Our Museum
Discover vicinal history at the museum
A little history
Discover vicinal history at the museum, on the site of the former Thuin-Ouest station. The site lies on the former SNCB line 109, which linked Mons and Chimay. Passenger services ended in 1964. The line remained in use for goods traffic to the Donstiennes sugar factory. This traffic stopped in the 1980s and the line fell out of use. However, special trains continued to run for events such as ASVi festivals. An SNCB series 46 railcar and the standard-gauge steam locomotive 808 used the line on these occasions. In 1992, the track was about to be lifted. ASVi then organised a final railcar run.
Work to convert the track began in February 1993. The SNCB gauge of 1435 mm changed to the vicinal gauge of 1000 mm. A switch went into the Rue de la Couture, followed by replacement of the track at the level crossing. The line’s metal sleepers stayed in place. Moving and fixing just one rail produced metre gauge. Next came the points leading to the workshop and museum. The first came from the Expo 1958 loop in Brussels. The mixed standard/metre-gauge turnout came from Marcinelle Hauchies. Others came from the former Charleroi and Centre networks.
Building and electrifying the site
Work on the new depot began in 1996. It was designed as a workshop, but was initially used as a museum. Work was completed in 1999 with the laying of the tracks inside the building and the pouring of the concrete slab. In June 1999, the trams moved into the building. The PCC was the first, soon joined by the 9073, the 303 steam locomotive and the 1853 trailer.
Opening to the public was planned for 4 July. There was still no electricity (600 volts) to run our trams. Construction of the substation began in February 2000. Its electrical equipment was ordered from AEG, and a rectifier and two 600V circuit breakers were recovered from the Binche substation (former SNCV line 90). Electrification of the site began in February 2001, compatible with collection by boom or pantograph.
The permanent museum and the Biesme-sous-Thuin extension
An ERDF phasing-out grant of €1.1 million made the second building of the « Centre de Découverte du Vicinal » possible. ASVi still had to raise €110,000 through donations and other income. Construction began at the end of 2001 and lasted a year.
The first day of electric traction was 1 June 2003. Winter provided time to install the displays. Vehicles moved from the museum/workshop into the permanent museum. The workshop could then focus on restoring other vehicles and maintaining those already in service. Major manoeuvres also brought trams from other depots to Thuin.
These works brought 25 additional trams under cover. The museum was inaugurated in 2004, and electric trams finally carried passengers. Most track work was complete, and the Tram Festival on 15 August was a great success.
In 2010, a 3 km extension opened along the RAVeL (Réseau Autonome des Voies Lentes). It follows the former SNCB line 109 to the terminus at Biesme-sous-Thuin. Railcars operate this route. It contrasts with the lines to Lobbes and Thuin Ville-Basse, which follow roadsides or run in streets. The extension recalls the vicinal’s routes across the countryside on their own right of way.
Discovering the museum
A visit to the museum explores a century of vicinal history. The steam locomotive and its trailers form a mixed goods/passenger train typical of the 1920s. You also discover the latest carriages built for the SNCV and the large electric vehicles known as Standard. Railcars that pulled goods trains complete the story.
As you walk through the aisles, you pass the vehicles on display. You can climb into some of them to experience the comfort, sometimes relative, of the period. Themed display cabinets show typical vicinal objects: driving controls, timetables and tickets. Dioramas also depict the vicinal in its many forms. The electrical engineering display reveals a substation plan or the inner workings of a controller.
Museum views and model railways
If you look up, you’ll see a host of photos and destination plaques or films that will catch your eye. Along the way, posters with red backgrounds provide information on key points in the history of the byway, from its creation to its dismantling. Before stopping off at the shop for its selection of books, postcards and other objects, climb the few steps to the mezzanine. Up there, you’ll have a bird’s eye view of the museum. For railway enthusiasts, it’s a great opportunity to see the roofs of our trams.
While you’re on the mezzanine, admire the superb 1/76 scale neighborhood diorama. This set represents the suburban trams of Brussels, departing along the canal and ending in the square of a Brabant village. Two other miniature sets are exhibited in the main hall. They have experienced miniature train exhibitions before being entrusted to us to be exhibited once again.
The first one represents the Ardennes in the early 1950s, with timber transports and the few passengers who connected the most remote villages. The second one represents the Lasne depot on the Brussels-Wavre line in the 1960s. A little nod, as the ASVi used this depot for a few years as a cold reserve before it was caught up in the appetite of real estate developers who converted it into an apartment.
