on Ligne 3 …

Ligne 3 connects the Airport with Saint Isidore, stopping at Allianz, Nice’s sports stadium. It connects with Ligne 2 at the airport, Grand Arenas, Paul Montel and Digue des Francais.

A route plan of Ligne 3 which runs North-South along the valley of the River Var. [26]

Ligne 3 is 7km long in total, stretching from Terminal 2 at Nice Airport to the heart of the Saint-Isidore district, North along the valley of the River Var. It has 11 stations in total including 5 stations in common with the West-East line. Trams travel at an average speed of 22km/hr. 12,000 passengers per day is the average usage. Trams run at a Frequency of 10 minutes and 6 trams are dedicated to the line. Additional trams are operated on march days or events and on these days a frequency of 3 minutes is sustained. It is predicted that by 2026 25,000 jobs, 11,400 inhabitants and 5,400 new homes will be served by the line. [27]

In 2017, the route Ligne 3 was finalised by the authorities. The work had an estimated cost of 56.3 million euros excluding taxes, partly subsidized by the State (3.5 million), the region (8 million), the department ( 4 million) and the city (15 million). Construction work began on 19th March 2018 and the line opened in full on 13th November 2019. [28]

An Alstom Citadis X05 Tram on Ligne 3 with the Alliance Riviera Stadium in the background, © Snoopy 31 and used under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED). [28]

At the end of 2019, 6 additional tram sets were put into service to allow the operation of Ligne 3. These were identical to the trams in use on Ligne 2 and are powered in the same way as the Ligne 2 trams, operating without overhead contact lines.

The Charles Ginésy maintenance centre was established as part of the construction work. It is located at the Charles Ehrmann sports park and now is common to both Ligne 2 and Ligne 3, It has been designed to accommodate and maintain the whole fleet of trams on the two lines. [27]

New park-and-ride facilities accommodate 630 vehicles.

A Focus on Ligne 4 …

The city of Nice believes that the ongoing development of the tram network brings significant benefits which are focussed in 3 main areas: [10]

  • Mobility: facilitating travel thanks to the tramway and cycle paths, creating new park and ride facilities, increasing intermodality, ensuring a quality, regular service to the sectors crossed,
  • Quality of life : a reclassified living environment, less pollution and less noise, less car traffic, a more beautiful and peaceful city, more modern and green,
  • Economic development: a more attractive city that encourages activity, a mobility offer superior to current trips to shops and businesses, a saving on travel costs, job creation during the construction phase.

Ligne 4 “will connect the three most important municipalities in the Metropolis in terms of population and jobs: Nice, Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer. It will serve 18 stations, including 14 new ones, over a length of 7.1 km of track created, supplemented by 4 new park-and-ride facilities comprising 1,200 spaces (Saint-Laurent-du-Var station, Val Fleuri, Hippodrome, Parc des sports of Cagnes-sur-Mer). Thus, 40,000 passengers will be transported every day, calming traffic and avoiding 4,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year from 2028.” [7]

A bird’s eye view of the proposed Ligne 4 with the Line 2 route to the Airport on the left. [12]
Before and After aerial images associated with the planned construction of Ligne 4, showing the area outside the boundary of Nice Airport. [12]

This line will be accompanied by the planting of 1,160 trees and the preservation of 365 trees along the route and 30,000 m² of green tramway.

The route will run from the CADAM (administrative center) in St. Laurent-du-Var to the Cagnes-sur-Mer Sports Park.

St. Laurent-du-Var as it will probably look from the air after completion of Ligne 4. [13]

A Focus on Ligne 5 …

“As part of the creation of this new transport axis, it is planned, in addition to the creation of 7.6 km of additional tramway on predominantly grassed trackway tram platform,, to give more space to pedestrians and bicycles. Thus, a continuous cycle route will be created between Drap and the eastern centre of Nice. More generous pedestrian spaces will be created along this axis to rebalance the city for the benefit of local residents.” [10]

Like the other lines, the entire route will be accessible to all. Developments will be made on and around the stations to guarantee all people benefit from its presence. In the light of this additional and improved pedestrian crossing points over the River Paillon will be created specifically at two locations where tram stations will sit on significantly widened bridges: Pont Jumeaux and Pont Anatole France, which are not very accessible to pedestrians today. The objective is to encourage pedestrian crossing of the Paillon by giving more dedicated space.

“Pont Anatole France station is a good example of this desire to connect the two banks. This station will be located on the bridge and will therefore be easily accessible from both banks via generous spaces for pedestrians.” [10]

The proposed route of Ligne 5. It extends from the station of the future Palais des Arts et de la Culture (now the Palais des Expositions) in Nice to Drap Town Hall. 7.6 km in all The proposed route will need to be refined and confirmed, in particular by collecting public opinion. The positioning of the tram stops may change. A series of superb visuals were produced during early development work and these can be found here. [11]

Ligne 5 could have been envisaged as an extension to Ligne 1, indeed it was seen as an extension in very early considerations for a tram network in Nice. However, Ligne 1 is acting a full capacity and would require significant alteration to accommodate the additional traffic produced by an extension to Drap.

In the light of this Ligne 5 is intended to be independent of Ligne 1 with its own terminus at the Palais des Expositions. By deviating from the route of Ligne 1, Ligne 5 includes “new  neighbourhoods and both banks of the Paillon.” [10] It will, however, be “interconnected with Ligne 1 at Pont-Michel, so that Ligne 5 trams can reach the maintenance centre in Nice-Nord.” [10]

An artist’s impression of Ligne 5 at Pont St. Michel. [19]
A ‘possible’ Bird’s eye view of Ligne 1 and Ligne 5 at Place de l’Armee du Rhin after completion of Ligne 5. [11]
An artists impression of Ligne 5 on Boulevard Vérany and the banks of the River Paillon. [11]
Two trams are shown in this artist’s impression of the Pont Jumeaux crossing of the River Paillon with its adjacent tram stop. [11]
Another aerial view, this time showing a tram on the proposed route along Boulevard de l’Ariane and the banks of the River Paillon looking towards the hills. [11]
La Trinité – A tram crossing the River Paillon on Pont Anatole France through the proposed tram stop. [11]
Another bird’s eye view of the proposed tramway at La Trinité, the River Paillon and Pont Anatole France with a tram turning to run alongside the river. [11]
Les Chênes Verts tram stop in Drap and La Trinité. [11]
The approach to the Drap will bring trams across the River Paillon immediately adjacent to the terminus. [11]

Public Consultation took place between January and March 2022 and as a result some refinements were made to proposals. Currently (November 2023) the project includes for:

– 7.6 km of tramway

– 16 stations 

– 25 minutes between the two terminals

– 1 tram every 8 minutes

– 50,000 inhabitants and 28,000 jobs served

– 16,000 fewer cars every day in the Paillon valley

– 2000 tonnes of CO² avoided per year.

The calendar for the development and implementation of the project is:

2024: public inquiries (environmental, water law, public utility, land, etc.)

2026: Construction of the length through Pont-Michel to Pont Garigliano

2028: Construction of the remaining length to Drap. [11]


The public consultation resulted in a near unanimous approval of the project. 98% of the opinions expressed by the public were favourable. And 100% of elected representatives supported the scheme. [16]

The service station (left) at the Garigliano crossroads, in Nice, will disappear to allow the passage of the tram, © Richard Ray. [16]

“This project is eagerly awaited by residents and we know how to recognize when a consultation is going well,” said the leader of the environmentalists, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux. [16]

“The Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis has obtained European funding of 823,924 euros to finance all the studies carried out for the tram project linking the Ariane district to the city center of Nice and La Trinité. This funding comes from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which aims to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion within the European Union as part of the Integrated Territorial Investment of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis.” [17]

And further into the Future? … Towards Monaco? …

It is possible that Ligne 2 may be extended. Some consideration is being given to an extension to Ligne 2 of the tramway, beyond the current eastern terminus of the Lympia port, towards the principality of Monaco. “It would provide a second rail line between the metropolis of Nice Côte d’Azur and Monaco, and be an alternative to the TER PACA network.” [20]

References

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice_tramway, accessed on 26th October 2023.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20130515035144/http://www.lignesdazur.com/presentation/?rub_code=9&thm_id=7&gpl_id=, accessed on 26th October 3023.
  3. https://www.frenchrivieratraveller.com/Nice/Transport/Tramway.html, accessed on 26th October 2023.
  4. https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/nice-trams/?cf-view, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  5. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/ligne-1/hier-aujourdhui, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  6. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/actualites, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  7. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/ligne-4/enquete-publique-du-lundi-12-juin-au-vendredi-21-juillet-2023-inclus, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  8. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ligne-4-tramway-rapport-d-enquete.pdf, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  9. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Ligne-4-tramway-CONCLUSIONS-DUP-MECDU.pdf, accessed on 24th November 2023.
  10. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/questions-reponses/#faq_27231, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  11. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/ligne-5/le-projet-de-la-ligne-5-de-tramway-nice-la-trinite-drap, accessed on 25tj November 2025.
  12. https://projets-transports.nicecotedazur.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/MNCA_TRAM-L4_BROCHURE_TT-SAVOIR_A4_BD.pdf, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  13. https://saintlaurentduvar.fr/blog/ligne-4-du-tramway-l-enquete-publique-est-lancee, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  14. https://twitter.com/Elodieching/status/1484215486867021824?t=JFKe_qZVQzGO-STX2SqQrQ&s=19, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  15. https://www.lemoniteur.fr/article/metropole-de-nice-la-t5-une-ligne-de-tram-vertueuse.2215172, accessed on  25th November 2023.
  16. https://www.nicematin.com/transports/approuve-a-lunanimite-trace-prefere-craintes-exprimees-bon-depart-pour-le-projet-de-tramway-entre-drap-et-nice-777378, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  17. https://www.investincotedazur.com/ligne5-tramway-nice, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  18. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_2_du_tramway_de_Nice, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  19. https://www.pss-archi.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=835184, accessed on 25th November 2023.
  20. https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/18414/tram-design-revealed-for-the-east-west-line-of-the-nice-cote-dazur-metropole, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  21. https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/citadis-x05-light-rail-vehicles, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  22. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nice_tramway_place_Garibaldi.jpg, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  23. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ligne_2_Tram_de_Nice_07-20.jpg, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  24. https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-line-L1-Nice-3260-854686-771043-0, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  25. https://www.batiactu.com/edito/ligne-2-tramway-nice-arrive-a-aeroport-54985.php, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  26. https://www.frenchrivieratraveller.com/Nice/Transport/Tramway.html, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  27. https://www.nice.fr/fr/transports-et-deplacements/la-ligne-3, accessed on 26th November 2023.
  28. https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligne_3_du_tramway_de_Nice, accessed on 26th November 2023.

Monte-Carlo to Menton – La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 93).

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This post covers the line from the Port of Monaco and Monte-Carlo to its terminus in Menton. A short article about this length of tramway was included in the French-language ‘Tram Magazine‘ of 1980 [7], and it is covered by José Banaudo in his book ‘Nice au fil du Tram, Volume 2‘ [1]

Earlier articles in this series can be found by following these links:

Nice to Antibes:

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Cap d’Antibes (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 90) …

Nice to Monaco:

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Monte Carlo (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 91) …

Branch-lines between Nice and Monaco:

Nice to Monte-Carlo Branch Lines – La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 92) …

Other articles about railways and tramways in and around Nice can be found here:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/category/railways-and-tramways-blog/french-railways-and-tramways/railways-and-tramways-around-nice/

A project for a steam tramway linking the principality of Monaco to Menton via the Basse Corniche dates back to 1892 but seems that it may have encountered opposition from the various communes along the route. It is possible that this opposition centred on the use of steam as the  power-source chosen.  [7]

However, the Monaco Tribune suggests that it was clear that the capacity of steam engines to pull adequate loads on the gradients needed to serve the principality was always in doubt. The Triune comments: “At the start of the 1890s, there was a project for a Nice-Menton tramway line which would run through Monte Carlo. Following the example of French towns that were opening up tramway networks, horse-drawn at first, then with mechanical traction and finally electric-powered, the Principality eventually accepted the necessity of a line crossing Monaco, from Le Rocher to Saint-Roman, passing through Monte-Carlo and serving the Casino. The Principality’s topography was an issue: horse-drawn and steam trams were not an option. Electric trams had to be developed.” [6]

The Monaco tramways had three lines:

  • Place d’Armes – Saint Roman, opened on 14 May 1898.
  • Gare de Monaco – Place du Gouvernement, opened on 11 March 1899.
  • Casino – Gare de Monte-Carlo, opened on 3 May 1900. [8]

In 1897, the TNL (Tramways de Nice et du Littoral) obtained the concession for a metre-gauge coastal line between Cagnes, Nice, Monaco and Menton.

The main difficulty encountered in establishing this route was crossing the principality of Monaco, where in 1898 a local company opened an urban tramway powered by underground electric cables. [7]

While waiting for the establishment of an agreement to allow the passage of their trams through the principality, the TNL transported part of their fleet of by rail to Menton and opened a section of tramway from Garavan to Cap-Martin on 20th December 1902. One year later, this isolated section was linked to the rest of the network with the commissioning  of the complete section from Monaco to Menton on 28th December 1903. [7]

In 1910, the TNL bought out the Monaco Tramways concession but continued to operate a split operation with connections in the principality between the Nice and Menton lines.  During the Great War, the TNL’s tramway experienced heavy passenger and goods traffic, with the PLM line being reserved primarily for strategic transport. [7]

After the war, the Monaco to Menton line was designated Ligne No. 43 in the TNL’s new operating plan.  But very quickly, road competition and the narrowness of the Basse Corniche roadway made sharing the road with lorries, vans and cars almost impossible. [7]

On 26th January 1931, the Nice to Monaco line was closed, followed a few months later by the departmental connection Menton (Villa Caserta) – Sospel.  As during its first years of operation, the Menton tramway found itself isolated from the rest of the network and continued for a few months with reduced service to Monaco Garavan and Menton Villa Caserta, with the equipment based at the small Carnolès depot.  This reprieve was only short-lived, because these lines were in turn closed in January 1932. [7]

This extract from the 1914 plan of Monaco shows the tramway running along the Condamine on the West side of the port before heading up the Avenue de Monte-Carlo. For a time there was a junction at the top of the gradient with trams for Menton turning North. [2]
Tram outside Monte Carlo International Sporting Club. The position of the pole shows that this tram is heading down hill to the Port. [9]
A similar view in 2011 looking down Avenue d’Ostende towards the Port. [Google Streetview, March 2011]
A later image showing a tram just a little further up l’Avenue de Monte-Carlo (now Avenue d’Ostende), but on the other tramline heading up hill towards the Casino. [11]
Tram outside Le Restaurant de Paris, Monte-Carlo. [10]
The  tram tracks outside Restaurant/Cafe de Paris. Apparently these tracks were only in use for a very short time around 1902/1903. This picture was shared by Jean-Paul Bascoul on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 19th July 2023. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [12]
Trams heading for Menton turned Northwest on Rue des Lilas (now Avenue Princesse Alice). For a short while in the very early 20th century a short branch continued up towards the Casino. Trams for Menton turned right at the top of Rue des Lilas onto Avenue de la Costa. [2]
This extract from Google Maps shows the route of the tramway as the primrose yellow line snaking from the bottom to the top of the image. A little confusing because the North point of the 1914 map extract above is not the same as Google Maps. The tram route enters at the bottom of this extract along Avenue d’Ostende. It then turns through more than 90° to run along Avenue Princesse Alice, executing a reverse curve along the way and then turning onto Avenue de la Costa. [Google Maps, November 2023]
These trams sit at the junction of the line to Menton (turning away to the left) and that to the Casino. They sit directly in front of the old Office de Poste et Telegraph. This image was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 7th July 2017. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [21]
The same location as appears in the colourised postcard view immediately above. This is the point at which the tramway turned Northwards from Avenue de Monte-Carlo onto what was Rue des Lilas (now Avenue Princesse Alice). Access to the Casino is along the road to the right which for a time carried a branch tramway serving Monte-Carlo Casino. [Google Streetview March 2011]
The trams for Menton followed Rue des Lilas (now Avenue Princesse Alice). This image looks Northwest from the Southern end of the Avenue in 2021, [Google Streetview, July 2021]
At the North end of Rue des Lilas (now Avenue Princesse Alice), trams turned right onto Avenue de la Costa. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Looking Northeast along Avenue de la Costa in 2021, towards Boulevard des Moulins. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Avenue de la Costa, after a short distance, led  straight onto Boulevard des Moulins. It was only a short walk from this point to access the funicular railway to La Turbie. The terminus can be seen at the top of this map extract. [2]
The primrose yellow line again indicates the line of the old tramway heading Northeast along Avenue de la Costa and then Boulvard des Moulins. [Google Maps, November 2023]
Looking Northeast from the bottom of Boulevard des Moulins in 2021. The Office de Tourism can be seen on the right of this image. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Boulevard des Moulins continued in northeasterly direction towards Menton. Again, please don’t be fooled by the orientation of the North point on this 1914 map. [2]
A tram on Boulevard des Moulins heading Northeast. This image was included in a Monaco Tribune article about Monaco’s trams (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). It also appears in José Banaudo’s book where he notes the change to a single track line from a double-track length which ran from Avenue des Beaux-Arts to the edge of the St. Roman dustrict of the principality. He describes the dual length of track elsewhere as running from Credit Lyonnaise to Hotel du Littoral. Banaudo tells us that the tram in this image is TNL No. 27, a Thompson-built tram providing a Monte-Carlo to Menton service. [6][1: p57]
This postcard view of a tram on Boulevard des Moulins also appears in José Banaudo’s book. He notes that this tram is providing an urban service in Monaco and travelling Northeast on Boulevard des Moulins. [1:p57]
So much has changed. Much of Boulevard des Moulins would be unrecognisable to those who knew it in the early 20th century. This is a similar view looking Northeast along Boulevard des Moulins. It is possible that the tree, visible in each of the monochrome images above, is that which appears in this image. The building immediately beyond the tree, where the street curves away to the left seems to be common to all three images. [Google Streetview, July 2021]

Boulevard des Moulins led directly onto Boulevard d’Italie. Banaudo tells us that “the line became single track in the Boulevard d’Italie, where two sidings allowed the cars of the coastal line to pass those providing the urban service. The latter’s terminus was established in the St. Roman district where the three-track TM depot-workshop was also located, just before the border between the principality of Monaco and the French commune of Roquebrune.” [1: p56]

This extract from a map shared in an earlier article shows the tramway heading on from Avenue des Moulins along Boulevard d’Italie into St. Roman. The article from which this image was taken was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 17th May 2015. [24]
A tram on Avenue d’Italie in St. Roman. [27]

After leaving the principality, Banaudo tells us that the road and the tramway ran through picturesque even grandiose scenery as they run through “Cabbé cove, bounded to the east by the tip of Cape Martin. Since leaving the principality, five passing loops and sections of double track of varying lengths followed one another on this route where the Basse, Moyenne and Grande Corniche come together below the picturesque medieval village of Roquebrune.” [1: p56]

Boulevard des Moulins finishes just at the bottom-left of this Google Maps satellite image. Avenue d’Italie runs diagonally from the bottom-left of the image to the top-right. The road is marked by the primrose yellow line. This was the route of the TNL tramway.close to the top right of the image the Avenue d’Italie gives way to the Avenue de France at the gyratory. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The primrose yellow line closest to the sea in this satellite image marks the route of the old tramway (now the D6098). Avenue de France gives way to Avenue Jean-Jaures towards the top right of the image. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The route of the old tramway continues along the present D6098 (Avenue Jean-Jaures) until it joins the D6007 (Avenue de la Cote d’Azur) and then curves around the valley at Cabbe.  [Google Maps, November 2023]
The route of the old tramway continues along the Avenue Cote d’Azur (A6007). [Google Maps, November 2023]


Shortly after the location where the Basse, Moyenne and Grand Corniches meet, the “national road 7 describes a series of tight turns on a steep slope to cut across the base of Cap-Martin.  In order to follow a more favorable route, the tramway penetrated quite far into the pine forest of the cape for approximately 1600 m on an independent platform.  Here it served housing estates, vast properties and villas, some of which were not yet connected to motorable roads.” [1: p57]

A tram runs along the highway, some distance above sea-level, having passed through the district of St. Roman. [23]
The tramway through Roquebrune and Cap-Martin was remote from the highway for about 1.6km. On careful inspection its route can be seen on this map. The pictures below show the length of tramway described by José Banaudo, which ran on its own formation for some distance. [17]
A Thomson TNL tram passes in front of the Roquebrune post office, in the Cabbé district. The tram is heading for Monaco. I have struggled to locate this image in relation to modern maps of the area. [7]

Banaudo continues to describe the route followed by the tramway. He says that the old tramway ran out onto the Cap-Martin peninsula where it “described a long hairpin loop at the bottom of which was a 108 m tunnel, in a curve with a radius of 35 m and a slope of 70 mm/m. From the Cap-Martin stop, located at the exit of the tunnel, the single track was subsequently doubled to facilitate crossings in this hilly sector. The descent on the eastern slope of the cape then offered a vast panorama of the town of Menton and the Ligurian Riviera. Since entering [Cap-Martin], the line had lost around sixty metres in altitude when it reached the seashore at the Victoria Hotel, not far from which the Cap-Martin depot was located.” [1: p57]

Close to Roquebrune, trams left the main road to follow a dedicated formation. The highway had a series of tight curves and significant gradients which were not suitable for trams. From this point, the trams travelled out onto Cap-Martin while gradually descending almost to sea-level. [16]
Approximately the same location as that shown in the photograph above, as it appears in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
Looking Southeast, the old mainroad followed the route on the left trams ran on a separate route which has been transformed to Avenue Paul Doumer, which appears on the right side of this photograph. [Google Streetview, October 2022]

Today, Avenue Paul Doumer (D52) follows the route of the old tramway fairly faithfully as it heads out onto Cap-Martin. Avenue Paul Doumer gives way to Avenue Sylvio de Monleon which follows the old tramway to and through the location of the tramway tunnel which has been supplanted by a road tunnel on the same alignment.

