A panoramic journey

Since production of trains commenced shortly after WW1, Renault started building the so-called autorails with both the propulsion as the seating joined in a single train unit. The autorail 5150 Panoramique was a great example of this idea, which emanated from a study carried out by the SNCF’s Division des Etudes and Renault’s Division de Matériel Ferroviaire. Although Renault assembled trains in its workshops in Choisy-le-Roi, a number of companies cooperated in the project. Among them the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM) for the train’s engine, and the Compagnie Électro-mécanique (CEM) for the electrical transmissions.

Paul Arzens became responsible for the train’s design, converting the wishes of his clients in a gorgeous three-dimensional drawing. The 5150 was special thanks to its styling in the first place, with its elongated dome for the first-class passengers seated on top of the engine. They enjoyed an almost fully panoramic view, which made it no surprise to see the SNCF use them on a number of scenic routes on the French south coast and in the Alps. A number of special elements was used in the construction. The train’s walls were decorated with aluminium panels, while the cabs on both sides of the dome came in plastic. To ensure a clear sight the dome was equipped with heated windows, a device which was not yet available for Renault cars at the time. When the sun made it too hot inside, sunscreens could be used. Only the very first example built came with air conditioning. A supercharged V12 diesel engine could be found under the floor, giving a maximum output of 800hp. This gave the 27.77 metres long train a maximum speed of 130km/h. The engine powered a CEM generator of the GD 650 type, which on its turn transmitted power to the two electric engines to drive the wheels. The 5150 was powerful enough to be used as a tractor and thus came with ordinary couplings on both sides.

44 First class passengers were able to enjoy the scenery from their luxurious seats. There was an adequate climate control system with individually controlled air vents in the walls. Second class passengers, another 44 of them, were seated one floor below behind the cab, but had an equally good all-round view. Their seats, however, were fixed and could not be swivelled like the ones in the first class.

Both the bodies as the chassis’ were assembled at Renault separately. The dome was made from a number of plastic parts joined together, while both cabs were made from one part. Once the bodies were finished, they weighed some 40 tonnes and were placed on their chassis’ by a crane in the production halls. Once fully finished, the 5150 came at 54 tonnes when empty. A load capacity of 1.5 more tonnes was found at engine level.

An SNCF promotional movie of 1959 shows the 5150 being tested after its production. Sandbags on the seats were used to mimic the passengers and sensors were being used to measure the air streaming to the seats and the brakes are treated to an emergency stop. In its day this train offered outstanding comfort plus very good damping of the side movements. But problems arouse just after the first ten trains had been delivered in 1959. Both the V12 diesel engine as the self-cooling electric engines had teething cooling problems. And so the decision was made to limit the diesel engine’s power to 605hp, but this also meant it could not pull wagons anymore, which made the 5150 loose part of its appeal while it limited the employability to the SNCF also. The handsome train had now become not much more than a refined shuttle bus. It was September 1980 when the X4201 was put out of order. From summer 1984-on only the X4203, X4204, X4206 and X4208 trains were in use – irregularly and in the course of 1985 all commercial services of the 5150 / X4200-series were brought to a halt. All of these special train sets then left their Marseille-St. Charles, Marseille-Blancarde and Nîmes base stations.

At the moment only four out of ten sets remain, while the X4204 was declared a historic monument on February 11, 1998. It is the property of Renault and is located on the Flins works. The sole train that’s still running is the X4208, which is operated on the Livradois-Forez line with the Ambert station (Puy-de-Dôme) as its base. The owner of this train is the Amis du Musée de la Machine Agricole et à Vapeur (AGRIVAP) association, which had already managed to take over the X4208 in 1986 after it had been resprayed in green and cream colours. In 2001 this was joined by the X4203, initially intended for the train museum in Mulhouse (Musée Français du Chemin de Fer). And there was more to follow. On June 25, 2005 the third 5150 also arrived in Ambert. This was the X4206 that has now been restored, aided by X4203, which was used as a donor. This does secure the future for these special Renault trains. Every year, the X4208 is now used to run an 85kms stretch between the Ambert and Courpière stations. For more information about the AGRIVAP, see www.agrivap.com.