Contents

7 Introduction

9 Railways in the 19th Century.

The Construction of Lines and Networks

in Europe and the USA

27 1900-1920 The Apogee.

The Train as a Factor of Development

53 1919-1929 The Period of Consolidation.

Happy Journeys!

73 1930-1945 The Difficult Years.

Necessary Restructuring and Evolution

115 1950-2005 The Renaissance of Rail.

Reconstruction and Modernization of the

European Networks

145 The Coming of Luxury.

A Pioneer: George Pullman

180 Poster Designers

The Blue Bird, Anvers Brussels Paris,A. M. Cassandre, 1929Impr. L. Danel, Lille100 X 62 cm

8

9hough a British invention, the railways originated in part in the fardier à vapeur(an early steam-driven carriage) created by the Frenchman Joseph Cugnot in 1771. TheIndustrial Revolution in Britain in the nineteenth century stimulated the search fornew ways of transporting large quantities of freight. It was from this need that thefirst railways emerged. The first lines built for the transportation of coal would replacethe earlier wooden rails with ones made of steel. From these beginnings the railwayswould grow rapidly and contribute to the industrialization of Europe, before spreadingto other continents. Passenger railways also expanded exponentially, and in particularfacilitated contacts between politicians, diplomats and businessmen.

So the railways were born in Britain. It was Richard Trevithick who, in 1804,constructed what might be considered to be the world’s very first locomotive: a moreor less functional steam-driven machine that ran on wooden rails in Wales. He builta number of other machines, one of which, bearing the nickname ‘Catch Me WhoCan’, carried paying passengers on a small circuit enclosed by a wooden fence.

Trevithick’s inventions did not go unnnoticed. Other engineers like Blenkinsop,Blackett, Brunton or Hedley came up with different solutions – using cogwheels, forexample. In the USA, where there was greater enthusiasm for the railways than inold Europe, where the new invention initially encountered much suspicion and fear,the locomotive builders – converted former smelters and forges – greatly increasedproduction with the aim of making a fast fortune. Most of these locomotives,unfortunately, were rather makeshift contraptions – one used rifle barrels in place ofboiler pipes …

The Englishman George Stephenson worked on railway construction from asearly as 1815. Along with his son, Robert, he is famous for creating the locomotive‘the Rocket’, which came first in the Rainhill Trials run in 1829. Theirs was thelocomotive chosen to pull trains on the Liverpool–Manchester line. Two years earlier,in France, Marc Seguin had refined two Stephenson locomotives acquired for theLyon–St Étienne line by installing the tubular system that he employed in the boilersof steamboats plying the river Rhône. The Rocket made its creator the first greatrailway manufacturer.

In Europe, where industrialization was taking off, the technological advancescoming out of Britain opened up opportunities for a number of countries intent onfollowing the same path. A symbol of progress – and of decline for the barges,stagecoaches and horse-drawn carriages – the railways grew as rapidly in Europe asin the USA. In the Old World, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy were in theforefront of railway building. The companies involved made their money initially outof the transportation of freight, but, after a tentative start, passenger transport grewto be just as important. However, the new invention got a hostile reception at first.Caricaturists like Daumier1 had a field day pillorying the railways in the newspapers,and placed great emphasis on the dangers of train travel. It is true that third-classtrain travel was pretty Spartan; but the real problem was the trains’ ‘excessive speed’.

Railways in the19th Century.The Construction of Linesand Networks in Europe andthe USA

T

Chemins de fer de l’Ouest, reduced-price journeys, PAL, 1897 108 X 76 cm

Compagnie des Wagons-Bars, Eugène Vavasseur, 1898Atelier Vavasseur, Bois-Colombes122 X 83 cm

16

1 9 T H C E N T U R Y

Riviera Express, anonymous, c.1901Van Leer, Amsterdam73.7 X 49.3 cmCollection Alessandro Bellenda, GalerieL’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Paris–Lyon–Mediterranée, Nice,Reduced-price tickets, F. Hugo d’Alesi, c.1900 110 X 78 cm

17

1 9 T H C E N T U R Y

42

Dänemark das land des meeres, Rundreise,anonymous, 1907 100 X 62 cmJürgen Klein

Chemins de fer de l’Est, Haute Engadine,F. Hugo d’Alesi, 1900Cornille & Serre Imprimeurs103.5 X 71.5 cm

1 9 0 0 - 1 9 2 0

43

1 9 0 0 - 1 9 2 0

52

53hen the First World War was over, the railways returned topeacetime activities and resumed their economic and social role. Various plans formodernization, drawn up before the war but put on hold until the return of morefavourable circumstances, were dusted down. There was much that needed to bedone, and great improvements would be made in the area of passenger safety andcomfort.

