The last action zone of the SNCB class 80 was the Brussels region. From the depot of Schaarbeek, they were sent all around the region for shunting duties. There were always a few to see at the Scaarbeek shunting yard, and if you were lucky you could even catch them posing next to each other. Continue reading Posing in the sun together
Last Friday and Saturday, wife and daughter were out of the house. With the son sleeping at 7pm already, the men’s night was rather lonely. Never mind, we got to spend some quality time together on Saturday. I took him out to watch some freight trains. Good education can’t start soon enough. The young man didn’t care one bit, as he was or sleeping, or … Continue reading An attempt to education
Yesterday I made an old-school – non-battery powered – bicyce trip chasing trains. Oldschool in modern times, meaning I first had to bring my daughter to school before jumping on a train. Paperless tickets are good, but can cause stress when you forgot your password. And the backpack didn’t only contain a camera and lenses, but also a heavy tripod and an e-reader. What didn’t … Continue reading Living the day as it comes
September 5th was a beautiful sunny day with few trains on the nearby Bordeaux – Dax line. The westbound Transfennica shuttle was one of them. In nice evening light it passes Les Argentières, between Marcheprime and Facture Biganos. Continue reading Sunday evening action
This photo was a lot of fun to make. I went to this location with my all terrain bicycle, using mostly paths through the forests. The paths consisted of sand, which made me think that I underestimated the time to get here – only making me work harder to get there on time. I had also underestimated the time it would take the train to … Continue reading Direct train to holiday
A holiday bicycle ride brought me to Biganos, between Bordeaux and Arcachon. The rail line here is straight, for kilometers long. South of Biganos, on the section to Dax, the straight stretch is even more than 30 km long. Must be quite boring as a train driver, but the “Midi” catenary system makes it intersting for railfans. It are still the original constructions, although between … Continue reading Midi
What more to expect on the last day of this successful trip? Not expecting much more, we wanted to check out what the Sidi Kacem region had to offer, before heading to the airport. This time, it was Eurorailer and his sharp eye announcing “something green” when passing the station of Sidi Mbarek Rdom. Turns out nez cassé 1302 had broken down and needed to … Continue reading Morocco day 7: tastes like more
The regular freight train connecting Bully-Grenay in France and Tessenderlo in Belgium has been riding 1 hour later than usual, permanently it seems. Only a few days a year can it be photographed in what you could call daylight. Also so in my hometown De Pinte beginning of July. While going for a stroll I accidently crossed paths with this train. The construction site of … Continue reading Burning into the night
The last full day in Morocco! We started in Nador, where we ended up last night in our search for a hotel. The hotel was good so we started the day all refreshed. This line was our last hope to see a DF 100 locomotive in action. Somewhere we had read that these locomotives run freight trains here. Well, all we got to see was … Continue reading Morocco day 6: on the lookout for DF100’s
After a refreshing night in Fès – I love riads – we left for a full ay along the diesel line bewteen Fès and Taourirt. Weather was looking great and we headed straight to the region where we left the day before: the barrage Idriss 1ier. The chosen photo location was top class. Blue lake, hills, and underneath the recent bridge you can see the … Continue reading Morocco day 5: sunny day on the diesel line
Railscapes 