[1] The railway is managed by a non-profit organization, which runs from March to December between the towns of the Baie de Somme area: Le Crotoy and Cayeux-sur-Mer via Noyelles-sur-Mer and Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, on metre gauge tracks (formerly part of Société générale des chemins de fer économiques).

In 1853 the Chemin de Fer du Nord was granted permission to build a single track branch from Noyelles to Saint-Valery.

It was 1885 before the CF du Nord was able to get permission to use steam locomotives at Saint-Valery's docks, horse power having to be used before them.

Eventually, a metre gauge line nearly 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) long was built by the Société générale des chemins de fer économiques (SE) from Noyelles to Le Crotoy, opening on 1 July 1887.

[3] The railway carried holiday-makers to seaside resorts, and transporting local freight of galets, sugar beet, chicory and shellfish.

In its literature, the operating Association claims that past passengers have included Colette, Jules Verne, Anatole France, and Toulouse-Lautrec.

In October 1870 the French requisitioned Jules Verne's boat Saint-Michel I for the defence of the Baie de Somme.

[4] The CFBS line was particularly involved towards the end of the First World War, starting with Operation Michael on 21 March 1918.

It was realised that the German advance threatened the Allies' ability to use railways in the area, and that there was a lack of line capacity in certain places.

In September and October 1942, coastal defences were constructed in the Baie de Somme area.

Cayeux saw much increased traffic in galets, temporary 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in)-gauge lines being laid on the beach and down the streets of the village.

The Germans brought in a number of locomotives to work these lines, and after the war, nine of them were dumped just outside Saint-Valery, where three still remain (a fourth having been removed for restoration in 1997 - see below).

On 19 August, the Resistance blew up the water tower at Noyelles, followed by an ammunition train on 1 September.

English and Polish troops relieved Saint-Valery on 2 September, and proceeded to bombard the Germans across the bay at Le Crotoy.

[4] The main types of freight carried by the railway were: A chicory processing works was built at Saint-Valery Canal.

The râperie extracted the raw juice from the beet, and then sent it by pipeline to the sugar factory of Beauchamps.

Before the railway came, the port of Saint-Valery handled galets (flint or silica pebbles) brought on rafts from Cayeux.

In 1963 another proposal was made to extend the dual gauge track to Lanchères at a cost of some FRF93 million.

Even as late as 1968 plans were being proposed to extend the standard gauge to Cayeux, this time with the closure of the branch to Le Crotoy.

The CFBS steam locomotives were mainly confined to the sugar beet trains after the war.

Both goods and passenger traffic declined during the middle '60s and the line from Noyelles to Le Crotoy closed with effect from 31 December 1969.

The SNCF continued to use the standard gauge line between Noyelles and Saint-Valery for occasional freight trains.

The first tourist trains ran on 4 July 1971, but although the railway had permission from SNCF to run into Noyelles, they were not allowed to drop or collect passengers there under an agreement with the local bus company.

By the late 1970s, the growth in the numbers of passengers meant that more coaches were needed, but those inherited from the SE/CFTA were in poor condition.

[4] The SFBC is an association made up of over 400 members, including at least 80 active volunteers, and employs the equivalent of 22 full-time employees.

The CFBS organized a steam engine rally in Noyelles-sur-Mer, the point of correspondence between the Network Bains de Mer and that of the SNCF .

It quickly became a major event, and the CFBS reorganizes it every three years, with many steam engines from all over the Europe.

The railway is of course put forward, but also the tractors, buses, rolls, saws ... and many other machines from the past are exhibited.

The final line to be built to Noyelles was a metre gauge branch to Forest l'Abbaye which opened on 24 August 1892 and closed to passengers on 10 March 1947 and freight on 1 February 1951.

[4] None of the original steam locomotives that worked on the Réseau des Bains de Mer have survived into preservation.