The rapid growth of both domestic and international rail lines had created astrong demand for rolling stock, both engines and carriages. The roaring twentieswere also a period of important technical advances. While speed and comfort werethe major concerns of the train companies, passenger safety was not overlooked. Anumber of new safety measures were introduced. Signalling was quite heterogeneous– like the trains themselves, signalling systems could vary from one company toanother. From the end of the nineteenth century work had begun to unify the colourcodes for signals in order to simplify the work of mechanics, and these efforts wereintensified as ‘high-speed’ trains became more common and overall train speedsincreased. Human input was still the core of the system, but the mechanization ofsignalling was an exemplary sign of progress.

There had been a number of serious accidents caused by misreading of signals– human error in other words. Even though the mass media of the time were not asdeveloped as they are today, the news got around, and travellers were shocked. Theaccidents of 1910, 1913, 1921 and 1922 were fully reported; that of 1917 – the worstin French history, with around 600 dead – went unreported because there was awar on.

This era saw the extension of luxury train travel and the introduction ofinnovations such as the Pullman trains ‘Golden Arrow’ and ‘Star of the North’, as wellas the Calais–Mediterranean Express, the night train later to become the celebrated‘Blue Train’.

The research departments of the train companies were an inventive lot, and hadto face numerous demands to improve performance and reduce costs related to fuelconsumption. The company directors, many of them important manufacturers,sought to develop lucrative passenger and freight services. There were a number ofdifferent factors to deal with in the search for ways to maximize the exploitation ofthe rail network. The first factor concerned the braking system, which was still ratherrudimentary, reminiscent of the old hand brakes mounted on the roofs of wagons.The second concerned passenger compartments, which were made of wood. Andfinally, the majority of rolling stock, both passenger and freight, ran on two or threeaxles. The four- or six-wheel undercarriage – invented in the USA, where train travelhad developed apace – was the exception rather than the rule.

In France a commission comprising the directors of the large networks was setup under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Works, and they set about establishing

1919-1929The Periodof Consolidation.Happy Journeys!

W

Harrogate, a Pullman train, anonymous, c.1925 100 X 64 cm

Ferrovia Elettrica Stresa-Mottarone, Mario Borgoni, 1920Richter & C., Naples99 X 68 cmCollection Alessandro Bellenda, GalerieL’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

60

1 9 2 0 - 1 9 2 9

61

Vesuvius and the Gulf of Naples, Mario Borgoni, c.1927Richter & C., Naples97 X 59.4 cmCollection Alessandro Bellenda, GalerieL’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Dall’Europa Centrale alla Riviera, Plinio Codognato, 1929Edizioni Turisanda99.3 X 69.3 cmCollection Alessandro Bellenda, GalerieL’IMAGE, Alassio – Italie

1 9 2 0 - 1 9 2 9

152

T H E C O M I N G O F T H E L U X U R Y T R A I N

153

Orient Express, Rafael de Ochoa y Madrazo, c.1890Imp. F. Champenois, Paris121.8 X 90.7 cmCollection Alessandro Bellenda, GalerieL’IMAGE, Alassio – Italy

Trianon Concert ‘ Orient Express’, Alfred Choubrac, 1896Imp. G. Massias, Paris120 X 80 cm

T H E C O M I N G O F T H E L U X U R Y T R A I N

174

T H E C O M I N G O F T H E L U X U R Y T R A I N

175

Victoria Station London, Fix Masseau, 1981 98 X 62 cm

Venice-Simplon-Orient Express, Fix Masseau, 1982

Venice-Simplon-Orient Express, Fix Masseau, 1978 98.5 X 61.5 cm

T H E C O M I N G O F T H E L U X U R Y T R A I N