Friday late afternoon ... an image that we had been dreaming of for several years: TSP steam locomotive n° 64.169 is rolling on the tracks of the Schaarbeek marshalling yard next to the Diesel traction maintenance building. A euphoric feeling comes over the crowd of rail enthusiasts that has gathered here today, as we welcome the P8 to her new home.
Before this these are the events of the final day.
Aachen-West: scheduled time of departure: 9.30 AM
After a quiet day in the German border station de loco and her companions got ready to cross the last border. Tension was mounting, some were already getting euphoric...however...never underestimate the cruel twists of fate in the railway world..
A Belgian loco was attached to the P8, braking tests were carried out, the crew got on board for the final leg of the long journey...until some official came along and crashed the party: the official train that would take us in tow that day had already rolled and as the same unique number can come along only once every 24 hours, we were up sh*t creek without a paddle.
The NMBS/SNCB loco was uncoupled again and left withou us, disbelief and disappointed were on everyone's faces. However, we still had a few tricks up our sleeve and began contacting our inside men in the railway hierarchy to find a quick solution to our situation...24 hours is a long time to wait when you're this close to your destination...
Aachen-West: actual time of departure 11 AM
A German 'Ludmilla' which carried the vital missing documentation (and a new train number)took the lead position and carried our machine and its exhausted but extatic crew across the border... Bye Bye Germany!
Counting down the last few kms....hundreds of meters...and finally the Belgian border line.
After a few hundred meters we were already welcomed by the first rail enthusiast armed with a camera; Arno Verhaegen was the first to photograph the P8 on Belgian ground. <http://arnoverhagen.fotostop.be/> !
Montzen
A warm welcome from Claire and the rest of his family for Henk, who must be mentioned as THE man who eventually solved the transport problems concerning the P8. We uncorked the first bottle of champagne and shared between all present who had participated in the voyage from Romania to Belgium
Not more than ten minutes after arrival the loco received her first Belgian photo line up.
Enough loitering...our travels aren't over yet!. A special SNCB/NMBS locomotive is coupled with the 64 to form a first historic train for the enthusiasts along the line to photograph.
We passed Hasselt, Holsbeek-junction, Hever-junction, Vilvoorde and finally the Schaarbeek yard, the new home of our steam locomotive.
After arriving and chitchatting with the press the curtain fell over two long weeks of travel in less-than-ideal conditions with little sleep for all involved.
We insist on thanking lots of people who have contributed to the P8 project over the years
First and foremost Pierre Herbiet, 'father' of the project who insisted we bring a P8 back to life in faraway Romania.
Jean-Pierre Koob and Philippe Hombrouckx who provided him with technical assistance to get the electronics right.
Henk De Jonghe and his whole supportive family who resolved the total gridlock where the whole project was in and finally made it possible to leave Romania.
Lucian who helped us to get through all the paper work, stamps, signatures of his native Romania.
Also a big thank you to 'boerieboeries' Stefan, Kurt and Roland; Kristof Honee; Geert Packet and Philippe Gousset who, together with Henk and Pierre brought the hellish journey to a happy conclusion.
We also thank the people who came and read these pages every day, and shared the emotions of the P8-crew day and night. This was made possible by the people who started and updated our blog: Geert en Kristof, Laurence Vanderhaegen (French translations) and Sven Breugelmans (English) took it upon themselves to keep you up to date as events progressed.
As you can see, TSP is not only a collection of locomotives, rolling stock and railway artefacts but also a diverse group of extremely motivated individuals with a common objective.
The long haul may now be over but already we are at the beginning of the next chapter: getting the 64.169 into operational service. Stay tuned to our weblog to follow the progress.
We can already announce that the first 'engineering works' have started to prepare the loco for her first self-propelled journey on the Belgian rail network. Don't forget to circle the first of July on your calendar!
