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Being able to switch the compartment lights off and heating up on the old carriage and loco hauled Brussels-Luxembourg service was lovely.

Yesterday I watched a guy plug his eScooter into a socket to charge on a Siemens Desiro. Would that have any effect on the scooter and/or the train?

The Eurostar buffet car is a great place to people watch and listen. I'd often stand in the corner with a beer for the whole journey. Best one I overheard was a group of UK police going to Brussels for a conference. All on G&Ts with a bawdy Ulsterman holding court. "How did Brian get his...

There’s something to the idea that people are used to fast moving trams in cities that never got rid of them. Here in Belgium trams have priority over other road users. Most of the tram crashes I’ve seen in Brussels involved a car with foreign number plates. Most famously a Volvo with UK plates...

As a passenger I once saw a couple having sex on the step of a fire exit at a factory unit in Raynes Park. It was quite surreal as our fully loaded train trundled past them with everyone watching.

Come to think of it. Aren’t these country codes international? Like currency, time zone or computer international settings? Bit like the colour of passports, nothing to do with the EU.

I put a sticker on my (Belgian) rear number plate, over the blue BE + EU stars. Welsh flag with "CYM". Got pulled over by the police and told to take it off as it would interfere with ANPR recognition. I didn't get a fine as I claimed it was only for the football. (Un)Fortunately Wales had...

I used to explore Margam in the mid-eighties on my bike. The tracks had been lifted but the ballast was all in place. Along with the office which looks to be still there.

This thread has reminded me that we had a gas powered fridge at home. I used to sit on the kitchen step looking at the pilot light through a little hole in the side.

I was lucky enough to live through the golden age of UK/EU relations. After graduation in 1998 I found a job in Slough. The firm had won a huge contract in Brussels (fixing the Y2K problem at an insurance company). The Belgian office didn't have enough staff so six of us new recruits were sent...

They've closed and re-opened their Brussels store twice since I've been living here. I'm not sure they're very good at running their international operations.

Vending machines here in Belgian stations sell beer! Although you need to put your ID card in to prove your age.

They have these already. Tesla stations in the car park as I remember from my last trip.

Growing up in Porthcawl I could hear steel trains climbing Stormy Bank from my bedroom. I guess it was 2 x Class 37 going very slowly, the sound is quite distinctive. I'd guess three or four miles away. 1629202858 Yes, the OLE starts to make a quiet whistling sound at my local station before...

A very clever colleague (Phd etc) once dropped his suit bag between the train and the platform at Swindon. Had to wait for a block and missed his flight. This morning I saw someone drop their phone on a platform of the Brussels metro, although it didn't fall onto the tracks. Holding their phone...

It's happened to me a few times at my station here in Belgium. The annoying thing is that the same IC train will regularly wait five minutes in Brussels Midi for a change of crew before heading to Antwerp.

I was just thinking that I'd read the opposite somewhere. Cases in the US where containers were all to the rear of the train. The lighter empty wagons towards the loco were pulled off the track on a bend.

My Dutch teacher taught us to pronounce every letter. So Hoover is about right.

I used to cycle along the line coming home from mountain biking in the hills behind. Climbing over a gate at Pyle. Frightening to learn it's still an active line.

Took the TGV from Brussels to Disneyland Paris once with my two small children and have taken them on the Eurostar to see family many times. The outward journey was very early so they just slept. Coming back on Sunday afternoon was a bit hectic as they were so excited. The key, from a parents...