Voiture État à 2 étages

Infobox Locomotive
name=VB2N
powertype=passenger car
gauge=RailGauge|sg

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caption=A voiture État à 2 étages at Richelieu on the former Train à Vapeur de Touraine (TVT).
builder=Entreprises Industrielles Charentaises, Carel et Fouché
builddate=1933 to 1934
whytetype=
railroadclass=
numinclass=50
roadnumber=
cylindercount=
cylindersize=
driversize=
boilerpressure=
totalsurface=
superheaterarea=
gratearea=
fueltype=Electric
tenderc

locotenderweight=
weightondrivers=
length=
railroad=Chemin de Fer de l'État
officialname=
topspeed=120 km/h
retiredate=1984

The Voiture État à 2 étages, or approximately translated "État double-deck passenger car", were a class of double-deck carriages built for the Chemin de Fer de l'État of France.

Origin

The suburbs of Paris having experience a huge expansion at the beginning of the RomanCentury|20, the railway companies serving Île-de-France were confronted with an increasing number of passengers on much longer distances. The Chemin de Fer de l'Ouest's old carriages no longer sufficed and the Chemin de Fer de l'État decided to design a new style of passenger car, capable of transporting passengers on two levels. The purpose was to avoid increasing the length of trains but increase capacity.

The État ordered the first ten carriages which were delivered by Brissonneau et Lotz, now Alstom, in 1933.

Design

The design was revolutionary, and unprecedented. Although unpowered, the VB2N were to have a driving cab at one end and be pushed and pulled by steam locomotives, such as the 141 TC Ouest and 141 TD Ouest. The cars possessed two vestibules each with two sets of doors. At both ends of each carriages was a compartement with doors leading to the following carriage for interconnexion. The upper-deck possessed widths of five seats whilst the lower-deck four. The cabins permitted the driver to drive the steam engine, then pushing, from the driving cab in the end carriage.

ervice

The Voiture État à 2 étages were used as unseperable consists of carriages and used for "réversibilité", driving the train from the end passenger car and the steam locomotive pushing, on the Réseau Saint-Lazare. The often operated once in the morning, bringing labour to work, and once in the evening, taking them back home. they were also briefly used on the Réseau Montparnasse in shorter consists of six cars.

A total of fifty cars were built, these sufficed to carry the increasing suburban traffic of the beginning of the century. They were supplemented by 380 Bidel passenger cars and 200 EMUs. The last of the class were only withdrawn in 1984, after introduction of the VB2N in 1975.

Carriages in preservation

Several Voiture État à 2 étages have been preserved:
*Train à Vapeur de Touraine (TVT)
*Écomusée d'Alsace
*formerly on the Chemin de fer de la Seudre

Referencers

*fr icon Les trains de banlieue - tome 1, La vie du rail
*fr icon Paris et l'Île de France - Tome 1: Les réseaux Est, Nord et Saint-Lazare, 2002, Le Train. ISSN 1267-5008