Today (August 5 2008) I had the chance to visit the biggest Train Museum in France, the Cité du Train in Mulhouse. It's less then 2 hour drive from where I live and of course I had my Family with me.

THE CITÉ DU TRAIN – THE HISTORY OF A REBIRTH

The idea of a railway museum in France dates back to the early 20th century and the closure of the Universal
Exposition in Paris. A little later, in 1944, several sites were being put forward as the home for such a museum in Paris:the Grand Palais, the Gare Montparnasse, the depot at Champ de Mars, and even the Gare des Invalides. But endless difficulties stood in the way of bringing the project to fruition. The French railway company SNCF still did not feel itself able to make the most of its past while it was busy focusing all its resources on managing the future.

In 1961, the railway engineering department decided to put its collections of historic rolling stock under one roof at the former depot at Chalon sur Marne, which was all catalogued in “The railways of yesterday for a French national rail museum”, published by the AFAC (French Association of Friends of the Railways) in 1965.

That same year, the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse appointed a committee to look into the possibility of setting up
a museum in Mulhouse, as the city was offering to provide the land. In 1968, the Ministry of Transport asked the SNCF
for its opinion of the principle and the terms and conditions of setting up such a museum. The following year, in 1969,
the SNCF finally gave its approval to the Mulhouse project and the Société Industrielle de Mulhouse was authorised by
a Ministry of Transport decision of 6 June 1969 to get in touch with the SNCF to arrange for its collection of historic
rolling-stock to be transferred to the new site.

This “first museum”, officially opened on 12 June 1971, remained open for 5 years and welcomed 206,755 visitors. It
housed 13 steam locomotives, owned by the SNCF and restored by the company’s engineering workshops in two smaller engine-sheds at the former steam locomotive depot in Mulhouse Nord.

The museum’s second phase was opened to the public in 1983: six new tracks now made it possible to accommodate
and display other locomotives. The official opening ceremony was held in 1984. Located at 2 Rue Alfred de Glehn in
Mulhouse, in spacious buildings with plenty of track on which to display the many pieces of rolling stock: steam
locomotives, electric locomotives, railcars, electric railcars, passenger carriages, goods wagons and various pieces of
equipment which will enable visitors to gain an understanding of how French rail transport has evolved over 150 years
and more.

The French Railway Museum puts over 100 locomotives and carriages on display on 1350 metres of track together with a large number of items of industrial equipment (electric traction, safety and signalling) covering an area of 13,000 m2 (including spare track).

On 19 May 1982 the museum welcomed its millionth visitor. Between 1971 and 1983 the numbers of paying
visitors rose steadily, reaching 239,807 visitors a year by that stage. Thereafter the numbers gradually diminished up to
the time of the museum’s closure for refurbishment on 31 December 2003.

From “Museum” to “Cité du Train”

To deal with this public loss of interest, a programme of modernisation and enlargement of the museum was
undertaken starting in 1995 with the aim of improving the displays, events and services offered in order better to meet
the expectations of the public in this day and age.
At the Board of Directors meeting in 1998 it was decided to hand over management of the museum to a private
company specialising in the management of historical and tourist sites. In October 1998, an invitation to tender for the
management contract was announced by the regional administration. It was the company Culturespaces that was
appointed for this task by approval of the Board of Directors and the Annual General Meeting of 18 June 2004 for a
period of 12 years.
The French Railway Museum Association, with the support of the SNCF, decided to revamp the museum from top to
bottom to make it the finest train museum in Europe. An unprecedented 8.6 million euros was invested in this
project.
As from 11 March 2005 the new French Railway Museum at Mulhouse became the Cité du Train. It offers visitors
a new hall of 6000 m2 (heated in winter and air conditioned in summer) in which 27 items from the collection of rolling
stock (steam, electric and diesel locomotives, railcars, electric railcars, coaches and wagons) are displayed in a
stunning and original audiovisual setting created by the Atelier François Seigneur that sets off the world of the railways
to the best possible advantage.

