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Belgian wagon photos - excellent resource now found, see post #16


Neil
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I have recently become interested in the railways of Belgium. To continue my education can anyone point me in the direction of a good site for Belgian wagon photographs? I suspect it would be too much to hope that there's a comparable resource to Paul Bartlett's magnificent resource; after largely fruitless googling I'd be very happy with a lesser site.

 

Many thanks.

Edited by Neil
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There's this Italian site, though it's more than just wagons:-

http://www.trenomania.org/fotogallery/index.php?cat=89

and this French one:-

http://www.photos-ferroviaires.fr/index.php?/category/wagons_marchandises

There was a SNCB/NMBS film showing freight operations, but I can't find the link at present.

I did find this, which might be of interest:-

http://www.tassignon.be/trains/documentation/documentation.php

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Do you have a particular time period in mind?

 

Like many others (I suspect), I have plenty of locomotive photos, but scarcely any exclusively of rolling stock.  Likewise "historic" photos tend to focus on locomotives rather than what they were pulling.

 

From what I can tell, there are no contemporary freight rolling stock manufacturers left within Belgium.  If it's an earlier period you want, I can check whether there were any domestic builders active at that time.  Historically, Belgium was rich in railway factories, but again their rolling stock output seems under-represented - for instance the now standard work on Haine St-Pierre devotes just a couple of pages to this topic.

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Do you have a particular time period in mind? ......

 

Thanks Eddie, I should have been a bit more specific; I'm looking in general at the post WW2 period, perhaps more specifically the sixties and seventies roughly the same period that holds my interest in the British Rail scene.

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Not quite your period (I have very little from the seventies), but here are some photos from 1984 that give something of a flavour of freight wagons and operations.

 

post-10122-0-99746800-1418421697_thumb.jpg

 

8067 reversing a train of 4-wheel vans into a yard in the Brussels area (probably near Schaerbeek).  The train is made up entirely of four-wheel "Colli" vans, of which an HO model is (was?) made by Märklin (ref 4404).  The wagons are bauxite with a yellow band bearing the legend "NMBS - COLLI" (or "SNCB - COLLI").  Entering "SNCB" or "NMBS", "COLLI" and "WAGON" into a search engine will bring up results from flemish/walloonish forums (I never knew there were Belgian equivalents to RMWeb).  From what I can tell (from a closer shot of the loco, the leading van is numbered 1392 311-0).

 

post-10122-0-95249200-1418421700_thumb.jpg

 

8017 with a trip working (I guess) of telescopic-roofed wagons at Merelbeke.  From what I can see, the leading vehicle is 361480.  Roco have produced a Belgian example in HO (ref 67541).

 

post-10122-0-69609200-1418421703_thumb.jpg

 

Also at Merelbeke, 7370 is shunting a mixed assortment of wagons.  Aside from "block trains", it seems that Belgium still carried wagon-load traffic into the 'eighties, such that many trains were made up of an assortment of wagons.  The first vehicle is a 4-wheel SNCF Algeco tank car (721 5144), the second the common and widespread coal hopper.

 

post-10122-0-99605800-1418423849_thumb.jpg

 

Finally, while looking through those other photos I've just noticed this shot of 9139 shunting an assortment of wagons, also at Merelbeke.  I haven't any further information about the wagon types or numbers, other than to note that all are 4-wheelers.

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ateliers de Construction de Familleureux was a major builder of carriages and wagons during the 'thirties and 'forties.  Many were built for export, as well as for Belgian national railways.  Searching for the name 'Familleureux' should bring up some images and ideas.

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I bounced across this thread and thought I would piggyback it for a request.

 

My interest is in the British Army Railway Operating Division during WW1 and I am creating an OO Gauge layout of the ROD and light railways during the war. During that war thousands of "War Department" wagons were produced specifically for service in NW France and Belgium, most to French designs, but quite a few to Belgium plans and these were sold to France and Belgium post WW1. I have managed to find some drawings of some of the French "WD" wagons, but would like to find drawings of the Belgium "WD" rolling stock.

 

Can anyone point me in the right direction for drawings of former WW1 WD SNCB rolling stock? Is there a Belgium, book of rolling stock plans/drawings?

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

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The War Department had many 12T seven plank opens (with side doors only) constructed by a number of British wagon builders, likewise 12T LNWR pattern 12T covered wagons for shipment to France in support of the British armies.  An example is attached

post-19274-0-30592100-1488226266_thumb.jpg

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Just to update this thread following a link posted by Jon Hall in another thread (ferry vans) I found a series of Flickr albums by Pim Van Gestel giving a pretty comprehensive coverage of Belgian wagons. It's certainly the best I've come across and well worth a look if you've an interest in the subject. My thanks to Jon vor bringing it to our attention.

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For any matters Belgian, first port of call is here:http://www.tassignon.be/trains/documentation/documentation.php

There's a mass of information tangled in there, if you scroll down, you can find wagon builders catalogues, such as societe Nivelles, with photos and drawings. Like your man says "information is for sharing " God bless him.

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On 28/03/2020 at 10:04, RJEB said:

Chris

 

Apologies for this late response to your post of 10 march 2017 regarding the provenance of the photo of LNWR pattern 12T covered wagon WD 34051.

 

It is from the Historical Model Railway Society's Hurst Nelson Collection - see https://hmrs.org.uk/photographs/war-dept-wc1-12t-sliding-door-van-3401-op-ca1914-f3r-wooden-solebars-disc-wheels.html

 

Rob

Rob,

 

Thank you,

 

Chris

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