Avenue Paul.Doumer (D52) shown in grey follows the route of the old tramway. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The tram in this photograph is heading towards Roquebrune and then Menton. The single-track line is on its own formation, separated from the road both horizontally and vertically. [15]
Looking Southeast on Avenue Paul Doumer. The main road is marked by the green railings at a higher level. This is approximately the same location as that shown in the postcard view immediately above. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The D52 continues to follow the old tramway route, although it takes the new name of Avenue Sylvio de Monleon on the right third of this extract from Google Maps. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The old tramway turned through a tight hairpin bend , the first part of which was in tunnel. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The road tunnel that replaced the narrower tramway tunnel. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
A tram leaves the tunnel on Cap-Martin and approaches the tram stop. The pedestrian access to the tram stop appears to the left of the tram in this image. [14]
From a slightly different angle, the modern tunnel portal close to the old tram stop is visible in this image. The image shows that the steps which provided access to the tram stop are mirrored by similar steps in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The tram stop on Cap-Martin. The tram is heading for Monaco. [16]
This image shows the same location today. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
A tram running downhill towards the Plage de Carnoles. [26]
A similar location in the 21st century, looking down Avenue Sylvio de Monleon towards the Plage de Carnoles. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Banaudo mentioned Hotel Victoria in his description of the tram route. In the 21st century it remains at the same location as in the early 20th century. It features at the bottom of this extract from Google Maps. South of the Hotel Victoria a block of flats can be seen adjacent to the tight curve on the D52. Those flats sit on the site of an old chapel – Chapelle du Cap-Martin. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The ruins of the Chapelle du Cap-Martin with dual tram tracks running close to its doors. [22]
A early postcard view showing a TNL tram running past the Chapel towards Menton. [34]
The same location in 2023. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
This extract from the map seen earlier in this article shows the tram route entering bottom-centre, close to what would have been the Chapelle du Cap-Martin, and running for just a short distance along Promenade du Midi before turning inland to pass under the PLM mainline. [17]
An early postcard view of La Plage de Carnoles, looking East from Cap-Martin. Tram tracks are clearly visible on the beach and a tram appears to be heading for Menton. [45]
Looking Southwest in 1910 towards Cap-Martin from La Plage de Carnoles. Banaudo notes that at the time it was built, the tramway sat on the beach. [25]
A similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
This image shows a tram running along the edge of the beach in Carnoles. Just to the right of this image trams turned away from the beach. [7]

After running past the Chapelle du Cap-Martin trams ran alongside the beach for a short distance. The route they took has since become the Promenade du Midi. They turned inland at what is now Avenue Francois de Monleon and ran under the PLM mainline before turning to the right along Avenue Julia, a road which appears to no longer exist, and following the curve of that road as far as its junction with what is now the D6007. The length before that junction was along what is now Avenue du Marechal Foch.

This old post card image shows a tram on Avenue François de Monleon. It was shared on the Menton du Passé au Present Facebook Page on 3rd December 2017. [35]
Avenue François de Monleon in the 21st century at a similar location to the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, November 2023]
Trams ran Northwest along Avenue François de Monleon passing under the PLM mainline through the bridge shown here. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Running Northeast the tramway met the N7 (now the D6007) and then turned right along it towards the PLM mainline and the beach along what is now Avenue Aristide Briand. [17]
The primrose yellow D6007 shows the route of the old tramway. [Google Maps, November 2023]
This monochrome image shows a tram on Avenue Julia (now Avenue du Marechal Foch) adjacent to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Carnoles. The road on the right of the image is Route National 7 (RN7). [19]
This modern image shows approximately the same location in the 21st century. Google Streetview, October 2022]
Turning through about 120°, this view looks down Avenue Aristide Briand towards the railway bridge which is shown below. The tram tracks are clearly visible in the road surface. This old postcard image was shared on the Menton du Passé au Present Facebook Page on 9th August 2017. [18]
Trams once ran along what is now Avenue Aristide Briand (D6007) and passed through this railway bridge before running Northeast closer to the sea. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
Pont de l’Union sat at the boundary between Carnoles and Menton. This image is an early 20th century postcard view of Pont de l’Union. It looks East. The overbridge carrying the PLM line is directly ahead at the extreme left of this image. It is not possible to show a modern version of this image as the photograph is taken from a point inside one of the more modern buildings on Avenue Aristide Briand. [7]
The view East-northeast east along Avenue Aristide Briand which is the route being travelled by the tram in the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, October 2022]

The TNL had a depot at Carnolès-plage from 1902 to 1932. [20] Banaudo notes that the tramway passed twice under the PLM Nice to Ventimiglia line. After “the second underbridge, the Union bridge over the Gorbio valley demarcated the territories of the communes of Roquebrune and Menton.” [1: p57]

Banaudo keeps his comments on the remainder of the old tramway route succinct. On entering the commune if Menton, he says, “the tram followed the Avenue de la Madone (today Général De Gaulle), the Borrigo Bridge, the Avenue Carnot, the Biovès garden which covers the Careï torrent then the Avenue Felix Faure.  Place St. Roch, where the Sospel line branched off, marked the entry into the old town of Menton. Here, the single track made its way through the very narrow Rue St. Michel then entered the port where it  followed the Quai Bonaparte.  The tramway entered Garavan beach then ended its course near the Hanbury fountain, a few hundred metres from the Italian border at that time.” [1: p57]

We will try to unpack Banaudo’s description with images that show the route through Menton. Trams entered Menton on the RN7 (now D6007). Until the mid-20th century people were expected to leave the tram at the boundary between Roquebrune Cap-Martin and Menton to declare the goods they were carrying. The Octroi, shown below, was the ‘custom point’.

Everyone crossing into Menton was expected to declare taxable goods at the ‘border’ of the commune. [7]
The location of le Pont de Borrigo at the point where Avenue Cernuschi met the RN7 (D6007). [Google Maps, November 2023]
Le Pont de Burrigo close to the beach on the road into Menton. The road over the bridge carried the tramway. [49]
A view West back across the location of Pont de Burrigo. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
The tram has stopped on Avenue Carnot next to Le Kiosque de Musique (Bandstand) in the gardens alongside the Promenade de Midi. [7]
Looking East along Avenue de Carnot, approaching the centre of Menton. This was the route taken by the tram. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

Trams continued along Avenue Carnot past l’Eglise Anglais and onto Avenue Felix Faure.

Avenue Carnot runs past St. John’s Church in Menton  (the Anglican Church). Tram tracks can be seen on the road surface in this image which was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Pierre Richert on 8th January 2018. [37]
L’Avenue Carnot and St. John’s Anglican Church in 2023. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
St. John’s Church is shown on this extract from Google Maps with Avenue de Carnot on its South side. The D6007 turns right and then left to run along the Promenade. The old tramway ran straight ahead onto Avenue Felix Faure. [Google Maps, November 2013]
St. John’s Church can be seen in the bottom-left of this image. Avenue Felix Faure runs Northeast from St. John’s Church. It is the grey line, one block back from the Promenade. [Google Maps, November 2023]
Avenue Felix Faure, Menton, in the early 20th century, looking towards the old town. Tram tracks are visible in the road surface. [38]
Avenue Felix Faure in the early 20th century. This is a view from a very similar location as the image above, this time a tram can be seen heading out of the old town towards Monaco. [40]
The same location that appears in the two monochrome images above, as it appears in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
One street corner along Avenue Felix Faure, looking Northeast. The only thing in common with the present is the Hotel des Colonies building, which you can see on the left of image. [51]
Approximately the same view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview March 2023]
Avenue Felix Faure, looking Southwest from a point close to Place St. Roch. [50]
A similar view in the 21st century, looking Southwest. [Google Streetview April 2023]
This old postcard image shows Avenue Felix Faure entering Place St. Roch. It looks Southwest from Place St. Roch. Overhead tramway cables can be seen running in two directions, ahead into Avenue Felix Faure and right into Rue Partouneaux. The tram tracks leading into Avenue Felix Faure can be seen to the left of the photograph. Note the publisher shelter close to the centre of the image. [53]
A similar view to the one immediately above. A statue now sits in front of the building. [52]
A similar modern view looking across Place St. Roch towards the Southwest and Avenue Felix Faure. [Google Streetview, March 2023]

Rue Partouneaux on the North side of Place St. Roch was followed by trams for Sospel which set off from or terminated at the mouth of Rue St. Michel at Place St. Roch. This route is covered elsewhere in this series about trams in and around Nice:

Three articles written at different times, in chronological order are as below:

Sospel to Menton Tramway

The Sospel to Menton Tramway Revisited (Chemins de Fer de Provence 51)

The Menton to Sospel Tramway Revisited Again! (Chemins de Fer de Provence 61)

Avenue Felix-Faure in Menton, seen from Place St. Roch, looking Northeast. On the left we can see the waiting kiosk of the TNL tram urban lines. There is a tram waiting at the stop but rather than following the main route between Monaco and Menton it will leave along Rue Partouneaux to the Careï valley. It will possibly stop at the Villa Caserta terminus, or it will continue towards Monti, Castllon, the valley of Bévéra and the Sospel terminus. This image was shared by Jean-Paul Bascul on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 28th September 2023 (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [5]
A similar view, looking Northeast in the 21st century from Place St. Roch. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Looking East from Place St. Roch along the most easterly length of Avenue Felix Faure, we see a tram heading West, although it is not clear whether it will head for Monaco or bear round in front of the camera onto Rue Partouneaux to the Carei Valley. [7]
An early 20th century postcard image of Rue St. Michel/Avenue Felix Faure, looking East, Tram tracks are visible in the road surface. [29]
The same location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2008]
An early postcard view of Rue St. Michel, looking West. [39]
Rue St. Michel in 2008 looking West at approximately the same location as in the postcard image above. [Google Streetview, December 2008]
Rue St. Michel in 2008 looking East. [Google Streetview, December 2008]
A powered car and trailer stopped at Place aux Herbes in the 1920s. This image was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 23rd March 2022 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [3]
The same location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, 2021]
Rue St. Michel looking West in the early 20th century. The tramway track is easily seen in the cobbled road surface, the overhead cables in the sky! [46]
The same location, close to the eastern end of Rue St. Michel in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, 2008]
A further extract from Google Maps. The tramway ran along Rue St. Michel which enters this image just beneath the Carrefour City blue flag to the bottom-left of the image and runs in an approximately straight line East-northeast to meet the present D6007 (Quai Bonaparte). Here trams turned North along the D6007 before heading East towards Garavan. [Google Maps, November 2023]

Trams left the East end of Rue St. Michel and crossed Place du Cap before running out onto Quai Bonaparte.

An early 20th century postcard image of Place du Cap, Menton. Overhead wires for the trams cross the image and, to the right side of the image a tram can be seen turning into Place du Cap from Quai Bonaparte. [32]
This image was shared by Jean Claude Volpi on the Entraide Menton Monaco Roquebrune Cap Martin et sa région Facebook Group on 17th September 2021. It shows the tramway leaving Place du Cap. It refers to the Quai as ‘Quai de Monleon’. [48]
The old postcard image refers to the Quai as ‘Quai Boneparte. The camera is situated a little further to the North than the camera in the image above. [31]
A short distance to the North again, this old postcard image is annotated ‘Le Boulevard de Garavan’. Literally only a couple of hundred metres along the shore from the last postcard image. This colourised image comes from the early 20th century. [30]
The modern D6007 now follows the Quai Bonaparte/Quai de Monleon. A constant feature is the large building at the centre of this image which seems to have a central gable. In the 21st century this is the Menton campus of Sciences Po Paris. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
This last extract from Google Maps shows the remaining length of the old tramway. The line followed the Promenade de Garavan and is shown in primrose yellow. It was on the seaward side of the RN7 (D6007). The terminus was close to the grey flag at the right side of this image. It was adjacent to La Fontaine de la Frontiere. [Google Maps November 2020]
A tram heads towards Menton old town along Boulevard de Garavan. [7]
The view from a very similar location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
A tram stopped on La Promenade de Garavan. Menton’s old town can be seen in the distance. [26]
A similar view from Porte de France in 2023. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The terminus of the line is some distance ahead in this view. The tram is heading towards the terminus of the line. [26]
This image was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 23rd March 2022 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. Looking East, it shows a tram at the extreme Eastern end of the TNL network, about to set off for Nice. [4]
As can be seen close to the centre of this view looking East, the Fontaine de la Frontiere still stands in its historical location, although the Italian border has moved further East! [Google Streetview, March 2023]

The terminus of the TNL network was on La Promenade de Garavan, immediately West of the Fontaine de la Frontiere which itself was very close to the then Italian border.

The tram terminus was just to the West of the Fontaine de la Frontiere in almost exactly the same location as the earlier horse-drawn tram in this old postcard image. [47]
The Fontaine de la Frontiere in 2023. At one time the border with Italy was a little to the East of the fountain. [Google Streeview, November 2022]

Images in this article credited to Jean-Paul Bascoul can be found on his blog: Monaco 4Ever.blogspot.com.

References

  1. José Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005.
  2. http://www.vidiani.com/maps/maps_of_europe/maps_of_monaco/large_detailed_old_map_of_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1921.jpg, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  3. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/6968696949870285/?app=fbl, accessegraphs wered on 14th November 2023.
  4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/7097087640364548/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v, accessed on 14th November 2023.
  5. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9979281115478505/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v, accessed on 14th March 2023.
  6. https://www.monaco-tribune.com/2023/03/lancien-tramway-de-monaco, accessed on 14th November 2023.
  7. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9166984710041487/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v, accessed on 14th November 2023.
  8. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Monaco, accessed on 15th November 2023.
  9. https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpa-monaco-monte-carlo-international-sporting-club-tramway-52606, accessed on 15th November 2023.
  10. https://www.ansichtskartenversand.com/ak/90-carte-postale-ancienne/34051-Monaco/11423949-CPA-Monte-Carlo-Le-Restaurant-de-Paris-tramway, accessed on 15th November 2023.
  11. https://fotonail.com/europa/monaco/monte-carlo/monte-carlo-avenue-tramway-horse-cart.html, accessed on 15th November 2023.
  12. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9547920741947880, accessed on 15th November 2023.
  13. https://www.delcampe.net/fr/collections/cartes-postales/france/roquebrune-cap-martin/cpa-roquebrune-cap-martin-le-tram-de-menton-a-monte-carlo-transport-chemins-de-fer-tramway-giletta-946-461482676.html, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  14. http://transporturbain.canalblog.com/pages/les-tramways-de-nice—de-l-apogee-au-declin/31975780.html, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  15. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253323731414?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=7-GeZfqtTnS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  16. http://www.en-noir-et-blanc.com/roquebrune-cap-martin-p1-813.html, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  17. https://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/categories/maps-by-cartographer/guides-bleus-hachette/product/roquebrune-cap-martin-vintage-town-ville-city-plan-alpes-maritimes-1930-map/P-6-070870~P-6-070870, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  18. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02cEoY2Gk9V3e73notFARJaZR99QMhQmUgrKjiH1Uyd1yDhxgCAJnqMwcCKaWKFcKDl&id=635920043254797, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  19. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204509560244?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=cTk_hvhSRfe&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 30th November 2023.
  20. https://m.facebook.com/groups/rcmentraide/permalink/1282944575478897, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  21. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9478220598917895/?app=fbl, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  22. https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpa-france-06-menton-saint-jean-vielle-chapelle-au-cap-martin-92913, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  23. https://www.akpool.fr/cartes-postales/26659024-carte-postale-monte-carlo-monaco-tram-route-de-menton-monte-carlo-strassenbahn-panorama-vom-ort, accessed on 17th November 2023.
  24. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9166981643375127/?app=fbl, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  25. https://images.app.goo.gl/PViRS5rGcYE3NVLg6, accessed on 18th November 2023.
  26. https://www.cparama.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=52777, accessed on 19th November 2023.
  27. https://www.communes.com/cartes-postales-anciennes-roquebrune-cap-martin, accessed on 19th November 2023.
  28. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid028EjRwQCxRmB89rEsCt2h8YR32nMKhMhypGPSzF3CAAQc8H4wjmHSq3QRjiTzMGhHl&id=100064481811741, accessed on 19th November 2023.
  29. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/3565973976809283, accessed on 3rd December 2023.
  30. https://www.geneanet.org/cartes-postales/view/5938184#0, accessed on 3rd December 2023.
  31. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196013394405?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=W9cRBoodQSO&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 3rd December 2023.
  32. https://www.cparama.com/forum/menton-t979.html, accessed on 3rd December 2023.
  33. Not used.
  34. http://www.en-noir-et-blanc.com/le-cap-martin-p1-2800.html, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  35. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid028tjj9vrXVrhWDqtANF258PK7v3kCQKj5ePhuGN1QcsPL1qESvtW6c5BTopfn3LaWl&id=635920043254797, accessed on 20th November 2023.
  36. https://www.facebook.com/635920043254797/posts/pfbid0c9zVgpCcdqRCBhGj8tXT6kiiCNsmFDTTo7ASaxgFv5TFhaXcN845gT98PtXwof3yl/?app=fbl, accessed on 20th November 2023.
  37. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/2071367206442471, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  38. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314237843895?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=nU4A5jgeRzm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  39. https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpa-france-06-menton-la-rue-saint-michel-223828, accessed on 3rd December 2023.
  40. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186145306141?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=iaKZOZUrQmi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  41. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0UYtiYEptwyNi1Jw3dZWz9ZABkcPs8JRS6CATMHY1XYRyiM753KXLPM9CfsZ7AiKbl&id=635920043254797, accessed on 20th November 2023.
  42. Not used.
  43. Not used.
  44. Not used.
  45. https://www.geneanet.org/cartes-postales/view/186292#0, 23rd November 2023.
  46. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=275995965894297&substory_index=2275002982660242&id=274116476082246,  23rd November 2023.
  47. https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/collectibles/postcards/france/menton/menton-promenade-de-garavan-et-fontaine-de-la-frontiere-tram-a-chevaux-1911374856.html, accessed on 4th December 2023.
  48. https://m.facebook.com/groups/172267109778338/permalink/1524067927931576/, accessed on 30th November 2023.
  49. https://www.cparama.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2581, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  50. https://www.fortunapost.com/menton/63773-06-menton-les-platanes-avenue-felix-faure-1914.html, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  51. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134689074112?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=_o2CiTs1S5m&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  52. https://www.communes.com/cartes-postales-anciennes-menton, accessed on 2nd December 2023.
  53. https://collection-jfm.fr/p/cpa-france-06-menton-la-place-saint-roch-102274, accessed on 3rd December 2023.

