The recovery of some of my lost notes reveals that in summer 1996 I had two weeks off work - a step without precedent since, I believe, the mid-1970s. I started with a visit to Belgium with, as usual, a peg on which to hang the trip - in this case another ADL railtour covering freight lines in 'Le Centre'.
Wednesday/Thursday 31.7-1.8.96
Departure from Telford around 17:20, arriving in Birmingham to collect JER at 18:15. After some difficulties with the revised one-way system around Hurst Street, departed again just after 18:20, pausing en route for an excellent (if slow) steak at the Rose & Crown, Ridgmont, and arrived at Cheriton at 23:06. A shuttle was available straight away [those were the days] and we emerged on to the A26 at 01:03 (French time, so just under an hour from the M20). The meeting had decided on the 06:16 Mons-Maubeuge but after further review of the map and timetable at the Rose & Crown the revised plan was to leave the car at Manage and catch the 05:01 to Mons (free car parking at Manage and very near the motorway). This was done with ease, time being available for a kippage stop near Valenciennes after taking the wrong route at Lille. Next time, follow the signs for Brussels!
The booking office at Manage doesn’t open until 6 so fares had to be paid on the train to Mons (at least we got a 25% discount for two people), where rover tickets were obtained plus international tickets to Maubeuge since the 06:16 doesn’t stop at Quévy. Arrival at Maubeuge at 06:45 allowed time for a coffee in the station buffet before the 07:15 SNCF local to Jeumont. Jeumont is one of the most depressing stations I’ve seen but at least we didn’t haveto wait long for the 07:50 SNCB shuttle to Charleroi. This was a minute or two late, requiring a mad dash to make the <5 minute connection for a local back to Manage. JER disappeared at Charleroi to go to Tournai, Kortrijk, Lichtervelde etc. I drove the car up to De Pinte, with great difficulty staying awake.
Arriving at De Pinte at 10:40 I managed to catch the 10:43 to Gent (from the Ronse line platforms, thus doing the physical connection at last) and, miraculously, the 10:52 back. Time was therefore available to get some breakfast (!) before meeting JER at 12. A pause was taken at Der Pinte (so so but OK-ish) before heading for Formula 1 at Gent to abandon the car. Car duly parked, the no. 70 bus obliged as far as Dampoort station where excellent bespoke sandwiches were obtained before catching the 13:34 to Antwerpen Centraal. After a short wait at Antwerpen we went down the branch to Boom, which proved to be a worthy rival to Jeumont in terms of depressing-ness. Yes, there was a bar near the station (only one, could this be Belgium?) but no, it was shut (yes, it could). Hastily retiring to Antwerpen we caught the tram to Melkmarkt for a quick Old Town crawl.
The first port of call was Paters Vaetje – 'awesome view of cathedral belltower from outside tables' [this was an allusion to the long standing description of the Crown at Stockport in the Good Beer Guide ‘awesome view of viaduct from outside Gents’!] - for Witkap Tripel (DSC) and Piraat (JER). We continued to De Herk (where the roof had been leaking – fortunately it wasn’t raining) for excellent Westmalle Tripel in an old glass. Very affable staff here. The final venue was Groote Witte Arend which is a very impressive and somewhat artistic venue. Good Westmalle Tripel here too. [I’m surprised at that superfluous comment – is there any other sort of WmT?] Returning to Gent we just missed a bus due to lengthy queuing in the chip shop, so finally arriving to book a room at the Formule 1 at about 20:30, the rest of the evening was cancelled due to total exhaustion!
Departure from Telford around 17:20, arriving in Birmingham to collect JER at 18:15. After some difficulties with the revised one-way system around Hurst Street, departed again just after 18:20, pausing en route for an excellent (if slow) steak at the Rose & Crown, Ridgmont, and arrived at Cheriton at 23:06. A shuttle was available straight away [those were the days] and we emerged on to the A26 at 01:03 (French time, so just under an hour from the M20). The meeting had decided on the 06:16 Mons-Maubeuge but after further review of the map and timetable at the Rose & Crown the revised plan was to leave the car at Manage and catch the 05:01 to Mons (free car parking at Manage and very near the motorway). This was done with ease, time being available for a kippage stop near Valenciennes after taking the wrong route at Lille. Next time, follow the signs for Brussels!
