Tour 68 / Christmas in Bruges 2013

Wednesday 25 June – Sunday 29 June 2025

Our unique Tour exploring the world of Belgian trams, trains and beer. Our travellers love this combination, so this special Tour will take in trams, trains, steam and otherwise, train museums, cafes in tram buildings, pubs in train stations, trains, trains and trains! The hotel we are based in for four nights is the astoundingly elegant Four Star Hotel Van der Valk in Mechelen, and has a Presidential Suite, which Siobhan is hoping they'll allocate to her! Mechelen is pertinent to this Tour as it is a great base from which to fan out in search of locos etc, but is also the place where Belgian trains started, kind of the equivalent to our Stockon-Darlington moment. The hotel is very close to Mechelen centre, just a pretty walk (or free boat trip) into the ancient religious capital of Belgium, brilliant for evening drinking in high summer. Just have a look at Podge's Mechelen Bar Guide for up to date intel on the best spots for a post-train avond beer.

Join us, you know you want to.

Baasrode Steam Engines.

A tasty Hommelbier

We are based in Chelmsford in Essex and we use a UK hired coach to travel. We try to use Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) from Folkestone to get to and from Belgium, but if not available we go by ferry from Dover to Calais. Most of our Travellers join the Tour at our main pick up point outside The Woolpack Pub, 23 Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN and most come from other parts of the UK, and some from further afield, especially USA. Lots of our Travellers stay the night before a Tour (and often the night of our return) at Chelmsford Travelodge only a few minutes walk from The Woolpack or at the Premier Inn near the Railway Station, about a 10 minute walk to the pick up point at The Woolpack. We all usually pop in to The Woolpack the night before departure for a meet, greet and a few beers with Siobhan who is your Tour Manager, Tour Guide and drinking pal for the duration.

Our Galloways luxury coach (49 seater coach with toilet) starts from Suffolk and on the way to Folkestone (or Dover if we go by ferry) and picks up at several points, as agreed with Siobhan, as below:

Ipswich, Bus Stop, Tesco Store, Pinewood, Ipswich IP8 3TS.

Colchester, McDonald's, Tollgate West, Stanway, Colchester C03 8RG

Chelmsford, The Woolpack, 23 Mildmay Road, CM2 0DN.

Dartford, BP Garage (formerly Esso) 474 Princes Road, DA1 1YT. On the return leg we drop off at Dartford Railway Station DA1 1DR

Swanley, Unit 4, Moreton Industrial Estate, London Road, BR8 8DE.

Ashford, pull in Outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opposite Premier Inn, Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

Folkestone, Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

This Tour is currently being built so keep an eye on this web page or subscribe to our monthly email newsletter for updates - there is a form to do this at the foot of this page. The final detailed and timed itinerary will be posted here at least four weeks prior to departure. All of the train rides/visits have been arranged. If you would like to join us please send Siobhan an email or call on +44 (0) 7722 724 558 for details on how to secure a place. The deposit for this Tour is £200 per person.

Day 1 - Wednesday 25 June

06.00hr Coach pick up The Woolpack, Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0DN.

07.30hr Coach pick up at the pull in outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

07.45hr Coach pick up at Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

08.15hr Arrive Dover Ferry terminal.

09.45hr Departure of Dover to Calais Ferry.

12.15hr Arrive/Disembark Calais.

14.00hr Arrive at our first stop of the Tour which is the Café Bistro de Statie in Maldegem, East Flanders. This is a café restaurant within the old station buildings built in 1862. Here we will have something to eat and slake our great thirst after travelling over the Channel (To Be Arranged).

15.00hr We make our way next door to the Steam Train Maldegem-Eeklo which is a volunteer run heritage railway based at the former National Rail station of Maldegem. The association owns all the railway buildings, rolling stock and museum exhibits, and they vehicles on the narrow and standard gauge tracks. A 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge line runs from Maldegem to Donk on the former line 58 to (Gent-Bruges) and this was supplemented by the standard gauge line in 1989. Standard gauge steam and diesel locos run on the remaining 6 mile section of line to Eeklo. Line 58 ran from Gent to Bruges, but half of the line between Eeklo and Bruges was closed to passengers in 1959 and for goods in 1967.

