Trams

When the Swedish mining company LKAB decided in 1903 to build an electric tram line in the young mining town of Kiruna, it wasn’t a luxury or a novelty. It was a pure necessity.

Today, no trains run along the former railway line 109 between Mons and Chimay, but historic steam locomotives and diesel and electric railways of the local railways in Belgium do.

In 1941, the National Local Railway Company (NMVB) built a bridge over the Gete for tram traffic between Sint-Truiden and Tienen.

On 24 November 1897, the entire municipality of Hamme was in a celebration mood. That day, the foundation stone was to be laid for a new bridge over the Durme. But it ended in tragedy.

Several metres of reconstructed tram tracks recall the world's first electric tram ride in the German capital, Berlin. Werner von Siemens stood at the cradle of that world first. 

In the early 20th century, between the railway line Ghent-Bruges and the Ghent-Ostend canal, 'La Brugeoise & Nivelles' rose from the ground, a famous railway equipment manufacturer.

Almost five thousand kilometres of tracks, 45 major bridges, tunnels, turntables, weighbridges, countless stops all over the country and spacious depots with water towers, warehouses and tram sheds. The Belgian National Company of Light Railways constructed this widespread tram network from 1885 onwards.

Two axle trams, PCC trams, horse-drawn carriages or steam trams: historic tram carriages crossed the city center of Ghent to mark 150 years of trams.

In the early twentieth century, a tunnel more than 140 meters long was excavated right through the rock on which the castle ruins of the Counts of Dalhem rest to construct local tramway line 466 between Liège and 's-Gravenvelden.

The Belgian National Company of Light Railways was created in 1885 to establish a widespread network of local tramways outside cities and in rural areas. The tram network only reached this remote corner of the country near the French border in 1935.