23 October 2017 - BUILDING THE PARIS UNDERGROUND

BUILDING THE 

PARIS UNDERGROUND

G'day folks,

Ever been to Paris? Used the underground?  Well, check out how it was built.

Paris in the Belle Epoque, what a fabulous time and place to have lived, right? Well, not so much. If you were living in Paris at the dawn of the 20th century, it probably would have felt more like a giant nightmarish construction site. 

Because the year before the city’s first underground railway line opened on 19 July 1900, was the year they turned Paris inside out.

I’d always imagined metro tubes were constructed underground in the tunnels, out of sight, but the tube at Saint-Michel was built above ground first and then literally sunk below street level after the tunnels were dug out.

Now, check out some great photographs of this engineering feat.

Clancy's comment: I love looking at old photographs like these. They show you how clever people made long-lasting infrastructures.

I'm ...