Latest newcomer in the Brussels museum scene is the Train World, which opened in September 2015. One can buy ticket to many destinations at Schaerbeek station, but now it includes time travel.

The story of the Belgian railways starts in year 1836, when the first continental railway line in Europe was opened between Brussels and Mechelen. By 1840 tracks were laid to Ghent, Bruges, Oostend and Antwerp. A little later came the connections to Liège, Mons and Kortrijk

By 1843 all mainlines from north to south and east towest were finished, after which the private companies got the permission to construct and operate their own networks. These served as a significant push to the industrialisation of the society.

In 1870 there were 863 kms of state-owned railways and 2231 kms of privately-owned. In the following twelve years the rail network was nationalised in stages.

To museum by rail

Train World is located at the Schaerbeek station and consists of two separate buildings. The museum can naturally be reach by train, as well as by tram. There’s also a reasonably-sized parking  place.

The entrance and the first exhibition space is the old Schaerbeek station itself. The airy and spacious building represents “Flemish renaissance” and was built in 1887.

This hall has a lot of scale models of trains and stations, railway uniforms, old tickets and other memorabilia. Also, the construction of the tunnel between Brussels South (Midi) and North (Nord) stations was well documented.

In addition, the scale model of the Brussels Central was very fascinating, having once wandered around the station trying to make sense of it.

Trains in 1:1

After the old station building, the tour continues via outdoors in to the modern hall that houses the real locomotives and railway carriages. The new-build is simultaneuosly dark and light. In the exhibition spaces the ambiance is dark, but the back wall of the building is all glass and there are several windows opening up to the station platforms for trainspotting.

Although the museum is in different floors it is fully accessible by wheelchair (or pram). The exhibition is in chronological order and the 8000m2 space is divided by walls in to 4 sections. First are the steam engines and older carriages, followed by the first electric locomotives and finally the 1970s trains.

Things to see for half a day

The museum is interesting.covers the history of Belgian railways well. It suits all ages and there’s a lot of information. Locomotives are interesting for adults and children alike. Scale models of locomotives and trains are in their hundreds.It’s easy to spend up to four hours at the museum, which is enough for most people.