Nice to Monte-Carlo Branch Lines – La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 92) …

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There were two branch lines worth noting between Nice and Monte Carlo: one from Pont-St. Jean to St. Jean-Cap Ferrat; one from Monaco-Gare to Monaco-Ville.

The tram route from Nice to Monte-Carlo is covered in an article which can be found by following this link:

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Monte Carlo (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 91) …

Pont-St. Jean – St. Jean-Cap Ferrat

This branch line was just under 2 km in length and ran between Pont-St. Jean at 27 m above sea-level to a terminus in St. Jean-Cap Ferrat at 3 m above sea-level.

Construction of the line started in June 1906 and it was open to traffic by 7th December 1907.

Along with the rest of the network it received a line number on 1st January 1923 – No. 22. It remained in service as a tramway until 9th March 1931, when it was replaced by a bus service. Rails were lifted by 20th June 1933.

A postcard photograph of Pont St. Jean with a tram approaching from the terminus on St. Jean Cap Ferrat, the photograph was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Laurent Mannu on 20th April 2022. Travelling the opposite direction a tram would almost immediately stop at l’Octroi. [6]
A very similar view in 2023. [Google Streetview, March 2023]

The line was single-track throughout with two intermediate passing places.  It left the mainline between Nice and Monte-Carlo at Pont-St. Jean which sat at the point where the communes of Villefranche and Beaulieu shared a common border and at the point where the PLM line between Nice and Ventimille was bridged to provide access to the coastline. This was also close to the Octroi de St. Jean which, as we have noted elsewhere, was a building which housed  municipal tax collectors and allowed them to control and tax goods transported by travellers.

After crossing the railway line trams headed down Avenue Denis Semaria (M25) out onto the peninsula. The ‘new’ road, M125, can be seen heading West alongside the railway line. [Google Maps, November 2023]

The peninsula was an attractive area to build a home and the Tramway found its way through villas and gardens set among pine trees.

St. Jean Cap Ferrat – a beautiful place! [2]
St. Jean Cap Ferrat, the primrose yellow road out onto the peninsula is route M25. The loop of road to the South is the M125, © OpenStreetMap made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license (CC BY-SA 2.0). [3]
The tramway ran along Avenue Denis Semeria, curving round Villa La Ligne Droit. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The route of the old tramway, approaching Villa La Ligne Droit. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild sat to the East of the tramroad and Villa Andreae Nice to the West. [Google Maps, November 2023]

The M25 had to be rebuilt in to the West of and in parallel to its original route which was too narrow to accommodate both trams and other traffic. 

The Gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild sat above the tramroad to the East and Villa Andreae Nice to the West was to the right. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

After a passing-loop close to the chapel of St. François in the middle of the peninsula, the line descended eastwards to reach its terminus located at the port of St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat. 

The tram route, as shown on a map of the area around Nice in 1914. [10]
The tramway continued along Avenue Denis Semaria close to Jardinerie du Cap-Ferrat Marcarelli. [Google Maps, November 2023]
The route continued to follow Avenue Denis Semaria and began to head down towards [Google Streetview, October 2022]
The tramway turned away from one arm of Avenue Denis Semaria to head down to the Port along another arm of the same named road and following the route number M25. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
The tramway continued round the curve on Avenue Denis Semaria. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

Avenue Denis Semaria runs first due East and then turns round to the South as it approaches the Port and the location of the tramway terminus. [Google Maps, November 2023]
Now heading due East on Avenue Denis Semaria (M25) and approaching the East coast of the peninsula. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
A tram en-route from Pont-St. Jean down to the Port curving down along Avenue Denis Semaria not far from the Port. This image was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 1st September 2014 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [11]
A very similar view in 2023. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Turning through 180°, this is the view along Avenue Denis Semaria towards the Port. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The bus terminus at Port-St. Jean. The tram terminus was a few hundred metres South , behind the camera. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The tram terminus was established at the port of St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Place du Centenaire, near the statue of the Fisherman, the work of Claude Vignon-Rouvier, wife of the politician Maurice Rouvier. Around 1910. The tram in the picture is made up of a powered car and a trailer. [4]
A later view without a tram present. The buildings on the left have seen some significant work undertaken. The first is now a three-storey building and both that and the adjacent property have been extended towards the street. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 28th February 2022 by Alain Nissim. [5]
A similar view in 2023 looking through the location of the tramway terminus to the North. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The cafe at the terminus of the tramway. The image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 18th February 2022. [9]
A postcard view of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat – Place du Centenaire – Tram Stop – Publisher: Giletta N°830. The photograph was taken sometime around 1920 and shows a powered car running round its trailer ready for the journey back to Pont-St. Jean. [4]
A similar view in 2023 looking through the location of the tramway terminus to the South. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The Namuoma Restaurant at St. Jean-Cap Ferrat, with the tramway tracks visible to the bottom right of the photograph. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 16th August 2023. [7]
Another view of the terminus. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 5th July 2021. [8]
A similar view in 2023 looking through the location of the tramway terminus to the South. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

Monaco-Gare – Monaco-Ville

This line was marginally over 1 km in length. It low point was at Place d’Armes, just 19 metres above sea-level, its high point was at 59metres above sea-level at Place de la Visitation. It was single track over its entire length with no passing places . It also did not have passing loops at its two termini as it only used powered cars with no trailers.

Banaudo tells us that, “Starting from the PLM station square, it went down Avenue de la Gare for 101 m to Place d’Armes. This node in the Monegasque network formed a connection point with the TNL line towards Nice and the TM line towards Monte Carlo and St. Roman. Crossing this, the single track climbed by a long ramp of 77 mm/m the Avenue de la Porte-Neuve to the end of the Rocher dominating Fort Antoine, then a sharp bend brought the line back into the Avenue des Pins. The terminus sat at the entrance to the old town of Monaco, on the Place de la Visitation where the government palace stands.” [1: p54]

A plan of the different tram and train lines in Monaco and Monte-Carlo in the early 20th century. The article from which this image was taken was shared on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 17th May 2015. The line between the station and the Place de la Visitation runs left to right at the bottom of the map. [15]
This map shows This branch line tramway ran from Monaco-Gare at the Northwest corner of this map extract through Place d’Armes and then along Avenue de la Porte Neuve before swinging sharply round to the West along Avenue des Pins, to terminate in Place de la Visitation. [16]
Monaco Railway Station in the early 20th century. [19]
Looking Northwest along Avenue Prince Pierre towards the location of Monaco Railway Station. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
Looking along Avenue Prince Pierre into Place d’Armes. [Google Streetview, July 2022]
The junction of Avenue de la Gare with Place d’Armes looking towards the railway station. This image was shared by Jean-Paul Bascoul on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 23rd June 2017. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [13]
A tram on Place d’Armes in the 1920s. This image was shared by Jean-Paul Bascoul on the Monaco4Ever Facebook Group on 20th June 2020. (Collection privée J-Paul Bascoul). [14]
La Place d’Armes looking towards Monaco Railway Station which sits at the far end of Avenue de la Gare (now Avenue Prince Pierre). [12]
A colourised postcard view of the junction between Avenue de la Gare (now Avenue Prince Pierre) and Place d’Armes. [17]
Place d’Armes sat below the Palace of Monaco. It was the point at which trams from the railway station crossed the Nice to Monte-Carlo line and then headed up onto the rock. [16]
The tramway up onto the Rock followed Avenue de la Porte Neuve. The tramway to the casino (and on to Menton) followed the parallel Avenue du Port. [Google Streetview, 2011]
The tramway to the Casino and then on to Menton ran up the West side of the port. The tramway up onto the Rock via the Avenue de la Porte Neuve. [16]
The tramway turned from the Avenue de la Porte Neuve into the Avenue des Pins and heads to its terminus at Place de la Visitation. [16]
The tight curve of Avenue Saint-Martin leads round towards Avenue des Pins. [Google Streetview, 2011]
The tramway followed Avenue des Pins heading off to the right leading towards Place de la Visitation. [Google Streetview, 2011]
Place de la Visitation at the top of Avenue des Pins was the terminus of the tramway. [Google Streetview, 2011]

Images in this article accredited to Jean-Paul Bascoul come from his blog – Monaco4ever.blogspot.com.

References

  1. José Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005.
  2. https://www.explorenicecotedazur.com/en/info/saint-jean-cap-ferrat-en, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  3. https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/43.6881/7.3294, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  4. https://www.cparama.com/forum/saint-jean-cap-ferrat-t9821.html, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  5. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3325276507718195, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  6. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3372278223018023, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  7. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3745256885720153, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  8. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3132401830338998, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  9. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3325276507718195, accessed on 11th November 2023.
  10. https://theoldmapshop.com/products/1914-nice-south-of-france-town-plan-antique-baedeker-map-print-st-jean-cap-ferrat-villefranche-sur-mer, accessed on 12th November 2023.
  11. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9801785099894775, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  12. https://www.akpool.fr/cartes-postales/24373465-carte-postale-monaco-la-cote-dazur-la-place-darmes-et-avenue-de-la-gare-strassenbahn, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  13. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9397633530309936, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  14. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/5583715751701752/?app=fbl, accessed on 13thbNovember 2023
  15. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/9166981643375127/?app=fbl, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  16. http://www.vidiani.com/maps/maps_of_europe/maps_of_monaco/large_detailed_old_map_of_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1921.jpg, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  17. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/8938416852898275/?app=fbl, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  18. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1389253567814679/permalink/8938416852898275/?app=fbl, accessed on 13th November 2023.
  19. https://www.monaco-tribune.com/2023/02/un-decor-de-carte-postale-la-gare-de-monaco-monte-carlo, accessed on 13th November 2023.

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Monte Carlo (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 91) …

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The line between Nice and Monte Carlo opened in a series of stages. First from Monaco to Place d’Armes in Monte Carlo on 14th May 1898; then from Place Massena in Nice to Villefranche, on 1st February 1900; Villefranche to Beaulieu on 3rd November 1900; TNL trams were permitted to run on Monaco’s tramways from 28th May 1903; and the remaining length, Beaulieu to Monaco Place d’Armes opened on 7th November 1903. Over the next few years some single track lengths were doubled.

Trams for Monte Carlo began their journey in Nice a Place Massena. This postcard image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Roland Ciccoli on 10th March 2016. [34]

Trams to Villefranche, Beaulieu and Monte-Carlo left the TNL station at Place Masséna and entered Rue Gioffredo sharing the double track with the urban lines to Gendarmerie and St. Pons.  At Rue Defly, the route branched off to the right to cross the River Paillon to Place Garibaldi. The right bank lines to the Boulevard du Pont-Vieux and Abattoirs were crossed there. The line then ran along Rue Cassini to Place Cassini (today Ile-de-Beauté) where several urban lines serving the port terminated.

After leaving the port, trams headed towards Papacino and Deux-Emmanuel quays. With the Riquier line heading up Rue Arson, the Monte-Carlo trams began a steep climb along Boulevard Carnot on the western slope of Mont Boron.  

Boulevard Carnot leaves the Port area of Nice and winds its way up the western side of Mont Boron. Trams followed this road towards Monte Carlo. [Google Maps, October 2023]
Much the same location in 2022 as shown in the postcard above. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
Boulevard Carnot continues South along the western side of Mont Boron. [Google Maps, October 2023]
A similar view North along Boulevard Carnot in 2023. The retaining wall on the right of the road fixes the location. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
A view across Nice in March 2023 from the approximate location of the tram in the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
Boulevard Carnot and Boulvard Maurice Maeterlinck. [Google Maps, October 2023]
The tram in front of the restaurant Bel-Air – Tabacs (today’s Bar-Tabacs San Luca). The restaurant was at the beginning of Boulevard Maurice Maeterlinck, © Yves Nissart Premier. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Pierre Richert and Roland Coccoli in June 2023. [3]
The same location in 2022. [Google Streetview, October 2022]
Boulevard Maeterlinck close to Boulevard Carnot. Note the tram tracks in the road surface. © Yves Nissart Premier. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Pierre Richert and Roland Coccoli in June 2023. [3]
The tramway followed what was the RN7 (today’s M6098) towards Villefranche-sur-Mer. [Google Maps, October 2023]
A tram on Boulevard du Mont Boron (today’s Boulvard Princess Grace de Monaco) This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 19th June 2016 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. The tram is a T2 powered car providing an extended urban service as far as l’Octroi du Mont-Boron on the Monte-Carlo line, [5]
The same location in 2023. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
The route of the tramway down into Villefranche. [Google Maps, October 2023]
A tram approaching Villefranche on a service from Nice. The harbour is visible to the right of the picture. The town can be seen in the centre of the image. [6]
The same view, colourised, [7]
Approximately the same location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
An early map of Villefranche-sur-Mer with Mont Boron on the left of the image and St. John Cap Ferrat on the right. (1699 by De Fer). [4]
Mont Boron and the route to Villefranche-sur-Mer as seen on an IGN aerial photograph of 1943. [4]
An IGN aerial view of 1924 with the Moyenne Corniche under construction. Both this and the image above were shared by Pierre Richert on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 1st October 2022. [4]

Trams then headed down into Villefranche, which Banaudo reminds us, was the “military port of the House of Savoy and always a popular stopover for cruise and warships.  The tramway passed above the dock and the citadel, … crossed ‘l’octroi’ and reached the Villefranche station located in the upper part of the town.” [1: p41]  ‘L’octroi’ was the point where visas were granted and taxes were collected. According to the “Petit Robert de la Langue Française,” an ‘octroi’ was, historically, an “indirect contribution collected by a municipality on goods for local consumption (entrance fees).” [2]

This is the first of a sequence of 5 postcard views shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 10th July 2023, which show the approach to Villefranche and it’s customs house (l’Octroi), the entrance to the old town and the first 100 metres or so, of the RN7 heading East. [13]
A little closer to Villefranche. [20]
The approach to l’Octroi from Nice with a tram standing in front of the building. [13]
Looking towards Nice, this view shows the Place de l’Octroi. The building on the left is l’Octroi, the road to the old town leaves past the photographer on the left of the picture. The RN7 and the tram route leave bottom-right. [13]
Looking towards Beaulieu and Monte Carlo, the RN7 curves away from the tram stop in Villefranche. The road to the old town drops away to the right. [13]
A closer view of the junction. [13]
Turning a little to the left from the last image. [13]
This picture shows approximately the same location as the last three monochrome images above. [Google Streetview, March 2023]

At Villefranche station, according to Banaudo, “certain partial services had their terminus and a particular branch served a building materials warehouse, (un entrepot de materiaux de construction).” [1: p40]

Villefranche-sur-mer again. The road shown pale yellow on this image is the route of the old tramway. [Google Maps, October 2023]
St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat runs south from the bottom of this image, which shows Beaulieu-sur-mer. The road shown pale yellow on this image is the route of the old tramway. Beaulieu’s port is top-right. [Google Maps, October 2023]
Thomson TNL tram Nº 10 heads East from Villefranche towards Beaulieu, with the Mont Alban fort in the background. [8]
Approximately the same location in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, May 2023]

To accommodate the trams, the RN7, the Basse Corniche, was widened using large retaining walls. The tramway, “skirted the bottom of Villefranche harbour and approached the base of Cap Ferrat. ” [1: p41]

The tramway junction where trams for St. Jean Cap Ferrat left the line to Monte Carlo. [12]
The same locatiuon in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, October 2022]

“At the Pont-St. Jean, where the St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat branch turned away, [trams] arrived in the town of Beaulieu, where a centuries-old olive tree marked the entrance adjacent to l’octroi pavilion.  Following modifications made during the First World War, the double track ended … shortly after [l’Octroi] stop.  Crossing Beaulieu, the line followed Boulevard Félix-Faure (today Maréchal-Joffre), passed under the PLM Nice – Ventimiglia artery near the station then went down towards the seaside where it ran alongside the town hall,  the church and the port.” [1: p41]

The old tramway continued to follow the Basse Corniche through Petite Afrique and on twards Cap Roux. [Google Maps, October 2023]
Beaulieu-sur-mer, Boulevard Felix-Faure. This photo was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 4th October 2019 by Laurant Mannu. [11]
Beaulieu-sur-mer, la Petite Afrique in 1903. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Roland Coccoli on 31st March 2017. [10]
Looking East along the promenade in Beaulieu-sur-mer. East of Beaulieu the line heading to Monte Carlo faced significant obstacles. Cliffs falling directly down to the water’s edge required significant civil engineering works to widen the Basse Corniche to make room for vehicles and the tramway. [9]
A similar location to the view shown in the monochrome image immediately above. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The Basse Corniche ran below the PLM railway through Petite Afrique. [26]
A similar view in the 21st century to the sepia postcard image above. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Looking back West towards Beaulieu. [22]
This colourised postcard view was taken at almost the same location as the image above. [25]

Leaving the town, a siding at the foot of the railway embankment constituted an intermediate terminus in the residential district of ‘Petit Afrique’, “where,” Banaudo tells us, “a micro-climate favours the blossoming of luxuriant vegetation among Moorish and exotic villas.” [1: p41]

The railway tunnel at Cap Roux with the road and tramway at the base of the cliffs. [14]
A closer view of the tunnel mouth. [15]
The tunnel mouth at Cap Roux in 21st century. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

As Banaudo comments: “Shortly after, the high limestone cliffs of Cap Roux fall directly into the sea and form an apparently impassable obstacle to communications on the coast.  The PLM line crossed this location via a 419 m tunnel decorated with a superb fortified portal, while a short tunnel cut directly into rock provided for the road and the tramway.  It had to be widened when the latter was made double track.” [1: p41] 

The road/tramway continue to be shown by the pale yellow line on this next extract from Google Maps. The tunnel at Cap Roux appears at the bottom-left of this extract which shows the Baie d’Eze. [Google Maps, October 2023]
A View East from inside the tunnel at Cap Roux. [16]
The tunnel at Cap Roux has been widened to accommodate the modern carriageway. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
A view West towards the tunnel at Cap Roux. [23]
Another postcard image showing the tunnel at Cap Roux, again looking West. [17]
A 100 metres or so East from the tunnel, this view looks West and includes part of St. Jean-Cap Ferrat and Beaulieu. [18]

At the point where the PLM line emerged from the Cap Roux, the tramway passed above it on the road bridge and ran along the verge through the location of Eze station.  Banaudo tells us that, “In this residential area, the villas are spread out between a well-sheltered beach at the bottom of a bay and the foot of the mountain where the medieval village of Eze perches, at an altitude of 427 m.” 1: p41]

TNL Tram Car No. 3 at Baie d’Eze in around 1906. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alan Rozier on 19th September 2019. Cap Roux is prominent to the left of the tram. [8]

From this point, the terrain along the coast became increasingly steep and the Basse Corniche and the tramway track had to gain height again, passing above Point de L’Isoletta and through Pointe de Cabéel and Cape Estelle, (today, Estel).