The booking office at Manage doesn’t open until 6 so fares had to be paid on the train to Mons (at least we got a 25% discount for two people), where rover tickets were obtained plus international tickets to Maubeuge since the 06:16 doesn’t stop at Quévy. Arrival at Maubeuge at 06:45 allowed time for a coffee in the station buffet before the 07:15 SNCF local to Jeumont. Jeumont is one of the most depressing stations I’ve seen but at least we didn’t haveto wait long for the 07:50 SNCB shuttle to Charleroi. This was a minute or two late, requiring a mad dash to make the <5 minute connection for a local back to Manage. JER disappeared at Charleroi to go to Tournai, Kortrijk, Lichtervelde etc. I drove the car up to De Pinte, with great difficulty staying awake.
Arriving at De Pinte at 10:40 I managed to catch the 10:43 to Gent (from the Ronse line platforms, thus doing the physical connection at last) and, miraculously, the 10:52 back. Time was therefore available to get some breakfast (!) before meeting JER at 12. A pause was taken at Der Pinte (so so but OK-ish) before heading for Formula 1 at Gent to abandon the car. Car duly parked, the no. 70 bus obliged as far as Dampoort station where excellent bespoke sandwiches were obtained before catching the 13:34 to Antwerpen Centraal. After a short wait at Antwerpen we went down the branch to Boom, which proved to be a worthy rival to Jeumont in terms of depressing-ness. Yes, there was a bar near the station (only one, could this be Belgium?) but no, it was shut (yes, it could). Hastily retiring to Antwerpen we caught the tram to Melkmarkt for a quick Old Town crawl.
The first port of call was Paters Vaetje – 'awesome view of cathedral belltower from outside tables' [this was an allusion to the long standing description of the Crown at Stockport in the Good Beer Guide ‘awesome view of viaduct from outside Gents’!] - for Witkap Tripel (DSC) and Piraat (JER). We continued to De Herk (where the roof had been leaking – fortunately it wasn’t raining) for excellent Westmalle Tripel in an old glass. Very affable staff here. The final venue was Groote Witte Arend which is a very impressive and somewhat artistic venue. Good Westmalle Tripel here too. [I’m surprised at that superfluous comment – is there any other sort of WmT?] Returning to Gent we just missed a bus due to lengthy queuing in the chip shop, so finally arriving to book a room at the Formule 1 at about 20:30, the rest of the evening was cancelled due to total exhaustion!
Perhaps it would have been better to wait for a sunny day.
Cockerill-built Co-Co diesel electric 5164 at Boom on 1.8.96
Friday/Saturday 2-3.8.96
Showered, clean-clothed and much recovered, we were out for the first bus of the day at 06:12 to Gent St Pieters. This was sufficiently late to miss the 06:31 train but sufficiently early to allow for breakfast before the 06:48 which I left at Brussel Noord for the 07:30 to Brussel QL and thence 07:47 to Etterbeek. The object was to get to Huizingen on line 26 – on the way there it occurred to me that I might not have done the north-south (Delta-Boondael) side of the Etterbeek-Delta-Boondael triangle so made a hasty return to Delta on the same train to make sure.
Returning to Huizingen (via Etterbeek so now all three sides are definitely done!) the bustitution service to Halle was sampled. This appears not to go to the station at Halle (which is a shambles), but does really! While waiting at Halle a loaded Thalys TGV set went through wrong line (towards Brussels) on platform 3. Reason unknown, since the normal Up line through platform 1 was available.
From Halle I took 09:38 to Manage to make ensure that the north side of the triangle west of Manage had been done. This train waits for over 10 minutes at Braine-le-Comte. The 10:33 Manage-Charleroi also has a lengthy wait, at Luttre. Physical junction is west of Manage, so all well there. The Manage-Charlroi was 2 minutes late for a 5 minute connection at Charleroi but the connection is cross platform (on to an IR to Liège) so it was easily made, for an uneventful run to Liège.
