The Tramway at Bourron (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

''Réseau des Sablières de Bourron au Canal du Loing'') was a long gauge railway that ran from the sand pits at

Bourron-Marlotte Bourron-Marlotte () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. In the second half of the 19th century, it was visited by several impressionist painters including Alfred Sisley, Pierre-Augu ...

via the Bourron-Marlotte – Grez railway station to the

Canal du Loing The Canal du Loing () is a 49.4 km long canal which connects the Seine at Saint-Mammès to the Briare Canal just north of Montargis, in central France. It runs through the Loiret and Seine-et-Marne ''départements''. History Philippe I ...

opposite to

Montcourt-Fromonville Moncourt-Fromonville (, before 2025: ''Montcourt-Fromonville'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics Inhabitants are called ''Montcourtois''. See also *Communes of the ...

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History

The ''Société des Sandlières de Bourron'' was founded in 1911 to exploit the Bourron sand pits, located in the Forest of

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

, 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 An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

. It is mainly used for the production of

crystal glass Lead glass, commonly called crystal, is a variety of glass in which lead replaces the calcium content of a typical potash glass. Lead glass contains typically 18–40% (by mass) lead(II) oxide (PbO), while modern lead crystal, historically ...

and

optical glass Optical glass refers to a quality of glass suitable for the manufacture of optical systems such as optical lenses, Prism (geometry), prisms or mirrors. Unlike window glass or crystal, whose formula is adapted to the desired aesthetic effect, optic ...

, e.g. for the

optical instruments An optical instrument is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes, telescopes, and cameras ...

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.Philippe Lévêque et Daniel Tallet
''Petits Trains pittoresques.''
Éd. Jean-Cyrille Godefroy, 12, rue Chabanais, 75002 Paris.According t
''Ancien réseau des sablières de Darvault au canal du Loing''
Philippe Lévêque and Daniel Tallet have mixed up the ''Tramway at Bourron'' with the '' Tramway at Darvault''.''Document d’Objectifs Site Natura 2000 « Carrière de Darvault » FR1102009.''
November 2012, p. 16 u. 42.According t
''RMF – Rail Miniature Flash.'' N° 436, July/August 2001.
the ''Sablières de Darvault'' are a collapsing underground mine. 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 A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

bridge to the Canal du Loing near Montcourt-Fromonville, where bulk goods could be transported more cheaply than by rail. Grez-sur-Loing - La Passerelle

Philippe Lévêque and Daniel Tallet described the light railway line in the following words: 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 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 ...

Locomotives

Up to twelve

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

Henschel Henschel & Son () was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons. Georg C ...

steam locomotives were used on the line from 1920 to 1959. One of them is preserved at the Chambon de Nemours company and one, No. 15311, at the Pithiviers Transport Museum. At the end of the commercial railway operation, six T75

Billard Billard may refer to: * Billard (surname), a list of people with the surname * French for the word ''Billiard''; see Billiard (disambiguation), Billiard * Établissements Billard, a French railway rolling stock construction company * Philip Billar ...

diesel locomotives were used instead. Two of them are preserved, one on the '' P'tit Train de Saint-Trojan-les-Bains'' in Saint-Trojan-les-Bains and one on the

Froissy Dompierre Light Railway The Froissy Dompierre Light Railway (, CFCD) is a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge light railway running from Froissy (La Neuville-lès-Bray), Froissy (a hamlet of La Neuville-lès-Bray) to Dompierre-Becquincourt, through Cappy, Somme, Cappy ...

Footnotes

References

{{coord, 48.3394, 2.6789, region:FR_type:building, display=title, name=Gate of the sand pit Tram transport in France Railway lines opened in 1911 Railway lines closed in 1969 600 mm gauge railways