An illustrated review of some of the landmark achievements that have been contributed to the development of railways in general in Belgium. The birthplace of the railways was Britain, but forward-thinking King Leopold I encouraged development of the railways and gave rise to many world firsts, records and innovation, quite disproportionate to the country’s size.
Belgium’s Unique Railway History seeks to address the lack of previous writing on this subject. It begins with a look at the development of industry in Belgium, facilitated by the expanding railway network. It also looks at the intensive passenger network and some of the key engineering figures in the development of the railways.
The book also looks at the Belgian railway manufacturing industry and how it has fed both the domestic and international markets. Separate chapters look specifically at world firsts achieved in the country and at various railway oddities unique to Belgium.
Much of Belgium’s highly successful industry was decimated, by the First World War, with many thousands of locomotives, wagons and coaches destroyed, and key infrastructure demolished. Despite these setbacks, the innovations continued apace and today Belgium continues to press ahead with the development of a modern railway network.
15 colour and 36 black & white photographs, 1 x colour map, 3 x black & white illustrations. 48 pages.