These items come from Line News International ISSN 1354-0947 (c) The Branch Line Society 1999 International Editor: Brian Philp, 11 Arden Street, Edinburgh EH9 1BR, Scotland, UK, rail@rinbad.demon.co.uk

1999

BLN 842.025][BE] Knokke - Oostende - De Panne: light rail: (Ball 7A3) A Sunday-evening end-of-service working from the north uses the single-track metre-gauge loop via K.Janssenslaan and IJzerstraat to serve the Oostende town-centre stop at Maria-Joséplein before returning to the main tram-station and the nearby depot sidings. The Adinkerke extension to De Panne NMBS opened 1 July 1998, and the layout and tram-station seem complete (BLN 832.0371).

BLN 842.026][BE] Charleroi light rail: (BLN 840.0612; Ball 8B1 not shown) Arriving and departing cars used to use opposite sides of an island platform at the metre-gauge tram-terminus outside Charleroi Sud SNCB station, but the revised balloon-loop layout opened 20 August 1996 has the platforms at an angle to each other. The eastern side of the present Réseau Métro Léger is in an area formerly served by the town tramway of Societé des Transports Intercommunaux de Charleroi, whose last route, running in the street to Châtelineau, ceased 30 June 1974. Single-line working on the Vicinal generally did use signals, albeit simple two-aspect ones. The first car to enter a single-line section, from whichever end, triggered a relay that set the signals in its direction to white and turned the opposing signals to red. Thus they all remained until the car triggered another relay as it cleared the far end of the section. This system remains in use on the Anderlues section beyond the Réseau Métro.

From 15 February 1931 to 2 June 1973 the Vicinal ran Charleroi - Anderlues - Binche - Mons, and when Binche - Mons closed the trams were diverted, from 3 June 1973, to run Charleroi - Anderlues - Binche - La Louvière. The attractive Anderlues - Binche - La Louvière section through the countryside and mining villages in turn closed 29 August 1993, leaving only Charleroi - Anderlues. Within Anderlues, the short Surschiste - Monument cut-off line avoiding Anderlues Jonction opened 1 November 1941, to speed up service on Charleroi - Mons route #90. Its eastern junction, at the tram-stop once named ‘Fontaine l’Évêque Puits No.2’, and now variously ‘Surchiste’ and ‘Surschiste’ (TEC official usage is not consistent), was on 1 January 1999 still in place, with disused track, wiring and signals, though its western junction at Anderlues Monument is totally removed. The direct line is formally recorded by TEC as operating until 28 August 1993, but BLN 769.05 offered some evidence that it was actually out of use earlier that summer. Later, from some date in 1994-95, the cut-off was temporarily reopened until 27 October 1995 (BLN 752.0146, 760.0370, 767.0501, 773.090). The present passenger terminus, reached via Anderlues Jonction and Anderlues Rue de la Station, is a passing-loop in the street at Monument, beyond which a section of the old route to Binche curves some 100m south into a field as far as the next former passing-loop, now used as headshunt sidings by cars lying over between workings.

BLN 842.027][BE] Antwerpen - Herentals - Mol - Neerpelt: (BLN 837.0551, 839.0594; Ball 9B3) Due to the radical engineering works to make it a three-level station with high-speed through platforms, on 30 December 1998 Antwerpen-Centraal still had only three tracks (1, 2 and 3) in passenger use, with track 4 holding an engineering train. Brussel - Amsterdam InterCity trains no longer reverse in Centraal but run direct Antwerpen-Berchem - Antwerpen-Oost. Neerpelt services temporarily run from Oost, picking up passengers from Centraal at Berchem. At Neerpelt, connection between the xx:29 arrival and the xx:31 departure is difficult, for the hourly steam-heated push-pull sets, with a 1960s-built Class 62 diesel at the Antwerpen end, are timed for a 58-minute layover at the branch terminus, and it is therefore not uncommon for the return train to Antwerpen to begin to move from platform 1 as soon as the incoming train has cleared the points into platform 2. Once empty, the incoming train runs on to the northern end of the Neerpelt - Eksel (- Houthalen) line, using it as a headshunt to transfer to platform 1 for loading.

