Pierre François Dumont, a French industrialist, built blast furnaces in Ferrière-la-Grande, but was having difficulty delivering his product, mostly due to the poor state of roads in the region.
He sought permission to build a branch line that would link his factories to the station at Maubeuge.
Following a decree of April 23, 1859, a prefectural decree dated January 14, 1860 was given which provides for the creation of a station at Ferrière-la-Grande and a judgment of the Avesnes court on the expropriation of land for the public good on March 28, 1860, the industrialist started building (at his own cost), the portion of the line from Maubeuge to Ferrière-la-Grande.
[1] The concessionaires then formed the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord-Est that replaced them as legal parties to the agreement.
A law dated September 15, 1871 made a declaration of public utility and gave the final concession to the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord-Est for the construction of a railway line, starting at a point located between Erquelinnes and Jeumont, terminating at Fourmies or Anor and going through Cousolre, Solre-le-Château, Liessies and Trélon.
This line would find reservations with the military authorities because, according to them, it represented serious danger in the event of an invasion across the Belgian border.
A law dated December 25, 1878 proposed a third path which had the line beginning at Maubeuge and heading towards Solre-le-Château through Ferrière-la-Grande, Cousolre and Hestrud.
For military reasons but also as a result of numerous interventions by local elected officials and industrialists, a law was enacted on July 22, 1881 that modified the route and designated Maubeuge as the start of the line which would join Fourmies, terminus station, via Solre-le-Château.
The line from Maubeuge to Fourmies, including the Cousolre branch, is part of the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord's network under the terms of an agreement signed between the company and the Minister of Public Works on June 5, 1883.
[3] However, the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord would only gain full ownership of the line following a treaty signed with the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord-Est on March 30, 1889 and approved by law on February 7, 1890.
A victim of ever increasing personal vehicle usage, passenger service along the entire line ended on September 28, 1969.
The track between Sars-Poteries and Trélon was purchased by the Conseil Général du Nord for the creation of a tourist train.