Tramsite Schepdaal

The Tramsite Schepdaal is a tramway museum in Schepdaal, located in the Belgian municipality Dilbeek, west of Brussels

Tramway museum Schepdaal
Trammuseum Schepdaal
The Museum Hall
EstablishedMay 5, 1962 (1962-05-05)
LocationSchepdaal, Dilbeek, Flanders, Belgium
Coordinates50.8390°N 4.1959°E / 50.8390; 4.1959
TypeTransport museum
WebsiteTramsite Schepdaal

History

The vicinal tramway line going from Ninove to Brussels Ninoofsepoort starts operating on September 8 1887. It used metre-gauge rails and had its depot in Schepdaal. This depot became the national museum for the vicinal tramway on May 5 1962,[1] but was still used as depot for the line Brussels-Ninove (line Ni) too until 1968. The line was abolished on February 21 1970.

The whole site (station building and engine houses) became protected in 1993.[2] The museum was managed by volunteers and closed for renovation in 1999, only to be reopened ten years later (July 1st 2009) by the non-profit association "Erfgoed Vlaanderen".[3]

A lot of work remains to be done, like the (re)electrification of the grounds of the depot and the renewal of the tracks and switches, to enable short rides with the carriages.

Site

Tram locomotives and carriages are kept in 3 depots

  • Depot 1 has vehicles that fit the standard-gauge railways.
  • Depot 2 is the biggest of 3 and has steam and electrical locomotivs and passenger carriages, as well as freight vehicles. Also several historical artifacts related to the tramway's history are kept there on display.
  • Depot 3 is used as workshop for maintenance and restoration purposes.

The rest of the site is kept in original condition and are (or will be) open to visitors;

  • Station (building), where people were able to buy tram tickets and wait for their tram. Also used to house the family of the stationchief; kitchen, desk, lavatory, toilets, sleeping rooms. The workers on late or early shift also were allowed to sleep there. Nowadays this is either used for storage, visitor reception and ticketing, a small shop and up for future display, after more restoration.
  • Weigh bridge
  • Water tower and pump to fill the vehicles that run on steam
  • Wood and sand warehouse; those materials were used to put on tracks when it was freezing or raining
  • Coal warehouse
  • Forge
  • Lamp warehouse

Collection

The majority of the historic vehicles is displayed in depot 2. The main showpiece is the royal carriage once built for King Leopold II of Belgium. It remains a mystery if the King ever actually used the vehicle, but it is certain that the Shah of Persia used it when he visited Ostend in 1900.[2]

Several electrical vehicles dating back to 1894 (NMVB) and one of the last steam vehicles dating back to 1920.[2]

  • NMVB-locomotive type N from Brussels.
  • Steamlocomotive
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gollark: Oh, and as an extension to the third thing, if you already have some sort of vast surveillance apparatus, even if you trust the government of *now*, a worse government could come along and use it later for... totalitarian things.
gollark: For example:- the average person probably does *some* sort of illegal/shameful/bad/whatever stuff, and if some organization has information on that it can use it against people it wants to discredit (basically, information leads to power, so information asymmetry leads to power asymmetry). This can happen if you decide to be an activist or something much later, even- having lots of data on you means you can be manipulated more easily (see, partly, targeted advertising, except that actually seems to mostly be poorly targeted)- having a government be more effective at detecting minor crimes (which reduced privacy could allow for) might *not* actually be a good thing, as some crimes (drug use, I guess?) are kind of stupid and at least somewhat tolerable because they *can't* be entirely enforced practically
gollark: No, it probably isn't your fault, it must have been dropped from my brain stack while I was writing the rest.
gollark: ... I forgot one of them, hold on while I try and reremember it.

References
  1. Dr. J. H.E. Reeskamp. Trams. Publisher de Alk, Alkenreeks Beeld-Encyclopedie No 72 (1963)
  2. Een halte in de tijd: De tramsite van Schepdaal // Het spoor (monthly magazine issued by NMBS Holding), september 2009, p 17 - 19
  3. Website trammuseum
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