Almost ten years ago, Guy experienced a real ” thunderbolt “. This unconditional train enthusiast bought the old SNCF station in Riscle (Gers) with its pretty blue shutters after visiting around ten of them. “We didn’t know this department at all. We felt a soul and a strong emotion”slips his wife to us.
After extensive work, the couple settled permanently in this building which was initially intended to be only their second home. “No one would have imagined that my husband, a restaurateur in Neuilly-sur-Seine, could one day have left Paris,” the woman continues, smiling.
“The station was not expensive”
In March 2015, they officially acquired this station “remained in its own juice” pour “an affordable budget”. One of the buildings belonged to a railway worker and the other to the SNCF. “It’s as if the activity has just stopped. There were still the counters but the furniture had mostly been removed”describes Guy's wife. “The station didn’t cost much, but the renovations did”recognizes Guy. Everything had to be redone, especially the plumbing. “Imagine, the heating was actually wood stoves”says the 68-year-old retiree.
On the ground floor, behind the ticket office, they created a kitchen. In the lamp room, the room where the SNCF stored its lamps, the couple set up their apartment. The waiting room, nicknamed “the room of lost steps”has been transformed into a living room. We sit in old TGV chairs. In the garden, we can still see old rails and even an impressive SNCF jib, as we see in the report by TF1 Info . On the exterior walls, SNCF panels are still present.
Guy found TGV armchairs to place in his living room. DR
“We took the night train”
Upstairs, the former station master's apartment has become guest rooms on the theme of the Orient Express, the Blue Train and the Mistral. Guy notably hunted down old menus from these legendary trains. “We didn’t even know the concept of guest rooms before we started visiting train stations to buy one”the woman explains to us. “When we traveled, I stayed in the hotel opposite the station and watched the trains go by”continues her husband. But when the couple entered the one in Riscle (Gers), the creation of three guest rooms became obvious. They can be booked on the Booking.com website.
If the couple now lives in a station, it is because Guy is a great collector of railway objects. “My parents were from Aveyron. They settled in the Paris region and had a restaurant. We only went on vacation once every two years. We took the night train. I still remember the coffee sellers at Lyon Perrache station”he remembers. The model-making enthusiast then bought his first wagon in a toy store in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Then he acquired two rails… three, then four. This home is the culmination of his life. “It’s the Holy Grail. It’s actually very difficult to get him out of here.”indicates his wife.
“We no longer have a piece of wall free”
He watches several times a day on the Internet for good deals, for new pieces he could acquire, for gems. “It’s an addiction”he confesses. He has certain items in doubles, triples, quadruples… He schedules the trips according to the railway exhibitions organized in the four corners of Europe. He even once dreamed of buying a station in Switzerland, before his wife found the one in Riscle.
This unusual dwelling allows him to exhibit his private collection, previously kept in the garage of his house in the Paris region. We drink coffee there next to an old orange composter, we doze off on the terrace which was the old marquise, we walk on the period tiles. The decoration is still busy. “We no longer have a piece of wall free”the woman laughs. Outside, Guy has hung up road signs indicating the track number or reminding us of the danger of trains arriving at high speed. Not to mention these old carts filled with vintage suitcases, as if the travelers were not far away.
A deserted station
However, no trains stop here anymore. “It has been closed for 40 years”the woman assures us. The counters continued to operate for a time for the sale of bus tickets. Rail freight transport continued a little. “He stopped 15 years ago. »
Today, the restaurateur has retired and passed his establishment on to his children. However, things will be very different for his collection. His family is not interested in inheriting it. “And it’s absolutely no big deal.”Guy tells us in conclusion.
