COMMENTS TO MY PAGE "ART POSTCARDS WITH A RAILWAY MOTIVE"

Gare Bordeaux-Bastide

Gare Bordeaux-Bastide (Bordeaux-Bastide railway station), formerly gare d'Orléans, was inaugurated in 1852 to accommodate the Paris-Bordeaux railway. The station is one of the oldest railway stations in France. In 1852, it welcomed its first trains to Angoulême. The first trains from Paris arrived in 1853. In 1859, a goods hall was built. In 1860, the bridge over the Garonne, nicknamed the Eiffel footbridge, provided a rail link between this network and that of the Compagnie du Midi, owner of the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean to Sète-Ville line. From 1861, it was thus deprived of part of its passenger traffic in favor of the Saint-Jean station. It would accommodate local passenger traffic until 1951, before being completely abandoned in 1990. Its architecture, an extension of Bordeaux neo-classicism, was designed by Mr. Darru, architect of the Paris-Orléans railway company.  It has a U-shaped plan, typical of a terminal station, consisting of a central body and two wings in return. The façade on the Garonne has two corner pavilions. It is pierced by a half-rose window to light the passenger hall protected by a metal hall over a length of 90 m. This hall collapsed in 1950.  Likewise, the monumental statue of this façade has disappeared. The facades and roofs of the station, the waiting rooms of the north wing with their decor, the facades and roofs of the former coach house and the customs office have been listed as historical monuments since 1984. The passenger building is no longer served by any track; it is now the property of Bordeaux Métropole. The railway infrastructure was moved 450 m back, where a goods service was maintained until around 2000. The destruction of the goods station began in 2014.

January 17th 2025

 

 
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