REPORT



"THE RAREST TRAIN IN THE WORLD"

NOELIA PERLACIA

PHOTOS: EUSKOTREN


Thanks of the collaboration between the Michelin company and the EuskoTren Society, all the people that have visited the Basque Railway Museum during the month of February have had the posibility of see "the rarest train in the world", a Michelin automotor of the Madagascar Railways, that uses tyres in spite of steel wheels to run. It has been the first time that this singular vehicle has been showed out of France, where it was design in the 30«s.



All the people that have visited the Basque Railway Museum have had the posibility of see "the rarest train in the world", a Michelin automotor of the Madagascar Railways.


It was during a night in 1929 when André Michelin begun to dream with the use of his tyres manufactured in Clermont-Ferrand to the railway circulation. This night Michelin was travelling from Paris to Cannes in a sleeping coach, but the constant beating of the wheels in the junctions of the short rails and the defective suspension of the vehicle provoked that a nice journey was transformed in a night in which he could not sleep.

André Michelín came to the conclusion that if a tyre was placed between the metalic rim and the track, the annoying rattling would be eliminated, the suspension would be temperedand the adherence would be increased. Moreover it was a good moment, because the world economic crisis of 1929 was an incentive to try to diversify the production of its famous company.

When the building of the prototypes in Clarmont-Ferrand was initiated, the first great trouble was the little weight that the best tyres were able to support, that was 600 or 700 kgs., because the thin tread area of the rails did not permit the use of truck or bus tyres, limiting the choice to the models of the car tyres. This circumstance provoked the development of trains with a big number of wheels (there were michelines with ten axles per coach) and there was the obligation of studying the lighting of the vehicles. Probably this is the most important point of the Michelin studies, because a less weight by passenger provokes a less consumption an a bigger economy.


At the present the 515 and 517 Michelines does the tourist services on excellent routes of the Madagascar Railways..


THE FIRST PROTOTYPE

In 1929 Michelin built the first prototype, following the Renault 40 CV model and after that more developed models are built too. Two years later will begin a period of promotion in France and more later in all Europe and Norh America, visiting Grat Britain, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Australia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland and United States. But the market was reluctant and only some Franch railway companies, both from the metropolis and from the colonies do some important orders. The only exception was the Mozambique Railways, a Portuguese colony in that moment.

With these ones, there were michelines running in France, Argelia, Congo, Indochina and Madagascar. Michelin offered his automotors to different companies of the State with big wide rails, as the Lutxana Railway to Mungia and the Bilbao one to Lezama, but the crisis situation and the Civil War did not permit the formalization of any order.

The life of the automotors did not be too much long and the first reason was the Second World War and its consequences. Other problem was the lack of spare elements that provoked the definitive retreat of the service of the automotors in 1952, but in some colonial railways the service continued for many years.


THE MADAGASCAR AUTOMOTORS

The rail line that joins Tananarive, capital of the Malgache island, with the Talmatave port, with 369 kilometers of lengh, presents a difficult route with ramps of 25 thousandths an a big number of curves with a radius of less than 125 meters. This route was done with steam trains that taken fourteen hours to do all the route.

The first Micheline arrives in the island in 1932 and does the complete route in 8 hours and 15 minutes, an important improvement. One year later a second Micheline was put in service and the Madagascar Railways, in high spirits because of the good results obtained, ordered new trains in 1935 and 1938. This four Michelines were built in the Clermont-Ferrand factory. They had got Panhard 150 CV oil motors and offered 18 seats. Their reduced weights -6.200 kgs.- did not stopped the need of three axle bogies to not pass the admited weigth. Only two of the axles of the front bogie were tractors and the rest were carriers ones (1B-3 set of wheels). The coachwork was made of aluminium and light materials and offered a similar image than a bus.

The results in Madagascar had to be good, because in 1952 three new units were ordered, in this case built by the Frech builder Carel Fouché. They were the same of the Micheline built 20 years ago, but the motor was a Panhard diesel of 80 CV. The Micheline automotors received by the Madagascar Railways were the 511 to 517 series. From 1962, some new ceonventional automotors substituted these ones while there was a problem: the need of spare tyres because they were not manufactured yet.

In 1985 the last 516 and 517 Michelines finished their services because of the wear of their wheels. The 514 and 515 coaches had been transfered to private owners that fitted them out as houses.


In 1929 Michelin built the first prototype, following the Renault 40 CV model and after that more developed models are built too.


THE AUTOMOTORS AT THE PRESENT

The expansion of the old vehicles collection in the last years have provoked a need of having the suitable spare elements and provoked that Michelin did in 1991 a special department for the old models of tyres production. Some time later the responsibles of this section had the knowledge of the situation of the Madagascar automotors and decided to do something. The original moulds were conserved so the production begun with a special series. This production in 1994 was used in the 516 and 517 coaches. Michelin repaired too the 514 and 515 coaches. The first of them go back to Europe, while the other one begun the service with its "brothers".

At the present the 515 and 517 Michelines does the tourist services on excellent routes of the Madagascar Railways. The 514 one is an element of the Micheline historic funds and is transfered to Museums and French tourist Railways to temporal shows. In the case of the Basque Railway Museum, it was the first time that the engine was showed out of France and the first time that a vehicle like this arrives in Spain.

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