à la Gare Saint Lazare

133 years separate these two views of the tracks outside the Gare St Lazare (Lazarus) in Paris.

The most famous set of illustrations of the station, most of the smokey interior created by steam locomotives, were the 11 paintings by impressionist painter Claude Monet from 1877, done during a period when he rented a nearby studio.

The second illustration is a photo from May 2010 from the Pont de l'Europe by one of our directors. The Saint-Lazare station, one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris, is the city's second busiest, behind the Gare du Nord. It handles ca. 275,000 passengers each day and has 27 tracks. The lines are electrified in 25 kV AC.