Canfranc

July 30, 2005 10:57 AM

Forgotten and derelict, the second-biggest railway station in Europe (after Leipzig), Canfranc rots quietly in a valley in Northern Spain. It lost its international link to France when a runaway train demolished a key bridge. Now the campaing to save the station has attracted hunger strikers. More info & pictures (mostly in French).
posted by gdav (9 comments total)

Hey, I've seen that line before. My godmother lives very close to Oloron, and I asked her about the rail line. All she knew was that it had been closed for a while -- she guessed it was because the routes along the coast were quicker.
posted by Slothrup at 11:07 AM on July 30, 2005

Thanks very much for putting in the work and finding those fantastic pictures, it brings the Matthew Parris piece to life. I've met Matthew and I have to say he is bit of a disappointment in the flesh, but few can out-write him on his day (and this is one of those days).
posted by grahamwell at 11:12 AM on July 30, 2005

Right on! Great post gdav.
posted by foot at 11:26 AM on July 30, 2005

Yay, thanks!
posted by Drexen at 11:59 AM on July 30, 2005

Fucking gorgeous. I hope it gets saved. because buildings like this will never be built again.
posted by keswick at 12:35 PM on July 30, 2005

Yeah, I hope it gets saved as well, the remaining architecture looks gorgeous amongst the hills.
posted by Chimp at 2:00 PM on July 30, 2005

I hope it doesn't have the same fate as the Central Terminal just outside of Buffalo. People would promise to renovate it and instead gut it more and more for scrap. There's hardly anything left to save.
posted by Lex Tangible at 5:15 PM on July 30, 2005

it reminds me of Ellis Island pre-renovation...Can't they turn it into something?
posted by amberglow at 5:29 PM on July 30, 2005

There's hardly anything left to save.

o rly?
posted by keswick at 7:16 PM on July 30, 2005