These items come from Branch Line News International ISSN 1354-0947 (c) The Branch Line Society 1997 International Editor: Brian Philp, 11 Arden Street, Edinburgh EH9 1BR, Scotland, UK, rail@rinbad.demon.co.uk

1997

BLN 793.08][BE] Antoing - Silly - Halle (- Bruxelles): (BLN 752.0145; Ball 7B1-8A2) The high speed LGV Belge is complete and in use from Lille (Triangle de Frétin) across the French border to Antoing (BLN 782.0274). Beyond, tracks are now being laid from west to east, both from Antoing towards the Coucou construction base near Silly, and from Coucou towards Halle. Provisional opening date is 13 December 1997, except for the new Halle station in tunnel. (European Railway News, on the Internet, December 1996)

BLN 793.09][BE][FR] Mariembourg - Treignes (- Vireux-Molhain SNCF): (BLN 762.0404; Ball 16B3-17A3) In summer, on the days when the Chemin de Fer à Vapeur des Trois Vallées (CFV3V) are running also between Dinant SNCB and Givet SNCF, it should be possible to cover both preserved operations by taking an SNCF train for the 10km between Givet and Vireux-Molhain and walking the 4km across the border between Vireux-Molhain and Treignes, this section of line being disused.

BLN 794.032][FR][BE] Lille (Triangle de Frétin) - Wannehain SNCF - Espléchin SNCB - Antoing: (BLN 782.0274, 788.0395, 793.08; Ball 7B1) Some, but not all, Eurostars now use the north-to-east curve at Frétin, the LGV Belge, the west-to-south curve at Antoing, Ligne 78 to Mons, and Ligne 96 to Bruxelles/Brussel. The weekday 06:53, 08:57, 11:53, 14:53, and 18:53 from London and the 07:35, 10:52, 12:35 and 15:38 from Bruxelles are, it seems, booked to do so, rather than going via Tournai.

BLN 795.059][FR][BE] Lille (Triangle de Fretin) - Wannehain SNCF - Espléchin SNCB - Antoing: (BLN 794.032; Ball 7B1) The present diversion of some Eurostars off the Tournai route is for pathing reasons, and may have begun on or shortly after 4 December 1996 when services resumed after their temporary withdrawal. Single-line working during Eurotunnel repairs has put certain London - Bruxelles trains in conflict with Belgian domestic traffic, and SNCB/NMBS have chosen to provide train-crew pilots to conduct them round via Antoing and Mons rather than recast the winter timetable on Ligne/Lijn 94. Lille - Antoing is the eventual definitive route for Eurostars as well as Paris - Bruxelles Thalys TGVs, but the west-to-south curve at Antoing that they both use at present to reach Ligne 78 is not planned to have any passenger service once the Antoing - Halle section of the LGV Belge is in operation, perhaps in December 1997. The Eurostar diversions, though booked, are of a temporary nature, and likely to change, s ome discrepancy having already been noted between apparently authoritative reports to BLN of which trains were using which route in early January. Certainly the 14:53 from London on 18 January ran via Antoing and the 08:52 from Bruxelles on 22 January ran via Tournai.

BLN 795.062][BE] Gent Dampoort - Wondelgem - Eeklo: (Ball 8A3-7B3) On 29 August 1996 strong currents after several days' heavy rain caused the elderly swing-bridge over the Gent - Terneuzen canal to jam in the 'open-for-navigation' position, blocking Lijn 58 between Gent and Wondelgem. The NMBS push-pull set imprisoned beyond had to run a Wondelgem - Eeklo shuttle service for several hours, till eventually a tugboat summoned from the port of Gent was able to pull the offending span back into place. (Trans-fer)

BLN 795.063][BE] (Bruxelles -) Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher - Voroux-Goreux - Bierset-Awans - Ans - Liège: (Ball 9A2-9B2) As part of the works described in BLN 779.0213, the Ligne 36B pair of slow tracks have been de-electrified between Voroux and Ans, as have platforms 4 and 5 at Ans station. Waremme - Liège "L" trains that used to take these slow tracks to keep out of the path of IC trains are now retimed and use the fast lines, calling at Voroux-Goreux instead of Voroux. (Trans-fer, #102)

