Musée des tramways à vapeur et des chemins de fer secondaires français


The Musée des tramways à vapeur et des chemins de fer secondaires français is located alongside Valmondois railway station, in the small town of Butry-sur-Oise in the departement of Val-d'Oise, north of Paris.
The museum houses a collection of railway vehicles from the former French departmental railways, preserved, restored and rebuilt by the members of an association. During the season, short trips can be made on some of the exhibits, along a metre gauge line, one kilometre in length, nicknamed the "Impressionists' railway".

History

Established in 1976 on the site of the former railway line from Valmondois to the town of Marines, the 'Association of the Transportation Museum of the Sausseron Valley' patiently assembled an important collection of railway vehicles from the old regional French networks. The collection has become the most important in France on the theme of secondary railways using the one metre gauge.
In 1999, the association changed its name to the Musée des Tramways à Vapeur et des chemins de fer Secondaires français.
In October 2006, the association celebrated its thirtieth anniversary.
It was once planned for the museum to be moved further northwest, to the Vexin region, where it would have had larger storage space and a longer railway line to use for its train journeys, but the project was abandoned in March 2009.
During the winter of 2007-08, the terminus of the small passenger line became inaccessible when large rocks fell onto the track. Journeys were restricted to the Rue de Parmain.
Since 2013 a project is under way to transfer the museum to Crèvecœur-le-Grand.

Collection

It operates :
Thirty vehicles of the collection are Monuments Historiques and 2 are inscribed in the supplementary inventory of the Monuments historiques.

Steam engines

Timetable

The museum is open from the beginning of May to the first weekend in October from 14:30 to 18:00 on Sundays.
A yearly festival is organized during the first weekend of October.

Address

Musée des Tramways à Vapeur et des chemins de fer Secondaires français
Mairie de Butry
95430 Butry-sur-Oise