François Fontana: Hallo Etienne, a clandestine distillery in the basements of Roubaix… Tell us how you conjured up this idea?
Étienne Dubois: I had wanted to get back into railway modelling for quite some time, and reading Voie Libre regularly played its part in the process. I did face some constraints: the layout had to be very compact, remain visible while being sheltered from the dust, be affordable – largely scratchbuilt – and above all, small enough to enable me to finish it.
I wanted certain features: the atmosphere of industrial cities in Northern France - Roubaix in particular, as I was born there – where factories with their tall smokestacks, dark tenements, wealthy houses, pubs, all blend together… The brickwork and red
