Way back when, an unusual tram left from a stop just off the Place de la Republique in Paris ...
... roughly where the green railings are in a recent Streetview picture.
The trams were unusual ...
... and because the hills were steep ...
...the trams were not powered conventionally; look no overhead wires and no pantograph or trolley poles. In fact the trams were dragged up (and steadied back down) by a cable in a conduit between the rails.
The cable ran continuously and the "conducteur" ("driver" in English) grabbed the cable to move and ungrabbed it (and applied a brake) to stop at stops. It was known, not strictly accurately, as the Belleville "Funicular". It was similar to a much serenaded operation in the USA.
The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly grey
The glory that was Rome is of another day
I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan
I'm going home to my city by the Bay
I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill, it calls to me
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars
The Belleville cable tram terminated at the Eglise Jean Baptsite well beyond the present Metro station that bears the Belleville name.
The Church still stands as you would expect, but the dinky little waiting room has long gone.
Metro station Jourdain is the equivalent to the funicular terminus.
So it was that in 1935, Metro Line 11 replaced the Belleville tram but followed a similar route. It started at Chatelet
... and ran to Porte des Lilas ...
... with a modest 1937 extension to Mairie des Lilas, a modest Mairie ...
The roads upon which the tram ran were generally narrow leaving little room for other traffic ...
... and the small cars and single track sections were a barrier to the growth of patronage.
The former terminus at Porte des Lilas offered something more substantial ...
... recently shrouded for major works.
But Porte des Lilas has a splendid bus station just across the road.
In 1956 the line was equipped for rubber tyred operation.
To be continued tomorrow.
Next Vive la Difference blog : Wednesday 6th April
There were similar cable trams in London, on Highgate Hill (very much an American affair) and Brixton Hill. And the entire Edinburgh system was originally cable-powered, as was the much simpler Glasgow Subway.
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