After a day of work, we noticed an interesting train heading towards Zeebrugge. Taking into account cloud cover, I figured I had a chance of getting a sunny picture of this train in Drongen. Good guess, it seems, as the low sun was still lighting the train and the cloud cover over Gent. Continue reading Afterwork Backbone
The port of Antwerp is origin and destination of many container trains. I got to shoot a few at the end of August, beginning of September 2022. Operation of the trains was very diverse.First highlight are the regular Transfennica container trains, connecting the Combinant terminal in the north of the port of Antwerp to Bayonne, near the Spanish border. Except for the last mile, the … Continue reading Johntainers
Wednesday august 10th I went chasing trains along the Antwerp – Aachen freight corridor. Those days off, with nothing to worry about but the photos, are rare, so I wanted to stand along the tracks at sunrise. Which meant waking up really early, but which also meant fluid traffic. Still dozy from the long ride I had to prepare for action quickly as a first … Continue reading A busy summer day
It was, again, a very hot day and I didn’t feel like sitting at the pool from early on. I’m sure my son, if he could speak, would have said exactly the same thing. So I took him to Rouffach with the airconditioned car, where we set up gear and a playing blanket under a large umbrella. It was a day in France that felt … Continue reading France with a Belgian sauce
The first week of august was hot, incredibly hot, in the Alsace region. After a short night I decided that it was time to get up early and enjoy the cool morning temperatures along the tracks. Well, a little before 7am I was standing next to the tracks in only a t-shirt. At least temperature was still bearable.Of course I got to see some trains: … Continue reading Cool morning
One quiet evening along the tracks, again typical for the current days: dark, dry, not too cold.Dry is relative though, as I got the car almost stuck in the mud getting here.I was treated with 5 trains in a row: 4 from Zeebrugge, 1 from Ghent. All towards Germany and beyond. Here we see Lineas hauling a train with destination Milan, Italy. It looks well … Continue reading Parade
A grey morning during a family holiday was used to make some pictures on the diesel stretch of line 24, between Montzen and Aachen-West. Continue reading Foggy diesel
Another possible title of this post would have been “I’m blue, tadadie” for reasons that will become clear when reading the full post. The selected title does apply too, though, and maybe fits even a bit better as it was a really good day, with lots of class 66 diesel power. After dropping off my daughter at school I headed east. Rush hour lead me … Continue reading A classy day
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
On with the vintage. On the way back to Ghent, we found 5111 waiting with a coal train at what is today the Ghent Coal Terminal. The light is november-ish, perfect for this beautiful locomotive. Continue reading Ghent coal
Railscapes 