Doric

Than Thanks for your kind welcome and for the link. The Gare de la Bastille is such a remarkable and short (34 miles) railway. I was amazed at the Bidel carriages (see photo) and pleased to see the viaduct is in beautiful condition and apparently well used today. This sort of detail is inspirational.

Thanks for the info. I searched the index of RMweb without finding it. Please dont be shy - send me a link, please.

Good morning I am currently working on my "permanent" layout with an "L" shaped site based on CJ Freezer's Minories plan. During research to help set out the lines, I came across a picture of a French Minories at Gare de la Bastille. (see below) The plan showed a two track (one up and one down) access along a viaduct over 1 kilometre long into 6 platform terminus with a 3 road locomotive shed. The plan curves as my layout will have to, so it is instructive. Throughout the life of the terminus, it was steam only but as there is no turning facility, it used only tank locos to pull the trains. At its height in the 1930's, it managed 30 million passengers a year, commuters in the week and Parisians away to the country at weekends. It did not carry goods except for parcels and coal for the locos apart from one exception. The vineyards around Paris failed in 1897 due to a bug eating the vines (phylloxera) so the farmers changed to growing roses. At the end, the Terminus was handling up to 1 million roses a day bound for the market at Les Halles. The tank locos started with 2-4-0T, through 0-6-2T and 2-6-2T to a whopping 2-8-2T (see photo with acknowledgement to Flickr) Electric traversers were installed to cope with larger trains but the terminus declined from the 1940's due to an expansion of the Paris Metro along the same route. It finally closed in 1969 and the terminus was demolished in 1984 to make way for the Opera Bastille. The viaduct remains intact and is used for shops and cafes.