Welcome to the French Railways Group

[SimonHMT]

This topic seems to have gone a bit quiet, so to wake it up again...Bonjour!

I've had an interest in French railways for over 40 years; photos in the History of Railways/Great Trains partworks bought for me by my father probably started it off, along with some of Dennis Allenden's articles in the old Model Railway News magazine.

My first item of French rolling stock was a Jouef Draisine and open trailer, which leered at me from its open box in the window of Silverhill Models in St. Leonards-on-sea in about 1980 or so.

There have been other odd excursions into French modelling since; as a member of Greenwich & District narrow Gauge Society I went on several club trips, mostly to narrow gauge lines and have also travelled independently to the Baie de Somme metre gauge line, the CF Froissy-Cappy-Dompierre on 60cm.

I have been to a number of exhibitions in France, and my British-outline 0-14 industrial layout even featured in Voie Libre!

A visit to my good friend Jacky Molinaro saw us riding the CF Vermadois from St.Quentin to Origny St. Benoit...this visit also featured a bit of quality gricing around other parts of the same light SG railway network.

Models have included modern(ish) SNCF, metre gauge in N on Z chassis and some 1950s SG Secondaire, though all that has long gone.

Currently, I am collecting suitable RTR and a few kits for locos, rolling stock and buildings with the aim of building an era 3 H0 standard gauge line, which may or may not be operated by the SNCF depending on what I run on it. Not sure about area, though probably North East, and it'll likely be a branch terminus at least somewhat inspired by Origny-St.-Benoit. 

I don't currently have a clue how big or what shape this thing is going to be; we're currently preparing to relocate from South East Kent to Herefordshire but a lot will depend on how big a place of banishment (by the Mrs.) I manage to get.

As and when progress happens, I'll start a layout/modelling thread...

Au revoir,

Simon.

[Pacific231G]

Welcome Simon

Denis Allenden's articles were/are indeed inspiring and he'd clearly managed to visit a number of the last surviving d-Intêret Local metre gauge lines before they succumbed (though his Sainte-Colline-des-Champs always struck me as more of a large diorama than a working layout). He also inadvertedly convinced a generation of Anglophone modellers that the station at Le Mortier-Gumond was a typical example of those found on French secondaires up and down the country rather than being very distinctively unique to the Tramways de Correze (which is a bit like assuming that a GWR Pagoda was a generic type of British station building)

 

Fortunately, the station buildings  on SG d'Intêret Locals seem to have generally been built from similar plans as those used for most local stations on the national network though their trackplans were often simpler and occupying smaller total sites.  My own H0 layout has always been a bit vague about whether it's SNCF or not though I think i've concluded that it's a d'Intêret local but operated by an SNCF subisidiary (as others were by CFTA or VFL) so able to borrow/hire SNCF locos.

 

BTW, are you a member of the French Railways Society?  

Edited September 11, 2023 by Pacific231G

[SimonHMT]

Thanks David,

apologies for the somewhat tardy reply, things have been a bit busy with packing up everything we're not using at the moment and the little matter of a wedding (ours) tomorrow...

I've seen several models of the station building at Le Mortier-Gumond in various scales, even in France, and while it's a delightful building it is, as you say, in no way typical.

There's some background to the types of buildings in common use, and much else, in both "Light Railways" and "Minor Railways of France" by W.J.K. Davies, as well as a lot of useful information in the same author's "Modelling Continental Branch Lines" series of articles in Model Railway Constructor in the 1960s...though I suspect you already know of these.

I've a feeling that my eventual effort will also have a somewhat flexible approach to its operator; stock so far includes a K's FNC, Electrotren ABJ, Jouef freelance 0-6-0 side tank, Roco ex-Wehrmacht V35 in SNCF livery and an assortment of coaches of various parentages. I may go for something like a 140C at some point. Era again may change...perhaps from early 1950s to mid-1960s, possibly even later with freight-only and possibly the occasional tourist train...something that struck me when visiting the CFV was how unchanged the whole thing seemed, devoid of the souvenir shops etc. that you'd find in a similar situation in Britain...even the rolling stock was discreetly stabled at a small yard with several sidings and sheds on the outskirts of St. Quentin, rather than at stations along the line.

I'm not currently a member of the French Railways Society; although I have been in the past, interest waned and I didn't renew, I will wait to rejoin until we've moved, as it's otherwise yet another address change to do!

Cheers,

Simon.

[Andy Hayter]

Congratulation on tomorrows event @SimonHMT

[SimonHMT]

Thanks, Andy!

[ffayolle]

Hi everybody,

I don't know if it is the right place but I've developped some French railways products on 7mm scale.

http://www.fab432.fr

Best regards from France, Fabrice