[What happened next is something of a mystery. It appears that my friend and I went our separate ways again after Brussel Noord and presumably met up again at Gent as the car was still there. I do have a note in one of my books that on 2.8.96 I travelled from Gent to Troisvierges. This accounts for my photograph of the TGV at Liège, and probably for the rest of the day as it would have taken a while for the round trip. The 1993 BLS Luxembourg tour had reached Troisvierges so this outing would have completed the Liège-Trois Ponts-Luxembourg route for me. One thing my photograph catalogue reveals is that the following day, Saturday 3.8.96, we were (or at least I was) on an ADL tour, which originated at Gent, hence the stay at the Formule 1, definitely not my favourite among Accor’s brands!
The ADL tour, ADL 35 ‘ Charleroi & Le Centre’, started from Gent Sint Pieters at 07:25 and consisted of diesel hydraulic DMU 4006, then in the ownership of the ‘heritage’ arm of SNCB/NMBS.The route was line 50 to Melle, 122 to Zottegem and Geraadsbergen, and 90 to Ath, then 92 to Y. Lens, where we took the freight-only curve to Y. Jurbise. Line 96 took us from Y.Jurbise to Y.Soignies and the freight curve to Y. Ecaussines on line117 from Braine-le-Comte to Manage. We continued to cover a series of branches off 117 – 269 from Y.Feluy to Feluy Zoning (industrial area), 276 from Familleureux to Seneffe Parc Industrie, and 141 from Manage to a car distribution site at Seneffe. Next we ran down 117 and 124 to Roux and through the two yards north and south of Monceau to reach line 260, via the branches to Amercoeur (260A) and Pont de Dampremy before continuing to line 140 just north of Charleroi-Ouest. Where we reversed to head via various freight yards to Catelet. Here we reversed to do line 138 to Acoz, then continued via 130 to Tamines for the final branch of the day, 155 to Aisemont. Return to Gent was via the then-threatened line 144 from Jemeppe to Gembloux then 161 to Bruxelles Quartier Leopold, Y. Josaphat, 161.1 to Y. Zennebrug and line 50 to Gent. That’s the simplified version... It seems from records found on the Internet (thank you, MW) that diesel locos 6254 (Feluy branch) and 6244 assisted; the dimmest of dimmest recollections on my part is that 4006 may have been struggling for power. I could well be wrong on that point though. Old age is creeping on!
I suspect also that my friend JR probably made his way back to the UK on the Sunday morning as my notes resume in the middle of a visit to the preserved Dendermonde-Puurs line. I clearly recall being on my own that day (and for reasons which become clear in my notes, needing, and fortunately having in the car, a spare pair of trousers!) and as the steam train was running it must have been the Sunday. So, here goes for the rest of the trip.]
Showered, clean-clothed and much recovered, we were out for the first bus of the day at 06:12 to Gent St Pieters. This was sufficiently late to miss the 06:31 train but sufficiently early to allow for breakfast before the 06:48 which I left at Brussel Noord for the 07:30 to Brussel QL and thence 07:47 to Etterbeek. The object was to get to Huizingen on line 26 – on the way there it occurred to me that I might not have done the north-south (Delta-Boondael) side of the Etterbeek-Delta-Boondael triangle so made a hasty return to Delta on the same train to make sure.
Returning to Huizingen (via Etterbeek so now all three sides are definitely done!) the bustitution service to Halle was sampled. This appears not to go to the station at Halle (which is a shambles), but does really! While waiting at Halle a loaded Thalys TGV set went through wrong line (towards Brussels) on platform 3. Reason unknown, since the normal Up line through platform 1 was available.
