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The Réseau des Bains de Mer (, RBM) was a group of five
metre gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...
railways centred on Noyelles-sur-Mer, with a total route length of some . It was a part of the ''Chemins de fer départementaux de la Somme''. Three of the lines are still open as the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme heritage line, and are dealt with under that article. This article covers the other two lines, now closed. All the lines were in the
Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...
department. The five lines were:- * Noyelles - Le Crotoy (opened 1 June 1887). * Noyelles - St. Valery sur Somme (opened 5 June 1858 tandard gauge/nowiki>, 6 September 1887 ual gauge). * St. Valery sur Somme - Cayeux sur Mer (opened 6 September 1887). * Noyelles - Forest-l'Abbaye (opened 24 August 1892, closed 10 March 1947 assengers/ 1 February 1951 reight/nowiki> ). *
Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...
- Dompierre-sur-Authie (opened 19 June 1892, closed 10 March 1947 bbeville - Forest-l'Abbaye and Crécy Estrées - Dompierre sur Authie, also to passengers between Crécy Estrées and Forest l'Abbaye/nowiki> / 1 February 1951 récy Estrées - Forest-l'Abbaye/nowiki> ).


Background

In
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the building of
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
s was controlled by the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
. This avoided the duplication of routes that was seen in the UK and meant that the large
cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
and
town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
s were connected. The citizens of the smaller towns and
village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
s also wanted railways to be built to connect them to the network. The departments were given authority to oversee the construction of these minor lines, some of which were built to
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...
and others were built to metre gauge. The Réseau des Bains de Mer system came under the control of the Somme Department.


Freight.

The main freight carried was
sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...
and
phosphates Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphor ...
. Sugar beet were collected at the râperie of Crécy-Estrées. Here the raw juice was extracted from the beet. This juice was then sent by pipeline to the sugar factory of Abbeville. The beet were the final traffic carried on this section of the RBM. Phosphates were mined at Forêt du Crécy and sent by rail to St. Valery.


Noyelles - Forest-l'Abbaye.

This line was long. Leaving Noyelles station, it climbed to cross the main
Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...
-Abbeville line. Stations were provided at Sailly-
Bray Bray may refer to: Places France * Bray, Eure, in the Eure ''département'' * Bray, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire ''département'' * Bray-Dunes, in the Nord ''département'' * Bray-en-Val, in the Loiret ''département'' * Bray-et-Lû ...
, Sailly-le-Sec, Nouvion-en-Ponthieu and Forest-l'Abbaye, where there was a junction with the Abbeville-Dompierre line. The line was opened on 24 August 1892, and closed to passengers on 10 March 1947. The line remained open for freight until 1 February 1951. After closure, the line saw occasional use for freight until 1965.French article on the Chemins de fer départementaux de la Somme.


Stations


Noyelles-sur-Mer

A station was opened at Noyelles in 1847, being on the standard gauge line between
Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...
and
Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...
. In 1858 a single track branch opened to St. Valery sur Somme. Metre gauge branches opened to Le Crotoy and Cayeux in 1887, the latter being laid between the rails of the standard gauge branch to St. Valery. The final line to be built to Noyelles was a metre gauge branch to Forest l'Abbaye which opened on 24 August 1892, and closed to passengers on 10 March 1947 and freight on 1 February 1951.


Sailly-Bray

A station served the villages of Sailly-Saillisel and
Bray-sur-Somme Bray-sur-Somme (, literally ''Bray on Somme (river), Somme'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Twin towns It is twinned with Inkberrow. G ...
.


Sailly-le-Sec

A station served the village of Sailly-le-Sec.


Nouvion-en-Ponthieu

A station served the village of Nouvion-en-Ponthieu * Forest l'Abbaye station will be covered under the Abbeville-Dompierre line.