BLN 795.064][BE] Trois Ponts - Weywertz - Sourbrodt: (BLN 747 suppt., 775.0134; Ball 10A1) The Vennbahn, once a strategic but now a tourist railway, has recaptured some freight traffic. SNCB abandoned regular timber-handling at Sourbrodt, Büllingen and Losheimergraben in 1982, but on 24 September 1996 a train headed by two SNCB Class 55 diesels used Ligne 45 from Trois Ponts via Malmédy to Waimes, then Ligne 48 from Waimes via Weywertz to Sourbrodt, where timber from eastern Europe was transhipped to lorries. Transhipment might have been avoided had the destination of the timber, a sawmill at Büllingen, still had its link with Ligne 45A Weywertz - Butgenbach - Büllingen - Losheimergraben SNCB (- Losheim DB - Jünkerath). Similar trains ran later in September and in October, and SNCB expect the traffic flow to continue. (Trans-fer, #102)

BLN 799.0160][BE][FR] Péruwelz SNCB - Condé-les-Eaux - Anzin - Denain - Somain: (Ball 7B1) Traces were obliterated when Ligne 78 was electrified around 1980, but until about 1975 Péruwelz was the junction for SNCB's Ligne 92, heading southwards to France to join the northern end of an extensive private railway network serving the border area's collieries and related industries. The last extant portion of this industrial system (Chemin de Fer d'Anzin; UIC code 61 ANZ) was, as shown in Ball, Condé-les-Eaux - Anzin - Denain - Somain. Now derelict, it was noteworthy for running passenger services until perhaps the 1950s.

BLN 799.0161][BE] (Tournai - Ronse/Renaix -) Lessines - Ollignies (- Bassilly - Enghien): (BLN 704.03; Ball 7B2-8A1 not shown) Both ends of SNCB Ligne 87 have been closed for decades, but some 4km of single track is still in use south-east of Lessines to serve a concrete plant at Ollignies.

BLN 799.0162][BE] Jurbise avoiding line: Y Jurbise - Y Lens: (Ball 8A1) This east-to-north curve has recently been relaid and seems heavily used, presumably by freight avoiding the LGV-related traffic bottlenecks on the main (Bruxelles -) Halle - Ath Ligne 94. Before a major rationalisation on SNCB/NMBS in 1984, a sparse Écaussines - Soignies - Ath passenger service used another 'rare' curve, the east-to-west Braine-le-Comte avoiding line (Y Écaussines - Y Soignies) as well as the Jurbise avoiding line.

BLN 799.0163][BE] Dendermonde - Baasrode-Noord - Puurs: (BLN 762.0404; Ball 8A2-8A3) Purists seeking travel over every last metre of track will perhaps be disappointed by the Stoomspoorlijn Dendermonde-Puurs tourist line, based at Baasrode-Noord and advertised in the SNCB/NMBS timetable. On 4 August 1996 the SDP's diesel single railcar ran from Dendermonde NMBS station to Baasrode-Noord station, west of the level-crossing, but the steam-hauled train onward to Puurs picked up its passengers east of the level-crossing. At Puurs the SDP and NMBS stations are some 100m apart, with no physical connection remaining. TransFer #102 reports that the (Antwerpen -) Boom - Puurs Lijn 52 (BLN 735.0174; Ball 8B3), 'temporarily' closed since 1 June 1980, is to reopen from 1 June 1997.

BLN 800.0182][BE] West Belgian freight branches: (Ball 7B1-7B2-7A2) A PFT/TSP tour on 22 March 1997 visited a number of freight-only branches, departing unusually from Brussel-Zuid/Bruxelles-Midi platform 4, one of the TGV Thalys platforms, running via Lijn 96 to Halle, then Lijn 94 to Leuze in French-speaking Wallonia. Joining Ligne 86 (Basècles-Carrières -) Leuze - Frasnes-lez-Anvaing - Ronse/Renaix - Oudenaarde, the tour headed north, perhaps the last train to do so on the Frasnes - Ronse section, which is to close. Just before re-entering Flemish-speaking Flanders at Ronse, an unscheduled stop was made to remove obstructions placed across the track. The stub remaining of Lijn 85 (Oudenaarde -) Y Leupegem - Ruien (- Herseaux) was next visited. Along Lijn 66 Kortrijk - Lichtervelde (- Brugge), permission to take the quay branch at Izegem had been refused, and plans to visit the quay branch at Roeselare, which runs along a public road, were thwarted by a communications breakdown when two police officers on the station platform prevented access. Instead the train ran only a few hundred metres to sidings north and east of Roeselare station and reversed. From the junction just east of Kortemark station, the remains of Lijn 63 Kortemark - Westrozebeke (- Ieper) are classed as a military siding. The train ran on very rusty track as far as the disused Westrozebeke station, but did not enter the military site itself, reached by a branch to the west shortly before the station.