This next extract from Google Maps shows Point de L’Isoletta towards the bottom-left. Through traffic on the modern M6098 now passes in tunnel behind Cap-Estel. [Google Maps, October 2023]
Looking East along the Basse Corniche in 2023. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Looking West along the old tram route on the old Basse Corniche from Cap-Estel. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

The route rose up from the coast and looped inland below the hamlet of St. Laurent d’Eze. The line soon reached 85m above sea level (its highest point) near the passing loop in the Pissarelles district.

Trams passed through two very short tunnels close the Plage Mala. These appear on the right side of this extract from Google Maps. [Google Maps, October 2023]

Two tunnels cut into the cliff above Plage Mala preceded the start of the descent to Cap-d’Ail. Both of these tunnels remain and continue to carry the Basse Corniche. Banaudo tells us that this was in “the former coastal district of La Turbie which obtained its municipal autonomy in 1908.” [1: p42]

East of St. Laurent d’Eze the Basse Corniche and the trams ran round the Cap-d’Eze, passing through two short tunnels. This is the first viewed from the East. [24]
The first of two short tunnels above Plage Mala. This view looks East into the tunnel. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The second tunnel viewed from the West. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The second tunnel viewed from the East. [Google Streetview April 2023]
The second Mala tunnel sits at the extreme left of this next extract from Google Maps. [Google Maps, October 2023]
The Basse Corniche and the tramway continued down through Cap-d’Ail. [Google Maps, October 2023]
The descent toward Cap-d’Ai. The tram car is a trailer, part of a two car train heading for Monte Carlo. The double-track tramway takes up much of the highway on the Basse Corniche! [30]

The tramway then ran down past customs barracks and crossed the border into the principality of Monaco. The extract below shows the route of the tramway as it approached the border, which is just off the top of the map extract.

The village of Cap-d’Ail is at the bottom-left of this next extract from Google Maps. The tramway continued to follow the Basse Corniche from Cap d’ Ail in a Northeasterly direction. [Google Maps, October 2023]
The descent along the Basse Corniche continued. [21]
This next extract from Google Maps shows the centre of Monaco. The border between France and Monaco crossed the old tram route at the location of the roundabout in the bottom-left of this extract, West of the Stade Louis II. [Google Maps, October 2023]
The descent into Monaco. This colourised postcard view looks across the TNL tram route towards the Palace. [27]
Monaco in 1900. The promontary in the colourised image above is shown towards the bottom of this map with the PLM railway station at its landward (West) end. [31]
Monaco 1930. The route of the tramway is shown on this image, crossing the PLM railway line in the bottom left of the map on the Wurttemberg Bridge and then running along Boulevard Charles III towards the port, turning right onto Avenue du Port and then running North alongside the port on Boulevard Albert 1er. [32]

“A warehouse of materials and fuels was located on the border itself in the St. Antoine district.” [1: p42] The tramway then passed under the PLM tracks at the Württemberg bridge, where a passing loop was created in 1913. 

Le Boulevard Charles III, very early in the 20th century [40]
A simialr view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2021]

The tramway then followed Boulevard Charles III to Place du Canton where a siding was established at the foot of the bastion at the western end of the rock which supported the palace.  Banaudo continues: “Industrialists in the Fontvieille district (brewery, chocolate factory and pasta factory) used this siding for unloading and shipping their goods.” [1: p42]

These two postcard views show Place d’Armes. On the second the tramway to Place de la Visitation can clearly be seen on the right. [43]
Approximately the same view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, December 2010]

The TNL line joined the urban network of Monaco on the Place d’Armes, where two branch lines left the route: on the left towards the PLM station; and on the right towards Place de la Visitation, on the Rock.  The tramway ran along Avenue du Port on a “brief double-track section, then arrived at the gasometer bend, it ran alongside the port by going down Boulevard de la Condamine (today Albert 1er).  On Place Ste. Devote, the double track resumed to climb Avenue de Monte-Carlo, whose inclination constituted an absolute record for the entire TNL network: 80 mm/m average over 415 m, including a “peak” at  93 mm/m over 41 m! A bridge spanned the PLM line below ‘l’Hotel Ermitage’, then the tramway left the urban line at la Poste to reach le Plateau de Spélugues, where the terminus was located between ‘l’Hotel de Paris’ and l’e Casino de Monte-Carlo‘.” [1: p42]

Banaudo also highlights a number of structures along the route from Nice to Monaco: “In Nice: Garibaldi bridge over the Paillon (3 cast iron arches).  Between Beaulieu and Eze: Cap-Roux tunnel (26 m) and bridge on the PLM Nice – Ventimiglia line.  Between Eze and Cap-d’Ail: La Mala 1 (30 m) and La Mala 2 (50 m) tunnels.  In Monte-Carlo: L’Ermitage bridge on the PLM Nice – Ventimiglia line.” [1: p43]

La Condamine, now Albert Premier. [29]
A view along Boulevard Albert Premier in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, March 2011]
A tram runs down La Rampe on La Condamine, now Avenue d’Ostende. [42]
A similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
A 21st century view along Avenue d’Ostende at approximately the same location as the two postcard views above. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
This low resolution colourised postcard view shows a tram climbing La Rampe (now Avenue de i’Ostende) towards the Casino, passing a series of Hotels. [41]
A tram alongside the Casino. [28]
A similar location to the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, July 2021]
This 1903 postcard shows a tram close to the Casino. [35]
A similar view in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, October 2010]

Two branch lines left the main tramway between Nice and Monte Carlo. These were:

  • Pont-St. Jean to St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat
  • Monaco-Gare to Monaco-Ville (Place d’Armes to Place de la Visitation on the Rock).

These will be the subject of future article(s), as will be the length of the line from Monte Carlo to Menton.

References

  1. José Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume No. 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005.
  2. https://dictionnaire.lerobert.com/definition/octroi, accessed on 14th October 2023.pwe
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  21. https://www.cparama.com/forum/cartes2013a/1367698172-06-Cap-d-Ail-tram.jpg, accessed on 21st October 2023.
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  29. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Exposition_des_canots_autos%2C_Monaco%2C_avril_1905_%285619067954%29.jpg, accessed on 21st October 2023.
  30. https://www.google.com/search?q=monaco+trams+cartes+postales+ancienne&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi22qipp4SCAxXvWaQEHUO_CVsQ2-cCegQIABAD&oq=monaco+trams+cartes+postales+ancienne&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIFCAAQogQ6BAgjECc6BAgeEApQ7w5YziNgtTJoAHAAeACAAaQBiAHcCZIBAzIuOJgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=m0cyZfagNe-zkdUPw_6m2AU&bih=664&biw=360&client=ms-android-oppo-rvo3&hl=en#imgrc=2d6uTfkjSefGVM, accessed on 21st October 2023.
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  35. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304773417554?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ngW_GOApSZS&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=afQhrar7TGK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=MORE, accessed on 26th October 2023.
  36. https://www.monaco-tribune.com/2023/03/lancien-tramway-de-monaco, accessed on 26th October 2023.
  37. https://www.delcampe.net/en_GB/collectables/postcards/monaco/harbor/monte-carlo-le-boulevard-de-la-condamine-935509054.html, accessed on 26th October 2023.
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The Railways of East Shropshire (and Telford) – the Much Wenlock and Severn Junction Railway, Buildwas to Much Wenlock.

10 Replies

This article follows on from three other articles which covered the Wellington to Severn Junction Railway and which reached as far along the line as Buildwas. Those articles can be found on these links:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/07/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-1-wellington-to-horsehay

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/12/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-2-horsehay-to-lightmoor-junction

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/07/18/the-railways-of-telford-the-wellington-to-severn-junction-railway-wsjr-part-3-lightmoor-junction-to-buildwas

In this article we follow the line from Buildwas to Much Wenlock which was initially the Much Wenlock and Severn Junction Railway, “established by the Much Wenlock and Severn Railway Company. The company itself was formed on 21 July 1859. The railway was later constructed between 1860 and 1862 forming part of the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway.” [1]

The Wellington to Craven Arms Railway was formed by a group of railway companies that eventually joined the Great Western Railway family, and connected Wellington and Shifnal with Coalbrookdale, Buildwas, Much Wenlock and a junction near Craven Arms on the route between Shrewsbury and Hereford. It’s purpose was particularly focussed on the iron, colliery and limestone industries around Coalbrookdale.

The line was built over a number of years by what started out as a number of different independent ventures:

“The Wenlock branch, with its four original constituent companies passed through areas as complex and diverse as its original organisation: from the slag tips and pennystone pit mounds of the East Shropshire coalfield to the wooded crest of Wenlock Edge and Ape Dale. The one central strand however on which the companies focused their attention was the ironworks nestling in the tree-lined Coalbrookdale valley, the success of their venture depending solely on the support which they would receive from the Coalbrookdale Company.” [61: p5]

The railways were opened to traffic between 1854 and 1867. The railways local to Coalbrookdale were heavily used by mineral traffic; the hoped-for trunk hauls to and from South Wales via Craven Arms were not realised. Passenger traffic was never heavy, and was sparse between Much Wenlock and Craven Arms. Passenger traffic closures took place from 1951 and ordinary goods traffic closed down in the 1960s. Ironbridge B Power Station generated significant volumes of merry-go-round coal traffic between 1967 and 2015. The line is now entirely closed to ordinary traffic, but the heritage Telford Steam Railway operates on a section between Lawley and Doseley. [2]

The immediate location of the railway station at Buildwas disappeared under the redevelopment of the power station.

These first few maps are taken from StreetMap.co.uk [17] and show the route of the railway South from Buildwas through Much Wenlock as it appears on 21st century Ordnance Survey mapping. …..

Buildwas to Much Wenlock – The Route

Buildwas Junction Station was on the South side of the River Severn close to what was Abbeygrange Farm. The Village of Buildwas was on the North side of the river. The Station was a relatively busy junction The Severn Valley line was met by the line from Wellington and the line via Much Wenlock to Craven Arms. A short goods line left the station to serve a pumping station on the South bank of the Severn. This extract is from the 1901/2 6″ OS Map. [3]
This 25″ Map provides greater clarity and is taken from the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey. [4]
This aerial image was taken in 1968 a short while before Ironbridge B Power Station was commissioned and linked to the national grid. Ironbridge A Power Station is on the left of the image and is still operational. The railway as it remained in 1968 can be seen snaking across the centre of the image (c) E-ON. [18]
The site is unrecognisable in 21st century. The power stations on the site have both been consigned to history (2023) at different times. This ESRI satellite image as supplied by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) does show remnants of the railway still in place. [5]
An aerial view of the site taken from the East after the demolition of the cooling towers. The railway enters on the bottom right and runs up the centre of the image to the South of the River Severn. In this image, the site has yet to see any major redevelopment. [19]
Buildwas Junction Railway Station in 1962. This view looks West towards Bridgenorth on the Severn Valley line. The junction for services to Wellington via Coalbrookdale was a few hundred meters beyond the station in this view. The line to Much Wenlock is indicated by the platform name board which can be seen just to the left of the water tower on the right of the image. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 11th May 2017 by Paul Wheeler. He comments: “The station was closed on 9/9/63 on closure of the Severn Valley line. Passenger services from Craven Arms had ceased on 31/12/51, from Much Wenlock and from Wellington on 23/7/62, but the line to Buildwas remained open from Longville for freight until 4/12/63 and from Ketley on the Wellington line until 6/7/64. However, coal traffic for Ironbridge Power Station (B Station built on site of Buildwas railway station) … continued from Madeley Junction, on the main line between Shifnal and Telford Central” until 2016. The Power Station in this photograph was Ironbridge A. This image is reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved] © Copyright Ben Brooksbank and licensed for reuse (CC BY-SA 2.0). [6]
A service for Much Wenlock sits at the station platform in 1957 in the capable hands of 0-6-0PT No 7744 . The line to Much Welock went through the combined station at a higher level than the Severn Valley line. Buildwas Junction Station was overshadowed by the Ironbridge ‘A’ power station. Note the ‘fire-devil’ next to the water column to the left of the picture, in front of the water tower. The Fire Devil is the container with a long chimney which is beneath the water tower. It is used in freezing conditions to prevent the water column from freezing. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on 17th October 2020, © G.F. Bannister. [7]
A similar view from 1954, this time with a service for Wellington at the branch platform. This was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 2nd March 2020, (c) G.F. Bannister. [8]
This image of Buidwas Railway Station comes from 1961. This time the image shows the Severn Valley lines. The photographer has chosen to focus tightly on the railway station which avoids including the power station in the image. This picture was shared on the Telford Memories Facebook Group by Marcus Keane on 20th May 2019. [9]
This image from 1959 was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 24th February 2020. It shows an ex-GWR railcar in the East-bound platform on the Severn Valley line and a service for Wellington arriving from Much Wenlock on the branch. The relative levels of the platforms can easily be seen in this image. [10]
This image from 1932 was shared by Metsa Vaim EdOrg on the Telford Memories Facebook Group on 24th February 2020. [11]
A Westbound SVR passenger service at Buildwas, with service that has arrived from Much Wenlock in the higher branch line platforms in the background. Taken 9 June 1961. From the Sellick collection, hosted online by the National Railway Museum, © National Railway Museum and included here under a Creative Commons Licence, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). [12]
A particularly busy moment at Buildwas Junction Station on 9 June 1961. On the right, two Severn Valley passenger services cross, whilst on the left, a passenger service stands at the single platform for the Much Wenlock branch, with a goods train for Much Wenlock standing in the branch loop waiting to depart. From the Sellick collection, hosted online by the National Railway Museum, © National Railway Museum and included here under a Creative Commons Licence, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). [13] .
This aerial image is embedded from Historic England’s Britain from Above site. It shows the construction of Ironbridge Power Station. It was taken in 1930. Buildwas Station can be seen on the left of the image which has been taken facing West and the line to Much Wenlock curves away to the left from what was the old Severn Valley Line.  [14]
Ironbridge Power Station, Buildwas Junction Station and associated sidings in 1948 (EAW012667) © Historic England (Britain from Above). Both the Severn Valley line and the line to Craven Arms via Much Wenlock leave the image on the left (West) with the Much Wenlock line just to the South of the Severn Valley line. [15]
Looking West along the River Severn in a time of flood. Buildwas Abbey is close to the centre of the screen. The sidings associated with the power station can be seen running from bottom centre to the mid-point of the image, The Much Wenlock Branch curved away to the left of the image and its route is marked by the modern field boundary. (c) xerdnA. [Google Streetview, February 2020]
Looking East through the power station site from the same elevated location, (c) xerdnA. [Google Streetview, February 2020]
A view of the Power Station sidings in 2020. [20]
Google Maps satellite imagery is used by RailMapOnline.com as a background to its mapping of old railway lines. This image shows the area around the two power station sites with the railways of the past shown by the turquoise lines. The route of the Severn Valley Line enters from the left near Buildwas Abbey and runs off the image to the bottom-right. The line to Wellington and Madeley Junction leaves the image mid-right. The Much Wenlock branch leaves the image in the bottom-left corner. [16]
Looking Northwest from the access road to Poolview Caravan Park. For a short distance, that access road runs immediately beside the Power Station sidings. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
Looking Northeast from the access road to Poolview Caravan Park  just before the point where it turns away to the South from the power station sidings. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
The area to the West of Buildwas Junction Station as shown on the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey. Note the station approach road which widens out into an open area between the the two railway lines and the access road to Abbeygrange Farm which passes under the line to Much Wenlock towards the West of the image. [4]
This very grainy image is a significant enlargement of a small section of the aerial image held by Heritage England on their Britain from Above website which is shown above, (EPW034013). It shows the point where the access road to Abbeygrange Farm passed under the line to Much Wenlock. The view is from the East. [14]
The similarly grainy image is also an extract from a Britain from Above aerial image, (EAW012578), which is taken looking South in 1948. Ironbridge Power Station is off the left of this extract. The Severn Valley line is in the foreground with the River Severn to the North (off the bottom of the extract). The Much Wenlock line runs across the centre of the image. The access road to Abbeygrange Farm enters the image from the right and passes under the line at the centre of the image. [21]
This is a first extract from the plans of the Much Wenlock line which are held in the Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury. It shows the accommodation underbridge which permits access to Abbeygrange Farm which effectively defines the rail approach to Buildwas Junction Station, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Looking South along the access road to Poolview Caravan Park at the point where the old railway line crossed the line of that road. [Google Streetview, March 2009]
Another extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901. The red line superimposed on the image is the route of the modern access road to the Poolview Caravan Park. [4]
Approximately the same area as that covered by the map extract above but shown on the modern satellite imagery provided by the NLS. The modern access road is visible under the tree canopy. The superimposed red lines indicate the approximate position of the station approach road and the alignment of the farm access road. The superimposed turquoise line is the approximate route of the Much Wenlock line. [23]
This next extract from the archived plans shows the length from the accommodation underbridge to a first crossing of the railway on the line of a public footpath just beyond the half-mile point. This is approximately the same length as shown on the map extract and satellite images above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The footpath shown on the map extract above was accessible from the old station access road as far as the field boundary on the North side of railway land but not beyond that point. A public footpath runs East-West across the field shown to the West of the access road and to the South side of the old railway. In 2023, the field was in use to grow potatoes. Walking West along that path brings one to the first remaining significant structure on the line to Much Wenlock. The map extract below shows the line curving round to the South before crossing a farm access road.

A further extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901 shows the line to Much Wenlock turning away to the South-southwest. An underbridge is shown in the bottom-left of the extract. [4]
The same area in the 21st century with the line of the railway and the location of the underbridge superimposed on the satellite image. [24]
The construction plan shows the curve towards the South, please note that the construction plans are drawn with the North point oriented so as to get significant lengths of the line shown on each plan. The occupation crossing referred to above is at the right side of this image, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
An enlarged extract of the construction plans for the line shows the location of the accommodation bridge which was just beyond the three-quarters of a mile point on the line, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
The first accommodation underbridge on the branch is a significant stone-arched structure. This photograph shows it from the East. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
A closer image, also from the East. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
The same structure seen from the West. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]

A steep track alongside the underpass leads South-southwest alongside the old railway route to allow field access and it is possible, at the top of that access road, to step onto the old railway formation and follow it for a short distance to the Southwest through increasingly dense vegetation. Walking Northeast along the formation over the accommodation bridge was not feasible because vegetation obstructed the route over the bridge.

After following a track South-southwest alongside the accommodation bridge which led up to the level of the old railway, this is the view back to the North along the route of the railway. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]
The line to Much Wenlock continues in a Southwesterly direction. [25″ 1901 Ordnance Survey as supplied by the NLS. The underbridge appears in the top-right of the extract. [4]
Approximately the same area as shown on the map above as supplied by RailMapOnline.com. [16]
This image and the one below taken together also show a similar length of the old railway to that on the 1901 25″ Ordnance Survey above. These two extracts from the archived construction plans get us to the one mile post on our journey along the line to Much Wenlock, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
For a short distance it was possible to walk along the old railway route Southwest of the accommodation bridge, however undergrowth encroached to such an extent that it was nigh impossible to continue to follow the railway formation. This picture shows the route a hundred metres, or so, Southwest of the underbridge. [My photograph, 24th May 2023]

As the picture above shows, the trackbed from a point just to the West of the accommodation bridge is inaccessible. The next location where access is possible is at the next minor road on the East side of the A4169.

This next map extract takes the railway line to the bottom edge of the the 25″ OS Map Sheet. The road and the railway are running in parallel over the bottom half of this extract. [4]
A narrow lane can be seen entering this map extract in the bottom-right. It passes under the old railway and meets the old road. The bridge deck is long-gone but the abutments remain in an overgrown condition. [25]
This extract from RailMapOnline shows that the tight bends in the old road have been removed by realignment and widening. The A4169 turns away from the line of the old Much Wenlock Road and starts to run on the formation of the old railway. As the new road drifts East towards the route of the old railway it meets the side road which approaches from the East. As we have just noted, the bridge abutments are still present. [16]
This image is a length of the construction plan which shows the length of the line from the 1mile post to the under bridge noted above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Looking Southeast from the A4169. The South abutment of the old bridge is hidden in the shadows close to the road junction. The old railway ran on alongside the new road alignment to the left. Comparison of this photograph with the preconstruction plan above shows that the new road alignment is taking much closer order to the route of the old railway by this point. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking Northwest from the minor road, the South abutment of the old railway bridge can be made out easily on the left. The North abutment is more camouflaged by vegetation. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
The face of the North abutment peeks out from the undergrowth on the left of this image. The East abutment wall-return can be made out on the right of the image. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
The South abutment face is considerably less covered by vegetation. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]

After clearing the bridge the old line was on embankment for a short distance with the minor road rising to the same height and continuing then on an upward grade. The next two pictures show the old railway formation at the point where the minor road and the old railway formation were at a similar height.

