Les Tramways de Quend et de Fort-Mahon

In 1898 a narrow gauge steam tramway linked the Quend - Fort-Mahon station with Quend-Plage (then Saint-Quentin-Plage).
The line was prompted by the 
Société Immobilière de Saint-Quentin-Plage, a firm of speculative builders who needed the tramway to bring in building materials and purchases. They used the Decauville 600mm (24”) tramway system due to its low cost and suitability for civil engineering works.
Covering a distance of 5 miles the journey took approximately 30 minutes.
In 1903 the line 
was extended 3 miles to Fort-Mahon-Plage, a journey of 40 minutes.
The line also served the villages of Routhiauville and Royon.
Lifted for the war effort in 1914 it was re-laid in 1919 and continued in operation until May 1932 when competition from automobile traffic made the lines financially unviable.
Both lines were decommissioned 0n 26th February 1934.

© Stephen Ramsay 2016