BLN 800.0183][BE] Neerpelt - Eksel (- Y Houthalen - Winterslag): (BLN 778.0184; Ball 9A3) This section of Lijn 18 was officially taken out of use from 26 August 1996. Formerly retained to serve a military establishment at Eksel, it is now no longer needed by the Belgian army. (TransFer, #102, December 1996)

BLN 800.0184][BE] (Bruxelles -) Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher - Voroux - Ans (- Liège): (Ball 9A2-9B2; Ligne 36) When Voroux yard was constructed c.1946, it took over the site of the Bruxelles - Liège main line, which had to be realigned on a curve north of the new yard. Slow lines took a separate alignment round the south side of the yard, carrying freight trains towards Liège-Kinkempois and stopping trains between Waremme and Liège, which could be overtaken by fast trains on the main lines. The new Ligne à Grande Vitesse, an isolated stretch of which is already laid, will head straight through the centre of the now-closed yard, in effect taking the pre-1946 main-line alignment, and on east towards Ans apparently taking over the alignment of the slow lines, now disconnected and partly lifted east of the junction for Kinkempois. As noted in BLN 795.063, local trains, retimed to avoid conflict with faster traffic, have since 29 September 1996 used the fast lines, calling at Voroux-Goreux. Voroux station on the slo w lines has closed. Nearby, the connection at Ans on to the de-electrified Ligne 31 (Ans - Ans-Est - Liers; BLN 711.07) was seen on 2 March 1997 to have been lifted.

BLN 800.0185][BE] Liège: Y Garde-Dieu - Angleur: (Ball 9B1) Car-carrying trains from the Netherlands call at Liège-Bressoux, then normally use this north-to-east curve before heading south via Luxembourg. On 2 March 1997 and again on 7 April the curve was seen to be severed, no doubt in connection with nearby major main-line engineering works. To maintain their correct orientation for cars to drive off, the car-carrying trains must presumably find a route through the Liège area involving two reversals.

BLN 800.0187][BE][NL] (Gent -) Wondelgem - Zelzate NMBS - Sas-van-Gent NS - Terneuzen: (BLN 704.03; Ball 8A3) The isolated freight-only section of Nederlandse Spoorwegen in the small part of the Dutch province of Zeeland lying south of the Schelde estuary and west of Antwerpen can be reached only over a freight branch of the Belgian network heading north from Gent. All trains on this part of NS are hauled by Class 2200 diesels, soon to be replaced by Class 6400. (Mercurio)

BLN 801.0211][FR][BE] Somain - Denain - Anzin - Condé-les-Eaux - Péruwelz SNCB: (BLN 799.0160; Ball 7B1) All its life the Chemin de Fer d'Anzin was owned by coal-mining interests, though it carried public traffic. The Compagnie des Mines d'Anzin, its original parent, founded in 1757, ran wagonways from 1831, and obtained in 1835 its first concession for a public railway, whose Denain - St.Waast (Valenciennes) section opened in 1838, followed by various extensions over the years. The concession to operate into Belgium dated from 1868. Cross-border freight began 23 May 1873 and passenger traffic 26 August 1874, and for most of the next century passenger trains ran the 38km from Somain to Péruwelz. In 1914 the timetable showed ten trains a day over most of the line, with seven crossing the frontier. On 1 January 1946, the French government nationalised the mining company, and the railway became part of Houillères du Bassin du Nord (= 'northern coalfield collieries'). In the 1950s its 2-6-0 locomotives and bogie coaches ran some seven passenger services daily from Somain to Vieux-Condé, with four crossing the frontier, and various workmen's trains served industrial branches within France. In later years steam was replaced by diesel traction, the locomotives being similar to SNCF Class BB 63000. Passenger service ceased from 16 April 1963. With the decline of the local coal industry, the system slowly contracted. The cross-border line to Péruwelz closed 31 December 1973, and final closure to regular traffic came on 20 December 1989, with only demolition trains running thereafter.