Looking North towards the old bridge abutment. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
Looking South along the line of the old railway. In a matter of around 100 metres, the climbing modern A4169 occupies the same space as the old railway. [My photograph, 8th August 2023]
Looking North along the A4169. In the distance the old railway route was on the right of the area now occupied by the modern road. Closer to the camera the newer road encroaches into the space occupied by the old railway. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
This extract from the precontract drawings for the Much Wenlock line takes us as far as the bottom edge to the last RailMapOnline.com image above, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The next two extracts from the 1901/1902 OS mapping take us as far as Farley Halt.

These two map extracts from the 1901/1902 Ordnance Survey show the old railway curving to the Southwest and for a short distance running immediately adjacent to the Much Wenlock Road. [26][27]
This extract from RailMapOnline covers the same length of the old railway as the two map extracts above. For a distance, the modern Much Wenlock Road (A4169) follows the same line as the old railway formation, pulling away from it at the point where the old road and railway were closest. The lane to Farley Mill can be seen leaving the modern road in the bottom-left of this image. [16]
Looking Southwest along the A4169. Along this length the road occupies the formation of the old railway. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Also looking Southwest along the A4169. The road curves away from the line of the railway which ran straight ahead. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
This next extract from the precontract drawings takes us to the 2 mile point on the old railway, just short of Farley Halt, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
This enlarged extract from the precontract plans shows the area around Farley Mill. Farley Halt was provided at a much later date and was sited about 400 metres South of the Mill close to what was Bradley Rock Quarry, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

Farley Halt was opened in 1934 and closed in 1962. It had a short timber edged platform with a wooden shelter on the west side of the line behind the former Rock House Inn. The halt could be accessed by steps down from a road over bridge to the south. On the other side of the overbridge was an access siding to Bradley Rock Quarry. The halt has been demolished, but its nameboard can be found displayed 400 metres to the north of the site on a stone barn adjacent to the A4169 Much Wenlock Road. [28]

This next extract from the 1901/1902 Ordnance Survey takes the line as far as Farley Halt which was just on the North side of the road overbridge shown close to Rock House Inn. On the South side of the bridge were the sidings which served Bradley Rock Quarry. It is worth noting the tramways/tramroads associated with the Quarry and the incline and lime kilns to the East. Landowner Liquid Fertilisers now occupy the site of the sidings. [29]
This map extract shows the full length of the sidings and most of the tramway/tramroad network on the East side of the old railway as surveyed in 1901. [30]
This RailMapOnline extract covers the same length of line as the two map extracts above. [16]
Farley Halt before the closure of the line to Much Wenlock. The access road bridge is visible beyond the locomotive. The shelter was made of timber, as can be seen, was the platform edge. [39]

Adrian Knowles

The building shown in this photograph used to Rock House Inn. The railway ran to the East of the Inn and Farley Halt was to the East of the Inn and to the North of the access road to Bradley Rock Quarry. Steps led down from that access road to the wooden-platformed halt. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
The Northern Parapet of the bridge over the old railway at the entrance to what was Bradley Rock Quarry. Farley Halt was on the North side of the bridge. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking North over the Northern parapet of the bridge. Farley Halt’s platform was on the right-hand (West) side of the line. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]
Looking South over the Southern parapet of the bridge towards Much Wenlock. The railway formation between here and the next minor road is overgrown. Bradley Rock Sidings were alongside the railway on this side of the bridge. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]

On the South side of the accommodation bridge were Bradley Rock Sidings. They can be seen clearly on the precontract plan below.

This next extract from the precontract drawings takes us to just South of the 2.5 mile point and brings us to the same location as the bottom edge of the RailMapOnline image above.. It covers the full length of the Bradley Rock Quarry sidings and indicates the presence of the quarry’s internal system of tramways. The transhipment wharf is shown with tramways parallel to the Standard-gauge siding. This indicates that at the time of the construction of the line in the early 1860s, the tramways were already present or were at least being constructed, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

Bradley Rock Quarry appears to have been a relatively significant operation at the turn of 20th century. The Quarry is also known as Farley Quarry and it is under this name that more details can be found online. Much Wenlock is situated in the area of a Limestone outcrop. Kent Geologists Group comment on the Quarry: “The strata exposed in Farley Quarry consist mainly of Wenlock Reef Facies interbedded with nodular and tabular limestones of Silurian age and display clearly the particular feature known as “ball stones”. In the deeper parts of the quarry the strata gradually pass downwards into the Farley member. … The Wenlock Series was subdivided by Bassett et al (1974) into bio-zones based on graptolite fauna and the Farley Member is placed at the top of the Coalbrookdale Formation. Within the Coalbrookdale formation, the uppermost mudstones of the underlying Apedale strata grade upwards over some ten metres into an alternating sequence of grey, shaley mudstones and thin, nodular, buff to blue-grey limestones – the Farley Member.” [31]

The two images above were taken in Farley Quarry/Bradley Rock Quarry and illustrate the kind of rock encountered, © Richard Law and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [32][33]

It is worth pausing our journey along the Much Wenlock & Severn Junction Railway to wonder what might have been the way in which stone and lime from Bradley Rock Quarry was exported to the probable primary users along the River Severn and to its immediate North. There appears to be no evidence of a tramway along the line of the Much Wenlock & Severn Junction Railway. This suggests that transport from the quarry followed one of two possible routes. The first option was to use the old road from Much Wenlock to Buildwas, and that would have been the original route used. An alternative option was to gain access in some way to the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. John Wooldridge tells us about the tramways/tramroads which served this area. [34]

“In the early 18th century Abraham Darby brought Wenlock stone for iron smelting in Coalbrookdale. As the local iron industry expanded, quarries between Much Wenlock and the River Severn were acquired by ironmasters operating in the southern part of the East Shropshire coalfield. The Wenlock-Buildwas road (now A4169) led to a wharf on the River Severn downstream (East) of Buildwas bridge from where stone was carried downriver to the ironworks. In 1780 William Ferriday of Lightmoor leased stone quarries near Gleedon hill and the Coalbrookdale Company leased quarries nearby. In 1800 William Reynolds leased quarries at Tickwood and Wyke. In the early 19th century the Madeley Wood Company succeeded to the Wenlock quarries of Richard and William Reynolds (probably the quarries at Tickwood and Wyke) and also to the Coalbrookdale Company quarries (probably near Gleedon Hill). The late 19th-century decline of Shropshire’s iron industry curtailed demand for Wenlock stone and Gleedon Hill quarries closed between 1882 and 1901.

The first stone carrying railway may have been built some time after 1800 – the date when William Reynolds took a lease on quarries at Tickwood and Wyke – to transport stone north eastwards, probably to a Severnside wharf on the Buildwas-Benthall boundary (perhaps the area now occupied by Buildwas power station). This railway had gone by 1833 and I have found no other reference to it, nor indeed any trace of it on the ground. Between 1824 and 1833 the Madeley Wood Company built a railway north from Gleedon Hill to a Severnside wharf [a short distance] upstream (west) of Buildwas bridge. In 1862, mainly to improve the transport of limestone to the Severn, and of coal from there to the kilns at Much Wenlock, a steam railway was opened from Buildwas to Much Wenlock [35].” [34]

The railway built by the Madeley Wood Company between 1824 and 1833 was probably the route which was known as the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. This did not follow the valley in the way that the later railway did but ran South from wharves on the River Severn to the West of Buildwas. Bertram Baxter noted that this was about 1.75 miles in length. [34]

The route of the tramway can be followed on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1881/1882. Doing so, is beyond the scope of this article but one extract from the 1881/1882 Ordnance Survey will illustrate its relative proximity to the Bradley Rock Quarry.

It should be noted that, while there is clear evidence for the existence of the Gleedon Hill Tramroad and of the red line drawn onto this extract from the 25″ 1881/182 Ordnance Survey being correct, the suggested possible tramway routes are speculative. They do illustrate, however, that they were possibly used to access the Much Wenlock Road by the owners of Gleedon Hill Quarry before the construction of their tramroad. It is possible that they were also able, later, to take materiel from Bradley Rock Quarry to the Gleedon Hill Tramroad. To be able to firm up this possibility, further research would be required. [36]

Adrian Knowles, in his excellent book about the line, “The Wellington, Much Wenlock and Craven Arms Railway, that quarrying ceased at the Bradley Rock Quarry in 1927, “and this ended a quaint tradition. Each morning, just before 10.00am, the quarry timekeeper had stood at the connection to Bradley Sidings from where the crossing keeper’s cottage at Farley could just be seen down the line. The crossing keeper would stand at the door with his arm raised and at the instant he dropped his arm the quarry man would know that the Greenwich time signal had been relayed by telephone. Thus, for many years, railway time was quarry time.” [40: p105]

Apparently, “The redundant quarry buildings were later purchased by the Midland Counties Dairy for conversion to a creamery, mainly engaged in cheese production, which opened in April 1934 under the name ‘Dingle Dairy’. Bradley Sidings were left intact but were seldom used as the Midland Counties Dairy operated its own lorries to collect milk from surrounding farms and despatch the finished cheeses. Even the small tramway, which ran into the old quarry from Bradley Sidings, was left in place but was not used.” [40: p105]

The dairy was active until the mid-to late 1930s, but after its closure the newly formed Railway Executive Committee brought about an agreement for the Sidings to be taken over by the Air Ministry “which cleared most of the old buildings in 1938 and installed 16 large underground oil storage tanks. The original quarry tramway, which had been left in place while the dairy had occupied the site, was removed at this time, but the standard gauge siding and connection to the branch were retained. The establishment of the Air Ministry fuel depot was to have dramatic and exciting implications for the Much Wenlock branch and a hint of what was to come was given when strengthening work was undertaken on an occupation bridge near Farley.” [40: p115-116]

When, on 1st September 1939, the Railway Executive Committee took control of the railways, weight restriction on the Much Wenlock line were substantially lifted. “All ‘red’ engines (except ’47xx 2-8-0s and the ’60xx King’ Class) were now permitted to run from Madeley Junction and Ketley Junction to Builders and as far South as Much Wenlock, subject to a 20mph overall maximum speed limit.” [40: p116]

Local airfields were supplied by the oil stored at Bradley and regularly ’63xx’ Moguls and ’28xx’ heavy freight 2-8-0s were seen on the branch. There may even have been the occasional ‘USA’ 2-8-0 as well.

The next length of the railway shows a road crossing and a small disused quarry. The Much Wenlock Road is now moving away from the railway. [37]
The road is further away still on this extract from the 1901/1902 25″ Ordnance Survey. This shows the area that inn the 21st century has a lagoon  [38]
This extract from the RailMapOnline.com satellite imagery shows the same length of line as the two map extracts above. The most notable feature other than the location of the minor road crossing is the presence of a lagoon in the bottom-left of this image. [16]
The crossing in use. This image was shared by Linda West on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group on 13th March 2018. [54]
Looking Southeast from the A4169 along the minor road which crossed the old railway on the level. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
Looking Northwest along the same minor road. The crossing-keepers cottage features in this and the last image above. Southwards from this point the line of the old railway is now a public footpath. [Google Streetview, June 2022]
The view North along the route of the old railway towards Farley Halt. The area between this point and the bridge over the line noted earlier is overgrown. [My photograph, 19th August 2023]
This photograph was taken from the line of the old railway, looking towards Much Wenlock. The crossing cottage is much as it was when the line was active. There is a small canopy over the doorway which was not present in the past and the land levels were adjusted with a slight realignment of the road carriageway so that wooden steps were no longer need to access the cottage door. This photograph was taken pon 11th July 2012, © Christine Johnstone and included here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [41]
An oblique view of the crossing-keeper’s cottage in 2023. The porch at the North end of the cottage is an addition (as are the solar panels). [My photograph, 19th August 2023]

Since completing this article, I have been contacted by Eddie Challoner. His grandfather had time as the crossing-keeper at this location in the mid-1950s. This article brought back a series of memories for him and he very kindly provided two photographs from that time ….

This first picture shows a pannier tank approaching the crossing from the South and gives an excellent view of the front face of the signal cabin, © Eddie Challoner.
This picture shows a small family group which Eddie says “includes my father, a railwayman for 51 years, myself and later an engineering student on the railways, sister and grandfather the crossing keeper at Farley Crossing in the mid 50s, © Eddie Challoner.
This extract from the precontract plans shows the location of the crossing-keeper’s cottage and the road crossing. © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The next few images were taken along the length of the line to the South of the cottage which is now a public footpath and part of the Jack Mytton Way.

The line runs South passed a lagoon to its right which was not present when the line was built.

This extract from the pre-contract drawings take us to the 3 mile point, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Shadwell Rock Quarry appears on this next extract from the 1882 25″ Ordnance Survey. [42]
Shadwell Rock Quarry appears again on this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1901. The layout of the tramways associated with this area seems to have been relatively fluid. [43]

Shadwell Rock Quarry  was located at the South side of the modern lagoon. It grew significantly in size during the 20th century and its workings have now formed the lagoon which remains into the 21st century.

This aerial image of the quarry is taken looking South towards Much Wenlock in 2002. the line of the old railway is very clear on the East (left-hand) side of the quarry with the Much Wenlock Road (A4169) on the West (right-hand) side of the quarry. The original quarry area was to the South (the far side) of the modern quarry. [44]
This extract from the RailMapOnline satellite imagery shows the route of the line to Much Wenlock as well as the various sidings which were in use when the line was active. [16]
This extract from the precontract drawings shows approximately the same length as the RailMapOnline image above. The elbow in the minor road to the East of the line is evident in both. These precontract plans were orientated in respect to the North point so as the get the greatest possible length of the proposed railway onto each sheet, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]

The various maps above and below show ‘Games Grounds’ or ‘Recreation Ground’. This were called Linden Field. This was the site of the very earliest revival of the World Olympic Movement. the field was immediately to the North of Much Wenlock Railway Station. The first Olympic games were held in 1850 on this field and continue to be held in the 21st century. The 130th games were held in July 2016.

The Olympic Memorial celebrates the use of these fields for the first modern revival of the Olympic Games. [45] More information can be found here: https://wp.me/p2zM3f-67v [46]
This extract from RailMapOnline.com includes the full length of the site of Much Wenlock railway station. [16]
An extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1882. The Station building and forecourt are at the top-right of this extract, the road bridge is at the bottom, just left of centre. [47]
Another extract from the same 25″ Ordnance Survey sheet of 1882. The goods shed is central to the extract. The yard is framed at the bottom-left by a road bridge. The running line climbs away from the passenger station towards Wenlock Edge on the North side of the yard and passes under that bridge. [47]
An aerial view of Much Wenlock Railway Station and the A4169 from 1955. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Janet Jones on 8th September 2022. [52]
This next extract from the precontract drawings shows approximately the same length as the RailMapOnline image above. The Station building was on the West side of the line and North of the bridge which carried the line over what became the A4169. The goods yard was South of the bridge on the East side of the line. … As we have already noted, these precontract plans were orientated in respect to the North point so as to get the greatest possible length of the proposed railway onto each sheet, © Shropshire Archives Ref. No. 6008/26 copyright reserved, used by kind permission. [22][My photograph of the plan, 5th August 2022]
Much Wenlock Station in 1868. [51]
Much Wenlock railway station around the turn of the 20th century. This view looks Northeast along the single platform towards Buildwas. [50]
Another view of the station, this time looking to the Southeast. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. [53]
The platform side of Much Wenlock Station Building. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group by Linda West on 27th May 2020. [55]
The street side of Much Wenlock Station Building. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group by Linda West on 27th May 2020. [55]
A DMU at Much Wenlock Station. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. [53]
Much Wenlock Station Building seen from the Northwest on Station Road,© John Winder and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED). [58]
Much Wenlock Railway Station seen in 2012 from the Southwest on Station Road © Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED). [59]

Travelling Southwest from the passenger station, trains crossed Sheinton Street at high level and the either entered the goods yard or continued on towards Craven Arms rising up above the town and along the flanks of Wenlock Edge.

The railway bridge in Much Wenlock in 1901 as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of that year, published in 1902. [60]
The view looking Southwest from Much Wenlock Railway Station towards the goods yard. The parapets of the bridge crossed Sheinton Street are visible in the foreground. The signals control access to the different lines in the yard. The line on towards Craven Arms can be picked out to the right in front of the housing. It climbs away from the facilities in Much Wenlock, © D Chandler Collection. [57]
A view Northwest along Sheinton Street taken outside number 19 Sheinton St. It is included here for the view of the railway bridge over the road and was taken in the first half of the 1960s. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Lynne Steele on 10th April 2021. [48]
A view Southeast along Sheinton Street showing one of the carnival walks in Much Wenlock probably in the mid-60s. It is included here for the view of the railway bridge over the road. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Colin Onions on 2nd February 2015. [49]
Looking South along Sheinton Street in 2023. One bridge abutment remains (immediately behind the pedestrians in the picture. The a4169 was realigned and in this image runs away to the right. The main road used to run down Sheinton Street and into Much Wenlock with what is now New Road meeting it at a T-junction just beyond the old bridge and in front of the black and white timbered building in the photograph. [Google Streetview, May 2021)
Looking North along Sheinton Street with the remaining bridge abutment on the right of the image. [Googl;e Streetview, September 2021]
Looking Northeast along New Road (A4169) towards the remaining bridge abutment. The realigned road runs through the location of the more southerly of the abutments to the old bridge. [Google Streetview, May 2021]

The station goods yard and engine shed were immediately to the Southwest of the railway bridge. We finish this part of our journey along the Wellington to Craven Arms railway in the goods yard at Much Wenlock.

