Pietro Scoppetta: The PMP Paris Metro
in OO scale
(Written by PG)
One of the great painters of the Italian ‘800 and one of my favorites is Pietro Scoppetta.
In particular I share deeply with this Neapolitan artist his love for Paris, the city where he lived, worked and that he expressed very well in his paintings.
While I admired his “Café de la Paix” … ..
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep00-Copia-1024x630.jpg)
…. I thought, after the Berlin S-Bahn Luise Herr, of speaking of PMP Parisian metro.
The first line of the Paris metro network ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep01-Copia-1024x768.jpg)
… the existing line 1, dated of 1900. At the time linked Chateau de Vincennes to Porte Maillot … ..
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep02-Copia-1024x587.jpg)
…. along the historical axis of the town carrying, incredible thing for the era, a few thousand passengers a day ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Parigi.jpg)
Today the same line, for some years with fully automated driverless trains …
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep03-Copia-1024x575.jpg)
… .trasports alone more than 600,000 passengers a day, from Chateau de Vincennes to La Defense.
The entire network of the Paris Metro carries about 16 lines … ..
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep04-Copia-1024x721.jpg)
… .1700 Million passengers a year … ..
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep05-Copia-1024x682.jpg)
…. not counting the RER network, coming in addition to the subway in the 70s, which carries at least as many,
linking the city with neighboring districts.
In 1908, after a terrible accident in 1903 at the Couronnes station. …
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep06-Copia-1024x768.jpg)
…. in which 83 people died asphyxiated, the old original trains …
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep07-Copia-1024x516.jpg)
…. made from wood two axles carriages
….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep08-Copia-1024x824.jpg)
…. were completely replaced by Spargue-Thompson convoys ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep09-Copia-1024x565.jpg)
…. made of cars to trucks
in full metal ….
… Except for the backbone of the wooden seats.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep10a-Copia-1024x768.jpg)
The Spargue-Thompson had a long life, the last were withdrawn from service in 1983 …
…. and they characterized the Paris Metro for most of the last century .
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep12-Copia-1024x713.jpg)
The first reproduction of these in OO scale
trains is the work of PMP in 1946.
This brand … ..
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep13-Copia-1024x489.jpg)
…. had been founded in the same year by Marie-Pierre Pillon and the underground train Spargue-Thompson is one of its first achievements.
It comes in a sturdy cardboard box ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep14-Copia-1024x546.jpg)
…. which contains the transformer, a binary circle three rails whose elements Maerklin material of the same age and were resumed with the same geometry from VB.
The same train, ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep15-Copia-1024x264.jpg)
made of elements in lamination of deep drawn iron, is composed of a loco and a car in green livery (class II) ….
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep15a-Copia-1024x574.jpg)
…. and one in red livery (first class).
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep15b-Copia-1024x591.jpg)
The first class was abolished on the Parisian network only in the 70s.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Champs-Eliseè.jpg)
The train runs on AC three-rails, the locomotive …
..
… .owns a single motor axis which meshes directly, via a helical gear, on the worm screw keyed on vertical axis of the motor, provided with a single induction coil and therefore is not equipped of reverse.
![](/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mep17-Copia-1024x266.jpg)
The windows are of celluloid.
This train was produced for a very short time, very few examples and is extremely rare today.
(@ February 22, 2017)