Railways - Belgium: Books - History and Rolling Stock

Belgium's Unique Railway History

It is a little known facet of railway history that Belgium produced a number of world firsts, records and innovative railway engineers and entrepreneurs that is quite disproportionate to its size.
This book seeks to set the record straight, and give Belgium the place in railway history that its achievements deserve.

A Belgian Passage to China (1870-1920)

From 1870 to 1914, Belgium - one of the major financial and industrial powers at the time - financed, built and operated hundreds of kilometers of trains and tram lines across the five continents.
The Western sense of supremacy and King Leopold II's urge to colonize were the driving force behind the companies in this country. In China, this adventure resulted in the construction of the railway between Beijing and Hankou and a tram network in Tianjin.

"A Belgian passage to China (1870-1930)" highlights two projects. François Nuyens left Ghent for Tianjin in 1905, where he built a power station and a tram network. In a well-documented diary, Nuyens records his impressions of his stay in China between 1905 and 1908.

The brothers Philippe and Adolphe Spruyt, both doctors, traveled to China to provide medical service at the yards of the Beijing-Hankou railway line. They returned with suitcases full of Chinese antiques. Their interesting correspondence and more than 1,200 photographic glass plates offer a unique insight into the daily life of China in the early twentieth century.

Benelux Rail 1970-1980

This tenth volume reaches back into days long gone.

Packed with pictures of forgotten liveries, station buildings, semaphores, lay-outs and rolling stock. Significant technical, economical and socials aspects are described.
A publication addressing developments long before privatization began. The latest edition on this long running series may therefor inspire historians, travelling photographers, geographers and railway modelers alike.

English and Dutch text.

Les chemins de fer belges - Hier, aujourd'hui, demain

Un voyage à travers l'histoire et l'actualité des chemins de fer de Belgique, de 1835 à nos jours avec un regard sur l'avenir. L'auteur décrit l'évolution historique des chemins de fer comme un pilier de notre mobilité. Il s'intéresse aussi à leurs apports à notre économie et à leurs interactions avec nos industries.
Il souligne les importantes transformations de nos chemins de fer au fil des décennies : la fin de la vapeur, l'arrivée de la grande vitesse et leur modernisation tous azimuts afin de remplir au mieux le rôe majeur qu'ils joueront dans la mobilité durable de demain.
Un panorama encyclopédique et évolutif des chemins de fer belges. Un indispensable livre de références.