Much Wenlock Engine Shed. This image was shared by Linda West on the Much Wenlock History Facebook Group on 13th March 2018. [54]
The goods yard and engine shed at Much Wenlock. This image was shared on the Much Wenlock Memories Facebook Group by Shane Leavesley on 8th September 2014. The line towards Craven Arms runs behind the Engine Shed. [53]

References

  1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Wenlock_and_Severn_Junction_Railway, accessed on 2nd March 2023.
  2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_to_Craven_Arms_Railway, accessed on 2nd March 2023.
  3. https://maps.nls.uk/view/101594479, accessed on 4th March 2023.
  4. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121150853, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  5. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=52.63304&lon=-2.51557&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  6. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1844651349192200&set=gm.1655719937779336, accessed on 18th JUly 2022.
  7. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=409683050025369&set=gm.4793839370634028, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  8. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=255663442093998&set=gm.3788208897863752, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  9. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10205802893027076&set=gm.2905708482780469, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  10. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=251261995867476&set=gm.3765229570161685, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  11. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=251261115867564&set=gm.3765224093495566, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  12. http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/photo?group=Sellick%20collection&objid=1997-7219_RJS_SV_46, sourced from https://www.svrwiki.com/File:Buildwas-SVR-Wenlock-1961-06-09.jpg, accessed on 4th March 2023.
  13. http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/photo?group=Sellick%20collection&objid=1997-7219_RJS_SV_43, sourced from https://www.svrwiki.com/File:Buildwas-4-trains-1961-06-09.jpg, accessed on 4th March 2023.
  14. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW034013, accessed on 18th July 2022.
  15. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/EAW012667, accessed on 4th March 2023.
  16. https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php, accessed on 23rd May 2023.
  17. https://www.streetmap.co.uk, accessed on 25th May 2023.
  18. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-34876922, accessed on 25th May 2023.
  19. https://www.investinshropshire.co.uk/locations/former-ironbridge-power-station, accessed on 25th May 2023.
  20. https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/telford/ironbridge/2020/11/04/hi-tech-railcars-idea-for-new-ironbridge-park-and-ride-service, accessed on 25th May 2023.
  21. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW012578, accessed on 26th May 2023.
  22. These photographs were taken by myself and show extracts from the construction plans held in the Shropshire Archive. There is a standard charge of £10 per visit for taking photographs of their records.
  23. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.63386&lon=-2.52054&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 26th May 2023.
  24. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.63327&lon=-2.52504&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 26th May 2023.
  25. https://m.facebook.com/groups/352799184389/permalink/10158618389784390, accessed on 8th April 2023.
  26. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=52.61992&lon=-2.53764&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  27. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=52.61696&lon=-2.53998&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farley_Halt_railway_station, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  29. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=52.61423&lon=-2.54290&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  30. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.3&lat=52.61163&lon=-2.54320&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  31. https://www.kgg.org.uk/farleyh.html, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  32. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1841547, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  33. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1841545, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  34. http://www.telford.org.uk/tramways/gleedon_hill.html, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  35. A History of the County of Shropshire, Volume 10: Munslow Hundred (part), The Liberty and Borough of Wenlock, 1998, p339-477: http://www.british-history.ac.uk., accessed on 14th August 2023.
  36. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121151300, accessed on 14th August 2023.
  37. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.60946&lon=-2.54796&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 15th August 2023.
  38. https:/https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3042155/maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.60637&lon=-2.54931&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 15th August 2023.
  39. https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/nostalgia/shrewsbury-nostalgia/2021/07/16/memories-of-a-1960s-train-journey-never-to-be-repeated, accessed on 15th August 2023.
  40. Adrian Knowles; The Wellington, Much Wenlock and Craven Arms Railway; Lightmoor Press, Lydney, Gloucestershire, 2022.
  41. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3042155, accessed on 17th August 2023.
  42. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121151333, accessed on 30th August 2023.
  43. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=52.60319&lon=-2.55248&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 30th August 2023.
  44. https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/shadwell-quarry-near-much-wenlock-4267, accessed on 30th August 2023.
  45. https://www.muchwenlock-tc.gov.uk/property-and-assets/the-gaskell-recreation-ground, accessed on 30th August 2023.
  46. https://wp.me/p2zM3f-67v, accessed on 13th October 2023.
  47. https://maps.nls.uk/view/121151333, accessed on 13th October 2023.
  48. https://scontent.fbhx4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/171398056_5264731283601330_7585531238603702981_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=bd3046&_nc_ohc=tjiydGZcDfcAX-DYKVT&_nc_ht=scontent.fbhx4-1.fna&oh=00_AfBZDkK_GfCn6WMHmKJ0ASZWiMiwyiHjEE0dM8Vxgk47nA&oe=65511915, accessed on 13th October 2023.
  49. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=871714362892537&set=pcb.1583276891885898, accessed on 13th October 2023.
  50. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Much_Wenlock_railway_station.jpg, accessed on 14th October 2023.
  51. https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/features/2019/12/02/final-days-of-wenlock-station, accessed on 14th October 2023.
  52. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1470137459866509/permalink/3753567794856786, accessed on 15th October 2023.
  53. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1470137459866509/permalink/1482470245299897, accessed on 15th October 2023.
  54. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1532191000361509/permalink/2075425426038061/?app=fbl, accessed on 16th October 2023.
  55. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1532191000361509/permalink/2670607383186526, accessed on 17th October 2023.
  56. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1532191000361509/permalink/2624088597838405, accessed on 17th October 2023.
  57. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1532191000361509/permalink/3363056680608256, accessed on 17th October 2023.
  58. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4879308, accessed on 19th October 2023.
  59. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4354465, accessed on 19th October 2023.
  60. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19.0&lat=52.59812&lon=-2.55899&layers=168&b=1, accessed on 19th October 2023.
  61. Ken Jones; The Wenlock Branch; The Oakwood Press, Usk, Monmouthshire; 1998.

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Cap d’Antibes (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 90) …

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Jose Banaudo writes,”As an extension of the Cannes Tramway route which linked Mandelieu, Cannes and Antibes, the TNL coastal line extended from Cap-d’Antibes to the Menton district of Garavan via Cagnes, Nice, Villefranche, Beaulieu , Monaco, Cap-Martin and Menton. These juxtaposed sections formed a continuous axis of 76 km of interurban tramway which served almost the entire coastline of the Alpes-Maritimes, from the Emite of the Var department to the Italian border.” [1: p35]

Jose Banaudo published a two volume set of books about the historic trams of Nice, “Nice au fil du Tram.” Articles based around the first of these two volumes can be found on this blog.

This is the third in a series looking at the second volume. The first two can be found on these links:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/08/26/the-first -generation-electric-tramways-of-nice-again-four -of-the-urban-lines-chemins-de-fer-de-provence -alpes-maritimes-no-88/

The First Generation Electric Tramways of Nice again. Five more lines. (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 89) …

Nice – Cap d’Antibes

Of a total length of nearly 26.5 kilometres, the first 7.8 kilometres of this route (as far as St. Laurent-du-Var) were over the rails of Nice’s urban tram network. Cagnes was a further 4.8 kilometres along the coast and the length of the tracks between Cagnes and Cap-d’Antibes was 13.75 kilometres. The maximum gradient on the line was 49mm/metre with 2.22 kilometres on the level and 24.75 kilometres on a gradient, however shallow. The highest point on the route was on the length approaching Cap-d’Antibes.

Nice to Cagnes and Antibes services departed from Place Masséna, following Rue Masséna and Rue de France towards St. Augustin on the main East-West urban line. The double-track  lines ended “beyond the stop serving the station called Le Var by the PLM then Nice-St.Augustin by SNCE Shortly after, a branch operated on race days served the Hippodrome … located on the left bank of the Var at the location occupied today by the postal sorting centre and the airport parking lot.  The River Var  was crossed on the bridge which carried both national road 7 and the PLM bridge, Marseille – Nice line.” [1: p35]

The TNL tracks were in the shoulder of the RN7 over the bridge across the River Var. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 18th December 2020. [4]
St. Laurent-du-Var Railway Station. The tracks of the TNL can be seen in the foreground. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 10th July 2021. [5]
The same location in the 1960s. The railway station building has been replaced and the level crossing now serves a more significant road. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Mike LeFotographe on 17th October 2022. [6]
St. Laurent-du-Var Railway Station in 2023. A footbridge has replaces the level-crossing but the station building is much the same as it was in the mid-20th century. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Another view of St. Laurent-du-Var, this time from the West. The PLM lines through the station are on the left. The tracks of the TNL lines can be seen within the road surface on the right. This image was shared by Alain Nissim on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 10th July 2021. [5]
The picture above had a PLM train at St. Laurent-du-Var station, this shows a TNL tram on the RN7. [7]
A similar view to that shown in the two monochrome images above. [Google Streetview, August 2022]

Trams stopped at the level crossing of the St. Laurent-du-Var station, at the point where the road leading to the centre of the town diverged from the RN7. “Beyond that, the track remained on the RN7 through the hamlet of Cros and then passed over the PLM line in the La Bégude district.  The old town of Cagnes and its castle, built on a hill overlooking the modern districts, was seen while the River Cagne was crossed on an ancient donkey bridge.  Beyond this structure, a station served the centre of the locality where a two-track shed served as a depot.” [1: p36] 

Further west, the bridge over the River Malvan was followed by the PLM Cagnes Gare. This was the point at which lines of the TAM network to Venice and Grasse met with the TNL lines. Those two lines were opened in December 1911 but not connected to the TNL line until October 1917.

A TNL tram leaves Cagnes-sur-Mer heading for Nice. Haut de Cagnes is in the background. [8]
Avenue des Freres-Roustan early in the 20th century, looking North. [8]
The same view/location I think, in 2023. [Google Streetview, March 2023]
Avenue-de-la-Gare in the early 20th century. So little of this scene remains. [8]
Place-de-la-Gare in the early 20th century, again little of this scene remains. [8]
A typical view looking South on Avenue-de-la-Gare in 2023. The motorway runs between the road and the railway station, much of the west side of the street has been redeveloped as well. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
The South end of l’Avenue de la Gare. The TNL tram rails can be seen in the road surface. It is difficult to confirm this location in the 21st century. [8]

These different tram lines working in close proximity on the same site required special precautions, so as to avoid any accidental contact between the incompatible overhead lines of the two companies (550 V DC for the TNL and 6600 V single-phase AC for the TAM).

After leaving Cagnes, TNL trams ran past the location of an Alpine hunters camp. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Alain Nissim on 6th February 2023. [9]

Leaving Cagnes through the St. Véran district, the TNL line ran on the shoulder of the NR7. It ran past the location of an Alpine hunters camp and then crossed the River Loup on a metal bridge. Sadly, I have not been able to find old views of the bridge over the Loup.

Le pont routier de la Loup looking Northeast towards Nice. Trams ran along the shoulder of the highway over the bridge. The Pont du Loup had 3 metal spans (of 14m, 17m and 14m). [Google Streetview, April 2023]

The line ran between the Vaugrenier pine forest and the PLM line, close to the sea and adjacent to the RN7. Jose Banaudo says that there were two stops with sidings (presumably passing loops) before the tramway crossed the River Brague on a shared bridge with the RN7. The Pont de la Brague, constructed close to the start of the 20th century, had three substantial arches. The spandrels of the centre-span had arched voids which relieved weight on the arch and allowed additional capacity for times when the river was in flood.

Le pont routier de la Brague in the 19th century which was rebuilt for road and tram at the turn of 20th century. [10]
The bridge built in the early 29th century as it appeared in 2014 © Patrick Janicek and made available for use under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY 2.0 DEED
Attribution 2.0 Generic). [11]
A new walkway was made in 2012 along the banks of the River Brague looking East under the road bridge towards the railway and the sea © Nice-Matin 2012. [12]
La Brague, showing the river with the Pont Routier on the left. Trams ran in the shoulder of the highway over the bridge. [Google Maps, October 2023]
Le pont routier de la Brague looking North towards Nice along the RN7, now numbered the D6007. It carried the tramway in the shoulder of the highway. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

The city of Antibes then came into view. First, trams passed Fort Carré, and then entered Antibes across a narrow road bridge over the PLM railway. The Pont d’Antibes had one metal span of 11m. Just beyond the bridge there was a short (118m) connection to ‘la gare PLM d’Antibes’ where there was a passing loop and shed.

There was a shuttle service between the Cap d’Antibes and the PLM station.

A tram sits at the terminus of the short branch on Avenue de la Gare (today Robert-Soleau) in Antibes, ready to provide a shuttle to Cap-d’Antibes. The station building is visible beyond the tram. [1: p37]

The tram in the picture above sits at the terminus of the short (0.3km) line from the railway station in Antibes which connected to the line from Nice.

After just over 0.2 km the line reached the southern end of Place Jean-Macé (then Place de la Victoire and today Général De Gaulle) where the TNL rails intersected with the tramway from Cannes (CTC) which had its terminus in Place Guynemer.  Banaudo comments: “Originally, the tracks of the two companies only crossed, but a connection was established between them during the First World War to allow the circulation of direct freight trains between Nice and Cannes.  Depending on the direction of traffic, the tram stopped on one side or the other of this intersection, near which a waiting room was set up on the ground floor of a building.” [1: p36]

The Antibes terminus of the tram route to/from Cannes in Place Guynemer.. [14]

From what is now Place General de Gaulle, trams ran along the Boulevard du Cap (today Albert Premier).

The Cap-d’Antibes shuttle service on Boulevard du Cap (today Albert 1st) in Antibes © Nice-Matin. [16]
The Place General de Gaulle looking Southeast towards the Boulevard Albert 1er. It is difficult to locate the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview July 2022]
Place General de Gaul le and Boulevard Albert 1er in Antibes in 2023. The monochrome photograph above is likely to have been taken from a location on the bottom-right of this image. [Google Earth, October 2023]
A view looking Northwest along Boulevard Albert 1er towards Place General de Gaulle from approximately the same location as the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, July 2023]

Trams ran in the road close to the beach at La Salis and then followed the Boulevard du Cap as it began to rise between villas and gardens which it served by a series of fixed and optional stops. Two passing loops were provided, one of which was at Chemin des Contrebandiers. 

Looking Southwest along Boulevard de la Garoupe, the route of the TNL towards the terminus. Chemins des Contrabandieres is on the left. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

The Cap-d’Antibes terminus was established towards the south-west end of the peninsula, between the Grand Hôtel du Cap and the Graillon Tower.

The tram terminus on Cap d’Antibes © Nice-Matin. [16]
A view from almost the same location as the monochrome image above. The modern bus stop sits close to the location of the old tram terminus. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

This brings us to the westerly limit of the TNL. The CTC tramway to Cannes is a matter for another time.

To bring the trams to the Cap d’Antibes was a costly exercise. It was a steep, wooded promontory. It was also necessary to undertake costly work to widen existing roads. A generous loan on good repayment terms was agreed by the local authority.

The work included in the contract was the widening of local roads from 6.15m to 8m and the laying of the tram tracks.

Originally trams from Nice covered the full length of the line through Antibes and out onto the Cap d’Antibes. In the post-war years, the Nice and Cap-d’Antibes services were separated, the former running to Place Jean-Macé and the latter leaving from the PLM Station. [1: p38]

References

  1. Jose Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume No. 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005. This is a French language text.
  2. Not used.
  3. Not used.
  4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/2974470189465497/?app=fbl, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  5. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3136429316602916/?app=fbl, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  6. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3517639871815190/?app=fbl, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  7. https://saintlaurentduvar.fr/blog/la-gare-travers-l-histoire-un-quartier-en-mutations, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  8. https://www.cparama.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=165, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  9. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3612075812371595/?app=fbl, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  10. https://www.nicematin.com/vie-locale/le-pont-de-la-brague-une-douloureuse-histoire-468926, accessed on 6th October 2023.
  11. https://www.flickr.com/photos/marsupilami92/13741672855, accessed on 6th October 2023.
  12. https://www.nicematin.com/faits-divers/les-berges-de-la-brague-s-offrent-une-nouvelle-jeunesse-364539, accessed on 6th October 2023.
  13. Not used.
  14. Not used.
  15. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nicematin.com%2Fmedia%2Fnpo%2F1440w%2F2016%2F11%2F34718603.jpg&tbnid=vZ5-SLb0NRZBNM&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nicematin.com%2Fvie-locale%2Fewan-sur-la-piste-d-un-tramway-nomme-desir-96168&docid=E3doVhjrbZkPUM&w=1440&h=888&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F2#imgrc=vZ5-SLb0NRZBNM, accessed on 30th September 2023.
  16. https://www.nicematin.com/vie-locale/ewan-sur-la-piste-d-un-tramway-nomme-desir-96168, accessed on 6th October 2023.

A Rail Strategy for Greater Manchester (1983). …

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Reading the ‘Modern Tramway’ Journal of May 1983 in Autumn 2023, took me back to the time when I was working for Greater Manchester Council. The County Engineer was A.E. Naylor. I was working in the Engineer’s office in County Hall.

The ‘Modern Tramway’ carried an article by W.J. Wyse about the then recently released rail strategy for the conurbation. [1]

The report was released on 18th February 1983 and summarised the results of six months’ work by BR, the Greater Manchester Council (GMC) and the Greater Manchester PTE, assisted by consultants, ‘to develop an achievable long-term strategy for the maintenance and development of the local rail network, having regard to the likely development of the Intercity network’. It was a report which first made clear intentions for the building of a new ‘tram’-network for Greater Manchester.

Wyse writes:

“From the BR side, there was the important objective of improving Intercity services, so that these need no longer terminate at Manchester. An obvious example of such improvements would be to permit Anglo- Scottish expresses to run from London to Manchester on their way to Preston. The “Picc-Vic” scheme of the early 1970s had had to be abandoned because resources were not available. A later proposal for a low-cost Castlefield curve would have given only limited benefits in terms of improved central area access. Then, in 1980, BR published its proposals for the Windsor Link in Salford which, also using the link via Deansgate and Oxford Road, would enable through running between several interurban and local services. Coupled with the proposed Blackpool-Preston-Manchester electrification, this would also improve access to many Intercity services. Further improvements would follow from the Hazel Grove Chord, linking Hazel Grove with New Mills Central, to give better Intercity services to Sheffield.

The desire to improve the BR facilities in Manchester obviously brought up the possibility of electrifying the existing local rail system at 25 kV, coupling this with converting the 1500-volt lines to Hadfield and Glossop and the 1200-volt third-rail line to Bury all to 25 kV overhead supply. The problem here is that this would be a very expensive solution, so other strategies were considered and compared.

The current rail situation has five distinct areas which create problems that have to be solved in order to improve services. Some of these have already been mentioned, but setting them out in this way shows them in perspective.

1) Rolling stock obsolescence, especially of diesel railcar units.

2) Re-equipment of non-standard electric services now using de supply.

3) Renewal of obsolete signalling systems.

4) Separate north and south suburban railway networks, with lack of links and lack of penetration into and across central Manchester, making rail travel less attractive.

5) Two main Intercity stations, Piccadilly and Victoria, too far apart for easy interchange, and causing duplication of to be abandoned because resources were not facilities.

The GMC has committed itself to maintain the present basic pattern of rail services, and to improve the network to increase the use made of it. This includes better access to existing stations as well as possible new stations, and putting pressure on the government to authorise construction of new class-141 diesel railcar rolling stock.” [1: p146]

The Report proposed a number of alternative strategies.

BR’s intention to focus its Intercity services at Manchester Piccadilly retaining Victoria for provincial interurban and local services was made clear. This would mean a basic framework of Intercity services to Crewe, Macclesfield, Leeds, Preston and Liverpool, and beyond. Other interurban lines would serve Warrington, Chester and Bradford. These main programmes would then govern the re-equipment policies for the local services on these lines.

The rail strategy study concentrated on the lines which carry only local services, and indirect access into and across central Manchester.

The two main options were:

1) a comprehensive system of cross-city rail tunnels with electrification of the whole regional system to 25-kV mainline standards with ‘conventional’ rolling stock; or

2) non-conventional solutions using existing rail routes and a former rail route (to Charlton and Didsbury) with vehicles that could run on existing streets or in tunnels across the city centre to provide a comprehensive network that also would also allow for interchange with the Intercity network.

That second option was then further subdivided into two:

2a) a Light Rail Rapid Transit system using vehicle which were defined as “a cross between a rail vehicle and a tram”; and

2b) replacement of rail tracks by carriageways on which some form of express bus would run.

It was noted that (2b) might create problems for existing and proposed goods facilities.

Greater Manchester Rail Network with the Windsor Link and the Light Rail Transit System. It is interesting to see how much of this proposal has been implemented by 2023 and what additions have been made to the proposals as well. [1: p147]

The conventional rail solution would have meant a rail tunnel between Piccadilly and Victoria Stations with an intermediate stop at Piccadilly Gardens. Another tunnel would have run East-West, connecting the Altrincham line with the Piccadilly line with an intermediate station at Albert Square No reinstatement of the Chrolton-Didsbury line was included.

The non-conventional solutions would have to meet certain criteria:

“i) segregation from the conventional rail network except for grade crossings with limited movement of goods;

ii) routes compatible with development of the conventional rail network;

iii) existing or potential traffic must be sufficient; and

iv) the routes must make a logical network and, for the corridors they serve, give adequate interchange with the main BR network.

These criteria would be satisfied by the following lines; Bury, Rochdale via Oldham, Glossop/Hadfield, Marple/Rose Hill (assuming building of the Hazel Grove chord), Altrincham (with Chester services diverted via Stockport), and the former Midland line to Didsbury.

