Gare des Brotteaux

This guide to Gare des Brotteaux in Lyon starts with the old Franco-Provencal word broteau, for the willow-choked river islands that once covered this ground, and traces how a deliberately flimsy 1858 wooden station here grew into the grand carved-and-painted hall standing today. You'll hear why the railway company built it to be torn down at a moment's notice, and what became of the fort it was meant to make way for. It follows the hall through seventy-five years of travelers bound for Geneva before the trains finally moved on.