The Mont Cenis Pass Railway operated from 1868 to 1871 (with some interruptions) during the construction of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps between Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne in southeast France and Susa, Piedmont, in northwest Italy. It was designed by John Barraclough Fell, and his three-rail design was used on some other mountain railways. The railway was long, with a gauge of . The height at the summit was and the maximum gradient was 9% (1 in 11). It was used to transport English mail to India as part of the All-Red Route.P. J. G. Ransom (1999), The Mont Cenis Fell Railway, Truro: Twelveheads Press
A British company was established in 1864 by a number of British contractors, engineers, and investors to obtain permission from the two governments to build the railway. These included Thomas Brassey, John Fell, James Brunlees, and Alexander Brogden. Having obtained permission, in 1866 they established the Mont Cenis Railway Company to build and run the railway. Although it would eventually be superseded by the tunnel, they believed that during its life, the cost of the pass railway would be repaid with a profit to them. The company used British engine-drivers and workmen.Ransom p 16
There were delays in establishing the railway, and it did not start until 15 June 1868. Additionally, the tunnel progressed faster than expected, as new tunnelling methods were developed, and the tunnel was opened on 16 October 1871, resulting in the pass railway being active for a shorter time than expected and leaving the proprietors with a considerable loss. However, the technology proved itself and was used on a number of other mountain railways.
Until this railway was built, rail passengers had to cross the Alps by horse-drawn stagecoach in summer or sledge in winter.
The Pass Railway is sometimes called the Mont Cenis Summit Railway so as to distinguish it from the Tunnel Railway.
Timeline In 1849, plans for the Victor Emmanuel Railway were presented to Government of Sardinia. In 1850, the project was announced to public. In 1854, the Piedmont section of the railway was completed. In 1856, the Savoy section was completed as far as Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. In 1854 and 1856, the Suez Canal concession was granted. In 1857, the Mont Cenis Tunnel Railway was authorised, with work starting soon after. In 1860, Parma, Tuscany, Modena, and Romagna joined the Kingdom of Sardinia. At the same time, Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France. In 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, unifying Italy. In 1861, Fell proposed the idea of a temporary Summit Railway to the French and Italian Governments. In 1862, Direction of the Victor Emmanuel Railway was split between Savoy, France, and Piedmont, Italy. In 1866, an agreement with both governments to build the Fell summit line was signed.P. J. G. Ransom pp 33-5 In 1868, on 15 June, the Summit Railway line opened. In 1869, Brindisi's port was upgraded. In 1869, in November, the Suez Canal opened. In 1870, the main Mont Cenis Tunnel was pierced through. In 1871, on 16 October, the Tunnel Railway opened. The Summit Railway ended the day before.P. J. G. Ransom pp 61/2 In 1872, the Overland Telegraph connected London and Melbourne. In 1873, Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days was published, using the completed train service."Left Paris.... Reached Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday, October 4th" However, the train should have passed through the Frejus tunnel, so apparently Verne was not aware that Mont Cenis was already closed by then.
The setting By the early 1860s, most of a rail connection between Calais and Brindisi had been built, much of it by Thomas Brassey and John Barraclough Fell. The only major remaining problem was the crossing of the Alps. Work on the Fréjus or Mont Cenis tunnel had started in 1857, but it looked as though it would take many years to build, using traditional tools and gunpowder.
A full rail service from Calais to Brindisi, continuing by sea to Alexandria, would take about 30 hours off the journey time from Britain to India, China, and Australasia compared with the current option of Calais to Marseille by rail and onwards by sea. The increasing volumes of trade, in mail, passengers, and goods, presented a tempting prospect of profits to be made by crossing the Alpine barrier as well as an opportunity to strengthen the ties of Empire.Ransom pp 14-16 In 1866, at a British Association meeting, Fell reported how four years earlier he had been asked to design some means of improving on the existing horse-drawn transport across the Alps over the Mont Cenis Pass. The slopes and curves were too much for a conventional train, and no such railway had yet been built anywhere, but Fell managed to design a suitable system, with pairs of horizontal wheels beneath the engine bearing on a third rail placed centrally between the running rails, and he patented it. He set a maximum gradient of 1 in 12 (8.3%) and a minimum curve of . The French and Italian governments had agreed to the idea subject to satisfactory testing. The detailed design was carried out by A. Alexander at Brassey Jackson Betts & Co.'s Canada Works in Birkenhead. The gauge was .P. J. G. Ransom p 18
Experiments Experiments on the new locomotive were carried out between 1863 and 1865 on a purpose-built railway of gauge near Whaley Bridge adjacent to—and, at one point, passing under—the Bunsal Incline of the Cromford and High Peak Railway at gradients of 1 in 13 and 1 in 12, with curves up to radius.W.H. Hoult (1961) Fell's Experimental Railway in Derbyshire, The Railway Magazine, January, p. 48-51 (Maps and photographs included) Early experiments were private, but public experiments took place in January. They showed that the light locomotive would not work on the 1-in-12 slope without the central rail drive but could tow four wagons weighing 7 tons each with it.P. J. G. Ransom pp 20-22. and Desbrière, T. M. A., Études sur la Locomotion au Moyen du Rail Central, Paris, 1865 quoted by P. J. G. Ransom who says Desbrière was present on 23 Jan 1864.
