France CFE – Saintes: In the mid – late 1890s the French regional authorities constructed many Chemin de Fer Economique. Cheaply and lightly built the railways were usually metre gauge and intended to open up for commerce the more remote and rural parts of the Republic. Initially employing exclusively Corpet-Louvet 0-6-0 tank engines as motive power (internal combustion railcars came later), just such a network, finally totalling 370kms, was built to serve the Charente Inferieur – today the Charente Maritime. The network was roughly centred upon Saintes, and survived – just! - until 1945, with track-lifting being completed in 1946. The former CFE station at Saintes still stands in private commercial use, adjacent to the freight yard at Saintes SNCF station. 16 April 2006.

Roger Griffiths; jrcs@blueyonder.co.uk