This bogie carriage, ordered on 14th December 1888 from the Desouches & David company in Pantin, near Paris, was assigned to the opening of lines operated by the Société Générale des Chemins de Fer Economiques (SE). This company was in charge of many secondary railway networks throughout France. The saloon carriage is believed to have been displayed in 1889 at the Paris Universal Exhibition and it took part on 26 July 1891 in the opening ceremonies of the Albert-Beauquesne line in the Somme.

The outside body panels are made of teak, the inside ones of oak.

Assigned to the SE Allier network, in central France, it saw little use after 1930, when many secondary railways began closing.
Placed in storage, it survived WW II and narrowly escaped scrapping thanks to a private individual who bought the carriage in 1954. Transferred to the southern suburbs of Paris, it became a weekend dwelling until 1968. The area being about to be redeveloped into a commercial center, the carriage was sold on to another owner who moved it to the Eure département, west of Paris. This was where it was discovered in 1972 by some founding members of the CFBS, who, for two years, negotiated its purchase patiently with the owner. The carriage finally reached St Valery in July 1974. 

Following lengthy and meticulous restoration, the saloon carriage was returned to service in 1988, when the railway celebrated the centenary of its opening. It is one of just two meter gauge saloon carriages preserved in France, and was listed as a Technical Heritage item in 1995.

Since then, on open days, visitors can admire the lavish furnishings of the carriage, with its saloon compartment, its office, its thick fitted carpets and its leather couches, not forgetting the intertwined “SE” letters, finely etched onto the glass panes set in the end-doors.