Another noteless, and I believe short, venture across the Channel for a weekend of IBSE railtours. One was in Belgium and the other nearby in Germany and the only clues I have are some photos and some very useful information from a friend (thank you, Geoff) about the tour in Belgium.
Saturday 5 July 1997
Given that my spotting notes indicate that I travelled from Milmort (close to just north of Liège), and taking into account previous form in the matter, it seems probable that I travelled over by car and Eurotunnel the previous day and stayed at the - shall we just say 'fairly basic' - Formule-1 at Herstal. Accor seem to be divesting themselves of this brand now, unsurprisingly given their seemingly upwardly mobile aspirations! That particular site is now the 'Hôtel Class'Eco Liège'. But at the time was, a place to lay one's head in a seemingly clean and safe environment (I'm still alive anyway) at minimum cost, so it suited well enough. On therefore to the day's tour, organised by the German society IBSE (Interessengemeinschaft zur Bereisung von Straßenbahn und Eisenbahnstrecken). This was a solid track tour of the format familiar to trackbashers in England, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere and incorporating a number of freight branches and unusual routes.
Highlights of the route, as recounted to me by the above-mentioned friend, who's clearly much better at keeping notes than I am, were :
Liers - Rocourt; Y Longchamps - Visé Haut ; Bressoux - Chertal; Flémalle Haute - Flémalle Annexe - Seraing;
Y Leman - Flémalle Espérance; Y Val St Lambert - Engis Zoning; Seraing - Kinkempois - Y Aguesses; Statte - Moha; Statte - Marchin.
I'd gone to some lengths to get to Moha the previous year but most of the rest was new to me at the time. The train was a single car unit, 4505.
Given that my spotting notes indicate that I travelled from Milmort (close to just north of Liège), and taking into account previous form in the matter, it seems probable that I travelled over by car and Eurotunnel the previous day and stayed at the - shall we just say 'fairly basic' - Formule-1 at Herstal. Accor seem to be divesting themselves of this brand now, unsurprisingly given their seemingly upwardly mobile aspirations! That particular site is now the 'Hôtel Class'Eco Liège'. But at the time was, a place to lay one's head in a seemingly clean and safe environment (I'm still alive anyway) at minimum cost, so it suited well enough. On therefore to the day's tour, organised by the German society IBSE (Interessengemeinschaft zur Bereisung von Straßenbahn und Eisenbahnstrecken). This was a solid track tour of the format familiar to trackbashers in England, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere and incorporating a number of freight branches and unusual routes.
Highlights of the route, as recounted to me by the above-mentioned friend, who's clearly much better at keeping notes than I am, were :
Liers - Rocourt; Y Longchamps - Visé Haut ; Bressoux - Chertal; Flémalle Haute - Flémalle Annexe - Seraing;
Y Leman - Flémalle Espérance; Y Val St Lambert - Engis Zoning; Seraing - Kinkempois - Y Aguesses; Statte - Moha; Statte - Marchin.
I'd gone to some lengths to get to Moha the previous year but most of the rest was new to me at the time. The train was a single car unit, 4505.
IBSE did their best! Undergrowth thwarts the tour half way along the platform at Rocourt on 5-7-97 |
Crossing the road at Moha |
4505 at the end of the line at the Arcelor works, some 2km short of Marchin |
Sunday 6 July 1997
The Sunday tour was across the border in Germany, and IBSE's tour list describes it as covering 'Branch lines around Düren' (between Aachen and Köln). The tour covered those lines of the Dürener Kreisbahn (DKB) north of the Aachen-Köln main line, together with the then closed line south-east towards Euskirchen (Wikipedia reports "For the first time in years, a special passenger train rolled from Düren to Euskirchen on July 6, 1997" - Google translation from the original German). We also covered (as far as we were allowed) a military branch which I believe to be the one turning south west off the Aachen line at Gürzenich, just west of Düren, to a site (no longer in use of course!) just south of Schevenhüttener Straße. The northern lines had been visited by ADL the previous year but on that occasion we hadn't been able to get to Puffendorf due to there being no facility to run our steam loco round thereat.
On this occasion there were no run-round problems as we were using the Eisenbahn Amateur Klub Jülich's Ferkeltaxi unit, 798 670+998 908.
The Sunday tour was across the border in Germany, and IBSE's tour list describes it as covering 'Branch lines around Düren' (between Aachen and Köln). The tour covered those lines of the Dürener Kreisbahn (DKB) north of the Aachen-Köln main line, together with the then closed line south-east towards Euskirchen (Wikipedia reports "For the first time in years, a special passenger train rolled from Düren to Euskirchen on July 6, 1997" - Google translation from the original German). We also covered (as far as we were allowed) a military branch which I believe to be the one turning south west off the Aachen line at Gürzenich, just west of Düren, to a site (no longer in use of course!) just south of Schevenhüttener Straße. The northern lines had been visited by ADL the previous year but on that occasion we hadn't been able to get to Puffendorf due to there being no facility to run our steam loco round thereat.
On this occasion there were no run-round problems as we were using the Eisenbahn Amateur Klub Jülich's Ferkeltaxi unit, 798 670+998 908.
The Rurtalbahn (DKB) maintenance depot at Distelrath, then under construction |
The tour train at the furthest point we were allowed to go on the mysterious military branch! |
The tour at the end of the line at Linnich |
Photo stop on the Puffendorf branch. Location's unknown, |
Another view at the photo stop. |
The ferkeltaxis at Puffendorf |
I found myself heading back to Belgium and Germany at the end of July, for an ADL steam tour in Belgium and some branch line collecting in Germany. This time I made some notes, though it's taken me until 2023 to find them!