We’ll have an afternoon guided visit* of the site and railway museum which houses the largest number of operational diesel and steam locomotives in Flanders. We take a ride* on the narrow gauge line in old open wagons pulled by one of their diesel locomotives. They have eleven locomotives here, including:

• Fred, is a typical English 0-4-0 Avonside saddle tank locomotive built in 1925 by the Avonside Engine Company and given the construction number 1908. The engine worked for the Tunstead Works in Buxton (still going) in the limestone quarry. It took seven years to restore this prize exhibit. He is painted black and red.

• Bébert was built in 1926 in Liège by La Meuse. Bébert, aka number 3223 was the last steam locomotive in service in Belgium and ran until 1982. He is green.

• Yvonne is an 1893 0-4-0 loco which saw service in a coalmine in Liège. It is a unique piece, and still in service. Very attractive in black livery and my favourite.

• Errol Lonsdale is their Hunslet Austerity WD196 locomotive built in 1953. Previously based on the South Devon Railway in England. It gained stardom in the film The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery when it appeared with and a number of St Trinian’s pupils on the footplate. He is also green.

They have some very nice Diesel Multiple Units in blue, white and yellow and some attractive stripy green and yellow railcars. You experts will forgive my obsession with the colour of the vehicles, it’s the only way I can remember what type they are!

17.00hr Leave Stoomtrein Maldegem-Eeklo.

18.30hr Arrive at the lovely Hotel Van der Valk**** in the city of Mechelen in Antwerp Province. The hotel is situated near the water and is very luxurious! Mechelen city is the home of Het Anker brewery, so you can try those as we are very close to the brewery tap! Local people are known as “Moon-Extinguishers” or Maneblussers, so have a Maneblusser beer and find out why the local inhabitants are proud of this dubious historical episode. The evening is free for you to explore this ancient city armed with a copy of Podge’s Mechelen Bar Guide* and accompanying map*.

Tram Museum Schepdaal.

Day 2 - Thursday 26 June

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* we head off by coach for a steamy train and beery day out.

11.00hr Arrive at the Dendermonde-Puurs Steam Train heritage railway which again is run by volunteers and is non-profit making. Siobhan has organised a steam train ride for us* – whoo-hoo! We will have a ride on their standard gauge (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) 1,435 mm track. This is a 45 minute journey on the line Puurs (Signal Box) to Baasrode-Noord Station and back. The track winds through the Scheldeland through the provinces of Antwerp and East Flanders. For our special steam visit, I have privately hired us a 1927 steam loco and a first class 1933 art nouveau carriage and a bar carriage serving beer. The loco is the lovely Tubize 2069 built by Belgian train makers Ateliers de Tubize. In 1927, “Helena” rolled out of the factory with her sister locomotives 2068 and 2070. They worked for metal manufacturer Métallurgie Hoboken Overpelt for 50 years, but in the 70s they were abandoned. Her sister locos were converted to diesel and Helena only survived because she was not converted. She was mothballed at the factory, was acquired by Steam Train Dendermonde Puurs in 1988 and it took years to lovingly restore it. She came back into service finally in 2007. However, in 2014 she was taken out of service due to boiler issues. A new boiler was too expensive, but a repair extremely labour-intensive. They chose the latter, and volunteers crawled into the boiler every Saturday to replace rivets. One of the last boiler welders in Belgium came to help weld the new pieces of steel into the boiler. Helena will be pulling one of the collections special carriages, a K1 First Class Carriage built in 1933 with lovely Art-interiors by renowned architect and designer Henry van de Velde, appointed artistic adviser by the board of directors of Belgian railway company NMBS. We will have the opportunity to taste a beer on board, and they take orders and serve the beers in your seat! They also have a little station bar called de Waggel where we might be able to get a beer and a rest in their outdoor seating area on the platform for a brief stop.