BLN 842.028][BE] (Vilvoorde - Delta -) Huizingen - Y Buizingen (- Halle): (BLN 733.0152; Ball 10B1; SNCB/NMBS 26) This southern section of the eastern ring line round the Belgian capital was taken out of use in May 1994 during remodelling of Y Buizingen, the junction with the Brussel/Bruxelles - Halle (- Lille) main line north of Halle. Freight traffic soon resumed, but Halle station is still being radically rebuilt, largely underground, and has insufficient platform capacity to handle the local trains off this line. They have therefore continued to turn back at Huizingen, with a Huizingen - Halle bus link. However, the Belgian public timetable’s (very large) supplement of 27 September 1998 shows the last southbound train, the 19:36 from Mechelen, running through to Halle, reopening this section of line to passengers. (Trans-fer, #110, December 1998)

BLN 842.029][BE] Dinant - Bertrix (- Virton - Athus SNCB - Rodange CFL): (BLN 722.018, 779.0214; Ball 17A3-17A2) The 25kV 50Hz electrification project for the Athus-Meuse freight route, essentially for Antwerpen - Luxembourg traffic, is proceeding with ponderous slowness. On 2 January 1999 Ligne 166 still had several sections with masts only, though a few had overhead wires, seen to good effect from the end of the 1955-built Class 45 single diesel-hydraulic cars that work the passenger service. Many of the new bi-directional signals were in place but not yet in use. The Libramont - Bertrix section of Ligne 165, similarly worked, likewise had masts only. No sign of recent activity by engineering trains was seen in the area .

BLN 842.032][DE][BE] Stolberg (Rheinland) - Walheim DB - Raeren SNCB: (BLN 775.0134; Ball 37A1-DE, 10A2-BE) The cross-border section of this line has long been out of regular use, though NATO appear to have regarded it as a strategic link (BLN 836.0491). In 1994, a German group associated with the Belgian Vennbahn operation began running a number of summer tourist trains connecting with those on the Belgian preserved line. However, Walheim viaduct needs repairs, and the costs seem unlikely to be found by the preservation group, so the connecting trains are unlikely to run in summer 1999. (Trans-fer, #110, December 1998)

BLN 844.081][FR][BE] Charleville-Mézières - Givet SNCF - Heer-Agimont SNCB - Dinant: (BLN 711.02, 713.06, 804.0271; Ball 16B2-17A3; SNCB Ligne 154) The cross-border section sees irregular summer CFV3V passenger trips but is otherwise disused. SNCF and SNCB are reported as studying electrification and reactivation of the route to meet projected growing demand for international freight paths over the period to 2010. Also now being similarly studied is reopening of the (Valenciennes -) Blanc-Misseron SNCF - Quiévrain SNCB (-St.Ghislain) link, closed at Quiévrain but mostly in place (BLN 713.05, 721.05, 736.0202, 768.0524; Ball 7B1). (LCGB Bulletin, Feb.1999)

BLN 844.090][BE] Knokke - Oostende - De Panne: light rail: (BLN 832.0371; Ball 7A3) The c.3km former Vicinal branch from De Panne to Adinkerke NMBS station, closed 5 September 1954, has been reincarnated, on a different alignment, as the metre-gauge light-rail extension that opened to traffic on 1 July 1998. Journey-time is 7 minutes. The solidly-built double track runs from the original De Panne Esplanade terminus (where a wye remains to give access to the small depot) at first in central reservation on the main N34 road, and then on its north-east side through a pleasant forest area. The principal road-crossings are light-controlled. The final section is on private track through fields, past a stop with a substantial waiting shelter on the eastbound platform, immediately adjacent to the entrance of the Meli amusement-park, a major traffic-generator. Tram-storage sidings, bus-bays and extensive park-and-ride space, plus what appears to be a sizeable staff building, form part of the new layout, mainly enclosed by the terminal loop. The tram-station has a De Lijn ticket-and-information office, and elaborate electronic departure indicators, not yet functioning on 16 August 1998, the last day of the high-summer timetable. Beneath a new high-roofed loading-area, trams call at what is in effect the north face of the main platform of De Panne (Adinkerke) NMBS station, whose traditional and pleasantly decorated building has been cleaned and restored. Leaflets at Belgian stations advertise the new link. While the design permits easy cross-platform interchange with trains on the Deinze - De Panne branch, electrified 2 June 1996 (BLN 788.0404), NMBS had on 31 December 1998 perversely parked their waiting electric unit on an outer track!

