Several series were produced, each with technical and structural differences, but all based on a very light body design using riveted aluminum and duralium sheet metal.

The Pauline railcars bear witness to a pivotal period for the French railroads, which had to face stiff competition from automobile transport, which was cheaper for both users and operators.

They were an efficient and economical response for the railways of the time to the closure of secondary lines due to the operating costs of traditional steam trains.

[1][2] As these means of transport became more accessible and democratized, the operation of secondary railroad lines with steam trains became less and less profitable for French railways.

[5] André Ménétrier, chief engineer for equipment and traction at Compagnie du Midi, was asked by Jean-Raoul Paul, director of the company, to draw up specifications for an order for a rail “bus ”.

[6] This railcar, capable of carrying around sixty people, was intended to provide efficient and economical rail operations on short lines.

[16] The widespread use of aluminum and its derivatives enabled the railcar's mass to be significantly reduced, and lower-powered engines to be used, while still guaranteeing high traction performance.

[8] Numerous press articles from the early 1930s were devoted to explaining and demonstrating why wheel-rail adhesion had been chosen instead of Michelin's pneurail, which was seen at the time as a technology of the future.

[21][22] In the weeks following the press launch, this system was replaced by Charlestop drum brakes, a technology derived from aeronautics,[23][24] to further reduce the weight of the machine.

The prototype is equipped with a single driver's cab, making it non-reversible: it has to be turned around at the end of a run to start again in the opposite direction.

[8] The interior layout accommodates 61 passengers seated in a single class on varnished plywood-covered benches offering rudimentary comfort to say the least.

[21][25] The flywheel is bolted to a clutch controlled by the driver with a pedal, which is connected to the Minerva four-speed gearbox - including reverse - enabling speeds of 20 km/h in first, 48 km/h in second and 95 km/h in third (in direct engagement with a unitary transmission ratio).

[9][26][27][28] Before her maiden voyage on October 27, 1931, between Bordeaux-Saint-Louis and Le Verdon, the first Pauline du Midi completed several test runs, covering more than 2,500 km.

In August 1943, the SNCF asked the Secretary of State for Industrial Production and Communications for authorization to sell some of its railcars to German secondary networks through a Franco-Romanian company.

[38] The system is controlled by a hydraulic circuit which is actuated by the brake lever via a deformable bellows generator, while the release position is maintained by springs.

[1][3] After receiving bids from the manufacturers, the company announced that it was ordering four Pauline railcars from EIC, with a single driver's cab, a bogie-mounted chassis at the front and a tag axle at the rear, and a wheelbase of 10.8 m28.

[7] Two carriages, made up of light-alloy longitudinal members in which SKF rollerboxes rest, nevertheless form semblances of fixed bogies in relation to the body.

[35] They developed only half their rated 140 hp, due to the use of lean gas produced by a Panhard gasifier running on mineral coal.

[59] The corrosion was caused by the salt water flowing from the tidal packages frequently transported, and by the lime and calcium phosphate glue used to fix the wooden door panels, although it is particularly aggressive to metals.

[59]The single Pauline AL adopts the same livery as the Renault and De Dietrich railcars of the network29,[60] namely emerald green for the underbody and dove gray for the upper body and roof.

:[30][66] For the 1936-1937 winter service, they run the following three-day shifts[66] Les Paulines du PLM are managed by the Alès autorails center.

[30] Due to the drop in traffic on the Mortagne and Mont-de-Marsan stars in 1939 - some rail connections were transferred to road and some lines were gradually closed - and the lack of fuel, twelve Paulines 2 and 2 bis were grouped together in the West region at the Versailles-Matelots depot.

[69] Power is provided by a German MAN engine manufactured under license by Société Générale de Constructions Mécaniques (SGCM).

The machines have no end buffers or hitches, but are fitted with hooks for towing in the event of breakdown, and bumper bars braced by two lateral spring-loaded shock absorbers.

[71] In 1933, the Board of Directors of the State network, which already owned four Paulines type 2 bis, decided to further expand its fleet of railcars, while continuing to compare the various manufacturers (including Renault, Bugatti and Michelin).

The luggage compartment, with an authorized load of 1,500 kg and a surface area of 11 m2, houses a space reserved for a PTT travelling agent, and the toilets.

[70]For the powerplant, EIC selected two independent units, each comprising a Saurer BXD in-line six-cylinder engine delivering 140 hp at 1,500 rpm.

[70] These motors are each coupled to a Minerva six-speed gearbox, pneumatically and mechanically controlled, linked to the inner axles of each bogie by a Glaenzer cardan drive shaft.

[68] The presence of XC 11006 at the Château-du-Loir depot was reported by Luc Fournier - in charge of technical heritage at the French Ministry of Culture - to the Musée français du Chemin de fer in Mulhouse, with a view to its preservation, but to no avail, as the railcar was destroyed in 1979.

[28] The XC 11000 was reproduced in HO by the craftsman Interfer in kit form,[80] and its static reproduction was also included in the Michelines et autorails collection.