page_title: Compagnie du chemin de fer Grand-Central de France
hierarchical_section_title: Compagnie du chemin de fer Grand-Central de France
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Locomotive PO n° 1487 (ex Grand-Central) après transformation.
context_page_description: The Compagnie du chemin de fer Grand-Central de France, commonly known as the Compagnie du Grand-Central, or more simply the Grand-Central, was a railway company which operated in France from 1853 to 1857.
  Recalling the name of the English Grand Junction Railway or the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, the Grand-Central existed for a brief period in the history of French railways that was marked by a government keen to instigate public works, notably the extension of the railway network. The new Second Empire regime decided to give railway companies a long-term monopoly over a specific geographical region in return for a greater involvement of the State in constructing a network of branch lines within these territories.
  The Grand-Central was disadvantaged by having an isolated network in a rugged geographical area which had limited economic opportunities. It lacked a terminus in Paris or a main line to the capital that benefited from the feeds of branch lines of the type that existing companies had already built. It soon suffered from the manoeuvres of key players, and from the financial crisis that began in 1856.
context_section_description: The Compagnie du chemin de fer Grand-Central de France (Grand-Central Railway Company of France), commonly known as the Compagnie du Grand-Central, or more simply the Grand-Central, was a railway company which operated in France from 1853 to 1857.
  Recalling the name of the English Grand Junction Railway (1833–1846) or the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada (1852–1919), the Grand-Central existed for a brief period in the history of French railways that was marked by a government  keen to instigate public works, notably the extension of the railway network. The new Second Empire regime decided to give railway companies a long-term monopoly over a specific geographical region in return for a greater involvement of the State in constructing a network of branch lines within these territories.
  The Grand-Central was disadvantaged by having an isolated network in a rugged geographical area which had limited economic opportunities. It lacked a terminus in Paris or a main line to the capital that benefited from the feeds of branch lines of the type that existing companies had already built. It soon suffered from the manoeuvres of key players (specifically government, competing companies, and bankers), and from the financial crisis that began in 1856.
  The Grand-Central story is also a consequence of the business climate of the era and the tussle between the Pereire brothers, with their innovative financial methods executed through the Crédit Mobilier bank, and James de Rothschild and the powerful Banque de France....
  These handicaps lead to its rapid failure and dismemberment.
caption: Porter locomotive type 120 of Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans N° 1487 (ex Grand-Central) prior to  transformation
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