| Soignes Forest Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Native name | Chemin de fer de la forêt de Soignes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Closed and disappeared | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Decauville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1902 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1918 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 2.5 km (1.6 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of tracks | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification | No | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Soignes Forest Railway was a Belgian type Decauville railway, which has disappeared since its closing in 1918.
Put into service in 1902, this railway linked the Petite Espinette in the Brussels municipality of Uccle (at the limit of Rhode-Saint-Genèse), then served by the old line to Waterloo of the Brussels tram, to Boitsfort railway station, on the Brussels–Namur–Luxembourg railway line. Established in the Sonian Forest, the line was 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long.
After the First World War, it was abandoned for reasons of unprofitability. This railway line transported gravelling materials for the laying of forest paths, and was also used to transport wood. [1]
Starting from the beginning of the Drève Saint-Hubert, the railway crossed the Drève de Lorraine and then ran along a large part of the Drève des Deux Montagnes.
The shed, built in 1902 like the line, [3] was renovated in 2003. Having served as a shed for the rolling stock, it is the only remnant of the old railway. In the 2010s, this building served as a storage facility and shelter for foresters.
Tervuren is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren proper, Vossem and Moorsel. On 1 January 2006, Tervuren had a total population of 20,636. The total area is 32.92 km2 (12.71 sq mi), which gives a population density of 627/km2 (1,620/sq mi).
Deux-Montagnes is a suburban municipality in Southwestern Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles where it flows out of Lake of Two Mountains. It is part of the Deux-Montagnes Regional County Municipality in the greater Montreal region. It is located 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Montreal.
Lucas Achtschellinck was a Flemish landscape painter. He is counted among the landscape painters active in Brussels referred to as the School of Painters of the Sonian Forest who all shared an interest in depicting scenes set in the Sonian Forest, which is located near Brussels.
The Bois de la Cambre or Ter Kamerenbos (Dutch) is an urban public park in Brussels, Belgium. It lies in the south of the Brussels-Capital Region, in the City of Brussels, and covers an area of 1.23 km2 (0.47 sq mi), forming a natural offshoot of the Sonian Forest, which penetrates deep into the city in the south-east of Brussels. It is linked to the rest of the municipality by the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan, which was built in 1861, at the same time the park was laid out.
The Sonian Forest or Sonian Wood is a 4,421-hectare (10,920-acre) forest at the south-eastern edge of Brussels, Belgium. It is connected to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos, an urban public park which enters the city up to 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the city centre.
Watermael-Boitsfort or Watermaal-Bosvoorde, often simply called Boitsfort in French or Bosvoorde in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by Auderghem, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, and Uccle, as well as the Flemish municipalities of Hoeilaart, Overijse and Sint-Genesius-Rode. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).
The Chemins de Fer du Calvados was a 600 mm narrow gauge railway in the département of Calvados.
Decauville was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow gauge track fastened to steel sleepers; this track was portable and could be disassembled and transported very easily.
Eugène Flachat was a French civil engineer.
Silva Carbonaria, the "charcoal forest", was the dense old-growth forest of beech and oak that formed a natural boundary during the Late Iron Age through Roman times into the Early Middle Ages across what is now western Wallonia. The Silva Carbonaria was a vast forest that stretched from the rivers Zenne and the Dijle in the north to the Sambre in the south. Its northern outliers reached the then marshy site of modern Brussels.
The Tramway de Pithiviers à Toury (TPT) was a 600 mm gauge railway in the Loiret department of France. It was built to carry sugar beet and was 80 kilometres (50 mi) long.
Auderghem or Oudergem is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-eastern part of the region, along the Woluwe valley and at the entrance to the Sonian Forest, it is bordered by Etterbeek, Ixelles, Watermael-Boitsfort, and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, as well as the Flemish municipalities of Tervuren and Overijse. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch).
Boitsfort railway station or Bosvoorde railway station is a railway station in the municipality of Watermael-Boitsfort in Brussels, Belgium, operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB). It lies on line 161, between Watermael and Groenendaal railway stations.
The following is a timeline of the history of Brussels, Belgium.
Philip van Dapels or Philippe van Dapels was a Flemish painter who specialized in wooded landscapes with figures. He is known for depicting the landscapes around Brussels. Philip van Dapels' style and subject matter are close to those of his master Jacques d'Arthois and Cornelis Huysmans, two artists who like van Dapels often depicted wooded landscapes and the scenery around Brussels.
The Enfants Noyés Nature Reserve is a nature reserve consisting of three large ponds located in a valley of the Sonian Forest in Brussels, Belgium. The nature reserve consists of three distinct ponds: The Étang du Fer à Cheval, the Étang des Canards Sauvages and the Étang du Clos des Chênes.
The van der Meulenfamily of Brussels was an important bourgeois family of freshwater fish merchants. Many of its members were deans of the guild of freshwater fish merchants
Dry Borren is a historic site in the Sonian Forest in the Brussels municipality of Auderghem, Belgium. It was originally a hunting lodge for the dukes of Brabant, built on a site where three springs originated.
The Château Charles was a neoclassical palace in Tervuren, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was intended as summer retreat for Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, governor of the Austrian Netherlands. However, it was soon demolished and nothing remains.
The Tramways de Royan were two narrow-gauge railways that provided mainly passenger transport in and around the coastal resort town of Royan in western France.
