60cm gauge and northern France

We have just visited the Baie de Somme. As everyone knows, the estuary of the Somme is on the coast of north-west France. It has been celebrated by soldiers, fishermen and artists. We were fortunate enough to have a room in St Valéry facing east and saw the sun rising. The view on to that little piece of sky were spectacular.

You will be pleased to know that the sights of St Valéry are celebrated in the Journées de Patrimoine held annually. More of that later. The area is certainly picturesque and by t eninteenth century, it attracted tourists. It has always been unique.Coastal erosion from Normandy was washed up on the Somme coast, for what the sea takes away, it gives back somewhere else. It created the Marquenterre, a picturesque but treacherous border between land and sea. Towns such as Rue 10km/6miles north of the bay used to be on the coast and the river Somme is only navigable because it is canalised through the encroaching silt. From the 1755 onwards, there were determined official efforts to clear channels through fresh and tidal waters. Legends accrued, typical of a liminal areas, of sea monsters and shells which could grant wishes. Stories that were good for frightening naughty boys and excise-men were repurposed for entertaining the visitors.

To cater to the tourists, a metre gauge railway was created, the first branch of which was opened on 1st July 1887. The picture above shows an 0-6-0 T steaming into St Valéry. The railway ran from Noyelles station on the standard gauge line to Le Crotoy to the north side of the bay. The opening was to coincide with the summer holiday season; Le Crotoy is a delightful seaside town. By 1900, the metre gauge system extended right round the bay; from its origins in fishing and mineral extraction, Cayeux also became a holiday resort. Sea bathers could spend the whole summer here or pop down from Amiens for the weekend.The sketch below shows the Bay. I have missed out a couple of names. Sorry! You will infer that St Valéry is the large town at the east end of the Bay. Cayeux is due west, just below Le Hourdel. The small 60 cm line continues up the coast to Brighton, yes! Brighton Beach!

The area produced ‘silex’ ie silica in a pure form. A bountiful current brought to Cayeux not silt but galets/pebbles. Indeed the name Cayeux means caillou – pebble. Before the coming of the railway, these galets were gathered on the coast-line by ramasseurs, often women, who filled up baskets about 60cm/2’ in diameter. They were then loaded into rafts for transport onwards. The galets were crushed and used as building sand, aggregate, as abrasives and a component of the local faïence/pottery. Raft journeys were laborious and hazardous and so by the 1880s, temporary Decauville tracks were laid to aid in the harvest. Tipper wagons took these to the port, canal or station. The picture below shows ramasseurs and, in the background, a 60cm line. Below is shown a maker’s illustration of the standard tipper wagon. Tremendous muscle power must have been needed to lift a laden basket but at least it wasn’t necessary to stagger all the way to town.

This picture is courtesy of BK postcards, Paris A 60cm gauge railway was planned to link the cape of Le Hourdel to St Valéry but the coming of the metre gauge system supplanted it. For more information, you can consult the County Archives in Amiens; document reference M. de Raesfeld. Quend Plage and Fort Mahon Plage, about fifteen miles north did build 60 cm holiday railways for themselves. Under sadder circumstances, 60 cm came back to the coast; more later. A metre gauge network, totalling at its zenith almost 150 miles, connected the towns round the bay – also the valley of the Authie about 20 km north and a separate network in the Upper Somme. Ironically, the network included a standard gauge branchline – between Ault on the coast and Woincourt! Here is a general map, showing the metre gauge line going off east towards Dompierre in the Authie Valley and standard gauge north to Boulogne and Calais. Again, apologies for failing to name St Valéry.

St Valéry, at the centre of the bay and the best known of the towns, has been a port since well before 1066. It took its name from a 7th century holy man, so say Philip Pacey and the Service Culturel of Le Crotoy. The fleet of William the Conqueror stopped there, waiting for a wind to take them to England. Edward III of England came to the area on a revenge expedition; Crécy lies between the Somme and Authie valleys. We took the kids once but although they know all about 1066, slavery and trench warfare, this particular Battle of the Somme had completely passed them by. The sea coast was also a Front in Napoleonic times. Spies from England slipped to and fro using fishing boats operating mainly from Boulogne but when things got too hot, they took refuge in quieter spots such as St Valéry and le Tréport. By keeping on the move, they were remarkably successful in evading the spy catchers. As Flaubert remarked in his Dictionary of Received Ideas, Chemins de fer: Si Napoléon les avait eus … il aurait été invincible. If Napoleon had had railways, he would have been invincible. But he didn’t have them. In the First World War, all the small Channel ports were used to import supplies and people and export the ‘empties’ ie used shells, troops on leave and the many casualties. St Valéry alone landed 109,000 tons of freight in 1917. The most remarkable railway achievement was the Ligne des Cents Jours – the railway built in one hundred days. As all those who follow my blogs know, the Germans launched a Michael/Spring Offensive on 21st March 1918. In a few days, Amiens was threatened. It was the site of a vital railway junction. To provide new links between the Channel ports and the Front, a new standard gauge line was built from Noyelles to Feuquieres (on the line to Rouen). It offered a north-south rocade/bypass for all the small lines going inland from the Channel ports. From Noyelles going south remains can still be traced. This small map shows the Ligne des Cent Jours and how it intersected with two of the junction, the one with Noyelles itself and with the line to Le Tréport.

Postwar, an order for 11 brand-new 0-6-2 locomotives were ordered from Haine St Pierre in Belgium and some second hand railcars were later acquired – not much for such a lengthy network. By the 1930s the whole network was tired. Acquisitions were mainly second-hand from closing down sales occurring at other networks. During World War II, the area was once more a Front – between Occupied France and Britain.

This picture shows a tipper wagon running on light prefabricated rail. It is clear that it is hard work. From 1940, the RAF conducted bombing raids. In 1942, when Hitler turned his attention to Russia, the Organisation Todt started building the Atlantic Wall to keep out Britain and the Allies. Remains – a blockhaus, tank traps and launching ramps - can be seen at Fort-Mahon-Plage. We saw the foundations of a blockhaus – the Nazi equivalent of a pill box. Signs of the 60cm line running from Le Hourdel to Cayeux can be seen from the air. Quarries for high quality building sand and aggregate. were updated and augmented with Atlantic defences. Levies from the local people provided labour. Although their sympathies were unlikely to be with the gang-masters, soldiers and civilians alike suffered from Aliied aircraft. This map shows significant 60cm railways. The lomgest one, running from Lancheres on the metre gauge to Ault was a Nazi construction.

The Germans withdrew on 2nd September. The beaches had been turned into mine-fields, the resorts which were not fully destroyed were damaged and the metre gauge seemed on its last legs. After the War metre gauge throughout the département of Somme rapidly declined. The inland branches closed first. Noyelles to Le Crotoy closed in 1969, Noyelles to Cayeux in 1972. Help was at hand.A vigorous preservation society was formed. The Chemins de fer de la Baie de Somme (CFBS)was founded in 1970, officially 1971) and has now been going for 50 years. It has a regular time-table in summer and we were fortunate enough to see it on a journée, well, weekend de patrimoine 20-22 September. We enjoyed the railway architecture, a de Dion railcar and a Pinguely 0-6-0 steam locomotive.

For more information about Baie de Somme www.baiedesomme3vallees.fr Ch’tchot Train was the newsletter of the Chemin de fer de Baie de Somme This Dark Business Tim Clayton Abacus London 2018 Railways of the First World War WJK Davies David and Charles Newton Abbot 1967 Railways of the Baie de Somme Pacey, Arzul and Lenne Oakwood Press Monmouth 2000