An 8km section (Denain-Mines - Arenberg), including part of the original 1838 railway plus a branch north to Arenberg colliery, survives as an industrial museum operation running an ex-SNCF Picasso railcar on certain summer Sundays under the title Train Touristique du Hainaut. (Enquiries to CEF-Nord, c/o M G Grépier, 6 chemin du Moulin, F-59144 Jenlain.) Denain-Mines is accessible from Denain SNCF station, 1km to the north on the Cambrai - Valenciennes line, or by car on a day-trip from Britain via Le Shuttle.

BLN 0802.0223][FR][BE] Lille - Brussel/Bruxelles: (BLN 794.032, 795.059; Ball 7A1-8B2) From Sunday 14 December 1997, when commercial operation is to begin on the Antoing - Lembeek section of Ligne 1, the high-speed LGV Belge, joining the already-open (Lille - Fretin -) Wannehain SNCF - Antoing section, London - Lille - Brussel Eurostars and Paris - Bruxelles Thalys TGVs will cease to use the west-to-south curve at Antoing. However a daily Paris - Mons - Charleroi - Namur TGV is to begin, so the raccordement d'Antoing, dropping down from Ligne 1 to Y Maubray on Ligne 78, will remain in passenger use. Other new services from December are to include a daily Paris - Brussel - Gent - Brugge - Oostende TGV, and four daily Paris - Bruxelles - Liège - Köln TGVs will replace classic EuroCity workings. From June 1997 a weekend Antwerpen-Berchem - Bruxelles-Midi - Marne-la-Vallée TGV is to run, serving the Disneyland Paris theme-park. (Trans-Fer, #103, April 1997)

BLN 0802.0224][FR][BE] Somain - Denain - Anzin - Condé-les-Eaux - Péruwelz SNCB: (BLN 799.0160, 801.0211; Ball 7B1) In August 1961 the double-track Chemin de Fer d'Anzin main line ran through an industrial landscape alternating between terraced houses packed between factories and intervening cornfields overshadowed by waste-tips of the many collieries, served by grimy sidings. Less than two years before closure, passenger traffic was still steam-hauled, with eight trains per weekday in each direction, though not all ran from end to end. An 0-8-0T numbered F7 handled the workers train, and a pair of 2-6-0s, A3 and A4, hauled the ordinary trains, made up of four very elderly non-corridor bogie coaches with long-running boards the full length of the vehicle to enable the guard to work along outside the compartments to check the tickets of those boarding at unstaffed intermediate stops. An 0-10-0T was seen on one coal train, but orange-liveried diesels had begun to take over.

BLN 0802.0225][BE] (Antwerpen -) Boom - Puurs: (BLN 735.0174, 799.0163; Ball 8B3): When Lijn 52 reopens on 1 June 1997, electrified and with its bridge restored over the ship-canal to Ruisbroek, hourly passenger services from Antwerpen will extend to Puurs. The short north-to-south Boom - Willebroek curve, Lijn 52/2, also out of use at present, will likewise be electrified and restored to use. (Trans-Fer, April 1997)

BLN 0802.0226][BE] Fleurus - Tamines: (BLN 788.0403; Ball 8B1) This 15km section of Ligne 147, disused since 1979, is to be electrified and reopened as a relief line for freight in connection with the upgraded Athus-Meuse route, allowing trains to run Antwerpen - Leuven - Ottignies - Fleurus - Tamines - Namur - Dinant - Bertrix - Athus - Luxembourg, thus avoiding the Bruxelles - Ottignies - Namur - Libramont - Arlon - Luxembourg main line. (Eisenbahn Amateur, 2/97)