The 69km double-track Vlaamse Kusttram route has at least 30 intermediate crossovers, allowing flexible single-track working during engineering operations. Reversing points are rather fewer: two wyes and seven loops, of which three or four appear to be regularly used. Duplicate routes are provided at three points to avoid delay when bridges are open over canals, and in August the longer of the two diversions around the vast inner harbour at Zeebrugge was in use, repair work to the other, damaged, bridge being still in progress, with a short section of single-line working. Many of the distinctive ticket-kiosks (lijnwinkels) have been renewed, and 33 of the 70-odd stopping-places had staff on duty 09:00-18:00 in summer, probably students on vacation. With some 40 cars in peak service, kiosks may require fewer staff than on-tram conductors! De Lijn make a real effort to promote local tram travel to visitors who arrive by private car, stressing the opportunity to avoid parking problems, providing neat pocket timetables and other information, and handing out a free advertising newspaper to passengers.

In high-summer 1998 trams were running every twenty minutes the full length of the Flemish coast, taking 139 minutes. Between about 10:00 and 17:00 an interposed twenty-minute service ran on the central section of the route on either side of Oostende, giving a ten-minute frequency between the turning-loop at Blankenberge Duinse and the wye at Nieuwpoort Bad. From 17 August frequency dropped to two cars an hour on each service. On a very hot day in August traffic was heavy, with standing loads in the afternoon, especially into Oostende and Knokke. The single-ended BN articulated cars, among the last built in 1980-82 for the former Vicinal, are still impressively comfortable, fast, and smooth-riding. Metre-gauge but slightly wider than standard-gauge Bruxelles trams, many have been lengthened in the 1990s with new low-floor central sections, giving welcome extra accommodation that caters well for passengers with push-chairs. All the cars have been repainted from their Vicinal livery, and many have overall advertising. Quite high speeds are needed to maintain the timings, especially on the longer open stretches, but traffic congestion is a problem in the few places where the tracks have not been segregated. In the main street of De Panne, private cars parked nose-to-tail along the pavement force the numerous tourist quadricycles - a local curiosity - on to the tram lines, where they pedal along at a snail’s pace. The whole Belgian coast from the Netherlands border to France forms in effect a linear entertainment park in summer, and while a long stay might not be to everyone’s taste, one can eat remarkably well - and the tramway is an efficient and interesting operation.

BLN 846.0133][BE] Brussel/Bruxelles: The short link between the Bruxelles-Ouest line 28 (BLN 837.0549) and the Bruxelles - Charleroi line 124 (Y Cureghem - Y Forest Est; Ball 10B1; Lijn/Ligne 28/3) was omitted from NMBS/SNCB’s network map of 1 January 1998, and was indeed out of use during 1998 while most of its former embankment was removed and replaced by viaduct. On 19 February 1999, a postal electric unit was seen traversing the reopened line 28/3. Only one track seemed to be in use and certainly only one was wired. The new viaduct will permit the later construction through its arches of the high-speed route out of Bruxelles Midi, replacing the present rather circuitous line 96A from Bruxelles Midi to Forest Est. On 15 January 1999 only the northern arc of the flying junction giving access to the airport line (Y Zaventem - Bruxelles-National-Aéroport/Brussel-Nationaal-Luchthaven; BLN 831.0355; Ball 10B2; Ligne/Lijn 36C) seemed in use, with the southern arc still being made ready. By contrast, on 19 February only the southern arc was in use.

BLN 847.0170][BE] (Dendermonde -) Baasrode-Noord - Puurs: (BLN 799.0163; Ball 8A2-8A3) Compared with three round-trips on each of 15 operating days in 1998, Stoomspoorlijn Dendermonde - Puurs will run on only six days in 1999 (10,11,25 July, 8,22 August and 18 September) and with one short working (Baasrode-Noord 14:00 - 15:00 Puurs 16:00 - 17:00 Baasrode-Noord), at a return fare of BEF240. Because railcar #4302, their only piece of equipment passed to run on NMBS, is out of action, SDP are unable to run from their base at Baasrode-Noord west into Dendermonde station. (Febelrail) At the Puurs end, the SDP station - which doubles as the local tourist office - is some 100m short of the now-removed junction with NMBS, so no through-running is involved.

