Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former Fresnes-sur-Escaut coalworks station is part of the development of railway infrastructure related to mining. In 1835, a royal order granted the Compagnie des Mines d'Anzin a concession to build two railways. Then, in 1868, an imperial decree authorized the creation of a line between Anzin (France) and Peruwelz (Belgium), which was operational in 1874. A first rectangular pier is erected, later replaced by the present station, larger and decorated with a marked architectural decoration. This building illustrates the golden age of railway transport in the coal industry.

The station's decline began with the abandonment of steam engines to diesel, resulting in the closure of passenger and freight services in 1963. Despite the gradual disappearance of mining railway infrastructure, Fresnes station, one of the few still standing, is preserved. Its facades, roofs, and the hall of the past (with its windows and balustrades made of cast iron) are protected by an order of 8 November 2011. Today it is a communal property and is transformed into a cultural pole (museum, theatre, fablab) for an opening planned between late 2025 and early 2026.

This monument bears witness to the industrial history of the Hauts-de-France, where the rail and the mine shaped the territory. The reconversion of the site is part of a dynamic of valorisation of the heritage, combining working memory and contemporary projects. The station, classified in the inventory of Historic Monuments, thus embodies the transition between a mining past and a culture-oriented future and local innovation.

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