From Halle I took 09:38 to Manage to make ensure that the north side of the triangle west of Manage had been done. This train waits for over 10 minutes at Braine-le-Comte. The 10:33 Manage-Charleroi also has a lengthy wait, at Luttre. Physical junction is west of Manage, so all well there. The Manage-Charlroi was 2 minutes late for a 5 minute connection at Charleroi but the connection is cross platform (on to an IR to Liège) so it was easily made, for an uneventful run to Liège.
[What happened next is something of a mystery. It appears that my friend and I went our separate ways again after Brussel Noord and presumably met up again at Gent as the car was still there. I do have a note in one of my books that on 2.8.96 I travelled from Gent to Troisvierges. This accounts for my photograph of the TGV at Liège, and probably for the rest of the day as it would have taken a while for the round trip. The 1993 BLS Luxembourg tour had reached Troisvierges so this outing would have completed the Liège-Trois Ponts-Luxembourg route for me. One thing my photograph catalogue reveals is that the following day, Saturday 3.8.96, we were (or at least I was) on an ADL tour, which originated at Gent, hence the stay at the Formule 1, definitely not my favourite among Accor’s brands!
The ADL tour, ADL 35 ‘ Charleroi & Le Centre’, started from Gent Sint Pieters at 07:25 and consisted of diesel hydraulic DMU 4006, then in the ownership of the ‘heritage’ arm of SNCB/NMBS.The route was line 50 to Melle, 122 to Zottegem and Geraadsbergen, and 90 to Ath, then 92 to Y. Lens, where we took the freight-only curve to Y. Jurbise. Line 96 took us from Y.Jurbise to Y.Soignies and the freight curve to Y. Ecaussines on line117 from Braine-le-Comte to Manage. We continued to cover a series of branches off 117 – 269 from Y.Feluy to Feluy Zoning (industrial area), 276 from Familleureux to Seneffe Parc Industrie, and 141 from Manage to a car distribution site at Seneffe. Next we ran down 117 and 124 to Roux and through the two yards north and south of Monceau to reach line 260, via the branches to Amercoeur (260A) and Pont de Dampremy before continuing to line 140 just north of Charleroi-Ouest. Where we reversed to head via various freight yards to Catelet. Here we reversed to do line 138 to Acoz, then continued via 130 to Tamines for the final branch of the day, 155 to Aisemont. Return to Gent was via the then-threatened line 144 from Jemeppe to Gembloux then 161 to Bruxelles Quartier Leopold, Y. Josaphat, 161.1 to Y. Zennebrug and line 50 to Gent. That’s the simplified version... It seems from records found on the Internet (thank you, MW) that diesel locos 6254 (Feluy branch) and 6244 assisted; the dimmest of dimmest recollections on my part is that 4006 may have been struggling for power. I could well be wrong on that point though. Old age is creeping on!
I suspect also that my friend JR probably made his way back to the UK on the Sunday morning as my notes resume in the middle of a visit to the preserved Dendermonde-Puurs line. I clearly recall being on my own that day (and for reasons which become clear in my notes, needing, and fortunately having in the car, a spare pair of trousers!) and as the steam train was running it must have been the Sunday. So, here goes for the rest of the trip.]
Thalys TGV set 4532 at Liège Guillemins on 2.8.96. This very dreary station has been completely rebuilt in spectacular style (opened 2009), a short distance to the east, and its previously sleazy surroundings much improved. |
It proved impossible to resist showing the new Liège-Guillemins station!
[Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence, with thanks to Wikimedia user 'Matlin' for making his work available.] |
The ADL
‘Charleroi & Le Centre’, tour train, 3-car DEMU 4006, pauses for a photo stop early in the tour on 3.8.96. Location is unknown but possibly in the Ecaussines area. |
Again an unknown location, but a good example of the great co-operation from NMBS/SNCB on these ADL tours. 6244 boldly takes the tour train where no train has been for some while... |
At the third 'mystery location' 6244 and 6254 are top-and-tailing the DEMU at the end of one of the branches. |
Sunday 4/8/96, afternoon.
