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Trans-Correzien Tramway

The Correze area of the Limousin is a hilly, agricultural region with many small villages. The principle town is Tulle and this was served by the SNCF as early as 1868.

In 1900 an extensive metre gauge railway network, centred around Tulle was proposed by the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (PO) and constructed by the Société de Construction des Batignolles. Known as the PO Correze, it was completed by 1904 and from Tulle it served Uzerche, Argentat, Seihac and villages in between. There was also a branch line from Seihac to Treignac.

The PO Correze did no serve the significant towns of Ussel to the East near Clermont-Ferrand or Beaulieu on the Dordogne River to the South so in 1910 new, lightweight metre gauge lines were proposed to serve these towns together with another line running from La Rivière de Mansac to Juillac in the West.

The lines to Juillac (27km) and Beaulieu (57km) and from Laguenne (Tulle) to Ussel (118km) were all completed by August 1913 and were know as the Trans-Correzien. There were three classes of standard station depending on the requirements of the community they served. Mixed goods and passenger trains were hauled by Piguet 030T steam locomotives.

The line between Laguenne and Ussel had a total of 21 stations and ran for 116km. The brick-built Laguenne station stands beside the N120, 3.2km (2 miles)from the main station in Tulle which was an interchange between the standard gauge SNCF and the metre gauge PO Correze. The PO Correze track ran West to Laguenne and then shared the short length of track to the next station at St. Bonnet Avalouze where the Trans-Correzien turned North and the PO Correze line turned South towards Argentat.

It is not believed that the Trans-Correzien ever made a profit although it provided an invaluable service to rural communities who had no other means of transport than a horse and cart.

The lines to Beaulieu and Juillac were closed at the end of 1931 and the branch line from Le Mortier to La Roche-Canillac continued to June 1938. The line from Ussel to Laguenne outside Tulle remained in service until 1st July 1952 when the section between Ussel and Neuvic was closed but the final section of the line from Neuvic to Tulle soldiered on until 1st January 1960.

Passenger services on the PO Correze lines ceased operation some months later in November 1960 although PO trains continued to haul freight until 31st May 1970.

/ To Be Continued