Americas Way to the War in France
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
av AMERICAS WAY TO THE WAR IN FRANCE • I A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD : CHEMIN DE FER DE PARIS A ORLÉANS ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••SB IRON ARTERIES of FRANCE• A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD CHEMIN DE FER DE PARIS A ORLÉANS • •••IBMIIIIIII11HIEIIIIBIBIIII S FOR EVERY INFORMATION • • • • APPLY TO : • • B 5 PARIS-ORLEANS RAILROAD . COMPANY " " ("BUREAU DU TRAFIC-VOYAGEURS") Jj • n° l, place Valbubert • • • 5 OR JO THE COMPANY'S AGENCY J B là, boulevard deâ Capucines m E • 5 PARIS g • • •••BBBBBHHHHHBBBBBBBBHHBHBBaBBBBBB A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD CHEMIN DE FER DE PARIS A ORLÉANS • COMPANY- AND ITS SYSTEM • HE might of the United States has already begun to be T revealed in the steadily increasing stream of troops, material and provisions to the ocean shores of France, the coasts that look towards America. From the Atlantic ports to the front the American troops travel over the railroad system of the Paris-Orleans Company, which in the early period of the war played an important part in the transport of the allied armies, including the British troops landed at Saint-Nazaire and the Indian divisions sent through Marseilles and Toulouse. In view of its special situation which makes it the principal line for the conveyance of American troops, the Paris-Orleans Company believes the people of the United States will be interested to learn something about" this railroad, about its economic and financial features, the great services it has already rendered to the cause of national Defence, its resources, the ports it serves, the characteristics of the country crossed by its lines, the industrial or agricultural wealth of each W"»M"***#***«**t*»**#»»»******«<?+# ° *»**«***»*««*#*«k*****s»o+**^?-»»** ^ GREAT ERENCH RAILROAD region, and the treasures of art which so many towns within its radius possess. ? HISTORY OF THE COMPANY % Ï GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ITS SYSTEM I * m For the origin of the Orleans Company we must go back to the epoch when the first French railroads were built. The Company was formed in i83*8, and took its name from its first line, that from Paris to Orleans. As a result of subsequent amalgamations •with other Companies, and of constant exten sions, its trains to-day run over a total of 4-869 miles of rails, linking up more than 1.100 stations. The Company's network of lines penetrates and clusters around the very heart of France, and covers the whole of the vast region betwen the valleys of the Loire and Garonne. The Orleans system, indeed, embraces the 3z Departments forming the ancient provinces of the Isle of France, Touraine, Anjou, Brittany, Berry, Angoumois, Limousin, Auvergne, Perigord, Guyenne, Gascony and Languedoc. Of the four main lines radiating from Paris and constituting the framework of the system two stretch to the Ocean. One, thrown out westward, follows the valley of the Loire from Orleans, through Blois, Tours, Saumur, and Angers, and has its termini at the ports of Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, at the mouth of the river. A branch of this line runs through Vannes, Lorient and Quimper, on the Southern coast of Brittany, to Brest. The main artery of the system, and the most important by the amount of traffic and the riches of the country it traverses,, illJIIIIIM^ i ; mWÊÊÊÊ^Êmt-- •-'• • " ----^s»4j(^^^^^^^^ " ^1^Jgajy; * ^~n^SB B m \ •5|Vr tf^^^M *• TOURS iiimn 1111111 ********************* A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD **************************************************************************** links Paris with Bordeaux, the great port at the mouth of the Garonne, passing through Tours, Poitiers and Angoulême. It is also the route to the -western Pyrenees, the Basque Coast (including the -well known resorts of Arcachon and Biarritz), Spain and Portugal. A third line cuts through Central France from North to South, leading via Vierzon, Issoudun, Châteauroux, Limoges and Cahors, to Toulouse, connecting thence with the Central and Eastern Pyrenees and the Western Mediterranean coasts of France and Spain. The fourth line opens up a great industrial region of which the centres are Bourges and Montluçon, climbs into the Mountains of Auvergne, and reaches the cities of Clermont- Ferrand and Aurillac, besides the spas of Royat, Mont-Dore, La Bourboule, Saint-Nectaire and Vic-sur-Cère. These main lines are completed by a series of transversal lines running Eastward from the ports of Saint-Nazaire and Nantes to Nevers, via Tours and Bourges ; from Bordeaux to Nevers, via Perigueux, Limoges and Bourges; to Clermont- Ferrand via Perigueux, Brive and Tulle. I FINANCIAL FEATURES \ ************************************************************************* The capital of the Orleans Company amounts to 3oo mil lions francs (60 millions dollars) divided into six hundred thousand 5oo fr. shares. The surplus capital required for building expenses, mate