Chemin de fer des Chanteraines


The Chemin de fer des Chanteraines or CFC is a 600 mm narrow gauge tourist railway with six stations and 4.5 kilometers length in the Parc de Chanteraines in the French villages of Gennevilliers and Villeneuve-la-Garenne west of Paris. It opened in 1981 and its purpose is to link the different parts of the park.

History

At the beginning of the 1970s, on the initiative of Roger Prévot, mayor of Villeneuve-la-Garenne from May 1953 until his death on October 6, 1999, the General Council of the Hauts-de-Seine department, of which he was vice-president at the time, decided to build the Chanteraines departmental park. Three years after the opening of the first section of the park, the original 3.1-kilometer-long route between Pont d'Épinay station and Passage de Verdure station above the A86 autoroute, was put into operation in 1981. This connected the various areas of the park. In spring 1984, under an agreement with the Hauts-de-Seine General Council, the Chemin de Fer des Chanteraines association took over the operation of the route and the maintenance of the tracks and rolling stock. In July 1991, with the expansion of the park to the south, the line was also extended to the new terminus Les Tilliers-RER with a transition to line C of the RER and tramway Line T1. On the occasion of this line extension, a second depot building was built at the train yard next to the first. In October 2009, the CFC association organized the 19th International Narrow Gauge Railway Meeting. From 2010 to 2012, the northern section of the line behind the Les Fiancés station to Les Mariniers was completely renovated and was not used during this period. On March 22, 2023, the e OBO-01, the first of two purely battery-electric locomotives, equipped with compressed air brakes and built by the Compagnie de chemins de fer départementaux in Paris, arrived at the CFC depot. After test runs in April, including with four wagons loaded with cement sacks, the locomotive made its first public passenger journeys on the open day in May. On the long Ascension weekend from 9 to 12 May 2024, the CFC club celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Vehicles

The following lists are not exhaustive and will need to be completed or updated over time :

Passenger cars

There is 11 freight wagons operational in summer 2024 plus various wagons and lorries in stock.