During our visit we can have a look at their ongoing restorations in the work shed and inspect their superb rolling stock at Baasrode-Noord station HQ. They have a number of locos built by the John Cockerill company near Liege, a Tubize and a Henschel. Have a look at this map of the railway route. The Dendermonde-Puurs Railway Map.

13.45hr Leave Dendermonde-Puurs Steam Train Centre.

14.00hr Arrive at the brilliant de Cuytegemhoeve Beer Cafe in Puurs-Sint-Amands near a bend in the River Schelde and very close to the train line we have just been on. This is an old farm which once had a brewery and now has a children’s petting zoo, a farm museum and a beer café restaurant in the old cow shed. Marc runs this place and he has a staggeringly good beer list of 200-strong choices including Black beers and ones you’ve never heard of. Just browse the half dozen bottle fridges lining the café. They have beers from Hof ten Dormaal, Cantillon, Het Nest, Struise Brouwers and plenty more quality brewers. All this and at ‘democratic prices’ as the Belgians say. We are going to have something typically Belgian to eat here. They offer the lovely and not commonly found Wit & Zwarte Pensen (White & Black Sausage) Served with a Cherry Sauce – num, num. (To Be Arranged).

By the way, in 2024 archaeologists unearthed a completely buried York LNER wooden furniture removals waggon near this café. It was still painted red with the words “Furniture Removal Service” clearly visible. The archaeologists were surprised the cheap wood had survived, but it disintegrated when unearthed. It possibly was used to transport munitions in WW2.

16.00hr Leave de Cuytegemhoeve Beer Cafe in Puurs-Sint-Amands.

16.15hr Arrive at Brouwerij De Landtsheer, better known for their Malheur beer range. We’ll have a tour and a taste of their excellent beer here. (To Be Arranged).

18.15hr Leave brewery stop.

19.00hr Arrive back at the luxurious four-star Hotel Van der Valk in Mechelen. CafeWelkom Hoeke. Christmas2016 (14)

Oh Belgian beer cafes, why do you look so inviting!

Day 3 - Friday 27 June

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* in our hotel we head off by coach for a day of trains and beer.

11.15hr We arrive at Rebecq Station for a visit to Rail Rebecq Rognon (RRR or Petit Train Du Bonheur – The Small Train of Happiness) to explore the old SNCB Lines 115 and 123. This is yet another volunteer non-profit organization that runs trains at the weekends in the summer months. It’s a 4 km line crossing the Rebecquoise countryside along the Senne and the Vallée des Oiseaux. We will have a look around at the vehicles and the site. Siobhan is hiring a diesel loco (possibly Jules or Marraine?) and carriages to take us for a return ride* on the narrow gauge 600mm line between Rebecq and Rognon. We are roughing it today in open carriages with wooden bench seats. You do get a great view through the non-glass windows! The train journey takes approximately 1h 40 minutes and includes a stop of at least thirty minutes at the line depot: Bloc-U where they have a little café, where they serve local beers, of course. At Rognon the engine is uncoupled, return to the head of the train in the other direction and we disembark at the platform for the duration of the manoeuvre. The route comprises two old SNCB lines: from Rebecq to Bloc U the train runs on a portion of line 115 (Braine l'Alleud - Braine le Comte). Other sections of this line are still commercially operated in standard gauge, notably between Quenast and Tubize. At Block U, this line joins line 123 (Enghien - Braine le Comte), on which the little train runs for approximately 800 metres before arriving at Rognon.

13.15hr Leave Rail Rebecq Rognon and the Small Train of Happiness to go for an afternoon meal.

