Prochain point :
Activité agricoles, fermes
Prochain point : lat="49.087664" lon="1.8719"
The station
A railway network to open up the agricultural regions
A station on a Paris supply line...
From 1840 onwards, the railway network began to develop, especially in the form of lines branching out from Paris. The State purchased the land and built the infrastructure, while a company would build the railway line and operate it. To complement these major routes, small local lines were built by local authorities to connect their agricultural regions to the Paris food markets – ‘Les Halles’ – and supply fresh farm produce.
The Compagnie des chemins de fer de Grande Banlieue was the railway company that ran the line between Meulan, Sagy and Magny-en-Vexin, which opened on 1 August 1913. The station in Avernes was very busy due to the railway orphanage there. The rattletrap train took an hour and a half to cover the 36 kilometres between Meulan and Magny-en-Vexin. In May 1916, the rails were lifted to be used on the front, to transport troops and equipment. They were subsequently re-laid after the war. As cars became more
and more common, the railway fell into disuse; the line was closed in 1947 and finally decommissioned in 1949.
...with standardised architecture
The two-storey station building, typical of those found in local railway stations, is built of blocks of gritstone and features high arched openings framed with bricks. On the gable end, between the oculus and the bluish remains of an old painted advertisement for the famous aperitif 'Dubonnet', an oblong frame indicates the place where the station's enamel name plaque used to be.
