European Railroad Discussion > SNCB Series 23 Brugges Belgium 1984

On May 16, 1984, my girlfiend and I took the train up from Brussels to Brugges to see the town. It was her first time to Belgium and my second. While we were walking around, amazed at the tatting and the sounds of Flemish, a storm rolled in. Not just a heavy rain, one of those deluvian monsters that deluge you to the point that you feel as if you are in a swimming pool, in your clothes. We managed to get back to the train station and our ride back to Brussels was this train with an SNCB La Brugeoise et Nivelles Epoch IV Series 23 leading in the original green livery. The different liveries speak to this being an international train out of Oostende. Would have liked to get a sunny shot of this motor in the old livery as it seems to be the only one I ever saw in that paint, but the moodiness of the intense rain here is also kind of cool.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/23 20:03 by erielackawanna.

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Nice, and with what looks like a long distance international service from Oostende.

All three are from 6/19/08 (19.06.2008), the first one at Brussels Middi Station and the other two at Brugges.  Gerry

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GPutz Wrote:
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> All three are from 6/19/08 (19.06.2008), the first
> one at Brussels Middi Station and the other two at
> Brugges.  Gerry

Paint makes it looks like a completely different engine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/23 09:31 by erielackawanna.

Bruges. A beautiful and very historically significant city. Nice shots--thanks for sharing!

The platforms at Bruges and Ghent were great places to observe trains. Locals, expresses, boat trains prior to Eurostar, freight trains.  There was usually at least one train in view.

Trains, chocolates, three hundred different beers, great country!

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The platforms at Bruges and Ghent were great
> places to observe trains. Locals, expresses, boat
> trains prior to Eurostar, freight trains.  There
> was usually at least one train in view.
>
> Trains, chocolates, three hundred different beers,
> great country!

We didn't have time for Ghent. Convinced ourselves we would see it the following year or so (I had family in Brussels at the time). We broke up and I didn't get back to Europe for more than ten years. By then all the family I knew was gone, so I didn't even go to Belgium.