13.45hr Arrive at the Verwenkenkaffee Kasteelzicht in Dilbeek. This is a lovely café restaurant with an outside front terrace overlooking the beautiful Viron Castle which now houses Dilbeek Town Hall. The castle was rebuilt in 1871 and has a calendar theme and contains 12 towers, 52 rooms, 365 windows and 7 staircases. The tower on the moated island reached by an iron bridge is called the St Alena Tower, and legend has it that she was imprisoned there. We’ll have a meal here and a crack at their nice beer list of 45 choices including lots of Trappist & Abbey beers plus lambics from Boon and Girardin. (To Be Arranged).

15.45hr Leave Verwenkenkaffee Kasteelzicht in Dilbeek.

16.15hr Arrive at the Batteliek Microbrewery on the outskirts of Mechelen. This is an old red brick church, recently converted into a brewery, bar and eatery under the auspices of Het Anker brewery in Mechelen, as a quite separate beer project. They also have a distillery and lemonade factory under the roof! Brewing innovative styles and tastes they brew Oerknal Stout, with dry coffee beans (8.3%abv) and Baobab Tripel at 8.8%abv amongst others. (To Be Arranged).

17.30hr Leave Batteliek Brewery in Mechelen.

18.15hr Arrive for a brief but special visit to the Original Belgian Railway Milepost and Commemoration monument to the 1835 launch of the entire Belgian railway system. On 05 May 1835 the first passenger train in the world outside of England left Brussels, destination Mechelen 20 miles to the north. The locos used that day were provided by George Stephenson, who was present that day. For some reason rather than Brussels, Mechelen became the centre of the Belgian railway network, where all track mileage was measured from. We’ll have a look at the original 1835 milepost. A plate on the floor next to the ticket hall marks the original position, but it’s been moved several times and now the seven meter bluestone milepost with its copper point rests in the centre of the station roundabout. We’ll hear about the lead box interred under the post on its inauguration, which was uncovered in one of its many moves.

18.45hr Arrive back at the luxurious four-star Hotel Van der Valk in Mechelen.

Day 4 - Saturday 28 June

10.00hr Following a superb buffet breakfast* in our hotel we head off by coach for a day of trams and beer.

10.20hr Arrive at beer warehouse Quali Drinks just outside Mechelen. They have a choice of over 1000 beers, so you can choose a few of your favourites to take home.

11.20hr Leave Quali Drinks warehouse in Mechelen.

12.00hr We arrive in Brussels and the coach will drop outside the Montgomery Metro Station. Siobhan will get the group each a tram ticket for today’s ride. We will take Tram 44, of which Derek Blyth in his book Hidden Belgium, says “One of the most beautiful tram rides in the world, tram 44 starts in a gloomy underground station but soon emerges on Avenue de Tervuren. It them rumbles past the stunning Stoclet House on the right and the tram museum on the left before plunging into the forest. The journey ends some 20 minutes later at a quaint 19th-century tram station in Tervuren”. Tervuren is a beautiful Royal suburb of Brussels within the once great ancient Sonian Forest. We’ll stop off for a rest here.

13.00hr Walk the brief distance between Tervuren Tram Station to Café restaurant den Engel in the wealthy suburb of Tervuren. Here we’ll stop for a meal and a beer or two from their 55+ beer card, including a dozen Trappist beers. (To Be Arranged).

15.00hr Leave Café Restaurant den Engel in Tervuren. 15.15hr Arrive at the rarely open (volunteer run) Brussels Tram Museum in the green surroundings of the Woluwe St Pierre suburb in Brussels. Part of the depot here is still in use for the Brussels Transport system currently run by STIB/MIVB. The museum part is housed in the tram depot built in 1897, originally a narrow gauge, but converted to standard gauge in 1899, to match the rest of the Brussels tram network. In 1976 two halls of the depot went out of use so were converted into this museum. They have a vast collection of 130 vehicles that have been circulating on the streets of the capital for over a century. Belgium's first horse-drawn trams were introduced in Brussels in 1869, and the museum has one of these originals. They also have trams, buses, trolleybuses and have old yellow painted taxis and a green stripy Chevrolet taxi. Siobhan is looking forward to seeing the ‘Chocolate Bars’ which were famous Brussels trams (Motor Car second series 428, 1903-1935) in dark brown livery, familiarly known as ‘chocolate bars'. The company who ran them also had brown uniforms. The museum has several of these iconic trams. You can buy miniature ones. Trams, not chocolate bars. In its heyday the depot had capacity for 285 trams and operated 14 tram lines. Siobhan will get tickets for everyone for the museum visit here* for a nice long visit.

