Not Just Waffles and Chocolate - Belgium is a Railfan's Delight

After I visited Train World in Brussels, I walked to the adjacent Schaerbeek train station to catch a train back to the central train station. My luggage was in a locker in the Centraal station, so I had to get that first before proceeding on to Aalter, my final destination.

There are a lot of trains passing through the Schaerbeek station. This is a snapshot of a bit over 2 hours for a Sunday afternoon at Schaerbeek.

Schaerbeek Trains

These are just the trains that stop at Schaerbeek. I'd say the same number passed through the station without stopping when I was there.

I just missed the train I intended to take, so I had to wait a bit. It turned out that I waited for almost an hour. In retrospect, I certainly could have left earlier, had I known more about Belgian train schedules. Trains going to Antwerp, for example, also stop in the central station along the way, and I could have taken one of those. All I had to go by was the video display and paper schedule posted in the tunnel under the tracks, and that showed the next train stopping in Centraal was in about 50 minutes.

Fortunately, it wasn't cold, and I wasn't in a hurry, so I was happy to wait on the platform and photograph trains as they went by.

I'm going to share some of the photos I took in that hour of waiting. I'm not sharing every train, but just the ones I found the most interesting. Also, these aren't in order of appearance.

Domestic Trains

Class 18

1858 and a double-decker train

This is a Siemens class 18 (EuroSprinter ES60U3) locomotive pulling a "double-decker" train on a passing track. SNCB, the Belgian train operator, purchased 120 of these electric locomotives starting in 2008. I saw quite a few of them when I was in Belgium.

SNCB 1922 at Schaerbeek

In fact, I saw at least 3 while I was waiting for my train!

SNCB 1907 at Schaerbeek

I rode in a few of the two-level trainsets. They are pretty comfortable but I imagine it can be difficult for people who have trouble with stairs, as you have to climb or descend stairs to sit anywhere. This is what the top deck looks like from the inside:

Desiro

Siemens Desiro ML

These Siemens Desiro ML trainsets are all over the place in Belgium. I photographed quite a few of them. I was glad the sun came out for a little while so I could capture this image of the train in front of the old station. I especially like the two old gentlemen standing on the platform.

Siemens Desiro ML by Platform 9

You can see I was standing on platform 9 waiting for my train.

Number 9

Pig Nose

Wonder why it's called a "pig nose"?

The above train is an MR-75 / AM75 electric multiple unit (EMU) train. There are 44 of these trainsets, built between 1975 and 1979. Refurbishment started on these in 2015 and should be complete by 2020, extending their life by another 15 to 20 years. They are called "pig nose" trains for fairly obvious reasons.

AM96

Not the most attractive train

These AM96 trains seemed the least attractive to me. They remind me of this:

(that's a sandworm from Dune, in case you're not a science fiction geek like me)

One more domestic train before we move on to the international trains I saw at Schaerbeek.

Not sure what kind this is!

International Trains

Thalys train at Schaerbeek

This Thalys trainset also did not stop at Schaerbeek. Thalys is an intercity train serving Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. I've always liked the look of their trains.

A Dutch train!

The above train bears the logo of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, aka the Dutch national railway (Dutch is a great language). The blue and yellow is a classy look, in my opinion.

Class 186 (TRAXX) locomotive

There was a class 186 locomotive on either end of this train. These Bombardier TRAXX F140 MS locomotives push/pull the international trains between Amsterdam and Antwerp. They operate on the HSL-Zuid high speed rail line but these locomotives are only capable of 160 km/hr, so they take a back seat to the much faster Thalys trains.

This train just LOOKS fast

I was pleased to catch a German Intercity-Express (ICE) train going through Schaerbeek. I believe this is an ICE 3 trainset - a Siemens Verlaro - capable of 320 km/hr speeds. It certainly wasn't going that fast through here!

Maintenance of Way

Spoorworken. What a great language!

The above vehicle is a Plasser and Theurer tamper - specifically a Unimat 08-275 3S. Tampers pack (tamp) the ballast under railway ties to make the track more durable. Check the link for a video showing the tamper in action.

"Spoorworken" means "railway work" and Vanormelingen-Stas is an equipment rental company.

Medisa VM500 SAB

This vehicle is a Matisa VM500 SAB. As far as I can tell, it has platforms on the roof that can be raised for working on overhead electric wiring.

