the Tramway d'Eu - Le Tréport - Mers, France

A tram in Eu, the Chaussée de Picardie

two trams about to cross between Eu and Tréport

see the streetview below for the present day equivalent

about the time that buses had taken over from the trams

The 6.3 km long metre-gauge tramway d'Eu-Le Tréport-Mers was put into service in 1902 within the départements of the Seine-Inférieure (today Seine-Maritime) and the Somme and assured the transport of residents and tourists between the three towns for more than 30 years. Before WW1 the tramway transported more than 500,000 passengers annually and extension projects in the direction of the neighbouring tourist attractions of the Côte d'Albâtre were envisaged.

The war, the lack of modernisation and growing competition from the car and bus led to a slow traffic decline during the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s. The tramway ceased at the end of 1934.

The line left the station square of Eu-La Chaussee - served by trains from or to Tréport, Abbeville, and Paris via Beauvais and Abancourt (Nord network) and Dieppe (Ouest network) - along the sidewalk opposite the building, to join the Tréport terminus at La Place de la Batterie, facing the sea. It served the most lively parts of the two towns by using the Chaussée de Picardie, the Rue de l'Abbaye and La Place Carnot in Eu, and the quays and La Place de la Poissonnerie at Le Tréport, not far from the beach. Between the two municipalities, the tram borrowed the right shoulder of the road and skirted the park wall of the Chateau d'Eu. In Tréport, at the Pont des Chasses which the line crossed, was the beginning of the branch to Mers, a length of 752 meters, passing in front of the station of Tréport-Mers, terminus for pleasure trains, and ended just before the boundary of the picard city (see map). The depot and the power plant to supply the route, were installed at about the middle of the line, at the junction of the municipal areas of Eu and Tréport.

The operation of the line was provided by two axle motrices (powered cars) from the Compagnie Générale de Construction of the conventional type with a 25 hp motor on each axle, or a total output of 50 hp, with open platforms at both ends, and a total capacity of 44 seats in 1st and 2nd class (24 seats in two compartments with longitudinal benches + 20 standees). Some cars underwent some changes, especially the enclosure of the open platforms (called vestibulage). They circulated on their own or with a trailer with open-type side steps (called baladeuse), and could accommodate 40 passengers. These trailers were used only during the summer; for passenger comfort, some were fitted with curtains or glass partitions.

At the beginning of the operation, the system had a fleet of four motrices, four trailers and a car for messaging. With increasing traffic, it increased gradually until WW1. The number of motrices was increased to six in 1903 and seven in 1910, trailers went from four to five in 1904, then to six in 1912. The fleet and its staff thereby reached its maximum. After the war, with the decline in traffic recorded by the network, the fleet was reduced.


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