Private company

Chemin de Fer du Cambrésis

Railway in France

The Chemin de fer du Cambrésis (French pronunciation: ) was a 120-kilometre (75 mi) long metre gauge railway in the Nord and Aisne departments of France. There were four lines with Caudry at the centre.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

The Chemin de fer du Cambrésis (French pronunciation: [ʃəmɛ̃ də fɛʁ dy kɑ̃bʁezi]) was a 120-kilometre (75 mi) long metre gauge railway in the Nord and Aisne departments of France. There were four lines with Caudry at the centre.2

The story

The Cambrésis railway opened in 1881. It was a voies ferrées d'intérêt local system. From Caudry, lines ran to Cambrai in the north, Denain in the east, Catillon in the south, and St. Quentin Cambrésis in the west.

The first section of line to open was the 26 kilometres (16 mi) section from Cambrai to Le Cateau in 1881, this was extended by 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to Catillon in 1886. In 1887, a 19 kilometres (12 mi) branch from Caudry to Villers-Outréaux was opened, extended by 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to Le Catelet-Gouy in 1888. The 28 kilometres (17 mi) line from Caudry to Denain opened in 1891. In 1892, the line was extended by 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Le Catelet-Gouy to St. Quentin Cambrésis, with a final extension of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to St. Quentin Nord opening in 1904. Caudry and St. Quentin are only 32 kilometres (20 mi) apart, but the railway took a route that followed contours and avoided heavy engineering, thus lengthening the distance by train.

From Wikipedia’s article on Chemin de fer du Cambrésis, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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