The Great Experiment

Mercia Charters- Saturday 18th September 1999

Simon Bennett describes a long weekend over in Belgium which includes a write-up of Mercia Charters first railtour to be run in mainland Europe. Three of Simon's photos taken on the day can be viewed by clicking here.

Back in May of this year I discovered that Mercia Charters, a group of railway enthusiasts who had previously run railtours in the UK, were to run a railtour for Euro-enthusiasts in Belgium. Having been introduced to the delights of the Belgium railway network a few years ago I quite liked the idea of going on this tour as it was a track and traction tour offering some interesting photographic opportunities as well. So after discussing the tour with a few friends a booking was duly made and with a view to turning the trip into a long weekend I made arrangements to travel out on the Thursday afternoon prior to the tour running.

I flew from Manchester on BA flight 1620 at 5pm on Thursday which gave an arrival time in Brussels of 7.15pm. I had worked out that I could get up to Brussels and onto Ghent in time to cover the last working to Eeklo which is hauled by a Belgian Railways class 51 locomotive and therefore have an extra hour in bed the following morning as I would not have to cover the early train from Geraardsbergen which would be worked by the same locomotive. The plane arrived in Brussels slightly before 7.15pm and with a speedy exit from the airport I was on the 7.32pm service to Brussels. On arrival at Brussels Noord station it soon became obvious that all was not well on the Belgium railway network that evening as train IC1540 to Knokke & Blankenberge which was due to depart at 7.26pm was still in the station and was advertised as only going to Brugge. This train is normally formed of an AM96 electric unit but on this particular evening a rake of locomotive hauled stock was in the station and class 27 electric 2746 was running round the stock. I was expecting to catch the following Oostende bound train, had I stuck to the original plan as I was to meet two friends on this service,so a quick telephone call was in order to let them know I was catching the late running,earlier train. It transpired that they too were on the same train but a few coaches further towards the front, so I made my way down the train to meet them. I asked them if they knew why the train was late as this is very unusual on the Belgian network and to my dismay they informed me that Belgian Railways were on strike!!!!

Having bought my rover ticket for the weekend I was not impressed that no mention had been made of a strike at the time I bought my ticket. I had visions of no trains running at all the following day and the railtour I and about 100 others, had travelled to take part in would also not run. But as trains were running Thursday evening I made my way to Ghent to attempt to get 5111 on the Eeklo. The train to Brugge eventually left Brussels at 8.05pm and after being diverted to call additionally at Denderleeuw (giving me the opprunity to score some track) we arrived in Ghent at 9.10pm. The train to Eeklo was due to depart at 9.16 so I rushed over to platform 2 but there was no sign of any stock. A few minutes later the train rolled in with 5111 at the head of a short rake of 4 coaches and I sat down to enjoy a required engine for the 6.5km to Ghent Dampoort station after which I would make my way to the hotel for a good nights kip. What I didn't know was that as this was the last train of the day to Eeklo it was being held for connections from Brussels and Oostende/Kortrijk so we just sat in the station waiting for these other services to arrive. We eventually left at 9.55pm which then gave me another problem as the next train back from Dampoort was nearly an hours wait but fortunately a very late running service to Oostende was caught back and I was in my hotel at 10.30pm. What would tomorrow have in store?

The alarm rang at 5.15am and off I set to catch the 6.05 train to Sint Niklaas. My plan for the Friday was to cover services hauled by class 22,23,25 & 26 electrics before returning to Ghent for the class 51 diesel on the evening services to Eeklo. First problem of the day was no 6.05 train and in fact of the many departures from Ghent only three were shown as running. Whilst waiting for the train not to turn up a guard arrived on the platform and after the usual exchange of pleasantries he informed me that the dispute had started on Wednesday in Oostende, Brugge and Kortrijk and was slowly spreading throughout the network. The reason for the dispute was a familiar one to British enthusiasts and revolved around not enough people for the work available. Consequently train crews were getting no time off, and finally they had had enough.

With the non arrival of the 6.05 service I jumped aboard the 6.11 to Geraardsbergen with required class 62 diesel 6216 on the front. I had decided that if I was to make any of the services I had earmarked to cover then I needed to make my way to Brussels as I would probably be able to make my way further south without too much difficulty. I left the Geraardsbergen service at Zottegem and was surprised to find a choice of services to Brussels. I opted to take the first train as far as Denderleeuw and then catch the second into Brussels as they both had required electrics on them. On arrival in Brussels I was greeted by complete chaos. Brussels Midi station was not displaying any train information at all and so it was neccessary to trapse up and down the station concourse to read individual platform displays to find out which trains were running. I wanted to get to Namur to cover the 10.05 International train to Paris which is hauled by a class 23 or 26 electric and was looking for the 8.36 train from Brussels to Luxembourg to get me down there. After a while I realised that the 7.06 service to Dinant and Lier had not left and so I made my way onto this train which finally departed at 8.15.

