Tramway at Bourron
The Tramway at Bourron was a long gauge railway that ran from the sand pits at Bourron-Marlotte via the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez railway station to the Canal du Loing opposite to Montcourt-Fromonville in France.
History
The Société des Sandlières de Bourron was founded in 1911 to exploit the Bourron sand pits, located in the Forest of Fontainebleau, west of the village of Bourron-Marlotte and north of the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez railway station. Very high quality quartz glass can be produced from the dazzling white sand mined in the Arrondissement of Fontainebleau. It is mainly used for the production of crystal glass and optical glass, e.g. for the optical instruments of NASA.Shortly after the company was founded, the narrow-gauge line was built from the sand pit with a bridge over the railway tracks of the PLM to its station. The line was extended in 1913 over an iron truss bridge to the Canal du Loing near Montcourt-Fromonville, where bulk goods could be transported more cheaply than by rail.
Philippe Lévêque and Daniel Tallet described the light railway line in the following words:
| English Translation | French Original |
| "Full of bucolic nooks and crannies, this line led to a number of picturesque places, including a viaduct with metal beams over the Loing, over which the small locomotives would run puffing, against the backdrop of a 17th-century watermill." | « Pleine de recoins bucoliques, cette ligne menait à bon nombre d´endroits pittoresques dont un viaduc à poutrelles métalliques sur le Loing que les petites locomotives franchissaient haletantes, sur fond de moulin à eau du XVIIe siècle. » |
Commercial goods transport on the narrow-gauge railway was discontinued in 1969. These days, the sand pits are operated by Sibelco with the help of lorries. Part of the line is used as a museum railway under the name Tacot des Lacs.