Belgian Railways

I usually hang around forums of the New Haven, NYC and PRR, but here we go.
Here is a topic for posting comments and pics on the SNCB/NMSB. Could anybody recommend a recent book on the rail system? I haven’t been able to find anything.
(Photo courtesy Modeligaume)

If you would like to start with a comprehensive equipment roster look for :
Benelux Railways, Locomotives and Coaching Stock: The Complete Guide to All Locomotives and Coaching Stock of SNCB/NMBS, NS and CFL
by David Haydock, Peter Fox, Brian Garvin
Platform 5 publishing, Sheffield, UK.
nicely laid out soft cover, English text with lots of color photos.
Includes maps and brief descriptions of each system.
I have the 1994 edition. I know there is a 2000 edition, and there may well be a newer.

that class 62 in your photo is powered by a 12 cylinder EMD 567C engine !

Thanks Eliphaz. I’ll see if can find it on Amazon. I hope the book also has information on the stations, bridges and tunnels etc. I am particular to electric locomotives, but having lived in Liege a part of my life, I became fond of the SNCB diesels. In the early Seventies I used to watch them rumble around the old Gare de Guillemins. Here is another pic of a classic SNCB/NMSB unit. Does anyone know if the railway is planning for any new passenger diesel prototypes?
(Photo courtesy alaf.ibelgique.com)

There is this this website about belgian railways, and in the next years Schweers+Wall will publish an atlas of Benelux (see "Eisenbahnatlas" on the website to see some example of other similar atlas).

chnhrr wrote:...
I hope the book also has information on the stations, bridges and tunnels etc.
...

very little, its mainly a survey of the rolling stock.

If you want to look through hundreds of photos you can search the ABPR archive month by month, http://abpr2.railfan.net/
There are several very prolific Belgian contributors there.
Use NMBS for your search string, any give month contains hundreds of images.

I used to go to Belgium every year for the TTB day (Train, Tram, Bus) when a single ticket gave access to all the trains buses and trams in the country. It's a good modern system, one of the best in Europe. (It's not perfect. I took my wife to Waterloo and we found we had to walk a lot because there wasn't a frequent bus. We had to hitchhike into Brussels.)

The train company is one of the few remaining institutions of the Belgian state. It operates in all the regions. One curious thing is that the announcements are in the language outside the train. Thus in Flanders all the announcements are in Flemish (Vlaams); in Wallonie they are in French. Only in Brussels do the languages alternate. And in the German area they are in German.

I have not yet seen the new station in Antwerp though I visited it while they were rebuilding it. It has several layers including one for the High Speed line to the Netherlands.

Dozen of picture of the Antwerp main station can be found there: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=421424 (warning, there are a lot of pics)

It had originally 10 stub tracks above street level, now it has 14, divided as this: 6 stub on the first level (the four central ones were replaced by a shaft that brings natural light on the lower levels), 4 stub on the first level below ground, 4 on the second subterranean level. The latter continue in a 1.6 km/1 mile tunnel to the other side of the city, and are used for (Paris-)-Bruxelles-Antwerp-The Netherlands trains. At street level there are a lot of shops, and the ticket offices.

Thanks all for the information. I hope one day to see the station at Liege designed by Santiago Calatrava. It’s seems impressive and a change from the old tired station I knew. The Belgian system has some interesting locomotives and rolling stock. Here is another example, an electric MU that comes with scuba tanks! From what little I have been able glean, it doesn’t look the like the SNCB/NMSB has any new diesels in mind for the future.
(Photo D, Neef)

chnhrr wrote:Thanks all for the information. I hope one day to see the station at Liege designed by Santiago Calatrava. It’s seems impressive and a change from the old tired station I knew. The Belgian system has some interesting locomotives and rolling stock. Here is another example, an electric MU that comes with scuba tanks! From what little I have been able glean, it doesn’t look the like the SNCB/NMSB has any new diesels in mind for the future.
(Photo D, Neef)

The new Liège Guillemins station looks fantastic, as does the Antwerpen Centraal station As to te later: I especially like the flight of stairs leading from the station hall to the uper level tracks (= the original track level), and when in the hall look up al the way into the dome.

As to rolling stock the NMBS as bought new diesel some years ago (the class 77/78) these have replaced almost all older classes. As to electric locomotives all older classes will rapidly disapear. So the enormeous variosity of rolling stock as lessed quite a bit.