Larmanjat guided rail system
Hybrid road-rail system / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Larmanjat guided rail system was a 19th-century French hybrid road-and-rail system. It sought to combine the benefits of the low friction of metal wheels running on a single metal rail with the improved tractive effort offered by wide side-wheels running on the road surface—only the side wheels were driven. Engineer Jean Larmanjat [fr] presented the apparatus at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris and in August 1868 he opened a 5-kilometre (3-mile) demonstration line between Raincy and Montfermeil, Seine et Oise, to the east of Paris. The success of this line gained the attention of Portuguese diplomat the Duke of Saldanha for the construction of lines around Lisbon. He formed a company in London to build lines between Lisbon and Cintra and Lisbon and Torres Vedras, but these were not successful and the company was declared bankrupt in 1875. In 1873 Larmanjat was authorised to install his track on a length of towpath on the Canal de Bourgogne to haul heavy barges. He did not complete the project.