Interchange with conventional Intercity and local rail services would be given at Victoria, Piccadilly and Deansgate/Central stations. The cross-city routes would meet at Piccadilly Gardens with the equivalent of a triangular junction to provide good access to what they call “the core of the Regional Centre” by all permutations of through-running across the junction.

The routes for the surface link in the city centre [had] been worked out to minimise conflicts with general traffic; apart from the section between Piccadilly Gardens and High Street, the lines would not run through high pedestrian-activity areas. These routes, as shown in the map, have been worked out for a Light Rail solution, but the report indicates that they could be modified for a busway solution.

Alternatives to LRT that were considered include road-based systems (buses and trolleybuses) and dual-mode systems including busways on existing rail formations. The only systems they felt worth considering [were]: LRT, busways and guided buses. [1: p148]

The possible LRT system would require lower standards (in terms of alignment, stations, signalling and vehicle weight) than conventional rail systems. They would be able to run on streets and use existing rail routes at relatively minimal cost. This made them very attractive. Their capacity was stated as between 1,000 and 5,000 passengers per hour, with up to 10,000 in central areas. It was noted that phased development would be possible and that boarding and alighting might well be at close to normal pavement level.

Wyse continues:

“Changes would be needed to the proposed new layout of Piccadilly Gardens, and a number of changes to the road layout to accommodate LRT would have to balance the needs of LRT against other vehicles and pedestrians. An important change of attitude from the more usual approach is the opinion that installation of LRT need not lead to any significant decline in environmental standards, especially if overhead wires can be supported from wires attached to buildings rather than poles.

An LRT system could be extended on to other existing or former rail routes, or considered for other corridors where the roads are wide enough to allow construction. Indeed the wheel [had] now turned full circle, for the LRT could be extended “on-highway, right into the middle of major district centres”, in other words, as a conventional tramway. …

Both busway solutions [were] not … studied in the same detail as LRT solutions. They would require significantly higher capital expenditure for carriageways to replace existing rail tracks on some 90% of the proposed system, but only indicative costs [were] worked out for a carriageway width of 8 m with hard shoulders of 2.5 m. Whilst a guided busway would avoid the need for hard shoulders, there [were] issues of operational reliability and ‘on street’ use. A busway that [could] run on street without extra works or hardware could have advantages over LRT, and feeder services at the outer ends could also use existing roads. Further work would [have been] needed to establish whether capital costs could be reduced without sacrificing the operational and safety aspects. [1: p148-149]

A Comparison of Costs

This table gives an idea, at November 1982 prices, of the relative costs of the different options. The report’s authors noted that these figures do not include thing which were common to all the options, such as the Northwest electrification and the Windsor Link. [1: p149]

As can be seen in Table 1, LRT at surface level is the cheapest estimate by some margin. The report also considered what might be the costs of a first phase of work:

  • Re-electrifying the Bury line and constructing the Victoria-Piccadilly tunnel – £95 million;
  • LRT above ground – converting the Bury and Altrincham lines and building the complete city centre network – £38.5 million
  • LRT city centre network in tunnel, otherwise as the above ground scheme – £56.5 million.

Apparently, no work had yet been done “on assessing the operating costs of the alternative strategies, or on considering the effects of bus operating strategies. … While no assessment [had] been made of the benefits to passengers and the effects on other road users, all options [were] considered likely to give significant benefits compared with the ‘Do Nothing’ alternative.” [1: p149]

Cost comparisons were made with the Tyne & Wear and the London Docklands schemes with figures adjusted to November 1982 levels. Table 2 shows these prices.

This table shows just how significantly lower the estimated costs/mile of the Manchester LRT schemes were when compared with the Tyne & Wear Metro and the London Docklands schemes. The critical figures are in the right-hand column in the table. [1: p149]

Wyse commented that work so far undertaken indicated “that if the present rail network [was] to be retained, an LRT system using existing rail lines which do not carry BR interurban services would appear to offer a significantly cheaper solution than conventional heavy rail and ‘busway’ solutions.” [1: p150]

He also noted that, “Further work [was] needed to consider both the operating costs of the alternatives, with due allowance for revisions to bus services, and the likely order of benefits. … Aspects which need[ed] early consideration include[d]: confirmation of the feasibility of city centre LRT tunnels, the safeguarding of potential LRT and busway routes and facilities, the organisation and management of an LRT or busway system (a joint BR/PTE set up [was] suggested), and finally the opportunities to provide improved cross-conurbation services and connexions to Intercity services for major district centres such as Ashton-under-Lyne.” [1: p150]

Manchester’s Network in 2023

40 years on from thi9s report it is interesting to note how much of what was planned came to fruition. As we know the high cost solution of tunnelling under the city centre was not developed. A Light Rapid Transit solution was given the go-ahead and has met much of what was intended.

The network map can be found here [2].

The first line constructed was the Altrincham to Bury line through Victoria Station and the centre of the city. A link to Piccadilly Station was also installed in the early years. The following history is gleaned from Wikipedia [3].

Phase I opened in 1992. The original Market Street tram stop handled trams to Bury, with High Street tram stop handling trams from Bury. When Market Street was pedestrianised, High Street stop was closed, and Market Street stop was rebuilt to handle trams in both directions, opening in its new form in 1998.

Shudehill Interchange opened between Victoria station and Market Street in April 2003. The bus station complementing it opened on 29 January 2006.

Phase 2 provided a link with Salford Quays with a line running to Eccles. Cornbrook tram stop was opened in 1995 on the Altrincham line to provide an interchange with the new line to Eccles. There was initially no public access from the street, but this changed on 3 September 2005 when the original fire exit was opened as a public access route.

Two of the original stops; Mosley Street, and Woodlands Road were closed in 2013. The latter being replaced by two new stops (Abraham Moss and Queens Road) opened nearby.

By the mid-2000s, most of the track on the Bury and Altrincham routes was 40+ years old and in need of replacement. In 2006 it was decided that a £107 million programme to replace this worn track would take place in 2007.

Phase 3 entailed a significant expansion of the network. It turned into a series of different phases as different funding arrangements had to be made:

Phase 3a – created four new lines along key transport corridors in Greater Manchester: the Oldham and Rochdale Line (routed northeast to Oldham and Rochdale), the East Manchester Line (routed east to East Manchester and eventually to Ashton-under-Lyne), the South Manchester Line (routed southeast to Chorlton-cum-Hardy and eventually to East Didsbury), and eventually the Airport Line (routed south to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport). A spur was also added to the network to link from the Eccles line to Media City. The link to Media City was opened in 2010. The Line to Chorlton opened in 2011. The other lines opened gradually between 2011 and 2013.

Phase 3b – Three lines mentioned in the paragraph above were extended from initially shorter lines. The construction of the East Manchester line extension from Droylsden to Ashton-under-Lyne, the East Didsbury extension from Chorlton and the Airport line via Wythenshawe, commenced in 2011 and all was complete by the end of 2014.

The link to Manchester Airport. [5]

Phase 2CC – Second City Centre Crossing – was completed in 2017.

Trafford Park [4] – The Trafford Park line linked the Trafford Centre to the network and opened in 2020.

References

  1. W.J. Wyse; A Rail Strategy for Greater Manchester; in Modern Tramway and Light Rail Transit, Volume 48 No. 545; Light Rail Transit Association and Ian Allan, Shepperton, London; May 1983, p146-150.
  2. https://images.ctfassets.net/nv7y93idf4jq/4RsbFDfzF2zVYfE67Njh8H/0018c0020be875e86e41b04e940433ab/23-0483_Metrolink_Map_-_Sept_2023.svg, accessed on 11th October 2023.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Manchester_Metrolink, accessed on 11th October 2023. The featured image comes from this Wikipedia article.
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafford_Park_Line, accessed on 11th October 2023.
  5. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/02/manchester-metrolink-line-opens-ahead-schedule, accessed on 11th October 2023.

The First Generation Electric Tramways of Nice again. Five more lines. (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 89) …

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Jose Banaudo published a two volume set of books about the historic trams of Nice, “Nice au fil du Tram.” Articles based around the first of these two volumes can be found on this blog.

This is the second in a series looking at the second volume. The first can be found on this link:

The First Generation Electric Tramways of Nice again. Four of the Urban Lines. (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 88)

La Ligne de Riquier et du Parc-Imperial

This line was almost entirely double-tracked. It originated on the Place de Riquier (today Auguste-Blanqui), west of the PLM station on the Nice – Ventimiglia line which serves this working-class district to the east of the city. It ran down Rue Arson, passing the depot on Boulevard Ste. Agatha. 

Initially, an old building stood out from other frontages along the route and required a short section of single track (304 metres) The building was demolished in 1914 and the single-track section was eliminated.  At the intersection with Rue Barbéris, a branch headed east to serve a warehouse. At Rue Barla, the Ligne du Port crossed the rails on Rue Arson. Shortly thereafter, two other branches made it possible to deliver wagons to the Giordan metallurgical plant and the cement warehouse on Rue Lascaris.  The line then reached the Eastern corner of the Port, where it joined the Monte-Carlo line and the Voie des Docks towards the Quai des Deux-Emmanuel.

After running along a length of Rue des Deux-Emmanuel, the line turned right onto Place Cassini (now Ile-de-Beauté) where there was a significant tram-halt.  In order to make it easier for the trams that had their terminus here to reverse, a complete loop went around the church of Notre-Dame du Port via Rue Rusca, Rue Fodéré and Rue Pacho.  At the West end of the square, the tramway passed in front of the monument in honor of President Sadi Carnot, whose bronze bust disappeared during the requisition of non-ferrous metals during the last war, then it went up Rue Cassi to Place Garibaldi.  From there, the route was common with other lines on the Boulevards of Pont-Vieux and Mac-Mahon (today Jean-Jaurès), Place Masséna, Avenue de la Gare (today Jean-  Médecin) and Avenue Thiers to the PLM station.

The Route from Place de Riquier to Parc-Imperial via the PLM Station on Avenue Thiers. This image shows the route as it was before 1934. It comes from the collection of Richard Panizzi. [1: p23]

Jose Banaudo continues: “After stopping at the station, the line continued West along Avenue Thiers where a new main post office was installed in 1931 in a large red brick building, in a rather incongruous style in our latitudes.  At the intersection of Boulevard Gambetta, the Parc-Impérial line briefly joined the ‘Circulaire’  in order to pass under the bridge of the PLM Marseille-Nice line.  Then, it branched off to the left into Boulevard du Czaréwitch (today Tzaréwitch) whose name honors the Crown Prince of Russia, Nicolas Alexandrovitch, who died in 1865 in a villa in this district where the Imperial family used to come stay in the winter.” [1: p22]

After passing under the railway bridge, T1 motor car crosses the triangle junction on Boulevard Gambetta to enter Boulevard Czaréwitch. This postcard image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Roland Coccoli on 18th June 2019 and 6th April 2023. [3]
The same location in 2023, Boulevard Gambetta looking South. The scene is now dominated by the motorway flyover. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
This postcard image comes from the collection of Jean-Pierre Garacio and was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 27th January 2015 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. The photograph shows Boulevard Czaréwitch running into the distance on the right and depicts a T2 motor car arriving from Parc-Impérial and passing in front of the Parc des Roses hotel/bar-restaurant. The mention of “Civette Russet” above the entrance door at the centre of the image indicates the strength of the Russian community in this district where the imperial family frequently stayed in the second half of the 19th century. [4]
The camera is in approximately the same location taking this photograph. Boulevard Tzarewitch runs East from its junction with Boulevard Gambetta. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

Trams then passed in front of the Russian Orthodox cathedral, completed in 1912, and stopped at the crossroads with Rue Cluvier where the double track ended.  The urban service terminus was set shortly before the intersection with Avenue de la Tour-Lascaris (today Boulevard François-Grosso).

There was a further 529 metres of single-track climbing Boulevard du Parc-Impérial and Avenue d’Angleterre (today Paul-Arène) to terminate at the Southwest corner of the Grand Hôtel du Parc-Impérial. 

This is a postcard image of l’Hotel Parc-Imperial, Nice. [2]
Another view of the Hotel Imperial at Parc Imperial. In the foreground of this image a tram can be seen approaching the terminus of the line. This length of line was only used in the holiday season (between December and May). [5]

The Hotel opened in 1900 on the property where the Russian Imperial family came for vacation. It was this luxury establishment which had financed the extension of the tramway to its doors. The single-track section was only operated during the tourist (winter) season, from 1st December to 15th May.  It disappeared in the post-war years  when the hotel found itself in a difficult financial situation leading to its acquisition by the city of Nice in 1926 with a view to transforming it into a school.

The Hotel Parc Imperial was purchased by the City of Nice in 1926 the roofline has changed but the building seems to have the same footprint in 2023. The tram seen in the image above was approaching the Hotel along the road in the foreground, (Avenue Paul-Arene in the 21st century). [Google Streetview, April 2023]

The Riquier-Parc-Impérial line linked a working-class district and a residential area in the hills, passing through the main transfer points of the urban network: the Port, Places Garibaldi and Masséna, then the PLM station. The route was used by services from Mont-Boron to the PLM station which used it after running between Mont-Boron and the Port on the Monte-Carlo interurban line.  In the 1934 redesign, this route disappeared with the exception of the Riquier – Port – Garibaldi section which was integrated into the new line No. 7. Line No. 7 was the last line served by trams, running until 10th January 1953.

La Ligne de la Gendarmerie, Pasteur, St. Pons et St. Andre

This line linked Place Masséna with St. Andre.

From the TNL station on Place Masséna, the double-track line ran along Rue Gioffredo.  Initially, this route also served the Monte-Carlo and Levens lines, and then, from 1934, all services serving the east of the city took this route. After passing behind Masséna high school and Voeu church, trams for St. Andre met the line arriving from the PLM station via Rue Tonduti-de-L’Escarène, and then saw the interurban lines turn away to the right via Rue Defly towards Place Garibaldi.

Until the end of the Masséna – Garibaldi route via the left bank of the River Paillon in 1934, Rue Defly and Pont Garibaldi were only used by interurban services to Levens, Villefranche, St. Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Beaulieu and Monte Carlo.

At the end of Rue Gioffredo, the service connection to the Cimiez line turned away to the left and St. Andre trams turned right into Boulevard Carabacel where there was a connection to the construction materials warehouse of Charles Véran. At Place Carabacel (today Jean-Moulin), tracks to Pont and Rue Barla turned away to the right. The tramway to Levens rejoined that for St. Andre after having detoured through Place Garibaldi.

The line then ran along the right bank of the River Paillon, then only lightly developed, via the quays of Place d’Armes and Pasteur (today Galliéni and Lyautey).  After passing under the PLM Nice – Ventimiglia railway, trams arrived at the stop serving  the Gendarmerie, which was the terminus for several years. From there, the single track followed the shoulder of the roadway on land recovered from the river bed.  Two branches served a fuel trader and the Andréis steel construction works.  The tramway then ran under the bridge of the PLM Nice – Cuneo line, after which there was a passing loop at the stop called ‘Vésubie’, at the intersection of avenue Florès.  It then ran alongside the district named Pasteur after the large hospital built in 1913, and where a velodrome brought great entertainment on race days. The valley narrowed here, at the foot of the hill where the monastery of Cimiez and the ancient abbey of St. Pons stand. Two stops with passing loops followed, at St. Pons-Octroi and St. Pons-Asile, the latter serving the psychiatric hospital Ste. Marie.

Shortly after this narrow passage where the ligne de Contes could be seen on the other bank of the river and where some services continued towards Levens, the St. André tramway left the Paillon valley to follow the Chemin de Grand Communication No. 19 (currently Departmentale No. 19) into the narrow valley of the River Banquière to reach the terminus at St. André.

A tram for St. Andre waiting at the tram stop in the village which was in the Valley of the River Banquiere. [9]
Possibly a service for Levens in the immediate vicinity of St. Andre. These two images were shared by Roland Coccoli on the Comte de Nice et Son Histoire Facebook Group on 17th May 2020. [6]

I have been unable to locate these two views in relation to the landscape around St. Andre de la Roche in 2023. However, one group of buidlings does appear on the image below.

The group of buildings marked by the yellow arrow appear on both the monochrome images above. This suggests that the tram stop featured in those images was somewhere along the length of the M19 (Quai de las Banquiere) visible in this photograph. [Google Streetview, May 2023]

This line closed in September 1948 in favour of a replacement bus service.

La “Rocade” des Rules Barla, De Lepante et Assalit (Sauzzo – Gare PLM – Carras)

This route, was created to link the East to the West of the city of Nice via the main railway station. The location of its termini was altered several times. Intentionally, it served less busy streets.

The route as of 1934, from the collection of Richard Panizzi. [1: p28]

At its Eastern end it originated not far from the Port in the Riquier district, on Place Saluzzo (today Max-Barel) which since 1908 has been the starting point of the “Moyenne Corniche” towards the Col de Villefranche.  From there, a dedicated route led via Boulevard Imperatrice-de-Russie Boulevard (today Lech-Walesa) to warehouses which were used by the army during the First World War. 

The double track followed Rue Barla in a westward direction where, just 87 m from its starting point, it crossed Rue Arson and the line going down from Riquier towards the Port.  Shortly after, the tram passed in front of the tobacco factory.

A T2 motor car providing a Carras – Saluzzo service has just passed in front of the ‘Manufacture des Tabacs’ and is arriving at the crossroads of Rue Barla and Rue Arson. The branch to the left is used by freight trains traveling between the port and Gare du Sud, from the collection of Andre Lebecque. [1: p27]
Approximately the same location in the 21st century. This photograph was taken at the junction of Rue Baral and Rue Arson. [Google Streetview, January 2019

At the crossroads with Rue de la République, it crossed the line of Abattoirs, La Trinité and Contes, and then crossed the River Paillon on Le Pont Barla. Banaudo says that this was, “a beautiful structure with three cast iron arches in a style similar to that of the Garibaldi bridge nearby.” [1: p27] 

Now on the right bank of the Paillon, the line met La Ligne de St. Pons which it followed for a short distance along Boulevard Carabacel and Rue Gioffredo. [1: p27]

A Thomson tram crosses le Pont Barla towards the street of the same name and Place Saluzzo.  In the background is Place Carabacel (today Jean-Moulin), from where the St. Pons line branched off towards Place-d’Armes (today Galliéni). Note the sheets, which have been washed in the river, drying on lines below the bridge. This photograph was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 7th June 2016 by Roland Coccoli. [7]
A similar view in 2023. The building just to the right of the centre of this image is the same as that at the centre of the image above. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

Arriving at the intersection of Rue Tonduti-de-L’Escarène, the tramway branched off to the North taking this fairly narrow street to Place Sasserno.  From there, it entered Rue de Lépante, which commemorates “a terrible naval battle against the Turks in 1571 in which ships crewed from Nice participated.” [1: p27]

Turning sharply to the West, the line followed the narrow Rue Assalit at the end of which it came out at the end of Avenue de la Gare (today Jean-Medecin). It crossed the tram tracks there and entered Avenue Thiers, stopping in front of the PLM station before following Avenue Thiers along its entire length to the intersection with Boulevard Gambetta.  At Boulevard Gambetta, the trams turned South towards the crossroads of Rue de France and then turned West to run along the same route as lines to La Madeleine, La Californie and Cagnes to a terminus at either Pont-Magnan or at Carras depending on its year of operation. [1: p27]

Nice – Carras District – Saint Helene – tram stop. The stamp at the centre of the card shows that it was sent during WWI from the Ruhl temporary hospital which was used for war-wounded soldiers and which was in the building that in calmer times was the Ruhl Hotel on the Promenade des Anglais. This postcard image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 26th February 2023. [8]
The Avenue de la Californie in 2023. The road forms the main artery for Nice’s modern tram service to and from the Airport. This photograph is taken close to the terminus of the tram route in Carras. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

This line closed in November 1948 in favour of a replacement bus service.

