“In the 19th century, Belgians built the Orient-Express line”
Diving into the European and global adventure of Belgian trains thanks to a scenography unique in the world, this is what the universe of Train World offers for more than three hours in the huge premises of Schaerbeek station, wonderfully restored in its woodwork and ironwork from past centuries. A museum recognized as a top on Trip Advisor with its 3 stars in the Michelin Green Guide. Visit with Stéphane Disière, head of heritage protection at SNCB.
LHCH: How does Train World’s offering compare to other railway museums around the world?
S. Disière: Despite its small size, Train World offers a scenographic approach that is absolutely unique in the world. I visited what remains for me the most beautiful railway museum, that of Tokyo, but here the universe that was created by the Belgian designer, François Schuiten, is a real diving into the exceptional Belgian history of trains. We are indeed the 2nd country after England to have run trains in the world! Brussels is the first world capital to have been linked by trains in 1846 with Paris. We will also be doing an exhibition on the 175 years of this prestigious line in 2021. Our very rich collection dates back to 1835. We have 200 trains even if here, due to lack of space, there are only 25 locomotives or wagons, but all original.
LHCH: Train World is more than a collection of trains.
S.Disière: Our 1,500 objects linked to our railway history are all authentic. No reconstruction, fake sets. For 8 years, I worked with François Schuiten to create this “railway opera”, which would stage all these gems of our history.
LHCH: François Schuiten is actually the brother of the architect Luc Schuiten
S.Disière: Yes, his comics often deal with futuristic architecture reminiscent of the tapered lines of our locomotives at the start of the 20th century. Our architects bent to the characteristics of the scenography to draw their plans and not the other way around. The structures of the final building therefore open up staged spaces as kinds of new points of view on trains and objects.
LHCH: A staging so sublimated by amazing lighting and singular music
S.Disière: We collaborated with the Canadians of Cirque du Soleil for the lighting and it is a contemporary French composer, Bruno Letort, who wrote an original work dedicated to Train World and which develops through the thematic succession of theaters , accompanying visitors in their discovery.
LHCH: Another good thing, is that there is no long explanatory panels …
S.Disière: So as not to load the decorations, everything is available on an application to be consulted in real time during the visit.
LHCH: Train World is as cutting-edge as it is accessible. Who is your audience?
S.Disière: A family and popular audience, in the best sense of the word. You can have fun like a big kid or be seduced by a kind of nostalgia. Temporary targeted exhibitions such as “Tintin, Hergé and the trains”, Lego or even Delvaux, for the moment, also attract more specific audiences.
LHCH: Themes that still illustrate Belgian culture
S.Disière: At the start of the school year, there will be an exhibition focusing on the craftsmanship of Belgian chocolate makers Pierre Marcolini and Dominique Persoone who, with other craftsmen, will create 25 chocolate sculptures on the themes of the railway. Otherwise, the Museum also has technical vignettes produced by Hergé when he was still working for the SNCB.
LHCH: Belgium is also known for providing its best engineers to build rail lines in China!
S.Disière: In 2021, we will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Belgium and China. On this occasion, we will organize an exhibition on a line built by our engineers and connecting Beijing to Hankou. In 1898, the Société d’Etude de Chemins de Fer en Chine, a Franco-Belgian group actively supported by Leopold II, obtained the concession of a railway line of more than 1,200 km connecting Beijing to Hankow. She hired engineer Jean Jadot, Director of the Lower Egypt Railway, to lead the construction of the line in China. An extraordinary adventure begins!
LHCH: Next to the oldest surviving Belgian and European locomotive, we saw a machine that worked in China.
S.Disière: Yes, it is one of the shunting locomotives that belonged to a series of machines exported to China to serve this Beijing Hankou line which was built in a difficult context. China was in the process of being torn apart by the Unequal Treaties, losing its independence. The Chinese seem, according to documents from the Société Générale de Belgique which financed the line, to have preferred to collaborate with us who did not have a colony at home! Even if, ironically, Belgian funds were not sufficient for this enormous project; a French bank (BNP-Paribas today) therefore provided 85% of the funds.
S.Disière: The Belgians are less “cocorico” than the French and the Dutch, so we ignore dazzling stories like that of our trains and the famous Empress Cixi. After the Boxer Rebellion, Empress Cixi took the train on this line for the first time in her life to return to Beijing. It was the engineer Jean Jadot who welcomed her on the Belgian train! But for divinatory or superstitious reasons, the Empress had to return from the south of Beijing and not from the east, as our railway line had fixed. So with French genius, we built a special 25 km line to allow the Empress to enter Beijing from the south! You will discover the text of Cixi’s fan where she wrote a poem for the occasion. François Schuiten and the Chinese comic book artist Li Kun Wu will also make together, with 4 hands, 5 drawings on the history of the Beijing-Hankou line.
LHCH: Your collection also includes a private train that belonged to Leopold II.
S.Disière: The royal family owned special cars to travel by train like all royal or imperial families. But Leopold II had a line made with his own funds connecting the Château de Laeken and the European network of the time. Under the Royal Palace he even had a station built with underground platforms! This line linked its Palace and that of Nations to organize international conferences there for the influence of Belgium. The Belgian railway manufacturers of the time exported up to 15,000 steam locomotives to the world!
LHCH: The visit also tells us that it was a Belgian company that laid the rails for the legendary Orient-Express train!
S.Disière: Liege Georges Nagelsmackers is the creator of the international sleeping car company … and of the Orient-Express! Leopold II set off the beginnings of the adventure. On the logo of this sleeping car company, we can see two lions which are the king’s arms. This line that went to Beijing also included hotels! In these in Beijing, André Malraux wrote his famous novel “La Condition Humaine”.
LHCH: Train World is an ambitious project… and 100% Belgian-Belgian?
S. Disière: The SNCB’s fourth service mission is to preserve the public heritage of the Belgian railway. A state endowment was made for this purpose, after 50 years of long wait. Today, it is just 5 years since the Train World Museum was established.
