Ephemera

Franco-Belgium company promotion

In 1859, the Belgian Company for the construction of railway equipment was created by merging the Charles Évrard Establishments in Brussels and Parmentiers in La Croyère. The factory in La Croyère mainly produced boilers for locomotives assembled in Brussels before production gradually shifted to La Croyère.

On September 15, 1881, the Société anonyme for the construction of railway machinery and equipment was created. In order to circumvent the very high import taxes in France, its head office moved to Paris; it has just inaugurated new factories in Raismes in France and operates in parallel that of La Croyère in Belgium. This material was exported around the world, including the Ottoman Empire, as shown in these promotional flyers.

A locomotive leaflet for the Myli - Kalamata railway

A pair of wagon leaflets for the Salonica - Constantinople railway.

A coal carriage leaflet for the Ottoman Society of Heraclee, with specifications indicated in 4 languages.

A wagon leaflet for the Smyrna - Cassaba and extension railway.

A wagon leaflet for the Damascus, Hama and extension railway.

A wagon leaflet for the Damascus trams.

A petrol wagon leaflet for the Egyptian state railways.

The above company wasn't the only company providing rolling-stock to the Ottoman railway network and the British were major players right from the start. One of the main companies producing rolling stock was the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (GRC&W) was a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Gloucester, England from 1860 until 1986. Here a wagon intended for the Ottoman market is displayed with Ottoman script already inscribed on its sides.