Locomotive 'Le Belge'

Although Vresse itself has no connection whatsoever with the railway history (a railway line has never even passed the village), the inhabitants decided to recreate the locomotive as a float in 1980 in the context of 150 years of Belgium. on the project together. Thanks to the chassis and engine of an old van, donated by the local garage, the colossus could actually drive. The locomotive was given a permanent place in the center of Vresse, in a specially designed building.

1980. A parade was organized on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the country's independence and a float had to be built, just like the neighboring villages...

Why don't we recreate the country's first locomotive?

The idea quickly gained ground in people's minds. Perhaps because the place had never been in contact with the railways apart from a steam engine.

Originally it was about building a float that roughly corresponded to the ancestor of our locomotives. But they soon changed their mind...

On a beautiful day in April, four people from the Ardennes arrived in the capital: Maurice Mergny, Florimont Louvet, François Colas and Georges Bertholet. Destination: the railway museum, where the model of the locomotive in question is named - how could it be otherwise? "The Belgian". It was love at first sight for them in all its splendor. How beautiful is this streamlined locomotive with its shiny copper, its large black-red wheels and its long spindle-shaped chimney topped with a sort of inverted egg basket!

On the way back to Vresse, each of them had the feeling that this locomotive would be a part of their lives in a way other than as a float.

Very quickly they realized that they had to be demanding on themselves. The decision was unanimous: it would be a copy, down to the bolt, that they would build, and nothing else...

It took more than a few scattered benefactors to complete a work of such magnitude. Inexplicably, without any premeditation, volunteers came from all walks of life: craftsmen, workers, intellectuals, retirees, all of whom became passionate about the bold project of Maurice Mergny and his team. Suddenly, the construction of "Le Belge" became the business of Vresse, that is, of the entire village.

A second trip to Brussels brought together ten participants, this time to the Center for Fine Arts where, as part of the exhibition "The time of the stations", a life-size copy of the ancestor of the Belgian railways was displayed.

The information was recorded in groups of two. Each team took care of a "slice" of the locomotive, drew the parts, measured them, photographed them detail by detail, so that they could get a better picture of reality afterwards.

It was an important day, as the group of stubborn Vressois returned home with an incredible harvest: more than 150 photographs and hundreds of drawings that, when collected, depicted almost the detailed plan of the locomotive.

An entire village at work.

From that moment on, all of Vresse went to work. Each group was tasked with building part of the machine, which, thanks to the active participation of Georges Cognaut, who made his wood workshop and, above all, all his tools at the disposal of the team, would be made entirely from local wood. Except for the copper, of course, which had to be minted in Dinant, the only place where the specialized labor for this kind of work still exists.

First problem: finances... A collection in the village had raised the already nice sum of 16,000 F (397 Eur). But this wasn't enough, especially to pay the coppersmiths... Never mind! Everyone on the team rolled up their sleeves and on the occasion of the local fair they opened a special stall where they sold fries, sausages and other merguez for the benefit of the "locomotive" action. The result: 23,700 francs (588 euros) in the till!

An unexpected return to parish camaraderie.

But in the end, the adventure has gone much further than anyone could have imagined at the beginning. At the same time, this "group hobby" was intended to create a kind of mini-miracle in Vresse-sur-Semois.

During the construction of the locomotive, a strange phenomenon occurred, a kind of subtle change in the atmosphere of the village. Every day, when their work was done, young and old came as fast as they could to "their" construction site. This daily contact, without their wishing or even suspecting it, suddenly revived that old parish camaraderie they had not known for a long time. People who would normally never have met each other became inseparable friends. The handymen helped with patience - a rare thing - those who could do nothing with their ten fingers. In short, the village was 150 years younger, and it was as if they were back in the early days of national independence!

Another miracle, this time on a larger scale: every evening and every weekend the men left their house to devote themselves completely to their plow hobby. Never has a Vresse woman been heard complaining about this situation. While in normal times...

"The atmosphere must not have been much different during the building of cathedrals," remarked an amused resident of Vresse.

Meanwhile, 'Le Belge' slowly began to take shape. Every day brought improvements, the completion of a detail, the solution of a technical problem. A garage owner offered a chassis and a van engine as the basis for the locomotive. A team was busy turning the wooden rivets of the old locomotive. There were, apparently, more than 2,500! Eugène Nicaise, who was responsible for the construction of the great chimney - the chronicle tells us - did not sleep until his work was completed. And it was even whispered that the retired gendarmerie officer, who was not good at manual labor, quickly became an expert in do-it-yourself within his team... In short, today "Le Belge" by Vresse is ready. It is a beautiful locomotive, absolutely faithful to the original: no rivet, no bolt, not a single detail of paint or decoration is missing. He rolls, whistles, steams and spits smoke like his ancestor did in 1835 in the fields and meadows between Brussels and Mechelen.

Membre, the neighboring village of Vresse, won over by the enthusiasm, agreed to "play along" as well. The inhabitants, led by a 75-year-old carpenter, Florimont Louvet, built the passenger carriage that is the indispensable complement to the locomotive of Vresse. After the 150th anniversary parade was over and the festive lanterns extinguished, Vresse continued her "joint hobby". "We can't leave our locomotive outside," the boys say.

So they decided to put it on rails (of wood), build a platform for it... and build a closed barn around it, which was worthy of it.

Willem Vandenameele