Établissements Billard was a French railway

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...

construction company founded in 1920 and based in

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. It specialised in light

railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed d ...

es and metre gauge and

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

rolling stock. The business ceased trading in 1956 and later became Socofer.

Production

Draisines

Draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl ...

s : These worked on different VFILs, and for the "Big Companies" which became the SNCF.

Locomotives

* T50 * T75D * T75P * T75G These were designed for the French Military Railway. They were used, among other things, to service the Maginot Line. * SNCF Class Y 7100

Railbuses

Railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed d ...

es for numerous French VFIPs (secondary railways) * Type A 80D, * Type A 135D, * Type A 150D, * Type A 210D, * Networks of the Compagnie des chemins de fer départementaux, including: **

Corse Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and ...

, **

Vivarais Vivarais (; oc, Vivarés; la, Vivariensis provincia{{cite web , url=http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/orblatv.html , title = ORBIS LATINUS - Letter V) is a traditional region in the south-east of France, covering the ''département'' of A ...

, ** Indre et Loire, **

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

* Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine Company * Overseas networks: ** Madagascar ** Réunion * French West Africa: ** Dakar Niger ** Dahomey * Ethiopia: ** Chemin de fer Franco-éthiopien received in 1964 two automotive cars of , for the Djibouti – Addis-Abeba line Several European networks Diakofto

* In Greece * In Spain ** A Micheline was built in the 1930s for the PO ** Three buses with bogies on a wide chassis worked on the Nord-Est. ** A series of railbuses with two axles were built for the CFD and the SNCF in 1949 and 1950 ** A series of FNC railbuses were deployed by the SNCF The solidity of the stock, and the simplicity of construction, means that many Billard engines are still working today.

Preserved Billard rolling stock

;Locomotives type T 50 type T 75, in several variants (with the series prototype, and some military examples) on the

Tacot des Lacs The Tramway at Bourron (French language, French ''Réseau des Sablières de Bourron au Canal du Loing'') was a long gauge railway that ran from the sand pits at Bourron-Marlotte via the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez station, Bourron-Marlotte – Gre ...

, at the Train Touristique de Saint Trojan and later at APPEVA. type T 100, ;Railcars Meter gauge type A 150D * X153, Portes les Valence (bespoke). type A 150D * 212, Chemins de Fer de Provence * 213,

Chemin de fer du Vivarais The Chemin de fer du Vivarais (CFV) - often called ''Le Mastrou'' or ''Train de l'Ardèche'' - is a tourist railway in the Ardèche region of the South of France. The metre gauge line is long. The railway is renowned for its historical steam lo ...

* 214,

. type A 80D * 313, Voies Ferrées du Velay * 314,

* 315 Voies Ferrées du Velay * 316

* 513 Chemins de fer de Corse. type A 150D2 Articulated * 222 Voies Ferrées du Velay. Trailer R 210 * 3,

* 5, MTVS ex autorail AM 20 des TIV * 7, Voies Ferrées du Velay * 11,

* 22,

Standard gauge type A 75D * X901, Tourist railway of La Sarthe, originally Chemin de fer Mamers-Saint Calais * X903, Trains à vapeur de Touraine with a trailing car

Rebuilt and modernised vehicles

* XR 1331 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL1, originally CP, rebuilt Garnero * XRD 1333 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL3, originally CP, rebuilt original mail van * XRD 1337 ( Chemins de Fer de Provence), ex RL7, originally CFD Vivarais 33, rebuilt Garnero, mail van * XR 113 ( Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 150 D1, N°113, rebuilt Carde * XR 104 ( Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°105, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP * XR 105 ( Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 210 D1, N°106, rebuilt Garnero, previously with CP * XRD 242 ( Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 80 D, N°32, originally CFD Charentes * XR 526 ( Chemins de fer de Corse) ex autorail A 150 D2, N°526, originally Tramways d'Ille-et-Vilaine

Gallery

File:Autorail Billard 212 des CP - Juillet 1983-8.jpg, Railbus n° 212 ( metre gauge) of the Chemins de Fer de Provence line at the

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

terminus, July 1983. File:DraisineBillard1.jpg, Billard

, preserved at the Belgian "Dendermonde - Puurs" File:Locotracteur Billard T75G No232.JPG, Locomotive type T75G N°232 preserved at the APPEVA museum (Chemin de fer de la Haute Somme),

of File:Billard P1010399.JPG, Railcar 214 preserved by the

, typical of many French secondary railways File:Korsikabahn Diskussion08.jpg, Trailing car XRD 242 from the Chemins de Fer Corse.

Notes

Sources

References

External links

Billard railcar A80D N°313 from Dunières-Saint-Agrève

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billard, Etablissements Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of France