Talk:Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture/Archive 1

Page Additions
I have tons of material on this subject and hope to have the time to contribute it soon. ThePromenader 20:03, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
 * History up - I will add some photos tomorrow if I can - cheers! ThePromenader 22:56, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
 * I am looking for some "free of rights" photos and plans to place here - this will have to wait until my next visit to the Paris Historical Library. Soon I hope as I need many other things there as well... I put a picture of my own up for the time being. Cheers. ThePromenader 23:01, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Heyup, following our quick conversation the other day ThePromenader, I have added a fair bit to the article and hope if relevant to add media on the Commons. I'll look into creating a category if it does not already exist. —Captain scarlet 13:42, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Abandon
The Petite Ceinture has been in abandon since 1934 - and has had many uses since. Some of it today is parkland, even more is entombed under "dalles" of concrete. The PC has its 'characters' as well - "L'homme du bois" comes to mind. A few of the stations have been recuperated - Vaugirard by a tennis club, the Fléche d'Or Café by a cafe/nightclub... there's much that can be added here, in addition to its gradual decline into disuse. There's also the electrified 'le petit train', formerly Paris-Auteuil... bref, lots to add as an infomative plus to a very 'history' article. This is where I'll be. THE PROMENADER  21:35, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Georges Méliès' 1898 film 'Panorama from Top of a Moving Train'
Thanks to whoever posted that link - an amusing little film. It was also a fun project to determine the actual path followed in the film: I am practically 100% certain that it was filmed not on the Petite Ceinture, but rather on the "Paris à Vincennes" (or Paris à Comte-en-Brie depending on the period) line where it crosses under the Petite Ceinture at its 'Bel-Air Ceinture' station.

First off, Bel-Air was a station rather particular (compared with the rest of the Ceinture stations) in its architecture, and secondly, the Ceinture station was at a higher elevation where it crossed above the Paris à Vincennes line and its "Bel-Air" station. Yet following the train's path confirmed the rest: Following the trajectory (towards the north), after a gentle curve to the right, we see a junction from the Vincennes line to the right (leading to the Ceinture line) after passing under the bridge that carries the Av. du Dr. Arnold Netter; to the left after we can see the rue de Sahel running parallel to the rail path; there, there is no street to the right, and you can see just after where the quay begins sooner there than on the opposite side; then we come to the Vincennes line's opposing 'Bel-Air' stations, and after this we can see a stair after these on the quay to the left leading up to the waiting room that was also a transfer to the "Bel-Air Ceinture" station above; after passing under the 'Bel-Air Ceinture' station we pass under a double-arch bridge carrying the Boulevard Soult, with the arch to the left passing over the rue de Sahel and the arch in the centre over the railway; just before passing under the bridge (not really a bridge - see later) you can see the rue de Montempoivre appearing above and to the right. Another thing of note: notice the mounds of earth above the bridge - the bridge is in fact Paris' old fortifications (destroyed only later from 1919). The film ends just after passing under and making a sharper curve to the left (as the Paris à Vincennes line did), and there you can see the unbuilt no-man's land that lay to the outside of Paris' fortifications. In fact, when the film ends, the train is no longer in Paris.

I also have an extensive literature/map/photo collection on the Petite Ceinture - "La Saga de la Petite Ceinture" cited in this article was a great source for all of the above - but I'll see if I can find a few to prove all this. 'Twas great fun. Cheers. THE PROMENADER  21:01, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

nostalgically regard the Petite Ceinture as a surviving element of bygone era
This sentimental musing isn't encyclopedic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.103.145 (talk) 12:29, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Railway Gauge
I have been looking on various sites. I can find that it is a narrow gauge railway but, not found out how wide it actually is. Is there anyone who sees this be able to answer this question? WhippetWild (talk) 22:26, 25 October 2013 (UTC)


 * A video clip from PLGDA, on YouTube, shows a mainline French engine and coach using the Petite Ceinture tracks. They may have been modified for the sake of a small demonstration, but it seems unlikely. So ... standard French gauge. Leptus Froggi (talk) 22:35, 26 October 2013 (UTC)
 * (waving arm madly) The Petite Ceinture used standard "Stephenson" gauge since its beginnings (although the military, involved in the project conception, wanted the "metric" (1500mm) gauge): France's largest 'long haul' companies were already using standard gauge then (for their main merchandise lines), and the Ceinture's initial purpose was to shuttle merchandise/material between these companies' Paris' stations. THE PROMENADER  11:51, 27 October 2013 (UTC)