Arrival in Namur was just in time to see the 8.35 "Kyak" train departing at 9.10 filling in for a late running service down the same line. The train I had arrived on then formed the 8.10 service down the same route!!!!! The 10.05 Paris train duly arrived with 2328 on and just before departure I was joined by some friends who had also travelled down to cover this service. We all got off at Charleroi with a view to taking the 11.07 train to Brussels. This was cancelled so we retired to the station bar to sample some of Belgiums fine beer and wait for the 12.07 service to Brussels. This train too was cancelled so we retired to the bar again. To make sure we were not tempted to drink the place dry we decided to travel down the Couvin branch on the 12.34 departure with class 62 diesel 6288 on the front. At Beignee station we changed trains for the next service back which had required 6224 on. On arrival in Charleroi at 13.26 we noticed that the 13.07 service to Brussels had not departed and so we waited for this train which finally let at 13.40. We had all decided to make our way to Brussels for the rush hour which sees a significant amount of traffic between the main stations in Brussels. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that it was going to be chaos because of the strike but even we were surprised at how few trains actually ran. Although we did cover someservices hauled by "old" electrics by the time it got to 18.45 we decided to retire to our various hotels to reflect on the day and ponder whether the tour would actually run on the Saturday.

Due to the uncertainty over which trains would run on Saturday morning to get us to Leuven for the tour we decided to leave an extra hour earlier on the 7.03 service from Brussels Noord station. To our surprise a full service was running and we later discovered that Belgian Railways staff are paid a lot more money to work at weekends and they would be cutting their own throats if they did not work. By now we also knew that the tour was definately running and departure from Leuven was scheduled for 9.00am. We had heard rumours the previous week that the tour would not run in its advertised format as Salzinnes works was closed on a Saturday and there was also doubt over the availability of a class 59 diesel as Belgian Railways had sold all their remaining locos to TUC rail to work on trains connected with the building of the high speed rail link to Germany and Holland.

Just before 9.00 the stock arrived for our train formed of 4 first class coaches in green livery. The train was lead by class 51 5116 with class 59 5947 at the rear. The previous day several representatives of Mercia Charters had visited Leuven depot to sort out the final running details for the tour and had dropped various large hints about getting 5947 onto the train. The final clincher was our driver for the day who also turned out to be a "crank" and he had decided that 5947 was the engine he wanted on our train. We set off at 9.00 and headed south west to Ottignies where we had our first photo call of the day due to early running. Then we continued our journey via the delightfully named Tilly and onto Monceau depot just outside Charleroi. Here we detrained in the yard and walked over to the depot for an impromptue visit and had the opportunity to take photo's of the assembled locomotives on the depot. Highlight for me was the sight of 6277 jacked up
with it's bogies removed.

Back on the train and our next port of call was Bascoup Permanent Way Yard. Our booked route took us direct to the yard but our driver had other ideas and he stopped to converse with signalling staff and had our train routed to Marchienne-au-Pont where he then reversed to take us to Bascoup. He wanted to make sure that the 59 was at the front for the journey to Ronet later in the day. On arrival in Bascoup yard it was once again everyone off for a photo call and a wander around. Then back on board and off to Charleroi for a short break and what we thought would be an engine change.

Due to the strike the previous day the various depots which were to provide additional engines for our tour had been unable to roster drivers to make the light engine movements and so unfortunately we were stuck with the two we had all day. Bearing in mind that no one was sure that the tour would run at all until 5pm the previous day it was not surprising that no provision had bneen made to move locos around. After the break in Charleroi we set off for Ronet with 5947 leading. Class 59's are very old loco's and 5947 coughed and spluttered its way down the line. But what a racket!!! The thrash from this engine was incredible with plumes of thick black clag emanating from the exhaust.

On arrival at Ronet we carried on down the line to the entrance to Salzinnes works where our train was set up for a photo call across the main road outside the works. This meant some of the local residents moving their cars so that our train could move forward. I don't think they were expecting a train load of cranks to arrive outside their house on a quiet Saturday afternoon. Traffic chaos duly caused we all re-boarded the train for the short trip into Ronet depot then everyone off for a quick walk round the depot yard and back on the train for the run to Schaarbeek. The route from Ronet took us over the little used line 144 from Jemeppe sur Sambre to Gembloux, then along the main line to Watermael and onto line 26 to Schaarbeek. During this stretch behind 5116, loco 5947 was trailling our train. We made a signal stop on route and it became obvious that 5947 was not at all well. Fire bells were ringing in the locomotive and it's engine had shut down. The train arrived at Schaarbeek depot and we all got off for a look around. Highlight here was the presence of 202020 which was previously Luxembourg railways locomotive 1602. It is the "pet" loco of PFT a group of preservationists in Belgium who look after it at Schaarbeek. The driver of our train, having attended to 5947, asked if we would like to photograph 202020 in the open as it was in the loco shed and he duly started up one of the class 80 shunters which he then used to drag 202020 into the area outside the shed.

