The weather during the first weekend of January 2025 is bang-on. On Sunday morning I caught this empty car train towards Gent, in crispy winter conditions. The empty train will be loaded again at the Volvo factory in the port of Gent. Later this week, it will head south again. Continue reading Almost at the car factory
Today the part of Belgium where I live saw some snow. That’s a rather rare thing, so after work I went out to shoot an evening rush hour train. Hoping for a vintage 21 series, but this new 18 series loco also worked well. 20 minutes delay was all that I needed to get it at the blue hour. The platforms of the station will … Continue reading Snowy opportunity
Today I did something that I haven’t done in a long time: take a day off to make photos of passenger trains. Passenger. Trains. Really. The intercity trains between Schaarbeek and Kortrijk are still hauled by vintage 21 and 27 series locomotives. These machines are about my age and as such I’ve known them all my active railfanning life. They are being gradually withdrawn though, … Continue reading Chasing passengers
In 2018 and 2019, multisystem Vectron 193 318 was used for performing authorization runs on the Infrabel network. Today, it is known among rail enthusiasts as the “Backbone” locomotive – the backbone of the economy, as stated by DB Cargo. It certainly is an awesome appearance. Continue reading Here’s the backbone of the economy
It really seems a long time ago, but only 2 weeks ago it snowing and freezing. Very cold and quite a lot of snow, that’s what winter should be like. Towards the extremes is where the experience begins. During these early spring days, this image seemed like the right one to share. Continue reading Freezing cold
That had been a while, snow at home that stays for a few hours. On January 14th there was a little, on January 16th it felt more like a snow storm. I was lucky to catch some freight trains in these wintery conditions. Continue reading It snows!
This spot is located just south of the very well known Middle Rhine Valley. THe valley gets wider here, while the concentration of tourists and train photographers gets smaller. The wine fields and the trains are still present though. Continue reading Less well known, still nice
The sun is rising slowly above the frozen fields, that will slowly warm up and lose their white tint. A typical view on regional non electrified lines in Belgium since the early 2000’s, but wintery scenes like this are still very enjoyable. Continue reading Frozen warm
The opening of the TGV-Est, planned for december 2016, would meant the end of the Eurocity trains between Brussels and Basel. Following all logic of French railways, passengers from Brussels to Switzerland have to use the TGV and pass through Paris… We love these classic trains, allowing cheap and relatively fast travel. That’s one of the reasons we were chasing them in the Vosges on … Continue reading Along the Marne – Rhine canal
When travelling around often, you get to know your favorite places. Whenever I travel between home and Switzerland, I try to include a stop at “Boulangerie Bernard” in the center of Mommenheim. Their butter rolls are de-li-cious and more than worth the short detour! On the morning of january 29th I had no effort convincing my fellow traveller to stop over at Mommenheim. We were … Continue reading A busy breakfast
Railscapes 