The Chemins de fer du Nord''French locomotive built in 1846''
at National Railway Museum website. Retrieved 28 July 2013 ( or ''CF du Nord''; ) often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

company founded in September 1845 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It was owned by, among others,

de Rothschild Frères The Banque Rothschild, formally known as ''de Rothschild Frères'' () until 1967, was the family-controlled bank of the Rothschild banking family of France. It was established in 1817, expropriated by Vichy France in 1940, returned to the Roths ...

of France,

N M Rothschild & Sons Rothschild & Co SCA is a multinational private and alternative assets investor, headquartered in Paris, France and London, United Kingdom. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French branches of the Rot ...

of London, Charles Laffitte and

Edward Blount Edward Blount (or Blunt) (1562–1632) was a London publisher of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline eras, noted for his publication, in conjunction with William and Isaac Jaggard, of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in 1623. He ...

, and

Baron Jean–Henri Hottinguer Baron Jean-Henri Hottinguer (25 January 1803 – 1866) was the first-born son and heir of Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer. In 1818 he left Paris to learn the business world and to continue his education. His first destination was London, England, ...

Baron James de Rothschild Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (born Jakob Mayer Rothschild; 15 May 1792 – 15 November 1868) was a French banker and the founder of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family. He was born in the Holy Roman Empire. Early life He w ...

served as the company's president from its inception until his death in 1868.

History

A royal ordnance, dated 10 September 1845, granted the CF du Nord a concession to build a railway from Paris to Valenciennes and Lille, with branch lines to

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

and

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

, and lines from

Creil Creil () is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department, northern France. The Creil station is an important railway junction. History Archaeological remains in the area include a Neolithic site as well as a late ...

Saint-Quentin Saint-Quentin may refer to: Places Canada *Saint-Quentin, New Brunswick * Saint-Quentin Parish, New Brunswick * Saint-Quentin Island, in Trois-Rivières, in Québec France * Saint-Quentin, Aisne, in the Aisne department * Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines ...

and

Fampoux Fampoux () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France east of Arras. Population Notable people * Paul Verlaine, poet spent his holidays there for several years, as his mother's family were from Famp ...

Hazebrouck Hazebrouck (, , , ) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France. It was a small market town in Flanders until it became an important railway junction in the 1860s. West Flemish was the usual language until 1880, when French was taught ...

. From the

Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; ), officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well ...

, the station the company built in Paris, the

Paris–Lille railway The Paris–Lille railway is a railway line, that connects the French capital, Paris, to the northern city of Lille. Branch lines offer connections to Belgium and Great Britain. Opened on 20 June 1846, it was one of the first railway lines in Fra ...

led north towards Belgium, connecting to

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

Douai Douai ( , , ; ; ; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord département in northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe (rive ...

and

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

in 1846, with a branch line from Douai to

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

. Lille and Valenciennes had already been connected to the Belgian railway network in 1842. The new line made it possible to travel by train from Paris to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and further. The network was rapidly expanded in the following years: Cie chemins fer Nord 1853 VBois

Competition

The potential for expansion of the CF du Nord territory was limited by other companies: the

Chemins de fer de l'Ouest The Chemins Company is a dietary supplement manufacturer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company, founded in 1974 by James Cameron, became embroiled in a series of criminal investigations in 1994 after a woman died and more than 100 other ...

to its south-west, and the

Chemins de fer de l'Est The Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (, , CF de l'Est), often referred to simply as the Est company, was an early France, French railway, railway company. The company was formed in 1853 by the merger of ''Compagnie du chemin de fer de Pari ...

to its east. By opening a line from Paris to

Hirson Hirson (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Location Hirson is adjacent to Belgium. It is located in the northeastern Departments of France, ...

''via''

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

and

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...

from 1860 to 1871, the CF du Nord protected its eastern border against CF de l'Est expansion. The concession for the line from Creil to Beauvais, owned by CF de l'Est predecessor ''Chemins de fer des Ardennes'', was exchanged for the Nord's concession for Laon–Reims in 1855. In 1937, the CF du Nord was nationalised, as were the other main railway companies, to become part of the

Société nationale des chemins de fer français The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

(SNCF).

Activity

In 1926, in conjunction with the British Southern Railway, the CF du Nord began running a regular luxury passenger train, Golden Arrow/ Fleche d'Or, from London to Paris. Four containers were used to transport of passengers' baggage. These containers were loaded in London or Paris and carried to the ports of

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

or Calais, on flat cars in the UK, and "CIWL Pullman Golden Arrow Fourgon of CIWL" in France.

In the arts

In 1855, Baron Rothschild commissioned photographer Edouard Baldus to take a series of photographs of the various landmarks on the railway line between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Paris. The photographs were used to create an album for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

, as a souvenir of their visit to France that year. The album can be seen in the photographic collection in the

Royal Archives The Royal Archives, also known as the King's or Queen's Archives, is a division of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is operationally under the control of the Keeper of the Royal Archives, who is customarily the Pri ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

Locomotives of the Nord

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chemin De Fer Du Nord * Railway companies of France French companies established in 1845