| Chambéry tramway | |
| Linelength: | 31km (19miles) |
| Map: | Route of the four lines[1] |
The Chambéry tramway was from 1892 to 1932 an up to 31km (19miles) long narrow-gauge steam tram network with 33 halts on four lines in Chambéry in Savoy in France.
The Chambéry tramway was a network of four lines arranged in a star around the Chambéry railway station in Savoy. It was built at the suggestion of the entrepreneur Philippe Cartier-Million from La Motte-Servolex. Inspired by the Decauville railway at Exposition Universelle (1889), he chose a gauge of, which was unusually narrow at the time.[2]
In October 1890, he obtained the concession for a line between Chambéry and La Motte-Servolex and founded the Société anonyme des Tramways de Savoie. The first tram was put into service on this line in August 1892. Three other lines were opened until 1910: 1897 to Challes-les-Eaux, 1906 to Cognin and 1910 to Le Bourget-du-Lac. In the same year the company filed for bankruptcy.
The network was taken over by the Savoie General Council, which reorganized the network and operated it first through an escrow account and then through the Régie Départementale. A decree of 8 February 1913 authorised the Régie Départementale des tramways de la Savoie to take over the operation of the network under "direct management".[2] In 1929, the section between Challes-les-Eaux and Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré was closed down, whereupon the tramway ended up again at its former terminus in front of the Casino, where it had been before the line was extended in 1905.
Due to increasing wear and tear and decreasing traffic, the steam tramway was finally closed down and replaced by a trolleybus between Chambéry and Chignin and by buses on the other lines. The trolleybus was tested between Chambéry and Chignin in July 1930 and finally put into service three months later on 6 October 1930.
This led to the closure of the steam tram on the line to Challes-les-Eaux. The locomotives were mothballed at the Chambéry depot. The rails were lifted and stored on the west side of the hangar of the Challes-les-Eaux airfield and then sold to the Barlet-Ravier company from Chambéry on 21 January 1931.[3] The line to Challes-les-Eaux was decommissioned by a decree of 1 October 1931.
The decision to completely shut down the remaining line to Le Bourget-du-Lac was made on 28 September 1932 and came into force on 1 January 1933.[2] [4] [5] [6]