Metre Gauge Tramways in and around Nice, France.

A return to Nice is in the offing and I have turned back to books by Jose Banaudo.

Jose Banaudo published a two volume set of books about the historic trams of Nice, “Nice au fil du Tram.”

This is the first of a series of articles based on the second volume. (Jose Banaudo; Nice au fil du Tram, Volume No. 2: Les Hommes, Les Techniques; Les Editions de Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, France, 2005). The books were published as French language texts, quotations directly from the books have been translated with the assistance of ‘Google Lens’ and ‘Google Translate’.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/08/2...ins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-88/

Previous articles about the Tramways in and around Nice can be found on this thread:

https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/historic-metre-gauge-tramways-in-provence.2861/

 

The next article in a series following through the second volume of Jose Banaudo's two volume set of books about the historic trams of Nice, "Nice au fil du Tram."

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/09/2...ins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-89/

 

Jose Banaudo writes, "As an extension of the Cannes Tramway route which linked Mandelieu, Cannes and Antibes, the TNL coastal line extended from Cap-d’Antibes to the Menton district of Garavan via Cagnes, Nice, Villefranche, Beaulieu , Monaco, Cap-Martin and Menton. These juxtaposed sections formed a continuous axis of 76 km of interurban tramway which served almost the entire coastline of the Alpes-Maritimes, from the Emite of the Var department to the Italian border.”

The linked article is the first looking at this coastal (littoral) route and looks at the length between Nice and Cap d'Antibes.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/10/1...ins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-90/

 

La Ligne du Littoral et ses Antennes, First Generation Electric Tramways – Nice-Monte Carlo (Chemins de Fer de Provence/Alpes-Maritimes No. 91) …

The line between Nice and Monte Carlo opened in a series of stages. First from Monaco to Place d’Armes in Monte Carlo on 14th May 1898; then from Place Massena in Nice to Villefranche, on 1st February 1900; Villefranche to Beaulieu on 3rd November 1900; TNL trams were permitted to run on Monaco’s tramways from 28th May 1903; and the remaining length, Beaulieu to Monaco Place d’Armes opened on 7th November 1903. Over the next few years some single track lengths were doubled.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/10/28/nice-monte-carlo

Future articles will focus on two branch-lines which left the Nice to Monte Carlo line and on the extension beyond Monte Carlo to Menton.

 

Between Nice and Monte Carlo the TNL had two branch lines. The first ran from Pont St. Jean to St. Jean Cap Ferrat, the second ran up onto the rock in Monaco from the railway station. This article looks at those two lines:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/11/1...ins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-92/

 

Monte Carlo to Menton

Our visit to Nice in November 2023 provided the impetus for looking at the Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL) network of metre-gauge tramways.

This next article is about the most easterly part of the network, the line between Monte Carlo and Menton. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/11/21/monte-carlo-to-menton-la-ligne-du-littoral-et-ses-antennes-first-generation-electric-tramways-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-93/

As trams travelled along this route they passed two significant local railways/tramways. ...

1. The rack railway from Monte Carlo to La Turbie on the Grande Corniche which throughout its existence was a significant tourist line. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2017/11/23/monaco-to-la-turbie-rack-railway-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-15/

2. The Menton to Sospel branch tramway which was very different in character to the rest of the TNL network. Given that much of the line was on its own formation, it was more akin to a mountain railway than the remainder of the network. It was similar in many ways to the Tramways des Alpes Maritimes (TAM) lines which served the hinterland behind the Cote d'Azur. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/06/08/the-menton-to-sospel-tramway-revisited-again-chemins-de-fer-de-provence-61/

This line will feature in a future article which looks at two of the TNL lines in the hills behind the Mediterranean coast. ...

 

The next article on this thread jumps forward to the 21st century and the modern trams that are now running so successfully in the city. ...

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/11/26/the-modern-tram-network-in-nice-2023/

The next article will take us back to the earlier tramways.

 

The TNL (Tramways de Nice et du Littoral) had four lines which ran some distance inland from the coast. Three ran out from Nice, serving: Levens, Bendejun, and La-Grave-de-Peille. All followed valleys of the Paillon and its tributaries. As well as the line to La-Grave-de-Peille, the line to Contes and Bendejun was to have had another Branch to l'Escarene. Major work was undertaken on that line but it was never brought into use.

A fourth line ran inland from Menton to Sospel.

Two lines are covered in the linked article - that to Levens and that to Sospel. .....

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/12/1...ins-de-fer-de-provence-alpes-maritimes-no-94/

Another article will cover the remaining lines.