1 Bex les Bains station (due to the same architect than
those of Aigle and Villeneuve) at the beginning of century.
1
Bex les Bains station (due to the same
architect than
those of Aigle and Villeneuve) at the beginning of
century.
2
One of the motor cars open platform tractors on
the
way to Villars (here on the Place de Bex
around 1905).
3 Bex: a tram facing the
Dents-du-Midi
around 1900.
4
Gryon station after the addition of the
bell tower (1904).
5
Arrival in Villars around 1910 (at the
location of the current Bristol Hotel).
6 The BVB on the Pont du Sublin (before 1901).
Beside
the hydro-electric station
upstream of Bevieux
7
The Gryonne Bridge in front of the
Dents-du-Midi
(replaced by a work in concrete in 1980).
8 Tram No. 2 in Bex, before
1928.
9 A
composition beyond above Villars around 1970.
10
Railcar No. 92 arrives in Bretaye (before
1950).
This train No 25 was built in 1944, and still in use
occasionally in 2024.
(photo: courtesy of https://www.bahnbilder.de/)
This is a link to a history of the ski resort development.
(pictures are taken of a display on Villars high street in 2025)
Video of train recovery after avalanche
February 2022:-
Link to BVB's 125yr anniversary leaflet:-
Rough translation
(largely by Google) from the TPC News edition:-
TPC
News 3-Histo-new
Brief history
The railway
adventure of Vaudois and Valais Chablais begins with the arrival in Aigle of the
Lausanne-Simplon railway line in 1857. This achievement will generate a great
number of projects at the end of the 19th century in order to connect the plain
to the mountains. From 1840, the Aigle Le Sépey road was the first link regular
connections between heights of the Ormonts valley and the plain, connection
ensured by stagecoach services. The Aigle station square sees the CFF coexist
with the three narrow gauge railways that are; the AL, the ASD and the AOMC.
Located 39.3
km from Lausanne and 106.2 km from Brig, Aigle hosts in its medieval castle a
very interesting vine and wine museum. This city deserves to be visited to pay
homage to the pioneers of the late 19th century who had the audacity to design
and create a real railway star. The end of 19th century also saw notables of Bex
and the plateau of Villars embarking on the adventure of Bex-Villars-Bretaye.
Bex-Villars-Bretaye
The BVB railway which directly
attacks the mountain when leaving Bex comprises
two sections with grip and
two rack Abt
system.
Up to the merger of 1942 which gave birth
session at BVB, we had two very distinct
companies:
• Bex-Gryon-Villars-Chesières (BGVC)
• Villars-Bretaye (VB).
Rail
Bex-Gryon-Villars-Chesières
From 1895, two committees were set up to study the project
of a line connecting Aigle to Villars and another for a link between Bex and
Villars via Gryon. The Bex group made a request for a concession in 1896 based
on the project to create a hydro-electric station on the Avançon River.
The commune of Bex look favourably on this project and grant in 1897 the use of
the route from Bex JS station to Bévieux;
at the same time, they give Forces
Motrices de l’A vançon (FMA) water rights on
the Avançon.
October 15, 1897, the Chambers Federal authorities grant
the concession simultaneously for the line Aigle-Ollon-Villars
and Bex - Gryon-Villars.
While Aigle dithered about the choice of route in locality,
the Bex group proposes the construction of
the line planned in 3 sections.
January 20, 1898, the day before the enquiry closed, the
first draw is given and work is progressing well, so that the September 9, 1898,
the inauguration of the Bex JS-Bévieux section can
take place in great joy
popular.
Two years later, we inaugurated the Bévieux section Gryon.
For the Gryon section Villars, the promoters were charged by the State of Vaud
with pre see the passage of the road on a viaduct
spanning the Gryonne, between Gryon and
Arveyes. On June 13, 1901, the section
Gryon-Villars is open to the exploitation. The management of the chemin de fer
did not rest there: their idea was to extend the line to Chesières.
With this in mind, a request of
concession, filed on May 1, 1905, was accepted by
the Federal Chambers in December
of the same year.
The work was carried out very quickly (2 months) and the
August 12, 1906 the train could travel
from Bex to Chesières. Given its rapid success, the BGVC asked Berne to be able
to operate all year round; request
accepted in May 1909.
Villars-Bretaye
Tourism development of Villars is very
important in the beginning of the 20th century. A committee was formed in order
to file a request for concession for a rack railway having to connect Villars to
the Col de Bretaye. After the agreement of Federal Chambers, October 5
1911, the works can be com start in 1912.
The implementation operation took place on December 18 of
the following year. According to the
concession holder, it was planned as a summer operation, from May 15 to
September 15, and a winter from December
15 to February 15.
Elsewhere, the French FMA take an important step in 1911,
by the commissioning of the adduction system Solalex water assuring a reliable
energy supply.
In 1942, the merger between the BGVC and VB give birth to
Bex-Villars-Bretaye (BVB). Like all
railways of the region, the BVB is experiencing a very favourable development
during the world war of 1939 -1945. Then,
the progression of road traffic brings
difficult years for the railway.
In 1961, the difficult cohabitation rail and road between
Villars and Chesières decide of management to be deleted this part of the
railway line and replace the train with a service this bus.
In May 1967, the BVB resumed the postal bus concession of
Chesières to Ollon and ensuring the regular
Aigle-Ollon (bus) service to Villars.
The BVB is also a bus line network having (see table p.14)
eight buses, served by eight permanent drivers to ensure the exploitation of
these lines.
BVB is the company that carries the most passengers within
TPCs (1,100,000 persons in 2002). Faced with this sustained demand, the BVB has
acquired three new trains particularly successful. Their inauguration took place
during a great popular festival in December 2001.
A new bus line
connecting Bex to Monthey was inaugurated on December 16, 2002 The opening of
this ground connection authorized by the municipal authorities blades involved
resulted in the abandonment of the tram
service in town of Bex.
So it’s a magnificent page of history of more than a
century which began, in effect, on 9 September,
1898 when we inaugurated the Bex JS
section (Jura-Simplon) – Bévieux.