Railway of the Prince Imperial

[citation needed] The model railway was built in 1859 for Napoléon, Prince Imperial, the 3-year-old son of emperor Napoleon III, in the private park of the Château de Saint-Cloud,[1] between the Bassin des Trois Bouillons and the Bassin des Chiens.

[citation needed] The model railway was described in the 8 October 1859 issue of the magazine Le Monde Illustré: The railway built for the amusement of the Prince Imperial is a real toy as well as a masterpiece of mechanical science.

Its track is in the shape of a figure 8, and the curvature of its tiny rails is reminiscent of the surprising curves of the railway from Paris to Sceaux.

The engine, which is about fifty centimetres wide, has wheels driven by an internal spring which can be wound up as desired.

The station building stood on a straight by-pass,[3] connected by two sets of points to the figure-of-eight loop.