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Buurtspoorwegen - Belgium: Illustrated History Books & Guides

Explore the best illustrated books on the history and locomotives, trams and other rolling stock of the Belgian NMVB (National Maatschappij Van Buurtspoorwegen).

Balade Vicinale en Belgique / Tramreis door België

The "Images Ferroviaires" collection is enriched with a twelfth title, with this Vicinale Tour in Belgium, from the flat country to the Ardennes massif, from the mouth of the Scheldt river to the Sambre valley.
This overview takes you through the pages by electric tram or railcar, on lines that were in service between 1950 and 1975.

Product details

Author:Rail Memories
Details:176 pages, 12.6 x 9 in (32 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:340 b&w and 25 color photos
Language:
Publisher:Les Editions du Cabri (F, 1999)
ISBN:9782914603119
Book cover: Balade Vicinale en Belgique / Tramreis door België | Cabri

Balade Vicinale en Belgique / Tramreis door België

Language:

Belgium's Trams and Trolleybuses

Like most European countries, Belgium's main towns and cities developed their own tramway networks. Those that survive today include Brussels, Gent, Antwerpen and Charleroi.
In the 1960s both French-speaking Liège and Verviers lost their tramways, though there is a desire in Liège to see it return. In addition to the city systems, there was a rural network of mainly metre gauge tramways throughout the country known as the Vicinal.

Tony Martens, though born in Belgium, lived in the UK for most of his life, but started revisiting the country in the 1960s, photographing most of the surviving operations.
John Law's first visit to the country was in 1971, accompanying Tony in Brussels, where the last of the Vicinal routes were still operating and four-wheeled trams were running on the city streets. John has been returning to Belgium on a regular basis ever since.

Sadly, Tony Martens passed away in early 2019. Fortunately, John Law was able to gain access to Tony's slide collection and, along with his own photographic work, has tapped into this archive to bring you a photographic history of Belgium's trams and trolleybuses from the mid-1960s to the present day.

Product details

Author:John Law, Tony Martens
Details:96 pages, 9.25 x 6.5 in (23.5 x 16.5 cm), paperback
Illustrations:180 b&w and color photos
Language:English
Publisher:Amberley Publishing (GB, 2022)
ISBN:9781398107243
Book cover: Belgium's Trams and Trolleybuses | Amberley

Belgium's Trams and Trolleybuses

Language: English

En Type S sur les rails du Hainaut 1970-2006

In 1970, the Hainaut tramway network remained the last major set of metric-gauge electric local lines in Belgium. These regional links served the Charleroi region and the Centre region, while the last interurban service, for a short time still, allowed access to the city of Mons.

The authors introduce us to all the lines still in service at that time, operated by the elegant S-type locomotives that appeared in 1953, some of which, thoroughly renovated and assigned to the service of the tracks and works of the Charleroi pre-metro, were still running in 2006.
The description of the lines is preceded by a history of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Vicinaux, the Hainaut network, and a presentation of the S-types. At the end of the book, a large chapter in color shows the S-types in everyday life, grouped by theme.

Product details

Author:Francis Dandois, Olivier Geerinck
Details:144 pages, 12.6 x 9 in (32 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:200 b&w and 60 color photos
Language:French
Publisher:Les Editions du Cabri (F, 2006)
ISBN:9782914603331
Book cover: En Type S sur les rails du Hainaut 1970-2006 | Cabri

En Type S sur les rails du Hainaut 1970-2006

Language: French

Tramways de Bruxelles - Années 1960

In the early 1960s, the electric tramway was present in the Belgian capital, but also in Flanders, particularly in Antwerp and Ghent. In addition, there were numerous local tramway lines around Brussels and Antwerp, as well as on the coast, between La Panne and Knokke.

The author evokes in this volume the Brussels tramways so characteristic of a country that was one of the cradles of the railway industry at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The author's period photographs, all unpublished, also show how much the urban environment has changed over the past half-century.

Product details

Author:Christian Buisson
Details:146 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 in (23 x 16 cm), paperback
Illustrations:b&w photos
Language:French
Publisher:Editions Alan Sutton (F, 2018)
ISBN:9782813811721
Book cover: Tramways de Bruxelles - Années 1960 | Alan Sutton

Tramways de Bruxelles - Années 1960

Language: French

Tramways de Flandre : Anvers, Gand, La côte (Années 1960)

After two works devoted to the tramways of Wallonia and Brussels, the author here discusses the tramways of the two major cities of Flanders (Antwerp and Ghent) as well as those of the coast.
These networks are still very active, after having been deeply modernized. The unpublished photographs of the author taken at this time show the path taken and also the changes in the urban environment in which the tramway remains a familiar element of daily life.

Product details

Author:Christian Buisson
Details:128 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 in (23 x 16 cm), paperback
Illustrations:extensively illustrated
Language:French
Publisher:Editions Alan Sutton (F, 2019)
ISBN:9782813811998
Book cover: Tramways de Flandre : Anvers, Gand, La côte (Années 1960) | Alan Sutton

Tramways de Flandre : Anvers, Gand, La côte (Années 1960)

Language: French

Tramways de Wallonie - Années 1960 : Liège, Verviers, Charleroi

In the early 1960s, the electric tramway was present three cities in Wallonia: Liège, Verviers and Charleroi). Today, although the tram has disappeared from the streets of Verviers, it is still active in other cities after having been extensively modernized.
The author evokes these tramways so characteristic of a country that was one of the cradles of the railway industry at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The period photographs taken by the author, all unpublished, also show how much the urban environment has changed over the past half-century.

Product details

Author:Christian Buisson
Details:152 pages, 9.1 x 6.3 in (23 x 16 cm), paperback
Illustrations:extensively illustrated
Language:French
Publisher:Editions Alan Sutton (F, 2018)
ISBN:9782813810854
Book cover: Tramways de Wallonie - Années 1960 : Liège, Verviers, Charleroi | Alan Sutton

Tramways de Wallonie - Années 1960 : Liège, Verviers, Charleroi

Language: French

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