For my last post in the "not just waffles and chocolate" series of Belgium train posts, I'm going to post some passenger train photos, in the order I took them.
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| February 13 - sunrise in Aalter |
Here's a train at sunrise on the 13th. I'm fascinated by the electric overhead lines. Have a look at the little details as we go through these photos. Power wires, support wires, support poles, tensioners, weights... lots of little things.
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| February 15 - sunset in Aalter |
A Desiro ML trainset at sunset in Aalter.
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| A Belgian signal light in Aalter |
With a busy line like the Antwerp-Brussels line, you have to have signals to control traffic. Signals like this are everywhere.
I can't claim to understand Belgian signals after observing them for two weeks, but I can tell you that red means "no train coming" and green means "train imminent".
This page has a ridiculous amount of detail on Belgian train signals.
Note that in Belgium, trains normally go on the left track when there are two tracks.
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| February 15 - train in dying light |
It was getting pretty dark but I managed to capture a Desiro ML train zooming into Aalter. There's a road bridge over the tracks down from the station, and I stood to the side to capture the train. I would have liked to have been right over the train, but there are walls on either side of the overpass preventing any view of the tracks. I imagine that's to prevent any debris - intentional or otherwise - from falling onto the tracks, but it also prevents photography!
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| February 16 - VIJF VAKKEN |
"Vijf Vakken" translates to "five boxes" or "five pockets". I think it means there are 5 parking spaces at this location, which I confirmed by using Google Street View.
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| February 16 - blue skies |
Literally one minute later, the Desiro left and this train was still waiting at another platform. You'll notice there are a lot of tracks here - maybe six - with four of them at platforms. The outer two seem to be used for through trains that don't stop.
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| February 17 - on board |
On board a train on February 17. I think this was a Desiro ML trainset but I'm not sure. This was early on Saturday as I took the train to Brussels to meet my wife at the airport.
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| February 18 - TGV! |
I caught a French TGV train out the window as we rolled past at sunset. This must have been Ghent.
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| February 19 - Passing by |
A Desiro ML trainset comes rolling into Aalter as a double-decker train waits on the adjacent track.
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| February 19 - switches in Aalter |
These are a bit of a mystery to me. These rotary switches are located on a post or wall on every train platform, as far as I can see.
Here's the sequence that I observed whenever a train was readying to depart.
- All of the onboard train crew blow their whistles.
- They look up and down the train to confirm nobody is trying to get on or off.
- All but one person gets on the train.
- The last person walks over to these switches and turns one.
- They get onboard, press a button on the train, and the train departs.
My guess is that this is a request to depart the station, or a signal to the traffic controller that they are departing. It doesn't change the signal being displayed - it was already green before they turn it.
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| February 20 - 137 km/hr |
We were rolling along at 137 km/hr when we were heading into Brussels for some night photography.
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| February 21 - Sunrise in Ghent |
By this time, I was staying in Ghent and commuting to Aalter by train. I was waiting for my train when I photographed this Desiro ML trainset. I like that clock tower, part of the Gent-St-Pieters station.
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| February 21 - there's my train! |
Turning the other way, here's my 07:46 train coming out of the sunrise. I was taking L578 toward Zeebrugge-Dorp. Train L578 starts in Mechelen, north of Belgium.
30 minutes later, I was in Aalter taking this photo.
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| February 21 - Sunset in Aalter |
It was a nice morning for train photography, apparently!
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| February 23 - Onboard display |
Here's the onboard display in the Desiro ML train, L578. It was 07:47 so it was just about to depart, ready to roll to Aalter. Note that I was in 2nd class!
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| February 23 - 1867 in Aalter |
Some sweet sunset light on the nose of 1867, a EuroSprinter ES60U3.
Finally, here's my last train photo in Belgium, our train from Gent-St.-Pieters to the airport.
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| February 24 - last train |
Thanks for reading! I hope you've enjoyed this series featuring trains in Belgium.
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