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The Chemins de fer du Nord

The Chemins de fer du Nord (Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord) (English: Northern Railway Company) often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company founded in September 1845 in Paris. It was owned by, among others, the Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London and Charles Laffitte. A royal ordnance, 1845, granted the CF du Nord a concession to build a railway from Paris to Valenciennes and Lille, with branch lines to Dunkirk and Calais, and lines from Creil to Saint-Quentin and Fampoux to Hazebrouck. From the Gare du Nord,  the Paris–Lille railway led north towards Belgium, connecting to Amiens, Douai and Lille in 1846, with a branch line from Douai to Valenciennes. The new lines made it possible to travel by train from Paris to Brussels and further.  The network was rapidly expanded up till 1867, The potential for expansion of the CF du Nord territory was limited by other companies: the Chemins de fer de l'Ouest to its south-west, and the Chemins de fer de l'Est to its east. By opening a line from Paris to Hirson via Soissons and Laon from 1860 to 1871, the CF du Nord protected its eastern border against CF de l'Est expansion. The concession for the line from Creil to Beauvais, owned by CF de l'Est, was exchanged for the Nord's concession for Laon–Reims in 1855. In 1937, the CF du Nord was nationalised, as were the other main railway companies, to become part of the Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF).

November 21th 2024

 

 
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