Once the entire railway network was back in action, work recommenced on the construction of the North-South connection in Brussels. These activities had quickly stopped after the Second World War broke out.

The story of the North-South connection is quite a long one. The city of Brussels created a commission to investigate its feasibility as far back as 1837. In 1841, a connection was opened that ran along the main avenues. To avoid collisions, a signalman went ahead of the train with a flag and bell in order to warn passers-by. This connection was liquidated in 1871 when the western circular railway went into operation.

Even so, the importance of a direct connection between the North and South station grew ever clearer. Many plans were raised. In the period 1895-1901, three commissions developed specific plans. Finally, plans for the project were based on those by Frédéric Bruneel, an engineer at the Belgian State Railway Company. Due to long procedures for expropriation, work didn’t start until 1911. The job should have been finished by the end of 1915.

In the year of the Expo, a third of all passenger trains and half of all goods trains were still pulled by a steam locomotive. Today’s drivers can hardly believe the conditions in which work was carried out in the ‘romantic’ age of steam.

‘The driver’s cabin was very Spartan, often with no seat and no screen at the back. It was therefore really hot at the front and often bitterly cold at the back,’ explains Maurits Vercauteren. In 1955, at the age of nineteen, he was successful in passing his final exam to become a stoker. ‘It was a tough job. During a shift lasting between eight and nine hours, I threw seven to ten tons of coal into the furnace. I did consider stopping at some point, but kept going thanks to my father, who was a train driver.’ Maurits became a driver in 1958 in the Aalst depot.

The driver and stoker were a team. They also had their own locomotive. ‘We cherished that locomotive,’ Maurits remembers quite vividly. ‘In fact it was like being married twice. And for most the locomotive came first. We even went to the depot on our days off to check that the locomotive was all right. We were expected to keep good time. A team that had lots of delays was put “out of action”. You didn’t know beforehand which shifts you’d be asked to drive.’

In 1962, Maurits switched to the diesel locomotive. ‘I was pleased to be rid of steam. Steam trains are lovely to look at. But anyone who’s driven a steam locomotive knows better. It was hard and dirty work. These days, train drivers are spoiled in terms of comfort, with things like ergonomic stools and air-conditioning.

In 1958, there were 1,390 steam, 159 electric and 201 diesel locomotives in NMBS/SNCB’s fleet.

The steam-train era was to continue for a while. It was not until 1966 that people finally said farewell to the steam locomotive and its often impressive puffs of smoke with the last train journey between Ath and Denderleeuw.