Établissements Billard was a French railway rolling stock construction company founded in 1920 and based in Tours. It specialised in light railbuses and

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

and narrow gauge rolling stock. The business ceased trading in 1956 and later became

Socofer Socofer is the name for the railway construction company that before 1968 was known as Établissements Billard. Production * narrow gauge locomotives for: ** The French Army (type SCF 303) ** Leisure parks. ** Tourist railway A heritage ...

Production

Draisines

* Draisines : These worked on different VFILs, and for the "Big Companies" which became the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

Locomotives

* T50 * T75D * T75P * T75G These were designed for the French Military Railway. They were used, among other things, to service the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force the ...

. *

SNCF Class Y 7100 The Y 7100 class of small shunters originally had 210 members. The first 130 were built by Billard, with the remaining 80 by Decauville. They have the 0-4-0 ("B") wheel arrangement, 150 kW diesel engine The diesel engine, named after R ...

Railbuses

Railbuses for numerous French VFIPs (secondary railways) * Type A 80D, * Type A 135D, * Type A 150D, * Type A 210D, * Networks of the Compagnie des chemins de fer départementaux, including: ** Corse, ** Vivarais, ** Indre et Loire, ** Seine-et-Marne *

Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine Tramway may refer to: * Tramway (industrial), a lightly laid railway for uses such as logging or mining * A tram transport system (public transport vehicles running on rails) ** The tracks which trams run on (also a section of reserved track for t ...

Company * Overseas networks: ** Madagascar ** Réunion * French West Africa: ** Dakar Niger ** Dahomey * Ethiopia: ** Chemin de fer Franco-éthiopien received in 1964 two automotive cars of , for the Djibouti – Addis-Abeba line Several European networks Diakofto

* In Greece * In Spain ** A

Micheline Michelines were a series of rubber-tyred trains developed in France in the 1930s by various rail companies and rubber-tyre manufacturer Michelin. Some Michelines were built in the United States by the Budd Company. Most Michelines were self-pr ...

was built in the 1930s for the PO ** Three buses with bogies on a wide chassis worked on the Nord-Est. ** A series of railbuses with two axles were built for the CFD and the SNCF in 1949 and 1950 ** A series of FNC railbuses were deployed by the SNCF The solidity of the stock, and the simplicity of construction, means that many Billard engines are still working today.

Preserved Billard rolling stock

;Locomotives type T 50 type T 75, in several variants (with the series prototype, and some military examples) on the

Tacot des Lacs The Tramway at Bourron (French ''Réseau des Sablières de Bourron au Canal du Loing'') was a long gauge railway that ran from the sand pits at Bourron-Marlotte via the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez railway station to the Canal du Loing opposite to ...

, at the Train Touristique de Saint Trojan and later at

APPEVA The Froissy Dompierre Light Railway (french: Chemin de fer Froissy-Dompierre, CFCD) is a narrow gauge light railway running from Froissy (a hamlet of La Neuville-lès-Bray) to Dompierre-Becquincourt, through Cappy, in the Somme department ...

. type T 100, ;Railcars Meter gauge type A 150D * X153, Portes les Valence (bespoke). type A 150D * 212, Chemins de Fer de Provence * 213, Chemin de fer du Vivarais * 214, Chemin de fer du Vivarais. type A 80D * 313, Voies Ferrées du Velay * 314, Chemin de fer du Vivarais * 315 Voies Ferrées du Velay * 316 Chemin de fer du Vivarais * 513

Chemins de fer de Corse Chemins de fer de la Corse ( co, Camini di Ferru di a Corsica) (CFC) is the name of the regional rail network serving the French island of Corsica. It is centred on the town of Ponte Leccia, from which three main lines radiate to Ajaccio, ...

. type A 150D2 Articulated * 222 Voies Ferrées du Velay. Trailer R 210 * 3, Chemin de fer du Vivarais * 5, MTVS ex autorail AM 20 des TIV * 7, Voies Ferrées du Velay * 11, Chemin de fer du Vivarais * 22, Chemin de fer du Vivarais Standard gauge type A 75D * X901, Tourist railway of La Sarthe, originally Chemin de fer Mamers-Saint Calais * X903,

Trains à vapeur de Touraine In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

with a trailing car

Rebuilt and modernised vehicles

* XR 1331 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL1, originally CP, rebuilt Garnero * XRD 1333 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL3, originally CP, rebuilt original mail van * XRD 1337 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL7, originally CFD Vivarais 33, rebuilt Garnero, mail van * XR 113 (

) ex autorail A 150 D1, N°113, rebuilt Carde * XR 104 (

) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°105, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP * XR 105 (

) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°106, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP * XRD 242 (

) ex autorail A 80 D, N°32, originally CFD Charentes * XR 526 (

) ex autorail A 150 D2, N°526, originally Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine

Gallery

File:Autorail Billard 212 des CP - Juillet 1983-8.jpg, Railbus n° 212 (

) of the Chemins de Fer de Provence line at the Nice terminus, July 1983. File:DraisineBillard1.jpg, Billard Draisine, preserved at the Belgian "Dendermonde - Puurs" File:Locotracteur Billard T75G No232.JPG, Locomotive type T75G N°232 preserved at the APPEVA museum (Chemin de fer de la Haute Somme), narrow gauge of File:Billard P1010399.JPG, Railcar 214 preserved by the Chemin de fer du Vivarais, typical of many French secondary railways File:Korsikabahn Diskussion08.jpg, Trailing car XRD 242 from the Chemins de Fer Corse.

Notes

Sources

References

External links

Billard railcar A80D N°313 from Dunières-Saint-Agrève

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billard, Etablissements Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of France