BLN 847.0171][BE] (Anderlues -) Lobbes - Thuin trams: (BLN 769.05, 840.0612, 842.026; Ball 8B1 not shown) In spite of financial difficulties and problems with the power-supply on this preserved metre-gauge line, the Association pour la Sauvegarde du Vicinal have made good progress with their tramway museum at Thuin. A maintenance pit was ready in November 1998, tracks were in place inside the depot by 15 February, and the concrete floor was finished by 11 March 1999. December 1998 saw approval of a EUR200k grant to construct a new electricity substation, and to begin on a second museum building. ASVi plan to transfer six heritage trams from Anderlues TEC depot by rail to Thuin before the new museum opens in July. Summer 1999 should see a diesel car running, joined by electric cars when the power-supply is restored.

The Anderlues - Lobbes section has served to link the museum line, somewhat tenuously, with sparse passenger services, to the Charleroi - Anderlues light-rail system. Once the Thuin substation is built, it is possible ASVi may decide to abandon the Anderlues - Lobbes electric poles and overhead wiring to reduce costs, but the track will still be used for rolling-stock exchange using ASVi’s two diesel tractors, at least until 2003, the planned date of completion of the second building at Thuin.

Some ASVi stock is also kept at Gosselies depot, ironically the most distant point from Thuin on the entire remaining network, at the far end of the TEC’s non-passenger Piges - Jumet - Gosselies Calvaire - Gosselies Dépôt branch (BLN 840.0612). When finances permit, TEC plan to reopen the whole of this branch to passengers, but their policy is to run public tram services only on routes which are mainly reserved track. From the junction at Piges along the Chaussée de Bruxelles to Jumet, the double track is still nearly all in the street. It is nevertheless in daily use by empty cars, for most of the tram fleet operates out of Jumet TEC depot and nearly all maintenance is undertaken there. From Jumet the section to Gosselies Calvaire is now mostly on reservation, with track newly laid in winter 1997-98, but it has scarcely been used since and then only by ASVi’s preserved trams. Beyond Gosselies Calvaire, TEC plan to renew the old track completely, eventually establishing a new interchange between trams and buses at Gosselies Dépôt. Meanwhile it costs little or nothing to keep this section available for movement of ASVi stock once or twice a year. Information: www.asvi.org.

BLN 847.0172][BE] Marbehan - Y St.Lambert - Sainte-Marie - Croix-Rouge (- Virton SNCB - Montmédy SNCF): (BLN 763.0420, 813.0524; Ball 17B2; Ligne 155) As well as visiting Croix-Rouge, whose sawmill is a freight customer at the present-day terminus of this truncated secondary line, a tour run by Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Touristique on 20 March 1999 visited the Y St.Lambert - zoning de Gantaufet industrial branch. Leaving the north-south Ligne 155 at Y St.Lambert, the c.4km single-track Ligne 289 heads east, climbing significantly, running adjacent to a road for about 1km before crossing it on the level to end in a shallow sandy cutting. There three tracks serve the modern Gantaufet industrial estate, close to the village of Etalle. The tour train stopped just short of the gate on the most northerly track. Construction of the rail connection, whose traffic is mostly or wholly Valvert mineral-water, received financial support from the local authority in order to minimise road movements. One of SNCB’s most recent extensions, Ligne 289 opened to traffic on 2 June 1997, according to one GTF publication, and was formally inaugurated on 1 July 1997, according to GTF Trans-fer, #105.

BLN 849.0241][BE] (Anderlues -) Lobbes - Thuin trams: (BLN 847.0171; Ball 8B1 not shown) Thuin’s new Vicinal museum was connected to the metre-gauge running line by 16 April 1999. During April, ASVi were fettling up the connection, building a passenger platform in front of the museum, tidying the site and putting up signs etc. May was to see transfer by rail and road of various items of stock. Public opening is planned for 4 July 1999, with a diesel presence guaranteed so that if necessary a tram service can run independently of the electricity supply.

