Chemin de fer Bex-Villars-Bretaye

The 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

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 427m (1420 ft) at Bex to 1810m (5970 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 d.c. through an overhead contact wire.

Locomotives, Railcars & 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.

The goods wagons used on the line would not be out of place in a museum as most date back to the 1900 - 1910 period.

"Abbreviations"
*ACMV....Ateliers de Constructions Mecaniques de Vevey
*BBC.....Brown Bouvrie et Cie
*BT......Bombardier Transports
*SAAS....S. A. Ateliers de Secheron, Geneva
*SIG.....Societe Industrielle
*SLM.....Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik, Winterthur