A closeup

Off to Aalter

Eventually my train came and I took it to the Centraal station, fetched my luggage, then got on the train to Aalter. I had to switch trains in Ghent (known as Gent-Sint-Peters station) so I took a few photos from the platform there while I waited. You'll see more photos from that station in another post.

Autoracks in Belgium!

 I find it very interesting that European trains still have cars and trucks in open autoracks. In North America almost all road vehicles are shipped in enclosed autoracks to protect them from theft and vandalism. Clearly that's not as much of a problem in Europe. In fact, as you can see, they are shipped without any covering at all, not even the vinyl coverings over the headlights and other vulnerable bits that you see in North America.

Another Desiro trainset

Another Desiro ML trainset came rolling through Ghent while I was waiting.

My train was a double-decker with a class 18 EuroSprinter locomotives on each end. I took a video, which I will upload later when I merge several of the short clips I took together into one longer video. Here's a snap from the video:

Keep your hands to yourself!

No children were harmed in the making of that video.

By the time I got to Aalter, it was dark and my railfanning was done for the day. It was a great day to see trains, and Belgium is indeed a railfan's delight. So many trains, and all different from what I normally see in North America!

I think there will be two more posts in this series - one featuring trains at night and the other featuring trains spotted at Aalter, Brussels and Bruges. More to come!

See Also

• Part 1 - Trains in Belgium
• Part 2 - Train World

Trains at the Gare du Nord

Here are some trains I saw at the Gare du Nord in Paris, France. Most of the platforms are accessible without any tickets or security checks, which I found a bit odd. The Eurostar platforms are glassed off and you must go through significant security to gain access to the trains. I'll get into that in another post. The local RER trains require a ticket to access those platforms.

SNCF is the French state railway system. They operate numerous trains, including the TGV high-speed long distance train and local trains under the banner of SNCF Proximités. One of the local train brands is the TER, for Transport Express Régional. I spotted a couple of TER trainsets at the Gare du Nord.


These are multiple-unit trains made by Bombardier. I can't figure out if these are diesel or electric or both. TER operates several different types. I remember seeing a TER train flashing by at one of the castles we were visiting (Chenonceau).


This ugly duckling was at the head of a train. SNCF 116043 is a "class BB 16000" electric locomotive. It operates on 25 kV power, and 62 of these were built between 1958 and 1963. This locomotive has more tractive effort than a GP38-2.


I think this was another locomotive-hauled train. I did not walk down any of the platforms so I don't know what was at the other end. Maybe another "ugly duckling"?


Of course, there were TGV trains in the Gare du Nord as well. This one is a little different than the TGV sets I showed at the Gare de l'Est.


Set 3226 is a British Rail Class 373 train. It was built by GEC-Alsthom for Channel Tunnel operation between London, Paris and Brussels and the series is called "Three Capitals". I don't believe these SNCF-owned trainsets actually go through the Channel Tunnel any more.

Here's a Thalys high-speed train.


Extra: The VIA Rail Renaissance cars were originally intended for the "Nightstar" cross-channel service. The intention of Nightstar was to provide sleeper service between Paris or Brussels and English cities north of London. For several reasons, mostly due to the privatization of Britain's rail network and the cancellation of regional Eurostar services, they never operated and were put in storage before being purchased by VIA Rail.

The Gare du Nord

As I mentioned, I was in France last month. I already blogged about the Gare de l'Est in Paris and now it's time to talk about the Gare du Nord.

The Gare du Nord ("north station") is quite large and serves local trains, long-distance trains to the north of France, as well as international trains to Belgium, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and of course the UK using Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel (incorrectly known as the "Chunnel").

The front of the station is quite imposing, with the big columns and statues.


Inside it is big and airy. It was quite busy all three times I was in the station, with many people standing around looking at the arrivals or departures boards, or shopping at the various vendors. The arrivals and departures boards are quite imposing.


One evening I took a walk through and shot some of the trains waiting at the platforms. Here's SNCF TGV trainsets 13 and 81 waiting at the platforms. Both sets are TGV Sud-Est types originally built for Paris-Lyons service. They carry a maximum of 345 passengers and most are capable of 300 km/hr travel on the dedicated TGV tracks, or 200 km/hr on normal track (lignes classiques).


I also saw a couple of Thalys trainsets, including set 4533 here. These are TGV Réseau sets dedicated to Thalys service between Paris and Amsterdam. You may remember I saw a Thalys train in Amsterdam back in 2008.


I have some more train photos from the Gare du Nord from my other visit and I will post them next.