the Remiremont-Gérardmer tramway, France

The Remirement terminus. Is that metal framework in the background for a gasworks?

This was a 26.6 km metre-gauge steam-worked railway in the Département of the Vosges, one of many such lines that used to criss-cross France (see the 1921 map in an earlier post).  This one operated from 1900 to 1935. It had some steep sections: the maximum gradient was 4.8% and for 20 km there was a steady gradient of nearly 4%.

From 1925 the original company ceased and the Département gave the concession to the Société générale des chemins de fer économiques or SE.

From the outset the line employed three 0-6-0 tank locomotives built by Batignolles, numbers 1411 to 1413. A fourth machine quickly joined them. After 1925, the four engines were renumbered by the SE 3141 to 3144. The SE also brought a 2-6-0T Corpet, numbered 1219, delivered in 1909 to the Toul - Thiaucourt line, where it took the number 5. The line also had 12 passenger cars and 27 wagons of 10 tons - numerous during the 1920s.