Bex–Villars–Bretaye Railway

Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye
At Railway Station of Barboleusaz
Technical
Line length	17.1 km (10.63 mi)
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
Electrification	650 V DC Overhead wire
Highest elevation	1,810 m (5,938 ft)
Rack system	Abt
Route map Legend Bretaye Bouquetins Villars-sur-Ollon Golf Col-de-Soud Villars-sur-Ollon Arveyes La Clairière La Barboleuse Gryon Bois-Gentil Gryon Les Posses Fontannaz-Seulaz Le Bevieux Foyer Dents-du-Midi TPC-bvb Bex Pont-Neuf Bex Place du Marché Bex la Ruaz Bex This route map: view · talk · edit

The Bex–Villars–Bretaye Railway, abbreviated BVB, French Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye, is a metre gauge railway line operating between the towns in its title, situated in the Chablais region of south west Switzerland. It is, in fact, two railways, one mixed adhesion and rack worked between Bex and Villars-sur-Ollon, the other, linking Villars-sur-Ollon to the Col de Bretaye being worked on the Abt rack system. Passengers making the full journey are required to change trains at Villars-sur-Ollon.

History

Villars Railway Station

The authority to construct the railway was gained in three stages, that from Bex, a small town on the main Lausanne-Simplon Railway, to Villars-sur-Ollon on 15 October 1897; from Villars-sur-Ollon to Chesières on 19 December 1905 and from Villars-sur-Ollon to Bretaye on 5 October 1911. The lines were opened in 5 stages. A tramway was opened from Bex to Bévieux on 9 September 1898, continuing to Gryon from 3 June 1900 as a rack railway and reaching Villars-sur-Ollon, again as tramway, just over one year later. The line from Villars-sur-Ollon to Chesières was opened on 12 August 1901, less than eight months after authorisation whilst the final link, that from Villars-sur-Ollon to Bretaye, opened on 18 December 1913 as a distinct company. The two companies BGVC and VB merged in 1943. However, the company was officially registered as "Forces motrices de l'Avançon" and this company still exists. Simply, the railway no longer belongs to this company. Since 1999 the line has been operated as part of the Transports Publics du Chablais and details from that date of investments are included under that heading.

Line

The line, with a total length of 17.1 km., rises from 427 m (1,401 ft) at Bex to 1,810 m (5,938 ft) at Bretaye. Of this length 7.34 km. is operated on the Abt rack system. The first part of the journey, reflecting its tramway history, runs alongside and through the streets of Bex from its terminal in the square outside the main line station.

Electrical power is provided at 650 V DC through an overhead contact wire.

Locomotives, railcars, and rolling stock

The passenger services on the line are operated by railcars (automotrice), either singly or with driving-trailer cars (voiture pilote) or the more recently built twin-railcars (automotrice-double) of class Beh4/8. A full list is given below based on the official stock list of the railway together with personal observation.

Most of the goods wagons used on the line date from 1900–1910.

No.	Name	Class	Builders Details.	Date Completed	Notes
8		Be 2/2			Automotrice-Out of Service
9		Be 2/2	SWS/MFO	1915	Automotrice
15		Be 2/3	SWS/MFO	1948	Automotrice
16		Be 2/3	SWS/MFO	1948	Automotrice
22		BDeh 2/4	SWS/MFO	1940	Automotrice
23		BDeh 2/4		1940	Automotrice
24		BDeh 2/4		1941	Automotrice
25		BDeh 2/4		1944	Automotrice
26		BDeh 2/4		1945	Automotrice
31	Lavey	HGe 4/4	SIG/MFO	1953	Locomotive
32	Villars	HGe 4/4		1964	Locomotive
42		He 2/2		1898	Locotracteur (Shunting Locomotive)
51		B		1953	Rebuilt 1996
52		Bs		1953	Rebuilt 1999
53		Bst		1964	Reb.1997 Voiture pilote (Driving Trailer))
54		Bt		1964	Reb.1999 Voiture pilote (Driving Trailer)
61		Bt		1976	Rebuilt 2000
62		B		1977
63		Bt	Schindler/SAAS	1976	Voitures Pilote (Driving Trailer)
64		Bt	Schindler/SAAS	1977	Voitures pilote (Driving Trailer)
65		Bt	SIG/ACMV (Vevey)/BBC	1987	Voitures pilote (Driving Trailer)
81	Gryon	BDeh 4/4	ACMV (Vevey)/SLM/BBC	1976	Automotrice
82	Ollon	BDeh 4/4	ACMV (Vevey)/SLM/BBC	1977	Automotrice
83	Bex	BDeh 4/4	ACMV (Vevey)/SLM/BBC	1987	Automotrice
91	Bretaye	Beh 4/8	Bombardier Transportation (Vevey)/Stadler	2000	Automotrice-Double
92	Barboleuse	Beh 4/8	Bombardier Transportation (Vevey)/Stadler	2001	Automotrice-Double
93	Tuttlingen	Beh 4/8	Bombardier Transportation (Vevey)/Stadler	2001	Automotrice-Double

Abbreviations

• ACMV....Ateliers de constructions mécaniques de Vevey
• BBC.....Brown, Boveri & Cie
• BT......Bombardier Transportation
• SAAS....S. A. Ateliers de Secheron, Geneva
• SIG.....Societe Industrielle
• SLM.....Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik, Winterthur