After the photo call it was back to the tour to learn that we could not travel over line 28 to get into Brussels as engineering work had closed the line. So 5116 took our train direct to Brussels Midi through the central tunnel. We were told that the driver would run 5116 round the train to save using 5947 on the run back to Leuven but on arrival at Brussels Midi he decided to risk taking the 59 forward. What a treat those people who got off the tour at Midi missed. On pulling away from the station we managed to get two coach lengths off the platform before 5947's engine shut down and a vicious brake application was made. The driver managed to re-start the engine and off we set again. The driver coaxed 5947 gently into motion and then as we approached the tunnels under Brussels opened the power controller wide. 5947 thrashed away at the front of the train achieving no more than 10mph through the tunnels and covering the platforms (and passengers) at Brussels Central station in clouds of black clag. The power of the exhaust was enough to bring bits off the tunnel roof!!!! The train made it to Schaarbeek station after stalling in Brussels Noord station and the driver decided enough was enough. He ran 5116 round the train and off we raced to Leuven and the tours end. Although the tour did not provide all the traction that was originally advertised those in our party agreed that we had had an excellent day out. For my part I required both 5116 and 5947 and also a considerable amount of track that the tour covered.

Thanks should be recorded to the organisers, Mercia Charters, for running this tour in the face of adversity. The powers of persuasion exercised by them on Friday and the hard work put in by the people at Leuven depot to get the tour running at all was very much appreciated. I look forward to the next Great Experiment and I was assured there would be further trips in 2000.

Route Distances and timings(Booked & Actual)

Railtour Operator: MERCIA CHARTERS

5116  Leuven to Monceau ATD  45m 08ch
  5947  Monceau ATD to Marchienne-au-Pont  3m 21ch
  5116  Marchienne-au-Pont to Bascoup  8m 06ch
  5947  Bascoup to AC Salzinnes  37m 55ch
  5116  AC Salzinnes to Ronet ATD  1m 09ch
  5116  Ronet ATD to Ronet Jn. 0m 23ch Pushing train
  5116  Ronet Jn. to Brussel Zuid  51m 61ch
  5947  Brussel Zuid to Schaarbeek  3m 63ch
  5116  Schaarbeek to Leuven  16m 62ch

All distances are in Kilometres and are taken from the details issued on the day. The official distances were provided from Neil Suttons's S.N.C.B. timetable distance book however due to travelling off the booked route on a number of occaisions I have corroborated distances using Stuart Clarke's Continental Miles & Chains Volume 1 Belgium/Luxembourg & Holland. Certain distances were also taken from Stuarts observations on the day.

Thanks to Bob Hannaford for providing the actual running times for the day.

Following Saturdays tour Sundays outing was to Namur to cover the Kyak train at 8.50 to Houyet. The train is run specifically to transport canoists to points south of Dinant so that they can then canoe down the river back towards Dinant. Because of the sheer numbers of people using the trains during the summer the local Bertrix to Dinant service is also loco hauled for one round trip. The previous record for the number of British cranks on
these trains was 26. This was well and truly beaten on sunday when out of 71 passengers on board leaving Namur, 66 were cranks. The train was lead by 5301 with 5303 on the rear for working the empty stock back to Dinant ready for the next working. Of the 66 cranks on board about 40 required 5303 and so on arrival at Houyet some swift negotiation was done with the guard and driver to allow these people to travel back to Dinant on the empty stock. Then with 5201 and 5209 on the following train from Bertrix a significant number of the 40 returned to Anseremme, the next station on the line to travel back into Dinant on 5201. I took the 10.43 service from Dinant right through to Bertrix over what I consider to be one of the most spectacular lines in Belgium. As usual on arrival at Bertrix we had to transfer into one of the single railcars for the journey to Libramont where a quick change put me onto the 12.19 service back to Brussels. A final afternoon spinning around Brussels on various electrics and then off to the airport for the 20.05 BA1621 back to Manchester saw the weekend come to an end.

The verdict. Despite the strike a good weekend was had by all who travelled in our little band of merry men. The railtour was relaxed and friendly and considering the circumstances most enjoyable. It is unfortunate that there are always some people who moan no matter what and if those people stay away from future Mercia Charter tours to Belgium then I for one will not be dissappointed.

Simon Bennett.

The full haulage list :

Thursday 16/09/99

Friday 17/09/99

Saturday 18/09/99

Sunday 19/09/99

All mileages are taken - or calculated - from "Continental Miles & Chains (Kilometre by Kilometre), Volume 1 Belgium/Luxembourg/Holland" by S. Clarke - published July 1999.

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