Paris All Night Metro Tour
 

There is/was a group, Ademas, that conducted (few and far between apparently) metro tours via old trains. It went through old, now closed stations and covered quite a distance. The tours were from 11:00PM - 5:30AM. We tried to contact them via telephone, 0148251332 from home, but kept getting an answering machine. Finally a friend in Paris was able to get them, this was in 2001, but they had nothing planned during our stay.

Has anyone heard of this tour or better yet taken it? As I'm typing this, it _just_ dawned on me to Google them for a websit (DUH). Any info appreciated as it sounds like a fabulous way to spend a night.

Thanx,

Nina

hope to hear about this type of tour that i revel in - never heard of it but hope it exists!

I'm confused -- don't the actual Metro stations get locked up at night? How is this tour possible?

I think this is unrelated, but such a tour reminded me of this somewhat weird finding:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/stor...302250,00.html

only old info on GOogle but her it is

http://www.irishfrance.com/ifmagazin...t=&idnews=

I can't remember where I heard of the underground cinema (I didn't look at the article you posted carefully, WT, but it's interesting).

I did notice it was published on Sept. 11, 2004. Somewhere in the article someone says, no this is not a terrorist group.

Interesting coincidence.

I Googled and the only thing I found gave me the same info that I already had. Ademas is a society, the tours cost 31 euros, and their added a cell phone number - 06 70 42 60 81.

If anyone is in Paris now, or going soon, perhaps they could try the above numbers and post the results.

We will be leaving for a month in Paris on Sept. 8, so I am also going to send them a letter. I'll let you know if I hear back.

Hmmm.... I Googled to: http://erwann.jouan.free.fr/ademas.htm

This page does describe a couple of vintage Metro cars and a tractor, but puts them outside Paris, and doesn't say that the Metro "tours" are on those cars, or give a time frame for the tours, only that they're given at night, which could be within normal operating hours.

Also the phone number provided on the page is not the same as the one posted above.

I believe this is a small association of railfans; the name sounds familiar. The RATP also occasionally offers rides in old-time Métro trains on special occasions as well. These are usually publicized in the stations.

In 2001, a friend who was living in Paris at the time, finally was able to contact them. The do the tour that I described above, several times a year. Unfortunately the next was after our return home. I'll keep looking.

Dave, I just checked the web site and basically that's it, including the phone number I posted.

DH, the techie guy, said the tracteur/tractor is the powered car, which pulls the passenger cars.

Sprague-Thomson refers to Sprague, the American engineer who designed the circa 1906 Paris Metro system, and Thomson, the French company that manufactured it.

The society is dedicated to archiving, preserving and exhibiting memorabilia (sp?) and the equipment itself.

Bottom line...... how do you take the #@%$^&*&$# tour??

Hi again,

We clearly are not looking at the same "Googled" information. Will copy below another page just found that sheds a bit more light, and gives a different phone number. I called and got a recorded message that said "try again." Will not labor through a translation, but the following does confirm that this group has given after-hours tours on unused portions of the Paris Metro system. We are groping about in esoterica here. These appear to be quirky "old Metro" buffs, and I doubt the frequency of the noctural activity comes remotely near that of Citirama trips to Versailles.

Dave

L'association ADEMAS que certains connaissent peut être, préserve des rames Sprague et pour ce faire, organise en collaboration avec la RATP des circuits
de nuit sur les lignes RATP.

Visite de l'atelier de la Vilette, (lieu de RDV).
Le départ se fait aux environs de 0h30 à bord d'une rame MF77 (la rame historique Sprague étant en révision jusqu'en janvier).
On visite des stations abandonnées, d'autres qui n'ont jamais été ouvertes au public, on descend même sur les voies (courant coupé), il est possible en se faisant
petit, de monter dans la loge (cabine RATP), je vous le recommande, sensations garanties, car foncer dans un tunnel mal éclairé avec un petit gabarit procure des sensations qu'un train à l'air libre n'offre pas.
Un drink est offert à mi-parcourt et un petit déjeuner à l'arrivée, 5h30 avant les premiers métro commerciaux.
Pour les Parigots qui l'empruntent quotidiennement c'est l'occasion de le voir sous un autre angle.
Le faire en Sprague doit être le pied, surtout si on l'a connu avant...

ADEMAS
17 rue des Abondances
92100 Boulogne-Billancourt
Tel 01 48 25 13 32

I'm interested to see how this unfolds.

Er, sorry to be a cynic, but would there be very much to look at ? The London tube goes through old, now closed stations & you can't pick out very much as you travel through in the dark. I seem to remember that on my way to work years ago, the Central line between Tottenham Court Road & Holborn went through the old Museum station, but all you could see (with difficulty) was the remains of a few old posters on the wall.

Dave, thanks so much for trying to reach them. The phone number is the one that we had called numerous time (from Paris) and got the same recorded message. Our French is minimal - easier for us to read than understand on the phone.

Would you be so kind as to try their cell number, 06 70 42 60 81, if it is a local call for you. Our dates in Paris will be 9/9 - 10/4.

Everything we already knew, and the new information that you gave us, confirms that the tours do exist and are still being given.

Thanks in advance,

Nina