Let's start the Tour

It all begins in the station of a small seaside resort: the charming “holiday camp” Micheline XM 5005 arrives, purring quietly since it runs on rubber tyres and without the usual clatter of iron wheels. This is the moment to mention André Michelin’s celebrated case of insomnia that gave birth to the idea when, during a journey in a sleeping car, he decided to build a train that ran on rubber wheels in order to put an end to the constant clatter of the steel wheels on the rail joints. The Micheline Units where build between 1932 and 1938, they had 250 HP and where 105 Km/h fast.

Next, a change of scenery, as we discover the 3rdclass carriages, divided into 5 spartancompartments: these were used to transport French workers on their paid holidays, which began in 1936.

just a 3rdclass carriages for my lovely wife :-)

and me too!

1908 rotary snow plough made by the American Locomotive Company in Cooke, USA. The snow plough was made of a steam engine and cab, and was coupled to a tender to supply it with coal and water. Since it was not self-propelled, the snow plough had to be pushed by another locomotive.

With the side removed the boiler, cylinder, motion and gearing can clearly be seen. Behind is a Tender locomotive Mikado type 141. The 141 TA locomotives where built on the Swiss model from "SLM".

In 1864, Victor Forquenot created for the PO a type of high-speed 120 engine whose layout may be considered somewhat outdated for the period,since the three axles were grouped together under the cylindrical body and the firebox was suspended on an overhang, which is the same configuration as Stephenson’s Long Boiler. These engines were extremely well designed, however, and performed excellently while in service, with the result that this design was adopted and reproduced in very large numbers. From 1873 onwards, a load-bearing axle was added at the rear to improve high-speed stability. For a long time, the 121 engines made up the majority of the PO’s passenger locomotive fleet.

The Forquenotsteam locomotive, which is decorated with French flags sporting the imperial eagle, is followed by the saloon car NO. 6 PO, built in 1856, and a favourite of the Empress Eugénie. There are also reminders of official voyages by Eisenhower, Churchill, General de Gaulle, the Emperor of Ethiopia, President Tito, the Beyof Tunis etc.

A little further on, the famous Presidential PR1 allows visitors to recall the misfortunes of President Paul Deschanel, who, taking advantage of an unscheduled stop in open countryside, got down from the train dressed only in his nightshirt, only to be left behind when the train started up again. The following morning, an item in the local newspaper read as follows: “A lunatic, dressed only in a nightshirt, is reported to have knocked on the door of the level-crossing keeper, claiming to be the French president.”Deschanelsubsequently resigned.

And the picture below shows Presidential PR2

In 1914, mobilisation began amid the general enthusiasm of the Sacred Union. The Bpy135 NORD carriage of 1909 is covered with graffiti claiming “to Berlin”.

A loud explosion. A locomotive is lying on its side on the embankment. Behind it, the rails are completely mangled. The battle of the rails is reconstructed from war footage showing various acts of sabotage.

We begin with a dream of a journey: a Pullman saloon car and sleeping car recall the long, leisurely journeys on
the Simplon-Orient-Express, “the king of trains, the train of kings”, a train redolent of those great writers whose names
are so closely associated with the train – Colette, Agatha Christie, John Le Carré, and others.

In order to offer ordinary passengers a level of comfort equivalent to that provided by the new overnight sleeper cars, in 1926 the CIWL (CompagnieInternationaledes Wagons-Lits) created the Pullman railcars, which combined a carriage, salonand restaurant into one. These trains consisted of a number of coupled carriage pairs, and for each pair one carriage contained a kitchen which served both carriages.

With the following few pictures I want to show the luxury of this type of Cars.

and for the poor people...the choice between sitting outside without protection

or in spartanic environment

or for those with a bit more money...

and that's a typical 4th class car

The Museum had also a very nice Streetcar

with some lovely passengers....

An early French 4-8-2. Etat (State) Railway 241A1, a 4 cylinder de Glehn type compound. This class of locomotive were developed from the very first 4-8-2 to run in Europe Est 41.001. Some locomotives of this type, but not this one, were given a bit of help by Chapelon. In modified form they could produce 3650 cylinder horsepower.

