Brussels Trams Heritage Trams

Brussels Trams Heritage Trams

The system exists in happy symbiosis with an active heritage operation based at the Woluwe depot, and privately hired trams have free access to the tracks. Trams that still collect their current through trolley poles rather than pantographs are normally restricted to the scenic line from the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark via Woluwe to Tervuren, which is run with the help of volunteers from the Brussels Tram Museum, whose board has a strong representation from STIB/MIVB. This runs at weekends from April to October, occasionally, such as on Belgian National Day (21 July), these trams appear in the city centre, where the line on the Rue Royale is trolleypole-enabled.

A few heritage trams are equipped with pantographs, and these ones can travel all over the city (except in the premetro tunnels because they are not equipped with the speed control system required there), every Sunday from April to September, and one Sunday a month outside this period, a 5000-series trams (two-bogie model built 1935) takes tourists on a four-hour circuit of the Brussels-Capital Region with a 50-minute pause around noon.

A number of Brussels Trams have been acquired by museums abroad. In the UK, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway has restored and operates steam tram engine 1625 ("Lucie") built in 1890 for the Tramways de Bruxelles à Evere et Extensions.

Several trams have been sent to the United States. Tram 7037 is in San Francisco, operating on the F-Line, surreally repainted in the blue-and-white livery of Zürich. Tram 1504 is at the Trolley Museum of New York, 1511 is at Old Pueblo Trolley and 7169 is operated by the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority in Dallas, Texas. The Oregon Electric Railway Museum has nine former Brussels Trams.

In Canada, a 4-axle PCC is awaiting restoration at the Ontario St shed of Vancouver's Downtown Historic Railway, and in Argentina, the Asociación Amigos del Tranvía in Buenos Aires operates tram 9069.

Brussels Trams Special-Purpose Trams

One PCC tram was converted in 2012 into a mobile restaurant, which operates six evenings per week. Its fleet number is 7601, formerly 7765 and before that 7565. The drivers of this mobile restaurant follow a special course in "soft driving" in order to avoid spilling the diners' wine or their soup.

A second PCC tram, 7126, serves as a mobile studio for the Le Tram television programme broadcast by BX1 (formerly Télé Bruxelles) every other Sunday, during which an interview is conducted while the tram tours Brussels. The tram tows a generator trailer.

2010 Vancouver Olympics

From 21 January to 21 March 2010, a demonstration streetcar project, known as the Olympic Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, used cars 3050 & 3051 (Bombardier Flexity Outlook) on a Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway 1.8 km (1.1 mi) track.


Trams in Brussels Overview

Brussels Trams Locale: Brussels, Belgium
Brussels Trams Routes: 18 (2019)
Brussels Trams Owner(s): Brussels-Capital Region
Brussels Trams Operator(s): STIB/MIVB
Brussels Trams Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Brussels Trams Propulsion System(s): Electricity
Brussels Trams Electrification: 750 V DC overhead lines
Brussels Trams Depot(s): 7
Brussels Trams Stock: 397
Brussels Trams Track Length (total): 140.6 km
Brussels Trams Route Length:141.1 km (87.7 mi)
Brussels Trams Revenue: 2017: 149.1 million
Brussels Trams Horsecar Era: 1869–ca. 1900
Brussels Trams Status: Converted to electricity
Brussels Trams Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Brussels Trams Propulsion System(s): Horses
Brussels Trams Steam Tram Era: 1876–1877, 1879
Brussels Trams Status: Experiments abandoned
Brussels Trams Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Brussels Trams Propulsion System(s): Steam
Brussels Trams Accumulator Tram Era: 1883, 1886–1889
Brussels Trams Status: Experiments abandoned
Brussels Trams Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Brussels Trams Propulsion System(s): Rechargeable batteries
Brussels Trams Electric Tram Era: since 1894
Brussels Trams Status: Still Running
Brussels Trams Owner(s): Brussels-Capital Region
Brussels Trams Operator(s):
STIB/MIVB (since 1954)