Last weekend I went on the monthly Ile-de-France hike led by Abbey Bookshop owner Brian Spence. To get a peek at the annual Medieval Christmas Market, our destination for the “Rando de Noël” was the historic town of Provins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Champagne countryside. But before we began our trek, we got to make a short detour to visit the Musée Vivant du Chemin de Fer, or Living Train Museum.
As usual, about 20 of us met at the Gare de l’Est at 10am to take the train out of Paris to Longueville, where we’d begin our relatively short, three-hour hike (and we take the train back, because there are only so many hours of daylight in winter).
This museum is located in a listed 1910 SNCF rail depot at Longueville just a few minutes’ walk from the regular SNCF train station. The depot has a completely wooden, circular frame, housing a impressive collection of old trains, including a Train Bleu car, Pullman cars, and a dozen steam locomotives dating back to the early 20th century.
More than a museum, it’s also a restoration workshop, and the trains regularly take small passenger trips. On the day we visited they were preparing one steam locomotive for the Provins Christmas Market, the Train du Père Noël (which gets completely booked about two months in advance).
The next two events are the Valentine’s Dinner in the Train Bleu car on February 13th, and the Easter Egg Train on March 26 (steam locomotive trip from Longueville to Provins). Keep an eye on their website or FB page for registration information (it’s not up yet).
There is very little information in English on their website, but if you visit the museum, the staff are very friendly and will explain as much as they can to you about the trains in English. You can get there by car, but it’s very easy by train from Paris (the Transilien train from the Gare de L’Est station), then a five-minute walk from the Longueville station.
Musée Vivant du Chemin de Fer – Dépôt des Machines
3 Rue Louis Platriez 77650 LONGUEVILLE
Tel: 01 64 08 60 62
E-mail: contact@ajecta.org
Website: www.ajecta.org
Low Season Hours: October 16 to April 30 on Sundays from 1-5pm. High Season Hours: May 1 to October 15 Saturdays and Sunday 10:30am-6pm.
Entry fee: €4
If you’d like information about the next Abbey Bookshop hike, stop into the store (29 rue de la Parcheminerie, 5th, M° Cluny-Sorbonne or St-Michel) and Brian will be happy to give you all of the information.
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