The Pont–Vallorbe Railway (; PV) was a Swiss railway company that existed from 1886 to 1891. Its short railway line is now owned by the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

(SBB). The SBB operates the line from

Vallorbe Vallorbe () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord Vaudois in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Vallorbe is first mentioned in 1139 as ''de valle ...

through to

Le Brassus Le Brassus is a village in the Vallée de Joux in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It is part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality Le Chenit.Le Pont to Le Brassus used to belong to the

Pont–Brassus Railway The Pont–Brassus Railway (; PBr) was a railway company in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It built a standard gauge line from Le Pont parallel to the north shore of the Lac de Joux to Le Brassus. The line has been owned by the Travys regional tra ...

(; PBr), but since 2001 it has been owned by

Travys Travys is the brand name of a public transport company operating several rail and bus lines in the Yverdon region in the north of the Swiss canton of Vaud. Its name is based is on an acronym for ''Transports Vallée de Joux–Yverdon-les-Bains–S ...

History

SBB Fe 44 18 561 1930 Emailplattenbeschriftung

The Pont–Vallorbe Railway opened the railway line from Le Day to Le Pont in the Vallée de Joux on 31 October 1886. The nearly 8.5 kilometre-long branch line branches at the 3.2 kilometre point of the Vallorbe–Lausanne line in Le Day. The line was operated by the Western Switzerland–Simplon Railway (''Suisse-Occidentale–Simplon''; SOS) and from 1891 by the Jura–Simplon Railway (''Jura-Simplon-Bahn''; JS), which was created by the merger of SOS with the

Jura–Bern–Luzern The Bernese Jura Railway (''Chemins de fer du Jura bernois'', abbreviated ''Jura bernois'', JB) was a railway company in Switzerland. The company was called the Jura–Bern–Luzern (''Jura–Bern–Lucerne'', JBL) from 1 July 1884. The Jura–Ber ...

. The rolling stock was provided by the PV. Freight did not develop as expected. The mining of iron—for which the railway had been built among other things—stagnated and the income from the transport of timber and ice on the short line did not make profitable operations possible. In addition, the profits from the 2.7 kilometre-long Le Day–Vallorbe section went to the SOS and the JS. Although the Pont–Brassus Railway opened a 13.3 kilometre-long extension of the branch line to Le Brassus on 21 August 1899, operating expenses increased significantly more than revenues from 1890. The JS bought the railway company on 1 January 1891 in the form of 5600 ordinary shares at

Swiss francs The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) i ...

200 each, ie for 1.2 million francs. The railway's debts of 545,000 francs to the

canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...

and the municipalities were written off. When the Jura–Simplon Railway was nationalised on 1 May 1903, the line became part of the SBB. Freight traffic increased significantly during the two world wars. The lack of fuel led to an intensification of forestry including

charcoal burning Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

in the wooded Vallée de Joux. People visited the villages along the Lac de Joux for summer holidays and in winter for ice skating or tobogganing. The economic crisis in the 1930s led to a sharp decline in freight and passenger traffic. On 2 October 1936, the line along with the Pont–Brassus Railway were electrified, so operations could be simplified.

Rolling stock

The following is a list of locomotives used by the PV:

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pont-Vallorbe Railway Defunct railway companies of Switzerland 1886 establishments in Switzerland Swiss companies established in 1886