La “Circulaire” Par le Passage a Niveau (Ste. Agathe – Passage a Niveau Gambetta)

Of all of the lines in the Nice tram network, this line was the most varied. Over most of the route, it followed tracks used by other lines. The only exceptions, Banaudo tells us, “being the lengths between Gare du Sud and  PN  Gambetta and at the Gambetta / Czaréwitch crossroads.” [1: p30]

This route map comes from the collection of Richard Panizzi. [1: p31]

Banaudo goes on to say that the route, “lost its circular character in 1934 with the elimination of the north-south axis via the avenues, but part of its route was taken up later to create line 7 which  was the last served by trams, closing in 1953.” [1: p30]

Initially, the ligne “Circulaire” services left Place Masséna along Avenues de la Gare (now Jean-Medecin) and Malaussena to Place Gambetta (today Général De Gaulle) in front of the Gare du Sud.  “There, the route branched off to the west taking Boulevard Joseph-Garnier to the level crossing of the Nice – Digne and Nice – Meyrargues lines of the Chemins de fer du Sud de la France (SF).  The TNL double track crossed that of the SF by a quadruple crossing on which traffic was governed by instructions common to the two companies.  Here, the trains had priority over the trams: an announcement by electric bell warned the barrier guard of their approach, who closed the signals for the tram and then stretched four chains across the road to stop traffic.  In the north-west corner of the level crossing, a TNL track connected to a long siding belonging to the SF, through which the goods convoys commuting from the Port were pushed back towards the goods yard of the Gare du Sud.” [1: p30]

A winter view of Boulevard Joseph-Garnier looking East with tram tracks visible in the road surface. [9]
The same location on Boulevard Joseph-Garnier in April 2023. The photograph is taken from a point just a few tens of metres to the West od the monochrome image above. [Google Streetview, April 2023]

After this the “Circulaire” ran South along Boulevard Gambetta.  At the crossroads of Boulevard Czaréwitch (today Tzaréwitch), the line to the Parc-Impérial left to the West. The “Circulaire” then passed under the railway bridge.  After which, the lines towards the PLM Station branched off to the East onto Avenue Thiers. Some distance further South, the “Circulaire” turned left (East) into Rue de France, joining the route used by trams serving La Madeleine, Carras and Cagnes and returned to Place Masséna.

Banaudo tells us that, “Later, the route was extended eastwards in three stages: – First to the Port via Boulevards Mac-Mahon and du Pont-Vieux (today Jean-Jaurès), Place Garibaldi and Rue  Cassini. Then, an additional loop was added to this circuit: from the Port, it went up Rue Arson to Boulevard Ste.  Agathe, running along that street to reach Rue de la République and then Place Garibaldi.” [1: p30]

A third short “extension allowed Place de Riquier to be served, which the tramway reached in one direction via the Port and in the other via Boulevard Ste. Agathe.” [1: p30]

Rue de France, the Thomson tramcar nº 38 has just passed a car going in the opposite direction in front of the l’Eglise St.Pierre-d’Arène heading towards Boulevard Gambetta. The disk at the front of the roof indicates that the tram is on the “circulaire” service. The photograph was taken by Giletta in the period before the 1st World War. The church was extensively  remodelled in the period between the two world wars. This image comes from the collection of Jean-Pierre Garacio. [1: p32]

This line finally closed in January 1953 in favour of a replacement bus service.

La Ligne de la Madeleine (Masséna – La Madeleine)

The last line to open in Nice’s urban tram network served La Madeleine running initially from Place Masséna but it’s Eastern terminus changed on a number of occasions. First to the Port, then Abattoirs and finally La Trinité Victor. 

Departing from Place Masséna, the tramway first the main East-West artery heading towards Carras and Cagnes. At Pont Magnan it turned North and became a single-track route. A passing loop was installed just to the North of the junction.

Just to the North of Rue de France a tram sits in the passing loop presumably awaiting the arrival of another tram from Place Masséna. This image looks North toward the PLM railway viaduct. It was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 2nd February 2023 by Jean-Paul Bascoul. [14]
Looking from Rue de France along Boulevard de la Madeleine in October 2022. During the 20th century, the River Magnan was culverted leaving the immediate area looking very different to the monochrome view above! [Google Streetview, October 2022]
The tramway running along the left bank of the River Magnan the PLM Marseille – Nice railway was carried over the River on the viaduct at the centre of this image which looks North and which was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Jean-Paul Bascoul on 16th April  2020. [11]
A similar view in 2022 to that immediately above. The railway viaduct, in the 22st century is flanked on both North and South faces by the high level dual carriageway Voie Pierre Mathis. [Google Streetview, October 2022]

Passing under the PLM Marseille – Nice railway line, the track ran along the left bank of the River Magnan, between Boulevard de La Madeleine and the river. Jose Banaudo tells us that the line “takes its name from the silkworm breeding industry … which flourished in this sector until the end of the 19th century.” [1: p33]

Looking South, this postcard image shows the railway viaduct across the Valley of the River Magnan. Trams ran between the road at the river. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Roland Coccoli on 16th April 2016. [12]
Also looking South towards the Mediterranean, this 21st century view emphasises the changes which have occurred in the valley of the River Magnan. [Google Streetview, August 2020]
Further North and looking North in 1942. Some work was undertaken in the river channel that year. This image predates the work. It was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group by Charles Louis Fevrier on 17th January 2021. [13]
Approximately the same view during the work in 1942. [13]
Looking North again. The Boulevard de la Madeleine follows the line of the River Magnan which continues in culvert. It is impossible to locate a modern photograph at the location of the monochrome images above as there has been so much development in the river valley. [Google Streetview, April 2023]
Looking South at the same location. All three of these images were shared on the Comte de Nice et son Port Facebook Group on 17th January 2021 by Charles Louis Fevrier. The tramway is visible in all three images. [13]

The Magnan valley, then a relatively sparsely populated district on the edge of the city, justified its tram service due to the presence of “numerous craft workshops and small factories such as a mechanical piano factory, a glassworks, a biscuit factory, a button factory and several laundries. These establishments also left their names on the tram stops, and later on the bus stops.” [1: p33]

A tram running along the left bank of the River Magnan in La Madeleine. This image was shared on the Comte de Nice et son Histoire Facebook Group on 10th October 2019 by Roland Coccoli. [10]

“On Sundays, the activity of the workshops was replaced by renowned restaurants with dance floors and boules. Many city dwellers came to spend a relaxing day in the countryside, which inevitably included an excursion to the “Trou des Etoiles”, a natural cave, 35 m deep at the base of Ventabrun hill which was then mentioned in the most prestigious tourist guides.” [1: p33]

Passing loops sat in front of two restaurants, “Chalet des Roses” and “Les Orangers”. The terminus was in the Place de La Madeleine (today Alexandre-Blanchi) below the church, the cemetery and la gare Sud-France station which served the village.

Once again, this route map comes from the collection of Richard Panizzi. [1: p34]

This line closed in December 1951 in favour of a replacement bus service.

References

  1. Jose Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume No. 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005. This is a french language text.
  2. https://cartepostale-ancienne.fr/image/data/nice2/nice%20anciennes%20cartes%203%20-%20Copie%20(2).jpg, accessed on 18th September 2023.
  3. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3653570808222095, accessed on 18th September 2023.
  4. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3603827463196430, accessed on 19th September 2023.
  5. https://www.geneanet.org/cartes-postales/view/5006424#0, accessed on 19th September 2023.
  6. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/2772946732951178, accessed on 19th September 2023.
  7. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/1767626043483257, accessed on 23rd September 2023.
  8. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3627417797504063, accessed on 23rd September 2023.
  9. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3258725034373343, accessed on 23rd September 2023.
  10. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3254264148152765, accessed on 27th September 2023.
  11. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3660228510889658, accessed on 27th September 2023.
  12. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/1747300928849102, accessed on 27th September 2023.
  13. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/2999148096997706, accessed on 27th September 2023.
  14. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ciccoli/permalink/3608755489370294, accessed on 27th September 2023.

Early Railways in Plymouth

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The first railways in the area were of wooden rails used during the construction of docks facilities. Some were in use in the Naval Dockyard in 1724, [2] and in 1756 John Smeaton laid some more to help move materials in his workyard on the mainland which was preparing stonework for the Eddystone Lighthouse. [4: p5-8] [1]

Smeaton’s Workyard near the location of Millbay Docks was used for a fastidious trial construction of the lighthouse to ensure that the massive stone blocks used in its construction would fit with each other before undertaking the work on site, 14 miles out to sea. To move these blocks around the Workyard, Smeaton made use of a ‘Rail Road’ which comprised of a four-wheel carriage running on a timber road. In Smeaton’s own words, stones were “delivered upon the four-wheel carriage that runs along the timber road, commonly called at the Collieries, where they are used, a Rail Road: and being landed upon the carriage, any stone can be delivered upon any of the Bankers in the line of the work-sheds on either side: or the carriage being turned a quarter round upon the Turnpike, or Turnrail, it can be carried along the road that goes up the middle of the yard, and be delivered upon any part of its area destined for their deposition; all the stones marked for the same course being deposited together; from which place they can be again taken up upon the carriage, run along the road, and be delivered upon any Banker in the line of sheds, or upon the Platform, and afterwards returned back to the same place of deposition, ready to be carried to sea in their proper order … A Banker in a mason’s yard is a square stone of a suitable size, made use of as a work-bench.” [4: p6-7]

In 1812, John Rennie laid a 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) gauge metal tramway to help with the construction of the Plymouth Breakwater; rails were laid in the quarry at Oreston and on the breakwater, and loaded wagons were conveyed between the two on ships. [5][1]

Rennie’s use of a ‘Rail Road’ is recorded in three different contemporary accounts: “The first of these is ‘Two Excursions to the Ports of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1816, 1817 and 1818, with a description of the Breakwater at Plymouth and the Caledonian Canal‘ translated from the (French) original of Charles Dupin. The second book …  [was] published by J. Johns of “Dock” (soon to become “Devonport”) in a booklet dated November 1820 entitled ‘Interesting Particulars Relative to the Great National Undertaking, the Breakwater now Constructing in Plymouth Sound.’ From these two books, a good picture of Rennie’s little railway can be formed, whilst the third book, Rennie’s own mammoth publication provides yet another set of carefully-scaled drawings, similar to Smeaton’s previous records.” [4: p9-10]

An engraving in Rennie’s book which shows the wagons used on his ‘railway’ [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

Rennie’s 3ft 6in gauge railway allowed horses to bring large stone blocks on flatbed wagons (or smaller stones in wagons fitted with sides), from his quarry at Oreston to a quay where the wagons were turned on a turntable and loaded onto vessels with iron rails in their holds and taken to the sites of the breakwater. On arrival a form of tippler appears to have been used to discharge the wagonloads onto the sides of the breakwater. [4: p10-11]

A second engraving from Rennie’s book which shows the wagons in place in the hold and on the deck of one of the wessels which transported stone from the quarry to  the site of the breakwater [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

“The building of the breakwater extended over some thirty years, and in its final stages a railway was actually constructed on the surface of the “wall” enabling the ships to be unloaded in the reverse manner to that of the loading at Oreston, even down to the provision of turn-tables. … This … has given rise to the claim that this was the first rudimentary ‘train ferry’.” [4: p12]

A further engraving from Rennie’s book which shows the breakwater with the railway on its surface. [4: illustration between p8 & p9]

Kendall noted in 1968, that the quarry at Oreston still continued to supply stone for the maintenance of the breakwater. [4: p12]

On their journey around England in 1826 and 1827,  Von Oeynhausen and Von Dechen visited the Plymouth Breakwater and the later Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway referred to below. [7: p51-55] Of the Breakwater Railway, they commented: “For the transport of the larger masses of stone, 10 ships of 80 tons burden have been built in the Royal Dockyard. These ships can carry 16 blocks, each of 5 tons weight, in two rows, each block resting on a wagon which runs on a railway. The two railways on the ships are extended to the breakwater by drawbridges; and then the wagons are drawn out of the ships by cranes and unloaded. In this manner, a ship of 80 tons can be unloaded in 40 or 50 minutes. The ships are brought to the place where the stones are required to be laid by the help of buoys.” [7: p55]

A more conventional tramway was opened on 26th September 1823. The 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway ran from Princetown to Sutton Harbour and the Cattewater. Branches were opened to Cann Quarry in 1829 and to Plympton in 1834, followed by the Lee Moor Tramway in 1854. Haulage on these lines in Plymouth was always by horses (although the Lee Moor Tramway did have two 0-4-0ST locomotives which spent most of their life at the Lee Moor end of the tramway). The Lee Moor line remained in use until 1960. [1][3][6: p9]

The Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway is covered in much greater detail in the article accessed via this link:

……………. (Currently being written) ……………………..

References

  1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railways_in_Plymouth#:~:text=A%20more%20conventional%20tramway%20was,Lee%20Moor%20Tramway%20in%201854, accessed on 20th September 2023.
  2. Paul Burkhalter; Devonport Dockyard Railway; Twelveheads Press, Truro, 1996.
  3. Eric R. Shepherd; The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway and the Lee Moor Tramway; ARK Publications (Railways), Newton Abbot, Devon, 1997.
  4. H.G. Kendall; The Plymouth & Dartmoor Railway; The Oakwood Press, Lingfield, Surrey, 1968.
  5. David St John Thomas; West Country Railway History; David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1973.
  6. Russell Leitch; Plymouth’s Railways in the 1930s including “The Gear’s Poor Relation”; Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, Peterborough, 2002.
  7. C. Von Oeynhausen and H. Von Dechen; Railways in England 1826 and 1827; translated from the German by E.A. Forward and edited by Charles E. Lee and K.R. Gilbert; Newcomen Society, Cambridge, 1971.

Matthew 18: 21-35 – How Many Times?

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The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

A talk given on 17th September 2023 at St. Alkmund, Whitchurch.

If I were to ask for a show of hands this morning of those who have never wronged anyone. How might you respond?

Some might be ask themselves what right I have to ask a question like this. Is it, perhaps, the wearing of a dog collar that means I feel I can do so?

Some might think about what others around them might think if they put up their hand. … People here this morning probably know me too well. Although I know that I have never done anything too bad, I have certainly not broken any laws, they might remember that one time when I …………… What will they think of me?

Others might want to challenge my presuppositions behind asking the question. They might want to enter into a philosophical debate about my presumptions. … What might I mean by ‘wrong’? What might I mean by ‘never’? Do I mean ‘wrong’ in an absolute sense, measured against a set of laws? Or do I mean ‘wrong’ in a relative sense, in terms of the breakdown of relationships? Am I talking about ‘wrong’ in terms of personal moral responsibility, or of complicity in the actions, or failures to act, of my group, my family, my village, my class, my business, my society?

Ultimately, I guess, whether we readily admit our failings, or we only do so at our lowest ebb when self-doubt is strongest, very few of us would put our hands, and so today’s Gospel reading is for us, for you and for me. We all need or have needed someone’s forgiveness.

But our Gospel reading turns the question round the other way. It asks: What do you do when you have been wronged? What do we do when people hurt us or upset us? It talks about a need for us to forgive others.

There are many questions we could wrestle with this morning about ‘forgiveness’. But rather than embarking on a philosophical debate, let’s allow the Gospel story to speak. ……..

Just suppose, for a moment or two, that you have been hurt, maligned or mistreated by someone else.

Suppose (use fingers to count) someone lets you down, cheats on you, loses their temper with you, says some cruel and unkind things, steals from you, makes you look stupid, and breaks something of yours when you let them borrow it. … How do you respond? ……….

When Peter speaks to Jesus, he believes that he is setting a very high standard: “How often should I forgive someone? 7 times, Lord?” It seems as though Peter is saying: Seven times seems about the limit, fairly generous really. You might just as well give up on someone after that. Or perhaps, Peter is asking something like, “Am I being too generous, Lord, what do you think, perhaps after just 3/4 times?”

And Jesus response, I think, leaves Peter reeling – not seven times but seventy-seven times – or in some translations seventy times seven – 490 times. … “As often as is necessary,” is Jesus’ response. “Keep forgiving until you lose count completely!”

And Jesus then tells a story to help us understand that it is because we have been loved so much, forgiven so much ourselves by God, that we should forgive others.

Jesus’ story is about an employee or servant who has a wife and children and who has overspent on his company credit cards, someone who has maxed out. He has spent his boss’s money on himself and his family. He has stacked up a huge amount of debt with his boss.

The Boss calls for his servant and demands repayment of what is owed. The servant falls on his knees and begs to be given more time to pay. The master, the boss, feels sorry for his servant and lets him off the whole debt! Just like that!

The debt is cancelled. How does the servant feel? … I guess that, if you have struggled under the burden of significant debt, an unpayable mortgage, a large gambling debt, a payday loan which is escalating out of control. Then you will know something of the immense relief, the unbridled joy of the servant. …

Now that is just what the bible says God has done for you and for me. He has cancelled the debt we owe, he has forgiven what we have done wrong, and continues to do so, perhaps even things that only we and God know about! …. The meanness, the selfishness, the pride, the hypocrisy, the fibs, the tax evasion, the days ‘off-sick’ which weren’t, the snails and slugs we have thrown over the garden fence onto our neighbour’s property, our failure to recycle, the driving above the speed-limit on the motorway… you know, all those kinds of things, as well as what might be much bigger things ….. When we say sorry to God for these things he forgives us. The only question is whether we mean what we say when we say we are sorry, and, I guess, whether, ultimately, we are willing to make restitution to those we have harmed.

God has forgiven me and you more than we can imagine. It is just as though we owed God more than a million pounds (IOU a million) and he has cancelled the debt. The debt is gone, we have been set free of debt. (Tear up the I.O.U.). ……

So, back to the Gospel story, … here is this happy, free servant. He’s wandering back from the house of his master, his boss, to tell his family the good news. He’s over the moon, he’s delighted, it is wonderful. And he meets a fellow servant of his boss, his master. This fellow servant owes him a few quid.

And the same thing happens; this other servant falls on his knees and begs to be given more time to pay. But what does the first servant do? He grabs him by the neck, shakes him and has him thrown into prison until he can pay the debt.

What Jesus wants us to ask ourselves is this: Is it reasonable for the first servant to behave this way? Is it fair and right? What do we think?

Of course it isn’t. …

Yet forgiveness remains something we all find difficult – often impossible. …  Jesus is suggesting in this story that we will only begin to be able to forgive, if we can comprehend how much we ourselves are loved, how much we been forgiven.

Jesus says that it is when we know that we are loved without conditions, that we can begin to show that kind of love to others. 

The love God has for us is that kind of love.

Our regular Sunday services allow time for confession and for us to hear God=s word of forgiveness for us. We also join together in the Lord’s prayer: ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’. Weekly reminders of just how crucial forgiveness is.

It is only in the security and strength of God=s forgiving love for us, that we can be free to love and that we can begin to forgive others generously in return.

Yes, for their sake and for God=s sake … but actually also for our own sake. … For, finding a way to forgive, is essential for the sake of our own health and well-being. For when we hold onto grudges, it is as if we throw ourselves into debtors’ prison until the perceived debt has been paid. A failure, on my part, to forgive can destroy me. …. So, the last few words of our Gospel reading, as awful as they are, reflect no more than the natural consequence of the first servant’s failure to forgive. …

Rather than finishing on this negative note, let’s think forward to the central act of our service this morning. Let’s focus on the love shown to us in Christ. … On the forgiveness which is ours in Christ, no matter what we have done, no matter how guilty or ashamed we feel. And, as we prepare for our Communion, let’s allow ourselves once again, as we receive the elements of bread and wine, to sense the love of God suffusing our minds and hearts. This act of love which we re-member in our bodies, is an act of deeply healing, forgiving love from a God who thinks the world of each one of us. We are loved, forgiven, set free. Words are just not enough, but bread and wine, body and blood, warm our hearts and embrace us in God’s arms of mercy.