[1] In 1863, he joined the Chemins de Fer du Nord railway company as a designer, attached to the department responsible for the tracks.

[4] As a recognized expert on the strength of materials, in 1886, Contamin was made responsible for control of metal structures in the 1889 exposition.

[1] As he noted in a letter to La revue le Travail in December 1888, the importance of this work was often not appreciated by the public.

[5] Contamin and his team checked all the calculations and all the metal installations, including the 300 metres (980 ft) tower that Gustave Eiffel was building.

[9] Contamin was responsible for the technical design of the Galerie des Machines, including calculations to ensure the structural integrity of the immense arches.

[9] Many of the writers who discussed the Galerie des Machines gave Victor Contamin much of the credit, since they assumed it was primarily an engineering feat.

[13] Eugène Hénard, who assisted Dutert, said the Palais des Machines successfully combined aesthetic appearance with engineering function.