BLN 0802.0227][BE] (Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher -) Y Voroux - Liège-Kinkempois: (BLN 800.0184; Ball 9A2-9B2) The double-track freight Ligne 36A takes a quite different alignment from the passenger Ligne 36, and avoids the very steep grade down from Ans to Liège-Guillemins station. From 1 June 1997 Ligne 36A is to close for two years, both to facilitate the extensive remodelling at Voroux consequent on the building of the Bruxelles - Liège Ligne à Grande Vitesse and to allow complete refurbishment of bridges and tunnels, particularly Horloz viaduct which has suffered from mining subsidence. All traffic except works trains will be rerouted via Hasselt and Visé to Liège, using Lignes 34, 24 and 40. (Trans-Fer, #103, April 1997)

BLN 804.0269][GB][FR][BE] Eurostar emergency arrival in London: (BLN 767.0500, 769.04) The planned diversionary station in London, Kensington Olympia, was in use on 13 March 1997 during a third-rail power failure at Waterloo, according to Today's Railways for June 1997.

Its first use may have been on 14 January 1995, shortly after Eurostar services began in November 1994, during an evacuation exercise which was open to members of the public but not advertised. On the return leg the test trip included detraining and reboarding at Cheriton, running to Kensington Olympia, detraining and reboarding there, and finally running into Waterloo International. Security and immigration personnel were thus able to test their contingency plans to cope with an incident involving closure of Waterloo. The exercise took place at the same time as a major exhibition at the Olympia site, which was deliberate in order to assess crowd-control measures at Olympia's platforms. The train operators said that this was the first passenger-carrying Eurostar into Kensington Olympia, and also the first passenger-carrying train from Olympia to Waterloo - though by the latter claim they may have meant the first by the new route over the viaduct built for Eurostar empty-stock workings.

BLN 808.0371][BE] (Brussel -) Hove - Antwerpen Berchem: (Ball 8B3) Paris - Brussel - Amsterdam Thalys trains use Lijn 27A, the easternmost pair of tracks, to call at platforms 1 and 4 at Berchem. NMBS have extended the shelters at the southern ends of these exposed platforms to offer some cover for passengers on such long trains.

Engineering works from 3 August to 13 December 1997 will block Lijn 25, the main and westernmost pair of tracks, so trains are being diverted on to Lijn 27, the middle pair of tracks, including the Y Liersesteenweg - Y Drabstraat section, little used by passenger trains. From Y Drabstraat to Berchem Lijn 27 is already used by Lier - Antwerpen trains. Mortsel-Oude-God and Mortsel-Deurnesteenweg stations on Lijn 25 are closed during the works, so trains will instead call at Liersesteenweg (where disused platforms just south of Y Liersesteenweg have been extended and will reopen temporarily) and at Mortsel.

BLN 809.0404][BE] Knokke - Oostende - De Panne: light rail: (BLN 788.0404; Ball 7A3) Tracklaying commenced in May 1997 on the long-delayed 3km extension of the metre-gauge light-rail line heading inland from De Panne town to a cross-platform interchange at De Panne NMBS station, formerly Adinkerke.

BLN 811.0458][FR][BE] Dunkerque - Bray-Dunes SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (BLN 791.0463; Ball 6B3-7A3) LCGB Bulletin #8/97 reports that a local initiative aims to reopen the out-of-use cross-border section to passengers, using lightweight Talent or RegioSprinter diesel railcars. Meanwhile, the long-awaited extension of the Knokke - Oostende - De Panne metre-gauge light-rail line is under way (BLN 809.0404). From the present clockwise turning-circle forming the tram-terminus at De Panne south to the gate of the military cemetery near the Duinhoekstraat roundabout, about halfway to De Panne NMBS station, the double-track formation is already prepared, mostly but not all on ballasted reservation in the centre of the roadway, and by 6 September 1997 some track was already laid. Further south, nothing appeared to have been done, though drainage work under way near the station might have been tram-related.

BLN 811.0459][BE] (Antwerpen -) Boom - Puurs: (BLN 0802.0225; Ball 8B3; Lijn 52): Reopening was postponed from 1 June 1997. Amazingly, after having years in which to negotiate, NMBS and the canal operator have still to agree when the new moveable bridge over the Ruisbroek canal will be open and closed. (Trans-fer, August 1997)

BLN 811.0460][BE] (Winterslag -) Waterschei - As - Eisden: (Ball 9B2-9B3; Lijn 21B) A visit on 23 August 1997 to the Limburgse Stoom Vereniging proved disappointing. Activity seemed limited to Sunday-afternoon short-distance demonstration rides at BEF150 (=£2.60) within the station area at As (originally spelled Asch). In both directions, towards Waterschei and Eisden, the rusty track looked disused. An attempt to find the end of the line in Eisden was unsuccessful - even after locating Stationstraat! - but nearby, at a quarry off the As - Maasmechelen road, both the running line and the short quarry branch were derelict, with trees growing between the rails.

