Billard
Encyclopedia
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
construction company based in Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
. It specialised in light railbus
Railbus
A railbus is a very lightweight type passenger rail vehicle that shares many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies...
es and metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
and narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
rolling stock. The business ceased trading in 1956 and later became Socofer
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 ** Leisure parks.** Tourist railways....
.
Draisines
- DraisineDraisineA draisine primarily refers to a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure....
s : These worked on different VFILsVoie ferrée d'intérêt localIn France, a is a secondary railway constructed by a local administrative division, serving sparsely-populated rural areas...
, and for the "Big Companies" which became the SNCFSNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
.
Locomotives
- T50
- T75D
- T75P
- T75G
These were designed for the French Military Railway. They were used, among other things, to service the Maginot Line
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
.
- SNCF Class Y 7100SNCF Class Y 7100The 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 wheel arrangement, 150 kW diesel engines and hydraulic transmission. They can be found all over the French network.Y 7192 was converted to...
Railbuses
RailbusRailbus
A railbus is a very lightweight type passenger rail vehicle that shares many aspects of their construction with a bus, usually having a bus, or modified bus body, and having four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies...
es for numerous French VFIPs
Voie ferrée d'intérêt local
In France, a is a secondary railway constructed by a local administrative division, serving sparsely-populated rural areas...
(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,
- VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
, - Indre et Loire,
- Seine-et-MarneSeine-et-MarneSeine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...
- Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine Company
- Overseas networks:
- Madagascar
- Réunion
- French West Africa:
- Dakar Niger
- Dahomey
- Ethiopia:
- Chemin de fer franco-éthiopien received in 1964 two automotive cars of 550 hp, for the Djibouti - Addis-Abeba line
Several European networks
- In Greece
- In Spain
- A MichelineMichelineMichelines were a series of rubber-tyred trains developed in France in the 1930s by various rail companies and rubber-tyre manufacturer Michelin...
was built in the 1930s for the PO - Thre 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
- A Micheline
The solidity of the stock, and the simplicity of construction, means that many Billard engines are still working today.
Preserved Billard rolling stock
Locomotivestype T 50
type T 75, in several variants (with the series prototype, and some military examples) on the Tacot des Lacs, at the Train Touristique de Saint Trojan and later at APPEVA.
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 VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- 214, Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
.
type A 80D
- 313, Voies Ferrées du Velay
- 314, Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- 315 Voies Ferrées du Velay
- 316 Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- 513 Chemins de fer de Corse.
type A 150D2 Articulated
- 222 Voies Ferrées du Velay.
Trailer R 210
- 3, Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- 5, MTVSMusée des tramways à vapeur et des chemins de fer secondaires françaisThe Musée des tramways à vapeur et des chemins de fer secondaires français is located alongside Valmondois railway station, in the small town of Butry-sur-Oise in the departement of Val-d'Oise, north of Paris...
ex autorail AM 20 des TIV - 7, Voies Ferrées du Velay
- 11, Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- 22, Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
Standard gauge type A 75D
- X901, Tourist railway of La Sarthe, originally Chemin de fer Mamers-Saint Calais
- X903, Trains à vapeur de Touraine 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 (Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 150 D1, N°113, rebuilt Carde
- XR 104 (Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°105, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP
- XR 105 (Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°106, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP
- XRD 242 (Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 80 D, N°32, originally CFD Charentes
- XR 526 (Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 150 D2, N°526, originally Tramways d'Ile et Vilaine
See also
- Chemin de fer du VivaraisChemin de fer du VivaraisThe Chemin de fer du Vivarais - also called The Mastrou - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre-gauge line is long...
- LocomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
- Metre gaugeMetre gaugeMetre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
- RailcarRailcarA railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
- SocoferSocoferSocofer is the name for the railway construction company that before 1968 was known as Établissements Billard.- Production : narrow gauge locomotives for:** The French Army ** Leisure parks.** Tourist railways....