[Notes missing up to this point] ... we eventually trundled off to Baasrode, beside the NMBS Mechelen line for a mile or so and pausing to operate the NMBS AHBs by hand (or, presumably, to telephone NMBS and ask them to lower the barriers). At Baasrode the opportunity for a quick photograph of the steam loco was taken, which prompted the fireman to invite me to take one from the cab, which I did, thanked him and dived off. He then called down to invite me to ride to Puurs on the footplate. This being highly acceptable [and I’m absolutely sure, not permissible nowadays], my bag was left in the buffet car and a very dirty ride to Puurs was greatly enjoyed. It was enlivened (and made more dirty) by a watering-can-sized oil container falling off the firebox (and its contents over my trousers) just after leaving Baasrode. The loco was a German 0-6-0 of 1945 vintage, sadly running bunker first, but you can’t have everything! [Photographs confirm the loco was 0-8-0T ‘Duvel’ (Henschel 29884/1946) which just shows I should take more care when writing my notes! ]. A diesel shunter is brought along at the back to assist in running the train round just west of the SDP [Stoomtrein Dendermonde-Puurs] station, which is just off the main line, on the original alignment.
After all this the trip back to England via Kortrijk (both GBG pubs shut as usual), Poperinge, Le Shuttle (utter chaos, two trains an hour on an exceptionally busy day, and those at xx:00 and xx:15), and Dartford was a bit of an anticlimax. Near excitement in the tunnel when after a few miles crawl the chef de train announced that an HGV shuttle had been stopped in front of us and ‘we may cross to the other tunnel’. It started again, so we didn’t.
Back at Watford Junction I collected Mrs EG; InterCity West Coast was in fine form with a 30 minutes late arrival eventually turning into 70. It took 15 minutes to get the (wrong) compensation form from the booking office.
[Notes missing up to this point] ... we eventually trundled off to Baasrode, beside the NMBS Mechelen line for a mile or so and pausing to operate the NMBS AHBs by hand (or, presumably, to telephone NMBS and ask them to lower the barriers). At Baasrode the opportunity for a quick photograph of the steam loco was taken, which prompted the fireman to invite me to take one from the cab, which I did, thanked him and dived off. He then called down to invite me to ride to Puurs on the footplate. This being highly acceptable [and I’m absolutely sure, not permissible nowadays], my bag was left in the buffet car and a very dirty ride to Puurs was greatly enjoyed. It was enlivened (and made more dirty) by a watering-can-sized oil container falling off the firebox (and its contents over my trousers) just after leaving Baasrode. The loco was a German 0-6-0 of 1945 vintage, sadly running bunker first, but you can’t have everything! [Photographs confirm the loco was 0-8-0T ‘Duvel’ (Henschel 29884/1946) which just shows I should take more care when writing my notes! ]. A diesel shunter is brought along at the back to assist in running the train round just west of the SDP [Stoomtrein Dendermonde-Puurs] station, which is just off the main line, on the original alignment.
After all this the trip back to England via Kortrijk (both GBG pubs shut as usual), Poperinge, Le Shuttle (utter chaos, two trains an hour on an exceptionally busy day, and those at xx:00 and xx:15), and Dartford was a bit of an anticlimax. Near excitement in the tunnel when after a few miles crawl the chef de train announced that an HGV shuttle had been stopped in front of us and ‘we may cross to the other tunnel’. It started again, so we didn’t.
Back at Watford Junction I collected Mrs EG; InterCity West Coast was in fine form with a 30 minutes late arrival eventually turning into 70. It took 15 minutes to get the (wrong) compensation form from the booking office.
Footplate view from SDP no 2 'Duvel' at Baasrode, 4.8.96 |
Stoomtrein Dendermonde-Puurs 0-8-0T no. 2 'Duvel' at Baasrode 4.8.96. |
Writing this over a quarter of a century later, from scrappy notes, I did wonder why I was meeting up with Mrs EG at Watford Junction! However it eventually dawned that the weekend had been rather inconveniently timed to run straight into our 25th anniversary 'Grand Tour', of which more on the next page, so this saved me a return drive from Watford to Telford and enabled us to head straight towards our pre-flight accommodation instead.