Abbeville - Dompierre

This line was long. It ran from the station at Abbeville (North) to Dompierre-sur-Authie, with a junction at Forest-l'Abbaye with the line to Noyelles. There were stations at Abbeville Porte Saint Gilles, Abbeville Porte du Bois,
Drucat Drucat (; Picard language, Picard: ''Drucot'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Drucat is situated on the D82e road, some northe ...
, Plessiel-Drucat, Canchy-
Neuilly Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the Bois de Boulogne, the area is composed of ...
, Lamotte-Buleux, Forest-l'Abbaye, Forêt du Crécy, Crécy- Estrées, Wadicourt and Dompierre-sur-Authie. CFdSomme There were plans to extend the line into the
Pas de Calais The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows, is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental ...
department. In 1892 a line was planned from Dompierre-sur-Authie to
Hesdin Hesdin (; ) is a former Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in northern France. On 1 January 2025, it was merged into the new commune of Hesdin-la-Forêt. Geography The N39, from Arras to Montreuil ...
. It would have been long with intermediate stations at Raye-sur-Authie, Guigny and Lequesnoy. A second line was planned from Dompierre-sur-Authie to Wailly, connecting with the Chemins de fer d'Aire à Fruges et de Rimeux-Gournay à Berck (CF du ARB). The long line would have had intermediate stations at Tortefontaine, Douriez, Saulchoy, Saint-Rémy-au-Bois, Campagne-les-Hesdin, Buire-le-Sec and Bois-Jean. Neither line was built. The line served mainly small villages with little industry. It opened on 19 June 1892, and closed on 10 March 1947, except the section between Crécy and Forest-l'Abbaye, which remained open to freight until 1 February 1951.Perso
Yahoo Babelfish translation from French to English.
The section north of Crécy to Dompierre-sur-Authie saw occasional use for freight until 1956. The section south of Forest-l'Abbaye to Canchy saw occasional use for freight until 1965.


Stations


Abbeville (Nord)

Abbeville was the furthest station south, it was from Noyelles and from Dompierre-sur-Authie.


Porte Saint Gilles


Porte du Bois


Drucat

This station served the village of
Drucat Drucat (; Picard language, Picard: ''Drucot'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Drucat is situated on the D82e road, some northe ...
.


Plessiel-Drucat

A halt served the hamlet of Le Plessiel, part of the Drucat commune.


Canchy-Neuilly

This station served the villages of Canchy and Neuilly-l'Hôpital.


Lamotte-Buleux

A station served the village of Lamotte-Buleux.


Forest-l'Abbaye

Forest-l'Abbaye was where the line from Noyelles joined the line between Abbeville and Dompierre-sur-Authie. It was from Noyelles.


Forêt du Crécy

Phosphates Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphor ...
were mined locally, and transported to St. Valery by rail.


Crécy-Estrées

This station served the villages of Crécy-en-Ponthieu and Estrées-lès-Crécy. This was the location of the râperie (from
rasp A rasp is a coarse form of file used for shaping wood, metal, or other material. Typically a hand tool, it consists of a generally tapered rectangular, round, or half-round sectioned bar of case hardened steel with distinct, individually cu ...
).
Sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...
were collected at surrounding stations and then sent to Crécy. The râperie extracted the raw juice, which was then sent by pipeline to the sugar factory of Abbeville. This traffic continued until 1951.


Wadicourt

There were two point for the collection of sugar beet here.


Dompierre-sur-Authie

Dompierre-sur-Authie was the Northern terminus of the line from Abbeville. It was from Noyelles and from Abbeville.


References


Further reading

* *{{cite book , last1=Farebrother , first1=Martin , last2=Farebrother , first2=Joan , year=2008 , title=Tortillards of Artois, The Metre Gauge Railways & Tramways of Western Pas-de-Calais , publisher=The Oakwood Press , isbn=978-0-85361-554-5 Somme (department) Metre-gauge railways in France Railway companies of France Railway lines in Hauts-de-France fr:Chemins de fer départementaux de la Somme