The second inspiring life of disused stations
In Carlux, the station has regained brilliance. And not only because the letters Carlux, listed in Bordeaux on a blue background, shine in the sun. Regularly, cyclists and motorists stop and push the door. More to take the train, since a veloroute has replaced the lines of the line between Siorac-en-Périgord and Cazoulès (Dordogne). But to request information from the tourist office, settle in the café -restaurant – both sheltered inside – and above all survey the two floors consecrated … to photographer Robert Doisneau. The rediscovery of a cliché taken here in the summer of 1939 gave the idea of local elected officials to renovate the old dishented train station since the late 1970s to exhibit the perigourdian escapades of the author of Kiss from the Town Hall. An initiative that attracts 18,000 people a year, beyond the initial forecasts of 2018.
In the early 1920s, there were about 12,000 stations and stops in France. Only 2,800 are still active, 1,700 of which have at least one passenger building, the others boosting a simple stopover. Among the old buildings, many are still standing. Some abandoned, others transformed into dwellings. Like the Robert-Deisneau station, more and more disused railway stations find a second life by welcoming the public again through shops, services or associative activities.
Souvenirs always at the quay
If land sobriety justifies the reuse of the building, this movement is also based on the aura of these old stations. In these places, we separated, found, we cried, RI, we went to war, on vacation, we dreamed of other horizons. “At the center of the life of our villages, these buildings have a soul, we always feel something,” says Pierre Bouvier, at the head of an association which circulates a steam train and occupies the Bligny-sur-Ouche station (Côte-d’Or).
“There is an immense popular attachment to stations, active or not, which links all generations, genres and social classes,” confirms Nacima Baron, geographer who directed the book The new nature of stations (Ed. Presses Universitaires de Vincennes). “Several reasons explain it, the nostalgic side in particular, linked to the starting memories on vacation, an often positive experience. The stations are also associated with an era of past modernity, the witness of a moment of glory, of visibility of a territory. From a citizen point of view, they also evoke public service in its universality. Few buildings arouse as much attachment in a commune, ”she concludes.
“Time leads us, time embraces us, time is beware, time is train to us”
Jacques Prévert, Poet (1900-1977)
Whether you stop there to discover an exhibition, lunch or meet a France Services advisor, their past function is not indifferent: “I was passing in front of Carlux station, the name of Doisneau on the facade aroused my attention,” says Pierre, an Ardéchois in Dordogne. It is a great way to reuse local heritage. Their new lives very quickly summon the memory of those who have known the places in activity and the curiosity of others.
“In the village, the oldest began to evoke the time when the railroads still worked for local sawmills,” notes David, one of the inhabitants of Cabanac-et-Villagrains (Gironde), satisfied with the reinvestment of the old station. In Vaumignon, a hamlet of Anost (Saône-et-Loire), where the 1900 building now offers a small restoration around concerts and exhibitions, “those who enter for the first time often ask questions”, assures Céline Demeusoy, who puts some specialized books and old rail photos available, while dreaming of repatriating a wagon.
Fundaine
Those who invest in these buildings rarely escape the spell. Thus, Fabrice Dubuc who opened Transhumance & Cie in Bedous (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), an inn and guest rooms on the Pau-Canfranc line, in 2019: “When I saw the place, the building in poor condition, trees abandoned on the line, an obvious form was imposed: this is where I wanted to install my restaurant. I bought it 80,000 euros from SNCF, I made several hundred thousand euros in work. If the station had been more expensive, I would certainly not have been able to carry out this project. »»
Some of these closed travelers are still seeing trains mark, an undeniable strategic interest. Arthur Simonian installed his second bakery in the old Parent-Coudes-Champeix station hall (Puy-de-Dôme), unused for thirty years: “The location had been interested for years, I jumped at the opportunity when Gares & Connexes wanted to rehabilitate it. The manager of the 2800 French stations participates in the second life of a part of his “without activities” buildings by installing territorial revitalization projects. That of Arthur Simonian is for the moment success with 250 to 300 customers per day. In a region where local shops are fewer and fewer, “this bakery renders a real service,” says Stéphane, who works a few hundred meters.
In the 21st century, the ancient outposts of “modern” civilization found a real economic and social function. Reinvesting often serves as a pretext to develop new projects for villages. Nathalie Thierry absolutely wanted to save her Clères station (Seine-Maritime) while the SNCF wanted to destroy it. “We bought it to save the municipal heritage,” says the mayor. Then we have long thought out to find out what we could do with it. Finally, the three doctors in the village found the space necessary to accommodate a fourth colleague. From thread by needle, the medical office has evolved towards a health home with the arrival of professionals -osteopath, orthoptist, dietician, pedicure -podiatrist and nurses -, hitherto absent from the town of nearly 1,400 inhabitants.
Strategic reaiguillage
Grocery store in Allier, concierge in Seine-et-Marne, designer shop in Loire-Atlantique, success is not always there: failing to have found customers and positioning, projects, on the other hand, only a handful of years. Hence the interest in proprietary communities to work methods with method.
In Cabanac-et-Villagrains, a new occupant can be lacking … There are about fifteen others. Yoga, pastry, sewing, local celebrations, the station has become the multi-animation place in the town. She even gave birth to projects, including that of David Vavasseur: “The municipality had launched a call for projects to occupy the station. Some residents had the idea of an associative coffee to meet and chat, because there is no bar in the village. Since March, around a hundred people have come every Friday afternoon. We will have to see what it will give in winter. By then, everyone will have found a crossroads of exchanges at the station.
In Paris, we stop on the little belt
In large agglomerations too, stations have a second life. Paris counted dozens of them! If the main ones keep their function, those of the old little Parisian belt – 32 km allowing to go around the capital by the exterior boulevards – have lost their superb since the stop of the traveler service in 1934.
Some of them have been rehabilitated in recent years: the Vaugirard station, in the south of the capital, has thus become a place of coworking, that of Pont de Flandre, in the northeast, a jazz and night club club, and that of Boulevard Ornano a place of awareness of eco-responsible values.
Perpetuate the spirit of the place
– during stations rehabilitation, exterior and structure – Generally on two levels, with the accommodation of the former station manager upstairs – are often preserved, as is the plate in the name of the town. On the other hand, interiors are transformed to adapt to new activities.
– Extensions are sometimes added. In his inn of Bedous, Fabrice Dubuc, he kept a railway touch by retaining a counter and installing baggage nets … To the point that old railway workers regularly bring him caps, controller equipment and even original bell! “I had embarked this bell when the station closed forty years ago to exhibit it in a small museum in the Landes,” says Christian, a former controller.
Today, I am retired. She could have been sold at gold prices, but she is part of the history of this station. »»
– Some old stations have managed to keep their inner aspect of the time.
They are most often linked to a tourist train. As in Sentheim (Haut-Rhin), where, originality, the passengers of the Thur Doller Alsace train can discover exhibitions every weekend in an atmosphere of the first half of the 20th century. As if painters and sculptors had installed their works while the station chief had his back turned! “Visitors look at our achievements as much as the interior details of the building,” laughs at the watercolorist Elena Blondeau, who exhibits it regularly.
