Locomotives and Multiple-units - Belgium: Books - Overviews

Benelux Railways

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are three separate European countries that have their own railway systems, with much integration between each other. They are united by all running regular passenger train services, mostly hourly or more frequent, within each country and beyond.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen supplies the principal rail service within the Netherlands, supplemented by other operators such as Arriva and Syntus, who run a few local lines.
All the passenger services within Belgium are operated by NMBS/SNCB (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges), uniting the Flemish and Wallonian parts of the country.
CFL (correctly called Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois) has a surprisingly large rail network, with frequent internal services and innumerable cross-border operations, including those from Germany and France.

John Law has been visiting the railways of this part of Europe since the early 1970s and has travelled on nearly all the lines opened to passenger traffic.
He has photographed the changing scene over the years and has compiled a huge number of images, the best of which are within these pages.

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Benelux Railways - Locomotives & Multiple Units (7th Edition)

This guide offers a comprehensive overview of locomotives and multiple units in service on the railways of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Key features include a brief historical background, detailed fleet lists, and information on international high-speed trains. It covers the organizational structures of Belgian National Railways (SNCB), Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), and Luxembourg Railways (CFL), along with private operators and maintenance companies.

The guide provides tips on fares, travel from the UK, detailed railway network maps, numbering schemes, livery details, depot allocations, and technical data for each class. Additionally, it lists preserved steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, along with museum information and over 90 color illustrations.
Compiled and updated by David Haydock, former editor of Today's Railways Europe, this guide is the result of extensive research with contributions from contacts across the Benelux countries, making it the most comprehensive resource on rolling stock in the region.

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Les locomotives polycourant de l'artère de Paris - Bruxelles (Volume 1)

The first volume of two works of historical, technical and photographic retrospective of the great era of multi-current locomotives on the Paris-Belgium line.
This volume studies the birth and development of the concept of multi-current, through the SNCF BB-26000/30000 and CC-40100 locomotives, as well as the single-current prototype CC-10002 which was used to develop the three-axle single-engine bogie.
This study is completed by photographic themes showing the different SNCF and SNCB series in France.

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La Locomotive (réédition de l'édition originale de 1920)

The Boiler, the Engine, the Vehicle and finally the Tender make up the four parts of this book. Ulysse Lamalle and Fernand Legein know what they are talking about: the first was a Civil Engineer of Mines, the second, a Civil Engineer mechanic and both spent their lives in trains, studying them to improve them constantly. Although technical, this book is accessible to all.

More than 320 engravings, diagrams and plans illustrate this text and improve its understanding. Here, all the technical parts and the various elements of the locomotive first, then of the tender are dissected and analyzed. The reversal of the direction of travel is described at length, supported by engravings, as are the brakes, essential organs which have largely contributed to making the railway one of the safest means of transport in the modern world.

This book is also illustrated with many magnificent black and white photographs of locomotives and drivers in action that the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges and enthusiasts have kindly made available to us for this reissue and which will allow the "Old-timers" to rediscover the very special atmosphere of this universe.

A very beautiful book on the steam locomotive that is becoming more and more distant...
A genuine reissue. This book is not a facsimile.

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Les locomotives polycourant de l'artère de Paris - Bruxelles (Volume 2)

Second volume of historical, technical and photographic retrospective of the great era of multi-current locomotives on the Paris - Belgium route.
This work studies the development of the electrification of the Belgian network, the SNCB BB locomotives types 12, 15 and 16, CC type 18.
Photographic themes complete this study by showing the different SNCF and SNCB series in Belgium.

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