BLN 811.0461][BE][NL] Neerpelt - Hamont NMBS - Budel NS - Weert: (BLN 694.08; Ball 9B3) Passenger trains are again to be running on this freight-only international line on Saturday 4 October 1997, which is Belgium's TTB (= Train+Tram+Bus) day, when the use of public transport is specially promoted with cheap day-passes valid across the country. (In 1996, these were BEF400 if bought on the day, cheaper if bought in advance.) The Neerpelt - Weert line has no suitable passing-place, and a 40km/h speed limit on the Dutch section, so the service, provided by extending some Antwerpen - Neerpelt IR trains, is restricted to approximately 90-minute intervals, with the trip taking some 35 minutes. Neerpelt departures are 07:23, 08:45, 10:23 etc until 21:23, returning from Weert at 08:11, 09:33, 11:11 etc until 22:11.

BLN 813.0520][BE] Antoing west-to-south curve: (Ball 7B1; Lignes 1, 78) The twice-daily Paris - Mons - Charleroi - Namur TGVs which begin using the raccordement d'Antoing from 14 December 1997 (BLN 0802.0223) are regarded by SNCF as an experimental service, with a challenging target of 60% loadings by end-1999. This will demand significant traffic growth, but the end-to-end journey will be an hour faster than the present route via Erquelinnes. The single TGV set to be used will run empty from Namur to Liège to stable overnight.

BLN 813.0521][BE] Fleurus - Tamines / Auvelais: (BLN 0802.0226; Ball 8B1; Ligne 147) Work has begun to restore this 15km closed line and electrify a single track for new freight flows to begin in 2001. The junction at the southern end is to face east to Auvelais rather than west to Tamines as before. Plans are for southbound freights, up to 36 a day, to run (Antwerpen - Leuven -) Ottignies - Fleurus - Auvelais - Namur (- Dinant - Bertrix - Athus), avoiding the steep gradient at Mont-Saint-Guibert on the Bruxelles - Luxembourg main line. Northbound trains would use a different route, running Namur - Jemeppe - Gembloux - Ottignies.

BLN 813.0522][BE] (Antwerpen -) Boom - Puurs: (BLN 811.0459; Ball 8B3; Lijn 52): Passenger services should restart in late 1997 or early 1998. NMBS and NV Zeekanaal have at last agreed on new communications links needed to minimise delays to trains and shipping at the moveable bridge over the Schelde - Brussel ship canal at Ruisbroek.

BLN 813.0523][BE] Trois Ponts - Malmédy - Waimes - Weywertz - Butgenbach - Büllingen: (BLN 747 suppt; Ball 10A1; Lignes 45, 48 and 45A) The timber traffic over this part of the Vennbahn (BLN 795.064) now runs regularly, but no longer goes to Sourbrodt for transhipment to lorries. The sidings for the sawmill at Büllingen have still not been restored, but the twelve-wagon trains are unloaded there on the running line.

BLN 813.0524][BE] Marbehan - Y St.Lambert - Sainte-Marie - Croix-Rouge: (BLN 763.0420; Ball 17B2; Ligne 155) From this once-threatened freight-only branch, a new industrial line (Y St.Lambert - zoning de Gantaufet; Ligne 289) was officially inaugurated on 1 July 1997 to serve the Valvert mineral-water plant at Etalle. By August the raccordement Valvert was carrying 123 wagons a month. (paragraphs 0520-0524 from Trans-fer, #105)

