| Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Touristique (in French) Toerisme en Spoor Patrimonium (in Dutch) | |
|---|---|
 PFT's 64.169 at a Gala on the Chemin de fer du Bocq, 15 August 2011. | |
| Locale | Belgium |
| Terminus | St Ghislan |
| Preservation history | |
| 11 August 1988 | Society formed |
| Website | |
| http://www.pfttsp.be/ | |
Patrimoine Ferroviaire et Tourisme (in French) (PFT) are a society dedicated to the preservation of Belgian railway heritage. They cover a number of aspects of railway enthusiasm, operating charter trains, maintaining heritage locomotives (steam and diesel) and operating a museum at Saint-Ghislain.
PFT use to operate charter trains on the Belgian railway network. They have their own train of carriages and fleet of locomotives which are passed by Infrabel for these operations. Both steam and diesel locomotives were used. PFT were often called upon to run trains celebrating railway milestones, e.g. they organised the final workings for the recently withdrawn Class 15 & Class 16 locomotives. Since 2013, SNCB was not allowed to "host" heritage trains on his own security certificate. A new Belgian rail regulation to allow those historic trains is not yet adopted as of 2018.
This takes place at their museum in Saint-Ghislain and until end 2018 at their site within SNCB's Schaerbeek depot. Maintenance of the operational fleet use to takes place at Schaerbeek, and vehicle restoration is centred on Saint-Ghislain. The museum is host to a number of model railway events each year. A small depot has been built in Spontin for railcar and infrastructure engines usual maintenance.
PFT have taken over the 21 km long Ciney – Spontin – Yvoir railway line (also known as line 128) and operate it as the Chemin de fer du Bocq (CFB) heritage railway. It retains a connection to the national network at Ciney, which facilitates PFT using main line locomotives at their events. A gala is held every year around 15 August. During 2012 CrossRail AG provided a class 66 locomotive as a feature. In 2015, 16 kilometers (between Ciney and Evrehailles-Bauche) are operational. In 2016, the terminal section between Ciney and Braibant – which is parallel to the Bruxelles – Luxemburg main line then undergoing a track / overhead renewal – has been rebuilt. Connection with the national railway network at Ciney was suspended for two seasons. Modernization of the main line is continuing and Infrabel plans to free some unused space in Ciney in 2021–2023. This would allow the Chemin de fer du Bocq to have its own separate 2-tracks platform with a connexion to the Infrabel network. In 2019, rotten sleepers and 40 kg/m rails were removed from the 2.6 km section between Evrehailles-Bauche and the Yvoir tunnel. COVID crisis and maintenance tasks with higher priority on the operated section and in Ciney have delayed the track reconstruction schedule that slowly restarted during the summer of 2021.
PFT produce a bi-monthly commercial magazine aimed at the Belgian rail enthusiasts, produced in French (En Lignes) and Dutch (Op Der Baan) versions. The name translates to English as On the line.
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