For 40 years, they have been watching these miniature trains go by with their children's eyes.
The members of the RATP's Railroad Modellers' Association share their passion this weekend with all the visitors who pass through the door of this place that transports you out of time.
Open doors are organized until Sunday evening, in the large room of the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés station, in Val-de-Marne, dedicated to this association.
A way, beyond sharing, to show the general public the richness of this miniature network created years after years and which is today threatened.
"The RATP has a legal obligation to create a bicycle garage in each of its stations and unfortunately, it is our premises that could be transformed", sighs Gérard Baptiste, retired and honorary president of the Amicale, who comes several times a week from Asnières-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine).
It would then be the end of the eyes widening in front of the automated level crossing which even has its alarm bell, in front of the huge viaduct with its two bends or even in front of the reproduction of the stations of Orsay-Ville and the Bastille.
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, this Saturday.
Christian Tortes, interim president, and Gérard Baptiste, honorary president, operate the trains from numerous control stations.
So many marvels of finesse and technology, mostly cobbled together entirely by hand, and which families sometimes come to observe in passing, on Wednesdays or Saturdays.
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Located on the renovated forecourt of La Varenne-Chennevières station, the 150 m2 premises are ideal for unexpected visits.
Real open doors, like those of this weekend, had not been organized since 2014 in this room which has housed miniature trains since 1981 thanks to the help of the RATP works council.
Since the threat of closure took shape a year ago, the 48 passionate members of the association, most of them retired or working at RATP, no longer dare to undertake major repairs on their network HO (1/87) on which fifteen trains can run at the same time.
“If we had to move, we would lose almost the entire installation”
“If we had to move, we would lose almost the entire installation, it is absolutely not removable,” laments Christian Tortes, interim president of the association.
This metro driver, who lives in Sucy-en-Brie, “only one RER station away”, does not see himself reconstituting another miniature network elsewhere.
“It took years to get to what you see here,” he insists.
This Saturday's visitors are well aware of this.
Like Jérémie, who spent his entire morning marveling at the passing trains, the curious watched enviously as the members of the association operated an impressive number of buttons to move the trains forward.
"It's incredible what they have managed to do," says a mother who came with her two children.
In addition to the mechanical aspect, the sets are beautiful.
You can imagine the time spent making each piece…”
Hours and hours building a locomotive faithful in every way to the model we have chosen, but also replacing electronic components necessary for the smooth running of switches and other movements of passenger and freight trains.
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, this Saturday.
At 25, Philémon Séré is one of the young members of the Amicale, just as passionate as those who created it 40 years ago!
Philémon Séré, one of the youngest members of the Amicale, perfectly remembers the emotion he felt on entering here the first time.
Then 13 years old, he had come after finding some model trains and railways in his grandfather's attic.
"I brought them, the enthusiasts restored them to me", thanks the young man, now 25 years old.
Since 2010, he comes "as often as possible", even now that he works in Lyon (Rhône), thanks to his parents who live in Saint-Maur.
This passion for trains, which matured within the Amicale, has never left him.
So much so that after a stint at Alstom, which manufactures the rolling stock, Philémon has now become… Methods engineer at the SNCF!
Doors open this Sunday, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
3 bis, place de la gare, RER La Varenne Chennevières station, in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.
FREE ENTRANCE.