Being a de Glehn type compound the high pressure cylinders are on the outside

On the back is a Nord Atlantic 2.670. This locomotive is built to a 1899 design. Forerunners of the 231Es etc on the Boat Train route these locomotives could haul 350 tonne trains easily at 75mph. Weighing in at 65 tonnes they could produce 1400 cylinder horsepower. One such locomotive was purchased by the GWR and ran in Britain, very successfully, as 102 'La France'.

In the foreground is a "Bourbonnais" Steam locomotive from the year 1854. It does not have a closed Driving Cab!

The whole exposition in the first hall is awesome and looks like a Hollywood Film set.

In part 2 of the expsosition I'll show you the big Hall with over 80 Engines!

First the Buddicom No.33 "Saint-Pierre", the oldest in the Museum, it's from 1844!

Then a Crampton 4-4-0 No.80 "Le Continent". This Locomotive was build in 1852 and was designed from the English Engineer Thomas Russel Crampton.

The picture below shows another nice Locomotive. The 2-8-0 is an Etat system two cylinder simple. In SNCF days this locomotive was classified as class 140C.

Alfred De Glehn's first compound - Nord Railway 4-2-2-0 No.701 built in 1895. The locomotive is a four cylinder compound with the high pressure cylinders on the inside and the low pressure cylinders outside the frames. This arrangement is the opposite of what is normally meant when people refer to a 'de Glehn' compound. The high pressure cylinders drive the leading driving wheels whilst the low pressure cylinders drive the trailing driving wheel. However unlike most other locomotives built the two sets of driven wheels were not linked with coupling rods and hence the wheel arrangement quoted.

Next is a Electric Locomotive E1 "boite à sel" (salt box). They got the nickname because of their shape.

an interesting Compagnie de l'Est "Imperiale" Passenger Car

A Baltic Type Nord 4-6-4 from the sectioned side. When built this locomotive had a watertube firebox. The two locomotives of this type built were very powerful for their day being capable of hauling 1200 tonnes at up to 68mph on level track. This equates to a cylinder horsepower of approximately 2800. This locomotive is believed to have been cut up 1937 for a display in Paris.

A very common feature on French locomotives was the use of Serve tubes. These are the small tubes with the fins. They are like this to provide a greater surface area and thus increase heat transfer to the water in the boiler.

232U1 was a one off locomotive designed by Marc de Caso of the Nord Railway. It is a four cylinder compound fitted with piston valves and many modern features to improve reliability and make operation easier. Whilst not quite as good as Chapelon engines of the same era, notably 242A1, it was none the less a very fine locomotive. On test in 1950 232U1 was recorded producing 3265 drawbar horsepower over an 8km section.

This rather old looking Bo-Bo electric once belonged to the Midi Railway.

Etat Railway 4 axled bogie railcar ZZy24091 is one of the famous Bugatti vehicles. This is one of the 'Presidential' type.The Car was build in 1934 and had 4 Bugatti Royale Motors each with 200HP. It had space for 48 Passengers and run with a speed of 140 km/h

2D2-5516 is an early electric from region 4 of the SNCF, the former Paris Orleans Railway. It entered service in the 1930s. The type are rated at 2600 kW (3487hp.) The 5516 was put in service 1933 and was taken off the line in 1978 after having run a total of 7'818'667 km i.e. 195 times around the earth in 45 Years!!!

OK, let's have a short break before we go one.....

next is a strange diesel switcher or something :-)

29th MARCH 1955 -207 mph: A WORLD RECORD

from this Locomotive

a view inside

SNCF Class T 2000 trainsets , also known under their French acronym RTG ( Rame à turbine à gaz, i.e., gas turbine trainset), were the second generation of turbine-powered trains in France and saw commercial service from 1972 to 2004. T 2057 were equipped with one 1200  kW Turboméca Turmo III turbines which drove Voith Hydraulic Transmissions at each end.

Finally the last impressions like the Pacific Exhibition A century of the Pacific, 100 years of a very glamorous locomotive

Dear Friends, I've took more then 400 Pictures but can't show all here. Maybe I'll expand this site in the future. There is also a need to visit the Musuem once again for better pictures of some Rolling Stock. I hope you've enjoyed the story.