Wednesday March 19 2025 was a very sunny day, and I was glad that I was able to take a day off work. Some interesting traffic to and from the stone quarry of Quenast was announced. First of all, TUC RAIL with a train headed to Schaarbeek, hauled by two class 55 locomotives. These locomotives may have lived their last winter, as rumors go that they will be put out of service later this year. The second expected train was hauled by two class 62 locomotives, coming from Aarschot. Both trains were timed such that it was possible to make some nice pictures.

What to do with the rest of the day? I decided to stay in the region to make photos of the steel trains between Gent and La Louvière, the Tergnier – Aalst traffic and the new Eurocity “Ouigo” between Brussels and Paris. The ballast train from Schaarbeek came a little too late, so that I missed the second EC to Brussels. Waiting for the next Ouigo, I was able to see 2 steel trains and a grain train towards Aalst. All pictures taken between Jurbise and Soignies.

And then it got quiet. I had missed the grain train from Aalst to Tergnier as it was running at the same time as the Eurocity. There was still a steel train to La Louvière running in the region, for which I only needed to drive 5 minutes.

The next train I could photograph was the cellulose train from Aalst. I missed this one though, as it was at my next photo location much faster than expected. Bummer. I knew that there was still a train scheduled from Tournai to Longeau. It would have to leave on time though, because scheduled departure was only 20 minutes before the sun would be too low. I headed to Froyennes, on the line towards Lille, and set up a shot with the Théâtre Saint-Luc in the background. This is part of a 19th century boarding school, and is now converted to an event location. Then the waiting began. I saw the shadows creeping further and further, until finally, right on time, the Euro 4001 locomotive rented by Railtraxx came in sight. 2 minutes later the tracks were covered in shadows. Sometimes you’re lucky!

This train marked the end of a beautiful, but rather quiet, day, filled with a lot of diesel traction.