The Chemin de fer d'Anvin à Calais (French pronunciation: [ʃəmɛ̃ də fɛʁ dɑ̃vɛ̃ a kalɛ]) was a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway from Calais to Anvin, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France.

This avoided the duplication of routes that was seen in the United Kingdom and meant that the large cities and towns were connected.

The citizens of the smaller towns and villages also wanted railways to be built to connect them to the network.

[4] Anvin and Calais are 62 kilometres (38.53 mi) apart, but the railway was to be much longer due to the need to avoid heavy engineering and also to serve local communities.

[7] In part, it ran through what is now the Parc naturel régional des Caps et Marais d'Opale, crossing many river valleys and having summits of 131 metres (430 ft) between Équirre and Verchin, and 177 metres (581 ft) at Alques-Buisson halte.

[8] On 3 December 1882, a party of senators and deputies of the National Assembly spent the day inspecting the railway.

[4] In 1891, the Aire-Rimeux-Berck railway opened, connecting with the Anvin-Calais line at Gourgesson and Rimeux-Gournay.

Serving Messrs Sat et Compagnie's sugar refinery at Pont d'Ardres.

The department authorities stated that the railway could not be forced to provide a station and the matter dropped.

Civilian passengers had to leave their train and go into the station building to have their papers checked when crossing Cantons.

A procedure which led to complaints as some passengers missed their train when it departed whilst their papers were being checked.

[16] In 1917, a major supply camp was established at Vendroux, occupying land between the Anvin-Calais line at the adjacent Chemin de fur du Nord lines between Coulogne and Écluse-Carrée, and the Canal de Guînes.

In 1919, the line was acquired by the Compagnie Générale des Voies Ferrées d'Intérêt Local (VFIL),[24] along with the TvAPA, the Aire-Ribeux-Berck and the Flanders railways in the Nord department.

Reasons for it not being absorbed into the VFIL network were probably a lack of civilian infrastructure, and the fact that it linked with lines under the control of the Société Général des Chemins de Fer Economiques (SE), which showed little interest in the line either.

At that time, it was not possible to make a return journey between Anvin and Calais or vice versa on the same day.

[26] In 1921, the VFIL acquired five locomotives from the CF Guise-Hirson, which had been converted to Standard gauge during the war and a decision had been made that it would remain so.

[27] Responding to complaints of late running in 1922, VFIL's departmental engineer stated that this was due to locomotive maintenance issues caused by the war.

[29] Also in that year, two railcars with 45 horsepower (34 kW) Renault-Scemia petrol engines entered service.

World War II broke out on 3 September, with Calais falling into German hands on 25 May 1940.

The Pas-de-Calais department became a zone of special control, administered by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht in Brussels, Belgium.

[32] In 1942, the Marine Verpflegungsamt (MVA) took control of the workshops at Lumbres, which it used for the maintenance of requisitioned rolling stock.

[33] In the summer of 1943, the railway applied to the department to reduce its services as some of its locomotives had been requisitioned by the MVA.

[34] By August 1943, a further three steam locomotives were out of service, having been damaged by machine gun fire in Allied air attacks.

The line was used to transport materials for the construction of V-1 flying bomb launch sites.

[36] A storage tunnel for V1s at Bergueneuse was connected by rail, almost certainly with a branch to the Anvin-Calais system.

CGL1 was sold to the SE for use on the Réseau des Bains de Mer (RBM) and is now preserved on the CFBS.

Type 1 stations were located in the chief towns of cantons which did not have a standard gauge railway.

These were of a standard design with a two-storey main building and a single story wing for freight.

[61] Twelve bogie carriages and two luggage vans were bought from the CF Guise-Hirson in 1921.

[63] In 1921, 22 vans and 40 open or flat wagons and a rail-mounted crane were bought from the CF Guise-Hirson.