CFD rolling stock

With a few exceptions, they kept their numbering. Only the acronym C.F.D. was substituted for the initial acronym. This material was generally not mutated on the Company's other networks, where it could not always have circulated without undergoing modifications. Conversely, various engines, locomotives, tractors and above all railcars of the concessionary networks sometimes reinforced those of the leased lines, reaching the limit of wear and tear, particularly in the Dordogne and Ardèche.

The maximum number of locomotives and towed equipment was 193 locomotives, 17 tractors, 83 self-propelled cars, 25 trailers, 398 cars, 187 vans and 3,097 freight cars.

It should be noted that all the C.F.D. equipment was centrally buffered and double spreader hitch. Only the equipment of the Corsican network was an exception to this rule and was equipped with the central coupling under the buffer.

CFD traction

The first CFD locomotives

The locomotives of the beginning , apart from those from Port-Boulet to Châtellerault were 031s with radial rear axle, inspired by the models in use on the lines of Hermès at Beaumont and Anvin at Calais and adopted by the Société Générale des Chemins de Fer Economiques (S.E.): it was the type Yonne, of which the Corsican model was the extrapolation.

In order to make their operation non offensive for the track, in curves, the Company had a prototype 130 studied by the S.A.C.M. in 1889, whose carrying axle, carried forward, became the steering axle, and where the radial gearbox was abandoned in favour of the bissel. The Company remained faithful to this type of locomotive, which it had reproduced by various manufacturers, with the variants necessary to adapt them to the characteristics of each network.

Massive use of Mallet machines by CFDs

But what should be noted above all is that the C.F.D. was the only French company to use Mallet machines intensively . The prototype was studied in 1889 simultaneously with prototype 130 by the S.A.C.M. Tried on various lines, it was assigned to Seine-et-Marne and reproduced in nine copies. A more powerful type, still with two groups of axles, was developed in 1892 in Corsica, and this model proliferated until 1932, when twenty-two machines were in service on this network.

In order to climb the 30 and 32.5%0 ramps of the Vivarais network, the Mallet system was again favoured by the company, which ordered a prototype with two groups of three driven axles from the S.L.M. in Winterthur. This prototype was followed by seven similar units and six slightly different units built between 1927 and 1931 by the S.A.C.M..

An original type of Mallet intended for the accelerated trains of the Vivarais central line was born in 1908. With two groups of two axles but equipped with a front bissel, it had five units.

The invention of the Asynchro Box by the CFDs

Another important remark concerning traction must be made: it is the impulse given by Mr. Pierre Zens to the advent of diesel traction by locotractor. As early as 1949, he developed the famous Asynchro box which turned out to be one of the best mechanical power transmission, it is not the drivers of locomotive 80001 which regularly towed the express trains between Caen and Paris who will assert the contrary. A large number of engines were thus built to replace the too expensive steam locomotives.

The CFD Company and the Etablissements Billard

It is also worth mentioning the collaboration of the Company with the Etablissements Billard in Tours in order to build a comfortable and fast self-propelled vehicle to ensure passenger transport as a replacement for steam trains. Here again, the results were convincing: the birth of the A80D and its derivatives which equipped all the networks of the company attests to its success.

CFD towed equipment

The particularity of the C.F.D. passenger equipment lies mainly in the adoption by the Company of the type of cars with side doors and compartments. Only one network was an exception to the rule: the Seine-et-Marne network where the Department had required coaches with extreme platforms and a central corridor. The C.F.D. very quickly adopted the bogie equipment, the prototype car having been tested on the first line which had just been inaugurated.

This type of equipment was excellent, both for its comfort and its ability to fit into small radius curves.

Subsequently, the Company endeavoured to modernise its equipment by introducing double-suspension carriages, and then by the latest innovations in this field: compartment carriages served by side corridors. These latter types of vehicles were put into service in Corsica and on the Vivarais network.

For freight equipment, with the exception of the first units penalized by the weakness of the track, the payload was originally set at 10 tons. Very quickly, the Company was led to design a unified type for its wagons, especially since many changes were made to this category of equipment in order to meet the pressing needs of certain networks, such as the line from Montereau to Château-Landon, serving the Souppes sugar factory.

The classic type included the usual range (cutlery, dumpers, ordinary or mobile traverse platforms, mobile cranes) and was equipped, for braked vehicles, with a bungalow or a seat for a brakeman. Only one series (Lv) was equipped with a metal body: it was on the Corsican network.

Numerous modifications were made to the equipment, such as the installation of a third axle for the transport of heavy loads, the installation of the vacuum brake or the transformation of the boxes.

Conversion of the CFD Company

After eighty years of intensive railway operations, the C.F.D. Company converted to the construction of tractor units. It has become the specialist in the construction of "custom" and even single units of railway equipment. In addition, its after-sales service, unique in Europe, allows it to extend its field of action to exports, providing complete security to the purchaser.

source : MTVS 1981-3