BLN 850.0263][FR][BE] (Dunkerque - Leffrinckoucke -) Bray-Dunes SNCF - De Panne NMBS: (Ball 6B3-7A3) In May 1999 SNCF and NMBS were well advanced with their joint plans to reopen this line, at present out of use east of the Valdunes scrap-steel private siding at Leffrinckoucke and west of the passenger-stock headshunt at De Panne (BLN 837.0548). SNCF are said to have in mind specific limited freight flows, notably molten steel from Dunkerque to Belgium, probably to Gent. For their part, NMBS seem to have a broader vision of a potential strategic freight route from the Channel Tunnel, running via Gent entirely through the Flemish part of Belgium, and perhaps continuing east via Herentals and Neerpelt NMBS - Weert NS to the German frontier. Belgian investment in upgrading the line may have less to do with its economic rate of return and more to do with matching in Flemish-speaking Flanders the expenditure on electrifying and improving the Athus-Meuse freight route through French-speaking Wallonia (Dinant - Bertrix - Athus SNCB - Rodange CFL; BLN 842.029; Ball 17A3-17A2).

BLN 852.0325][BE] Dendermonde - Baasrode-Noord - Puurs: (BLN 847.0170; Ball 8A2-8A3) Stoomspoorlijn Dendermonde - Puurs are discussing with NMBS the repair of railcar #4302, and hope that running it from their base at Baasrode-Noord west into Dendermonde NMBS station can resume during summer 1999. (Febelrail)

BLN 852.0330][DE][BE] Stolberg (Rheinland) Hbf - Walheim DB - Raeren SNCB: (Ball DE-37A1, BE-10A2) After regular traffic ceased, this line remained a NATO strategic diversionary route (BLN 836.0491) for out-of-gauge military loads too large for the Gemmenich or Botzelaer frontier tunnel on the Aachen West DB - Montzen SNCB route used by ordinary freight. However, installation of a third, centred, pair of rails through the double-track tunnel removed this justification for the retention of Stolberg - Raeren in 1991. The summer tourist trains connecting with the Belgian Vennbahn (BLN 747 suppt) have been the only recent traffic and are now threatened (BLN 842.032). It seems however that a German firm are seeking to buy the section from Stolberg Hbf to the Belgian frontier, and also to restore the nearby Stolberg - Aldorf - Herzogenrath line, all with a view to setting up a local railway network, perhaps by May 2000. The latter line once served a large coke-works at Aldorf, whose site has now been completely cleared and rehabilitated. (Trans-fer, #111, April 1999)

0007][BE] Bruxelles - Liège: (BLN 802.0227; Ball 9A2-9B2) Between Leuven and Awans the high-speed line is being built alongside motorway E40. Earthworks and concrete bridges were under construction in June 1999. For much of the way one of the eastbound lanes of the autoroute has been reserved for exclusive use of rail construction traffic, with a (not widely observed) speed limit of 90km/h imposed on the other two lanes. Further east, between Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher and Ans, all trains now use the former ‘slow’ lines via the old Voroux station in place of the former ‘fast’ lines slightly to the north via Voroux-Goreux, which have been severed at the west end. The ‘up’ line was swapped on the weekend of 27-28 February and the ‘down’ line on the weekend of 8-9 May 1999. New platforms have been constructed on the totally rebuilt tracks at Voroux, Bierset and Ans.

0028][BE] Tournai - St.Ghislain: (BLN 721.05; EGTRE BE99/23; Ball 7B1-8A1) The Tournai line arrives at St.Ghislain round a curve into platforms 1 and 2, the straight alignment through platforms 3 and 4 being the original main line to France, now the dead-end St.Ghislain - Quiévrain branch. On 11 June 1999 the 11:17 from Tournai took the relief passenger line from Ville-Pommerœul to arrive in St.Ghislain platform 3. This is off-pattern for the hourly service, which normally uses platform 1, and the train is timed to run forward 3 minutes later than the pattern. The move allows the 10:34 Paris Nord - Namur Thalys to overtake - which it duly did.