Permission to build With this information, the Mont Cenis Concessionary Company was formed on 12 April 1864 to obtain concessions from the two governments to build a railway on the public road over the pass until the tunnel should be opened. The subscribers were the Duke of Sutherland, Thomas Brassey, Sir Morton Peto, Edward Betts, James Lister, Thomas Crampton, Alexander Brogden, James Cross, Fell, James Brunlees, Joseph Jopling, T S Cutbill, and C. Lowinger. Each took one share at £1,000 except that Brassey took three, Fell took two, and Peto and Betts took one between them.P. J. G. Ransom pp 20-22,
On behalf of the company, Fell approached the French and Italian governments for permission to build the railway. The governments would not be asked for any money. The company expected to make a profit. The French government wanted more proof that the scheme was practicable. The Italians said that they would grant permission if the French did. To provide additional evidence, a second test line was constructed along the zig-zag section from Lanslebourg to the summit. It was long with a ruling gradient of 1 in 12 and an average of 1 in 13. It started at and rose to . Rails were borrowed from the Victor Emmanuel Railway. This test line was completed by 23 January 1865.Ransom 25
Meanwhile, a second locomotive was built by James Cross and Company of St Helens and was the first engine to be sold by him. It was designed by Alexander after consultation with Fell. Cross was probably used because Brassey's works was very busy.Ransom p 25
Onsite trials The trials were observed by officials from the governments of France, Italy, Britain, Austria, and Russia. There were 600 spectators. The British representative was Henry Whatley Tyler. Trials began on 28 February 1865. Only the first locomotive was available, but the trials were very successful. Captain Tyler came again in the spring when locomotive 2 had arrived. He found that some parts of this locomotive needed strengthening, and it would not be advisable to test it very much until replacements had been obtained. However, he did test it successfully.Ransom pp 25/6 The trials gradually moved towards several runs on each day. On 19 July, they were observed by Frederick Hardman from the Times, and the French commissioners made the last of six visits. There were three more days of trials for the Italians and the Russians and a special day for James Brunlees on 31 July. This ended the official tests, but private testing continued until the end of November. The French concession was granted on 4 November 1865 and the Italian on 17 December.Ransom p 27/8
Mont Cenis Railway Company On 7 February 1866, the Mont Cenis Railway Company (Limited) (MCR) was established as company 2820c under the Companies Act 1862. There were 12,500 shares of £20 each. For each share, £1 was to be paid on application and £3 on allotment, and further calls of £4 would be made at intervals of not less than three months.P. J. G. Ransom pp 29/30
The timing was very poor. In January 1866, the contractors Watson & Overend had failed with liabilities of £1½ million, and on 5 February, the railway promoter Thomas Savin failed.P. J. G. Ransom p 29
The directors and other officers of the company were the Duke of Sutherland (President), Sir James Hudson (Chairman), Thomas Brassey, The Duke of Vallombrosa, Lord Abinger, Sir Morton Peto, Sir Robert Dallas, Edward Blount, Jervoise Smith, Thomas Crampton, W B Buddicom, Alexander Brogden, Fell, James Brunlees (Engineer), and T S Cutbill (Secretary). By October, Cutbill had been replaced by W.J.C. Cutbill.P. J. G. Ransom pp 30-32
On 11 May 1866, Overend, Gurney and Company failed. Samuel Morton Peto and Edward Betts also failed and their support was lost.P. J. G. Ransom p 32
In August, the directors found that they each had to take up five more shares for the company to qualify for the London Stock Exchange. By 21 August, 8,678 shares had been taken up by 448 shareholders. Among these, Brassey took 945, Brogden 792, the Duke of Sutherland 542, Abinger 292, Brunlees 137, Crampton 237, and Fell 242.P. J. G. Ransom pp 32/3
Construction
In early 1866, detailed plans and sections were drawn up for submission to governments. Construction began in March. The railway was to be long and would follow the existing roadway over the pass, although at villages, the railway had to leave the road and use a separate right-of-way. Where it was necessary for the track to cross the roadway on the level, the tall centre rail was lowered into a trough by the operation of a lever. Out of the standard width of the road, the company was allowed for track, with the governments retaining for roadway. There was a continuous wooden barrier separating the roadway from the rail track. Over a distance of , the track had to run in snow shelters. Where avalanches were likely, these had to be built of masonry; elsewhere, they were of sheet iron. At some hairpin bends, adjustments had to be made to meet the railway's minimum radius of . Much of the road was built on a shelf, and this had to be strengthened or widened in places. On the Italian side, the road had been built with a gentle slope. This had proved too prone to avalanches and had been replaced by a steep zig-zag called Les Échelles (the ladders), but the railway had to revert to the original roadway because the "ladders" were too severe for it. This section needed of masonry avalanche shelter. Using the Michelin map, the rise from St Michel is and from Susa . J. B. Fell was appointed "Managing Director at the Mont Cenis". It seems that direct labour was employed on the French side, whereas on the Italian side, the contractor Gianoli & Canova was used.
Locomotives