In the underground quarry Ouache in Saint-Maximin. A red writing on the wall: Towards sites.

Quarries of Herblay are over 14km wide and some hundreds of meters deep, on hillsides along the Seine.

In 1776, the exploitation of new underground quarries in Paris was forbidden. People had to take the stone elsewhere. It is for this reason that the quarry was known as "Imperial quarry" or "Quarry of the city of Paris". They built many monuments in Paris with this stone because it was high quality (the famous Royal stone).

Among the monuments built, there was The Pantheon of Paris, Department of Marine Place de la Concorde, the Gare de l'Est, the mint as well as many statues at Versailles.

The network's quarries has been excessively exploited in Herblay. The ceiling is fragile and the walls separating the tunnels are very thin. To reinforce the quarry, they have added many pillars and reinforcement structures.

Later, like many underground quarries, they served to mushroom plantation in the 1980s. The workers have dug additional corridors between small quarries networks.

A few years later and they were gradually abandoned. The latest mushroom plantation closed in 1995.

Since 2003, the association "Herblay heritage" has undertaken to make public visits to the part of the "English entry" with the famous double-arched vault and pretty ponds.

The construction of the castle Regnéville-sur-Mer dates from the ninth century. The castle was the witness of many battles between French and English during the Hundred Years War. In the 17th century, the fortress was destroyed by order of Cardinal Richelieu. One wall of the castle flew to the bottom of the church. Today, there are only very little of the original castle (there is a tower collapsed at half) but this crypt is still beautifully preserved.

Louis Renault is a talented engineer. He invented the direct transmission gear box and patented it in 1898. With his invention, he made a fortune and began a series of land acquisitions at Boulogne. Louis Renault bought the Ile Seguin in the late 20s. First it was supposed to be a recreation area for workers, it will eventually build a new plant next to existing ones. In November 1929, the new plant is inaugurated. Work will continue a few more years.

The Seguin Island plant is fully autonomous and ultra modern. The power plant is designed to operate with multiple fuels (coal or oil).

All the production of vehicles is centralized, but the engines are still being built across the Seine. Robert Doisneau tooked pictures of the spinning of asbestos, foundry metallurgical, workshop tire manufacturing, ...

In 1936, the Renault plant is a symbol of working class struggle with its largest concentration of strikers in France. His reputation will not be denied until the plant closure.

During WWII, the plant is working with the Nazis. Louis Renault gone to jail. The plant was nationalized and in 1947 the 4cv is the success of the National Board of the Renault. 10,000 workers employed on the island. 40,000 workers employed on the site.

During the events of 1968, the island is a symbol of unionism. Workers get more social advances.

The last models produced by the plant are the Super 5 and the Express (a commercial vehicle based on the Super 5). On March 31, 1992, the range and stops the plant closes, now too small to produce new models.

Abandoned the island to be destroyed. The yard is huge and companies are fighting for the tender. The main thing is forgotten: The site must be cleared. The power plant is full of asbestos and the entire basement of the island is bathed by many chemicals. While the plant was emptied in a few months, the destruction tooked 13 years.

source: Legag.com(FR)

The sky train, the train on air cushion. Bertin The company developed several prototypes of this type of train. The test tracks were built in 1965. The smallest to the Gometz Chatel and the largest near Orleans, over 20 kilometers long.

The concrete track is shaped like an inverted T. The world record speed for a vehicle air-cushion was established March 5, 1974. The record speed is 430 km / h. In June 1974, the company Bertin sign a contract for the construction of a high-speed line between the town of Cergy and business district "La Défense". A few months later, the French government reversed its decision and abandon the project.

The failure of the project has several assumptions:
- The oil crisis of 1973.
- Lobbying by the company National Railways (SNCF) and the metallurgic industry.

The engineer Jean Bertin died December 21, 1975. In 1978, the permanent cessation of testing. The prototypes are still 14 years in the hangar. Then the hangar is the victim of arson. The test track Gometz le Châtel no longer exists. It has been replaced by a tunnel bypass to relieve the downtown traffic jams.

Orleans-Saran line still dominates the fields of the campaign. That would be too expensive to demolish it, especially since it nobody.

source: Wikipedia

The underground chapel of the quarry of Chauffours, carved into the wall, to honor the fallen soldiers during the First World War. There is also a wonderful fresco on the right.

The workers have mounted a wall and scaffolding have large green tarpaulin over which water flows continuously. Thus, a lot of construction dust are recovered. Note that right side is a maternity ward.

Overview of the site. The central building was designed by architects Raymond Lopez and Marcel Reby and was completed in 1959. It is a unique example of building completely dry mounted by the use of metal structures and features glass curtain walls are totally independent of the metal structure. It was added to the inventory of historical monuments, but the tribunal has overturned this ruling. For what? Selling appartments to freaks?

Control Room of the NATO radar base, the fort of Mount Salbert.

Fort Lefebvre culminates at the top of Mount Salbert 650m altitude. It said a strong "Sere River". It was built from 1874 to 1877. On May 12, 1955, NATO reuses the fort to house a communications center and a radar base. The book is officially delivered to the Air Force ole March 26, 1958. The book "G" Air Defense Planning (DAT) has 7 radio antennas. The old fort is used as a barracks for soldiers.

The radar base is not exactly the strong, but under the fort. Access from the fort is a long staircase of 322 stairs that descends into a concrete wall strongly.

The site is no longer running quickly but it remains occupied by the army until 1972. The mayor of Belfort is the current owner. It secures the site is now a promenade.

During the demolition of the island, there were huge piles of debris everywhere. They are in fact the walls of the partitions that were between some pillars to demarcate areas.