Musée des Transports de Pithiviers, Railway transport museum in Pithiviers, France
The Musée des Transports de Pithiviers occupies the former Pithiviers–Toury tramway's repair workshop, with its station in the old wagon paint shop. Its 60 cm narrow-gauge line runs 4 km alongside the D22 to Bellebat, where a Sologne-type station building has been reproduced. The collection includes steam locomotives, three T11/T14/T15 diesel locotractors, a Crochat railcar and Valenciennes tramway cars.
The museum was founded in 1966 to preserve the old narrow-gauge line that once connected Pithiviers to neighboring towns. This railway had stopped operating and would have disappeared entirely otherwise.
The collection preserves rolling stock of the former Tramway de Pithiviers à Toury, including the V6 passenger car of 1942, saved from a Pithiviers scrap dealer in 1976 and listed as a monument historique in 1994. Five carriages come from the Valenciennes tramway, and open baladeuses recall those of Royan and the Calvados network. A Decauville cattle wagon built in 1892 for the TPT, later used as a farmer's shed, was recovered in 2020 and donated to the museum in 2023.
The museum sits outside town and is best reached by car from the surrounding area. Train rides run only on specific days, so checking the schedule before visiting ensures you can take a ride.
Some of the locomotives come from England and Germany and operate during special events. This cross-border collection shows that narrow-gauge railways were a common European feature, similar across different countries.
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