Informations directionnelles

Passer un puits et prendre à gauche en repassant sur le Sausseron. Prendre à gauche la rue Thiébault et découvrir le moulin Fessart (plaque sur le pignon au bout du bâtiment).

Prochain point : lat="49.129864" lon="2.167899"

The station – The “Petit Train”
The saga of the Valmondois-Marines train began in 1886.

The railroad comes to Nesles-la-Vallée...

The idea of a railway in the Sausseron valley (a standard gauge line linking Valmondois to Méru) was first raised in 1875. The project was rejected in 1879. In 1881, the rail company “Société Générale des Chemins de fer Économiques” started to look at a new rail path at the request of the General Councillor of Isle-Adam, in order to bring rail service to “mills, quarries and farms...”.
The public contract was awarded in 1883 and work began in 1884 for the line to open in 1886. With the extension to Marines, approved in 1887, the narrow gauge track covered a total distance of 23 201.76 metres.
The line has two terminals (Valmondois and Marines),  five stations (Nesles-la-Vallée, Labbeville-Frouville, Vallangoujard, Theuville-Epiais-Rhus, Bréançonand) and six smaller stops (Le Carouge, La Naze, Verville, Brécourt, Berval, Grisy).
The journey from Marines to Valmondois takes 52 minutes and from Nesles to Valmondois is a 17 minute trip.
The rail buildings were built according to the “Société des Chemins de fer Economiques” n°2 model, save for those of Valmondois (a simpler construction) and Marines (a larger structure). The stops consisted of basic shelters. In 1886, three engines and three carriages transported locals from Epiais-Rhus to Valmondois and back again. Later, freight cars: flat, covered, open or stone wagons, would be added.
In 1895 the rail company employed 31 people and transported 114 298 passengers. In 1913, 223 508 passengers travelled on the “Petit Train”, but by 1934, the number dropped to 80 704, with the development of bus lines and private vehicles and trucks. Diesel trains appeared, but the petrol shortage brought on by the war brought the “petit” steam train back into service.

… but is closed after the war

In 1948, the General Council canceled the freight service and began looking into transporting passengers via bus. The Valmondois-Marines line was closed on 1st July, 1949 and decommissioned on 20 August 1951. French Academy member Émile Henriot published a very moving article in the weekly magazine “La Vie du Rail” when the line was closed. The Museum of French steam trams and short-line railways is located next to Valmondois station in the town of Butry.

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