Now all you have to do is hop on the tram to the Lower Town, Lobbes and Biesme-sous-Thuin.
About Vicinal
What is the Vicinal ?
Vicinal is what belongs to the neighbourhood, the Latin vicinus, which gave rise to vigin in Walloon. Today, we would speak of local railways, with all that that suggests in terms of mobility services for our motorised society.
What is it for ?
Belgium prides itself on having inaugurated the continent’s first public railway in 1835 and developed a national network of trains. However, these were initially limited to the less rugged parts of the country, as the public authorities neglected services to rural communities that were too sparsely populated to guarantee the dividends of a greedy shareholder base. The law establishing the SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER VICINAUX (SNCV) was finally promulgated in 1885 by Leopold II, who was very concerned about the growth of the metal industry and Belgium’s position as the world’s 2nd largest economy, after England.
The biggest "small" railway in the world !
For an era dominated by undisguised capitalist exploitation, the SNCV’s mission was revolutionary. It had to connect communities left isolated by the main railways. To do so, it built lines economically along roads, waterways, hills and valleys. These lines offered transport for everyone and carried goods to the most remote places.
The State, Provinces, Communes and interested individuals funded the network. The principle of mutuality applied: the « rich » lines supported those with fewer passengers. Carrying agricultural produce and mining products helped keep passenger fares low.
Railway manufacturers in the Walloon industrial area designed simple, robust locomotives and carriages for the local network. These vehicles became a showcase for their exports of colonial railways and tramways around the world. Gradually, the vicinal network grew. It reached 5,000 km of lines by the 1935 Universal Exhibition, after 50 years of existence. It then far exceeded the main railways.
The Vicinal century (1885-1992)
In 1985, the SNCV had only 200 kilometres of track left (La Panne – Ostend – Knokke, the Charleroi network, the Han caves). It was the only centenary company in the transport world. The growing importance of the car had competed with its rural lines from the 1950s onwards, and the anachronistic installation of its tracks on busy roads would have necessitated expenditure deemed exorbitant.
So for a century, the vicinal tram was part of the landscape of the Belgium of bygone days, with its narrow, cobbled, tree-lined roads and one-metre gauge tracks. Vicinal stations were rare, as the thrifty tram preferred to stop near a café where passengers and parcels were in good hands.
Electric trams and the First World War
Electric trams were added to the steam-powered convoys of heroic times in 1894. The success of this new method of traction encouraged Julien Dulait, head of Electricité & Hydraulique (the future ACEC), to produce everything needed for the new tramway. The quality of his products made Charleroi famous the world over. Another financial and industrial magnate, Edouard Empain, who operated the coastal tramway, tried in vain to extend his business to his Lille and Valenciennes networks.
On the eve of the First World War, he set up the Section du Chemin de Fer Vicinal en Campagne, foreseeing the strategic role that trams would play on the Yser front. In German-occupied Belgium, the vicinal railways provided the bulk of passenger transport (the main railways having been “confiscated”) and showed their imagination: night trams and inter-city links enabled the starving population to get supplies from the countryside.
From reconstruction to regionalisation
By 1918, half the rural network had to be rebuilt and the private operators had thrown in the towel. The SNCV rebuilt and directly operated the network in a modern way, replacing steam trams with railcars, designing a standard type of spacious and comfortable electric locomotive and promoting social tourism when the first paid holidays arrived (1936).
The old locos were kept for freight traffic, which was still very profitable. In 1940, they were once again used for passenger traffic, as there was no more petrol available. At the height of the bombing raids, the tram, which was more discreet than the big railway, continued to operate. Peace returned in a changed world that saw individual motorisation supplant other modes of transport. The century-old company was dissolved in 1991 as a result of the regionalisation of road-based public transport (TEC in Wallonia, De Lijn in Flanders and STIB in Brussels).
ASVi and the Vicinal discovery centre
A group of enthusiasts founded the ASVi non-profit association in 1972 to preserve old local trams and keep them running. Over the years, the association acquired more than 40 vehicles. The oldest dates from 1885.
ASVi has operated trams on the Lobbes – Thuin line since 1978. It has maintained the line itself since 1 January 1984. The Discovery Centre project began in 1994. It aimed to display the collection to the public and bring SNCV history to life. The first building opened on 01.10.1999, thanks to the members’ efforts and public funding.
Our lines