BLN 815.0569][FR][BE] Dunkerque - Bray-Dunes SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (Ball 6B3-7A3) A rail-replacement bus runs twice a day between Dunkerque station and Bray-Dunes station. If a cross-border rail service is to restart (BLN 811.0458) some work will need to be done on the rusty track, very visibly disused for years, with a tree growing between the rails at Bray-Dunes in October 1997. Someone had however removed the two-sleepers-set-in-a-V-shape which blocked the line near the frontier in 1996 (BLN 791.0463). The Franco-Belgian frontier is at the first level-crossing and runs along the north-east side of the road leading to Maison de la Dune, the most northerly point of all France. About 50m inside Belgium, the trackside sign still stands with its two diamonds facing east, the top one bearing the Belgian railway logo barré (with a line through it) and the bottom one the SNCF logo, indicating the point where signalling rather than track-ownership changes (BLN 713.04, 721.08). A treadle is set in the line her e. At the next level-crossing, Westhoek, the line is traversed diagonally by the N386 road, no longer so busy since the 1997 opening of the cross-border autoroute a little to the south.

BLN 815.0570][BE] Knokke - Oostende - De Panne: light rail: (BLN 811.0458; Ball 7A3) Before the 1914-18 war metre-gauge Vicinal tracks ran to Adinkerke station (now De Panne NMBS) so the extension to replace the present bus-route #781 is in effect restoration, though the alignment is new. Much development has taken place in the area. A BLN correspondent recalls that about 1962 he helped the tram-driver clear wind-blown sand from the then-exposed De Panne turning-circle, which now lies in a built-up residential area. By mid-October 1997 nothing much had yet been done at that point to prepare for connection of the present running line to the Adinkerke extension, and it looks as though once the latter is ready, the turning-circle may simply be abolished, with a slight lowering in the level of the rails across the road junction to link to the new reserved track, whose rails are already in place from about 100m down the extension. Rails were also in place in the tarmac at a number of minor-road junctions, and on a street-running section near the church where the road is too narrow for reserved track. The double-track reservation then takes to the east side of the road. A reversing crossover was in place but not yet ballasted. After about 500m track ended, but piles of rail and sleepers awaited laying on the next section, already equipped with drainage and bottom ballast. No masts or mast bases were seen anywhere on the extension.

As noted in BLN 811, south of the Duinhoekstraat roundabout little was apparent of the route, but a De Lijn poster indicated its alignment southward in fields east of the houses lining the road towards the station, turning west to cross the road and head for the Meli amusement-park north of the station, where a new turning-circle and depot are to be set up on the present muddy building-site. Somewhat optimistically, the poster gave the opening-date of the extension as "next year". The Meli park, whose winter hours are 14:00-18:00, has a narrow-gauge railway.

BLN 815.0571][BE] Liège: Y Garde-Dieu - Angleur: (BLN 800.0185; Ball 9B1) By 22 September 1997 track and wiring on this north-to-east curve had been restored. Though still blocked by red flags at each end, the track looked as if it had seen some use, presumably by engineering trains. It looked the same on 6 October, but by 19 October the flags had been removed and the track looked in full use again. The works which caused the temporary closure of the curve were for a new road under the river, rather than for the Bruxelles - Liège - Aachen high-speed rail line, according to SNCB's October publication Liège: passeport pour l'avenir.

BLN 816.0593][FR][BE] Rail-cycle hiring: (BLN 792.0492-3) Details of eleven sections of closed lines in France and one in Belgium on which vélo-rails can be hired are given at http://www.trains-fr.org/unecto/velorail.htm, another of the pages on the UNECTO website. To help you plan your 1998 holiday, the page, updated 11 November 1997, includes location, length of track available, contact address and telephone number.

BLN 816.0594][BE] Bruxelles Nord/Brussel Noord - Bruxelles-National-Aéroport/Brussel-Nationaal-Luchthaven: (Ball 10B2; SNCB/NMBS 36C) The new underground station at the airport terminal is deeper down and almost at right angles to the old one, on an alignment which would allow construction of a through line beneath the airport north to Antwerpen. This through line is still not firmly decided upon, but work is under way to link the new station to the Bruxelles - Liège main line. Delays at the junction to traffic leaving the present airport branch have become normal. On this stretch Ligne/Lijn 36 has three tracks, the middle one being used by InterCity trains in the direction of peak traffic, while IC trains in the opposite direction share with local services. As part of the contentious plans for the Bruxelles - Liège TGV line, construction of a fourth track, proposed but not yet agreed, would see two of the tracks becoming dedicated to TGV and IC trains.