17.30hr Leave the Brussels Tram Museum.

18.00hr Arrive back at the luxurious four-star Hotel Van der Valk in Mechelen for an evening at leisure.

Day 4 - Sunday 29 June

10.00hr Following a superb breakfast* we check out of the hotel in Mechelen for a day of trams, travel and beer.

11.00hr Arrive at TramSite Schepdaal in Dilbeek. This is the only remaining local (or vicinal) tramway depot in Belgium and has been a museum since 1962, though the line finally closed in 1970. This depot served the first vicinal tramway in Flemish Brabant, Brussels to Ninove, which began in 1888. The first buildings at Schepdaal date from 1888, to fit in with the strategy of Belgian Local Railways (NMVB) to make regions accessible that were not yet reached by main line trains. The tram museum has a collection of trams and locomotives. The showpiece is the 1896 royal carriage of Leopold II. Oddly, it is not known if the King ever actually used the carriage, but the Shah of Persia did when he visited Ostend in 1900. The museum here was closed for 10 long years for renovation, reopening in 2009. They have more work to do, including re-electrification and the renewal of the tracks and switches to enable short rides. They have vehicles that fit standard-gauge railways, steam and electrical locomotives and passenger carriages, as well as freight vehicles. They have a workshop for maintenance and restoration. People bought tickets and waited for the tram here, freight was moved, trams were stored, maintained and repaired here. Tram staff also slept here, depending on their shifts. The station buildings still exist including the Station Manager’s family house. They have a Weigh bridge, Water tower and pump, Forge, Wood & Sand warehouse, Coal warehouse and a Lamp warehouse.

This is yet another site run by volunteers, often retired people. Here is what one of them says “Since 2019 I have been active here almost every Wednesday afternoon. My grandfather always worked for the Buurtspoorwegen as a cobblestone layer and welder. I lived near the tram station of Sint-Martens-Lennik where I always saw freight wagons, mainly filled with coal and sand. As a child I often played the Tour de France with marbles in those sand dunes. One of my favourite trams in our tram depot is HL 979, built in the R & W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co works of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1917. During WWI this steam locomotive was taken to Belgium to serve at the front.”

12.30hr Leave TramSite Schepdaal.

13.00hr Arrive at de Wachtzaal in Astene. The Waiting Room, as the café is called is right next to the still used line, but there is no longer a station here. Here we will have a meal and a beer or two as it’s out last stop. They have a good beer list of 50+ including the mighty Sint Bernardus Abt 12 on draft. It’s a great ‘nap-on-the-coach-to-Calais-beer.’ Don’t tell the others…

15.45hr Leave de Wachtzaal in Astene.

17.30hr Arrive Calais Ferry Terminal.

19.00hr Leave Calais on Ferry to Dover.

19.30hr Arrive Dover Ferry Terminal.

19.50hr Coach drop at Shell Garage, Stop 24 Services, J11, M20, Kent, CT21 4BL.

20.10hr Coach drop at the pull in outside Dobbies Garden Centre, Opp. Premier Inn Ashford Eureka Leisure Park, Rutherford Road, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4BN.

21.40hr Coach drop Junction Lady Lane & Mildmay Road, Chelmsford CM2 0EA.

21.50hr Coach drop off Travelodge Hotel, 128-136 Parkway, Chelmsford CM2 7GY.

22.00hr Coach drop Premier Inn Victoria Road, Chelmsford CM1 1NY.