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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 16:35:03 GMT
First of all, a little detail about the treachery of the French language. Grand is understandable, train probably means the same thing... Or does it? Well, this event is being held in a gigantic rail maintenance centre that closed in 2013, so bingo! Yes and no. The colloquial meaning of " grand train" is " high life." It is a fun zone where hipsters and bobos to live it up. After all, so many of the floating bars along the Seine have been closed due to current events, so this has been the perfect antidote. A smaller version already existed under a different name last year. It was called Ground Control so obviously this name is more fitting since the object of adoration is trains and not planes.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 16:44:01 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 16:55:08 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jun 9, 2016 17:55:55 GMT
I can only see three pictures.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 18:28:04 GMT
They should be back soon. I can only see fewer than half of them at the moment myself.
Half an hour later --> they're back, at least for me.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 19:13:28 GMT
This was called an " autorail" because it had no locomotive but a driver's station at both ends, just like a subway car. Most people called these a " micheline" because Michelin made a major comfort improvement in the 1930's by combining rubber in the functioning of the wheels. They remained in service until the 1980's in France but were also used in French West Africa, Indochina and Madagascar. Most of the rail museums in the world seem to have at least one of them.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 19:31:17 GMT
Just a tiny video to show things in action.
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Post by bjd on Jun 9, 2016 19:46:55 GMT
Now I can see everything. What a great idea for a place to go, especially with the old trains.
But -- no striking workers to be seen?
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Post by htmb on Jun 9, 2016 21:32:23 GMT
This is great!
The only thing I can't see is the video. I suspect it's an error on my end so will keep trying,
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Post by htmb on Jun 9, 2016 21:32:42 GMT
Ahhhhhh. There it is!
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Post by fumobici on Jun 10, 2016 17:13:33 GMT
This is very cool, who doesn't love trains? Although at those prices I'd be tempted to brown bag my food and drink. I never could see how SNCF became the old logo, there's no sense in the letter order at all. Oh, and the veggies grown between the old tracks certainly won't be bio, their roots are probably soaking in old diesel fuel and weed killer.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2016 17:38:03 GMT
Some of the articles in the press are saying that this is a "Berlin" style event. I confess that I have only been to Berlin twice and not since the late 1980's so I have no valid point of comparison.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 10, 2016 17:54:48 GMT
Good report, Kerouac ! And good idea, I'll be sure to go. Have some evenings in july...
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Post by mich64 on Jun 11, 2016 1:15:59 GMT
This looks like a place I would really enjoy. Excellent report and video Kerouac!
There is a train museum in Ottawa that we went to many years ago and I noticed when we were there last week that it is closed but having a grand re-opening in 2017. There must be some big changes going on inside so I will have to remember to visit it when it reopens!
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Post by tod2 on Jun 12, 2016 10:27:31 GMT
This is definitely going to be a place we will be going to in September! My husband is going to love looking at the old trains and all that goes with them. My dilemma will be deciding where to grab something to eat....so many choices. Thank you so much for bringing this terrific place to our attention Kerouac.
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ImaginaryJazz
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Post by ImaginaryJazz on Jun 12, 2016 17:00:25 GMT
Nice to see the animated Inspector Clouseau show up in some Paris graffiti. You framed the shot perfectly, with him just leaning into the frame!
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Post by gabriele on Jun 12, 2016 20:14:20 GMT
What a wonderful discovery. How will the hipsters and bohos know who they are if they don't have 'other' people in their midst for contrast? You (and others on this forum who post) are Unofficial Flâneurs.* Make yourself an obscure badge with that name, wear it, and wait for it to become a movement. (*Unofficial in that you're not hired by someone)
In LAist blog, there's a section called Overheard in LA in which people send in things they've overheard...some of these might make Parisian hipsters more bearable, or not. Probably not.
Hold On, We're Still Parsing This "Cool nerd is basically corny hipster, the newness is greaser hillbilly; it's like a mechanic who lives in a trailer park."
This Overheard Is So … Good “Vocabulary has always been my weakness. That’s why I have an app that’s like, for words.”
The Circle Of Life "Hipsters are dumb." "Dude, we're hipsters." "Well, we're dumb then."
this is the one that I thought about first when you mentioned boho...
Okey-Dokey "This dress is soooo cute, kind of Bohemian Pocahontas, but... it might be two or three years too old for me."
Now I have to go back and look at all the wonderful old trains to clear my brain.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2016 21:53:39 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 3, 2017 3:09:54 GMT
Kerouac has kindly given me permission to post in this thread, which is particularly gracious of him since it appears I never commented on it. I remember seeing it and being impressed by it, but the only thing I can say in my defense is that I was getting ready to leave on a trip at the time. It's either that, or inveterate churlishness. At any rate, on my last day in Paris this year, Kerouac took Htmb and me to Grand Train and it was quite the experience, not least because it was something that never would have occurred to me to do but that I enjoyed very much. Kerouac has already given all the background, so here are my pictures, which I hope convey my delight with the place.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 3, 2017 4:48:19 GMT
In this picture you can't tell how crowded it was at Grand Train. I think this was taken before we'd completely given up on trying to get anything to eat or drink, as the lines were so long.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 3, 2017 5:20:15 GMT
There was food for thought ~
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Post by tod2 on Mar 28, 2022 10:48:42 GMT
Kerouac - Do you know if Grand Train is still in existence - you mentioned it was due to terminate/be demolished in 2020.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 28, 2022 11:43:14 GMT
Yes, it has been demolished except for some of the structures that will be integrated in the new project. Naturally, just like most things in the world, a health situation has delayed everything two years.
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Post by htmb on Mar 28, 2022 12:53:18 GMT
This was definitely a fun place to visit.
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Post by mossie on Mar 28, 2022 14:27:55 GMT
I had missed this thread before, or forgotten it.
Anyway , going through I noted a sign in one of the sheds which said "Passage de bogies", I thought it was referring to ones nose.
Sorry
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 28, 2022 15:30:38 GMT
I know that bogie is some sort of rail word. It is some sort of wheel set. Wikipedia tells me this:
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