Musée des chemins de fer Militaires et Industriels
Le P'tit train de la Haute Somme

80340 La Neuville-lès-Bray - Froissy, France (Hauts de France)

Narrow gauge railway museum

The museum, opened in 1996, shows a part of the collection of railway material gathered by the APPEVA and patiently restored by the volunteers, helped by some employees essential to maintain the railway daily.

Twenty locomotives (steam or diesel ones) and 25 wagons are on show on the 1800 m2 of the museum. The museum is divided into three parts, one concerns the military development and WW1, one other the industrial use and the last one exhibits the locomotives in working order. Locomotives are displayed, when possible, with one or several wagons to recreate their former use.
Explicative panels (written in English, French and German) relate to the narrow gauge railway history from its development at the beginning of the 19th century to its present use on our line. A large part of the museum is dedicated to the work of the NG railway during WW1, but its use for the reconstruction of the devastated area and its reprocess by private industries (sugar refineries, brickyards, mines, etc.) are also explained. Each vehicle gets its own explicative panel where a short summary informs of its origin and former employment.

On the first floor, you will find a reception area with a shop, a Café bar and toilets. Sitting in the Café area, you will have a view on the museum and the platform outside where steam locomotives wait for departure. You will also appreciate the view of the canal of the Somme along the platform.
 

Le P'tit train de la Haute Somme

The line, lightly curved, slopes gently down the Museum to the shed. The former museum, built in 1987 soon become too small, stands on the right hand just in front of the wooden workshop where steam locomotives, diesel engines and wagons are patiently restored and kept.

Then the line follows the towpath up to the little station of Cappy where ponds made from the old river Somme can be viewed.

The train runs under a tunnel of trees to "port de Cappy": a little platform from where the sugar refinery shipped its sugar bags in the last years of the industrial use of the railway.

The sugar refinery to avoid passing through the streets of Cappy built a tunnel in 1927. With no lights on the first 50 meters and the last 50, the tunnel is quite impressive for people not informed and is one of the most appreciated attractions of the site (especially when a steam locomotive is running!). The train goes out the tunnel onto a level crossing and continues on its way along the little farms and houses of the village of Cappy.

The train slopes up in a little wood where a metal bridge crosses a road, the bridge has been nicknamed "the viaduct" by the locals (the bridge is 6 meters long). After the bridge, the track separates with a loop line near which the train stops.

At this place, there are no more rails in front of the locomotive: the track seems to end here. After whistling, the train goes backwards. Most people think that it is a strange way to return but the train just slopes backwards for 500 meters onto another track, stops again and then continues to slope forwards.

People may be a bit lost with these manoeuvres. Nevertheless, things clear up when the whole zigzag system can be viewed. This track layout, very exceptional, is rare in Europe; this system is used in the Andes and the foothills of the Himalayas. The zigzag was built during WW1 to allow locomotives to climb a very strong slope. Thanks to this system, a steam engine was able to tow up two wagons of goods (around 20 tonnes). Then the line goes out vegetation, and slopes gently through corn, sugar beet and potato fields.

The train crosses a road; it is the end of the forward slope.

At the terminus of the line, near the village of Dompierre, the vestiges of the sugar refinery can be viewed.

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