rial and rolling stock, viz, two milliards 900 millions (58o.ooo.000 dollars) Was raised by obligations or bonds of ********************************** 5 A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD different types — 2 1/2 0/0, 3 0/0 and 4 0/0. A considerable part of this capital — over a milliard francs or 200 mil lions dollars, — tas already been redeemed. By the terms of agreements with the French Government in i883, interest on the bonds as •well as the sinking fund are guaranteed by the state until the expiry of the company's concession, that is to say until December 3i, 1956. Except in particularly critical periods such as the first year of the present war the Company has never failed to pay interest and sinking fund out of its working profits, and as a result its Bonds have always been considered to be a first class investment. The following figures 'will give an idea of the importance of the Orleans Railroad system : the receipts in 1916 amounted to 3?5 millions francs (75 millions dollars) ; in. the same year the company carried 5i .269.575 pas sengers and 18.377.687 tons of goods. These figures do not include the military transports effected by the company ; on this subject we give some information further on. I WORKING OF THE ORLEANS RAILROAD J On December 3i 1914» &e Orleans Company possessed 2.094 locomotives, including 18 electric engines. Its rolling stock comprised 4-44° passenger cars, and 46.366 goods trucks. The passenger trains are characterized by a maximum of comfort and hygiene, and all the latest perfections are found on the Bordeaux and Saint-Nazaire lines, the principal expresses being provided, before the war, with smoking and ladies' saloons, open to passengers without extra charge. mini sili CHATEAU OF CHENONCKAUX m liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiin POITIERS. NOTRE-DAME LA-GRANDE V SAUMUR. THE CHATEAU III! A GREAT FRENCH RAILROAD Restaurant-cars are attached to all long distance trains, and for night journeys sleeping-cars are available. The International Sleeping-Car Company's trains de luxe also ran, before thé war, on the Bordeaux and Toulouse lines through to Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona. The Orleans Company has always made it a rule to give equal attention to the comfort and interests of every class of passenger. Most of its fast trains, for instant, carry third class passengers. As regards speed, it may be mentioned here that the Company possesses the most powerful locomo tives of the Pacific and Atlantic types, capable of pulling the heaviest trains at express speed. •" THE ORLEANS COMPANY'S SHARE '% | IN THE NATIONAL DEFENCE EFFORT I « .* Directly the war broke out the Orleans Company was called upon to undertake heavy army transport work. The Company may say that its task was accomplished without a hitch and "with perfect regularity and smoothness. During the first days of the mobilisation, between the 2 nd and 5th August 1914» it put on about i.5oo trains; between the 5th and i9t]l August it conveyed nearly 600.000 officers and soldiers belonging to the metropolitan corps and the colonials of Algeria, Senegal and Morocco ; i44-°°° Worses, 4°-00° carts and cannons, and 64-000 tons of material and provisions. During the year 1916 it carriedg.ôoo.ooo officers and soldiers on personal journeys, while the number of truckloads of troops', horses, war material and provisions of all kinds carried was i.o63.63o, over and above the ordinary commercial traffic. 5 if orbe IP — {Melun lale#.erfces*r^\ \c ûy IMPER > T\ospord^.. benegard^r- ^eauni4aHL^^pfSfTj' LÇ MANS % S ChTtea tapuimpeflé Sablé Montas Aufcn^ Vendu iâteaubnant îsegre i Avslloh TOUB iXosne i —'A ^ .'l'uliillili ' ' i) ^^ancerre ——-^1^ f ' Saumu i b flignan" Gtè/rer^SJ/ierzin lANTEV ChoM D1 . I \ Mçntresor f I w^^ L^i^dJp IssoudufVtfB • -^ Chmon ^) ^^ 5aincaiz LVjflanc g \ - ^Bourbon- Un\n IN •CHE-S-rol/ p Tf **ÛJIlta«r "S/LsCftitr. \.|«rch "°3!bh!i MoKmorillonlctc., ( \ ^vl V SebaVt.en BWsjjMoi/nLiçon Sal- GinnaV^ >Vichy Sdlac loche fqi A u^y sson Bourganeu llTSUÎGES Rj^al»^ÇI7ERM0N iSaintes .guratdJ - l/quauillX -FER GOUEÉME' 'IDoro AArvanl ,d< FRibi/ae LPÉRIGÎ Dfiff^UEoran, 50; V\A&ibourne LaBuisSonJk . / J" :-«tUsra>. ""* oPad.rac (*^UR1LLAC Jsrgdfac icamadoar [r J'V. / u i 11 "-argentSre luourdon^W ™/ Mapveiol9 1 Lanpf^Jfan.and Capdjwfs/'P" ,O0E2 Ba2 ï LO • . Aonn4.S«r- * iep VAHORS tv,||tf Ke >.s»6» f / P%a^X ' \ /•de-Rojrtrque Milia .S.brc6 ; .-•/«, ^^Casté * ...rai» rr- j.'oMoreanx / S*\ i ,ALB1 i=0 | IÎ&NT^OE^MAKSA}»^ Letloure GailMm^T"?l S'AfTrigu ,', Ar /Condon* l Lodève /^-ySavar V^i Auch /-JTOULOUS^T La' .Orthei \\ k/rénche , Jalonne ' ^r; - vV - -Miilnde Mure «Tolosa .•.• ,r-*SUean'' rSoSUcan» . M- , .•'.V- Z.. ' Vi'â-b Jl^-'.T Pam,er, V--. ^-^^v/ // SU vP.eJ JePorl ',Lourda».S |°Limoux. ,P.i.', (Ul« WD.».- ^«FOIJC, / £ :PiUr,ee(H REFERENCE r rî'. J Â • \ ' MV*. 3lUirons \ of Laux-LhiiJtle:P _ ) ^ ,, 7\ Lavelanet Wrti'n /fA«4 f Orleans ^y>Painpiilurie BranIrancb tinté ) System s •s ^- BaS*T$b»-~"\----Ax-le3^i^rfTies PERPICNA .oe-lucSon -, /•-», ,/n r .