Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Caen à la Mer

The Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Caen à la Mer, was an early French railway company.

History

The railway first arrived to Caen on 18 November 1855, this was the line from Paris to Cherbourg. Main cities and town only were privileged during the early XIX^th century, but by the 1850s, local authorities demanded that the territory of the Calvados département be served by the railway for use by industry.

La ligne Caen à la mer

The Caen à la mer line was a branch line in Calvados. It was inaugurated on 30 June 1875 and originally operated 16 km (10 mi) between Caen Saint-Martin Station and Luc-sur-Mer Station. The company's tracks were standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) except for the branch to Ouistreham which was 0.60m.

In July 1876, the line was extended by 8 km (5 mi) from Luc-sur-Mer to Courseulles. A 4 km (2 mi) spur, linking the Caen à la mer to the CF de l'Ouest was opened on 12 September 1877 and several intermediate stations, La Folie, Malon, Le Cizey and Epron are opened to passengers.

Caen à la mer Société Anonyme is officially created on 30 September 1886, and is not merged with the local major railway operator CF de l'Ouest due to its unthreatening nature to the big company.

A third rail is laid between Luc-sur-Mer and Courseulles in 1900 to permit the Calvados' 0.60m gauge trains to operated up to Luc, from Caen, via Ouistreham.

The beginning of difficulties

Gare de Courseulles.

The company makes a profit during the summer season, but most services stop during World War I, with only 3 return trips operating. After the Armistice, normal operation resumed and the company diversified its operations with a bus service to provide a corresponding bus to its trains.

The economic difficulties of the 1920s brought the first deficit in 1930, then 1931. The State took over operations on 23 March 1933. The line was modernised between 1937 and 1938. On 9 August 1937, the concession was ended and powers transferred to the Courriers Normands, who signed a contract with the newly created SNCF to have its track maintained by the nationalised railways. Omnibus services were then transferred to buses and trains mainly circulating during the Summer season.

The line was little touched by World War II and although a few tank movements deteriorated the tracks, the military did replace the damaged sections for use by military trains. Civilians are once again accepted on the one daily passenger train in 1944 and the company finally took back their network on 21 December 1944.

In 1945, traffic was six times what it was in 1938, and twice what it was in 1943, unfortunately, most passengers of the day were war veterans who benefited from free public transport.

By 1950, rail service only ran during the summer and the decision to close the 28 km (17 mi) long branch line took into effect in 1952.

Line openings

Date	Section	Length (km)
30 June 1875	Caen Saint-Martin - Luc-sur-Mer	16
July 1876	Luc-sur-Mer - Courseulles	8
12 September 1877	Caen Saint-Martin - CF de l'Ouest	4
1900	Luc-sur-Mer - Courseulles	Third rail installed

Stations

The line ran from Caen to Courseulles and served the following towns and villages:

• Caen (station)
• Couvrechef
• Cambes
• Mathieu (station)
• Douvres-la-Délivrande (station)
• Chapelle-la-Délivrande
• Luc-sur-Mer (station)
• Langrune-sur-Mer (station)
• Saint Aubin-sur-Mer (station)
• Bernières-sur-Mer (station)
• Courseulles-sur-Mer (station)

Rolling stock

The company possessed but a small fleet of steam locomotives; it was composed of four 0-6-0 engines built in 1875 by Fives-Lille specially for the line. A 0-6-0 Corpet-Louvet was received in 1883 to complete the fleet as well as 030-1392 of the Chemin de Fer de l'Ouest. Finally, a 0-6-0 St Léonard and a 0-6-0 Corpet Louvet built engines were received in 1927.

Passenger cars were Bidel wooden carriages of which twenty were double decker coaches, identical to those used on Réseau Saint-Lazare.

A few bogie carriages manufactured for the Chemin de Fer de l'État for Paris-Courseulles direct services.

From 1924 the Chemin de Fer de Caen à la Mer equipped itself of DMUs. Their fleet of DMUs was composed of one Renault RS4 and four tyre Michelines. These were withdrawn in 1939.

References

• (French) Le temps des chemins de fer à Caen, 1986, J. Marseille, Nathan.
• (French) Le tour du Calvados en 80 cartes, 1996, Direction Départementale de l'Équipement du Calvados.
• (French) Petits trains du Calvados, Éditions de la Vie du Rail.
• (French) Les Petits Trains de Jadis n°8, Éditions du Cabri, ISBN 2-903310-87-4