Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-02-04 20:10:15 - Graham Ellis
Well - that's both disappointing and fascinating. The Frya services onto which was supposed to connect at Brussels haven't been running for the last two weeks, and I found myself looking a a bewildering poster that talked about Anvers, Antwerp and Roosendaal. Alternative places to change to reach Amsterdam / Rotterdam. Or do I need to change at all three.
It turns out that Antwerp and Anvers are two names for the same place ... and I had to catch a train from Brussels to Antwerp, and then another from Antwerp to Roosendall, and a third from Roosendaal to Rotterdam. Then I can carry on with Rotterdam to Den Haag and Den Haag to Zoetermeer Oost.
The train from Brussels to Antwerp was fine - double decker, plenty of space, seats lined up with the windows, and styled "Intercity". And half an hour in Antwerp station was .. breathtaking. I don't know how to start describing the mixture of old and new architecture, the great open halls, the trains on three levels of platforms one above the other. And at the top of the stack, a glorious sunny afternoon on the street outside. This is where I DO need to post with pictures!
And so onwards to Roosendaal. Now - Antwerp is in Belgium, and Roosendaal is in the Netherlands. And although they're both in the EU, and have open borders, each has its own laws; languages and cultures. So the traffic across the border isn't very much at all.
My train ftom Antwerp was ancient. Clip windows, hard seats, centre luggage racks - reminded me of the 4EPB sets I was brought up on in the 1960s, except the seats were harder and plastic rather than material. The colour on the outside was maroon - again, just like British Rail maroon from the 1960s. Really - "the train that time forgot". And it was just four carriages (one first class) large numbers of people piled in - at least everyone got a seat.
We crept out of central through a long tunnel, and came up to a bleak inner suburb station - Antwerp something - where we stopped at a long platform with nothing on it; the bleak inner station that gets few trains, and everybody uses central. And then we moved on to .. the next Antwerp station. And - of so gradually - the stations got more suburban and greener. Truly this was the local train, extended (just the one service an hour, mark you, from Essen where many train terminate one more stop, over the border, to Roosenddaal. From arriving in Antwerp to arriving in Roosendaal took longer that Brussels to Rotterdam should.
And ... how long at the next change? Roosendall is on a remote arm of the Dutch railways from Rotterdam to Vlissingen and I seem to recall "hourly" from the past. I still don't know, because there was a good connection - as we pulled in, so did the train from Vlissingen and we were soon on our way. Joy of joys - it continues on past Rotterdam to The Hauge (Den Haag) too, so that saves me a change ...
[later]
... or so I thought. We called at Den Haag HS, and the Zoetermeer trains leave from Den Haag Centrum. Oops - but yet again the Dutch get it right, with a connection waiting, cross platform, and "Den Haag Centrum" in lights. And, once again, the connection leaves very quickly indeed. So I may grumble at having to drop back to the local, and it may have been slower ... but I've had a seat all the way and the connections have been good. Joy of joys - it continues on past Rotterdam to The Hage (Den Haag) too, so that saves me a change ...
[later]
... or so I thought. We called at Den Haag HS, and the Zoetermeer trains leave from Den Haag Centrum. Oops - but yet again the Dutch get it right, with a connection waiting, cross platform, and "Den Haag Centrum" in lights. And, once again, the connection leaves very quickly indeed. So I may grumble at having to drop back to the local, and it may have been slower ... but I've had a seat all the way and the connections have been good. What a contrast to Swindon this morning, when I watched the Cheltenham train pulling out just as the train from Swansea was coming into the platform - not described as the connection, but the "Didcot Dance" again, making it pretty naff for people from the west to turn north.
Anyway - I'm in Zoetermeer now.
1. Melksham to Swindon
2. Swindon to Paddington
3. Paddington to Kings Cross St Pancras
4. St Pancras to Brussels Midi
5. Brussels Midi to Antwerp Central
6. Antwerp Central to Roosendaal
7. Roosendaal to Den Haag HS
8. Den Haag HS to Den Haag Centrim
9. Den Haag Centrum to Zoetermeer
A tremendous number of pictures. A really valuable learning curve on how others do it - the good and the bad. And probably the most confusing blog I've even written if viewed without a map. But I'm too tired to clarify it; my pack's just about the heaviest I've carried with 9 laptops, and the only norishment after London was a hot dog in Antwerp. Time for tea!
The train from Brussels to Antwerp was fine - double decker, plenty of space, seats lined up with the windows, and styled "Intercity". And half an hour in Antwerp station was .. breathtaking. I don't know how to start describing the mixture of old and new architecture, the great open halls, the trains on three levels of platforms one above the other. And at the top of the stack, a glorious sunny afternoon on the street outside. This is where I DO need to post with pictures!
And so onwards to Roosendaal. Now - Antwerp is in Belgium, and Roosendaal is in the Netherlands. And although they're both in the EU, and have open borders, each has its own laws; languages and cultures. So the traffic across the border isn't very much at all. 
We crept out of central through a long tunnel, and came up to a bleak inner suburb station - Antwerp something - where we stopped at a long platform with nothing on it; the bleak inner station that gets few trains, and everybody uses central. And then we moved on to .. the next Antwerp station. And - of so gradually - the stations got more suburban and greener. Truly this was the local train, extended (just the one service an hour, mark you, from Essen where many train terminate one more stop, over the border, to Roosenddaal. From arriving in Antwerp to arriving in Roosendaal took longer that Brussels to Rotterdam should.
And ... how long at the next change? Roosendall is on a remote arm of the Dutch railways from Rotterdam to Vlissingen and I seem to recall "hourly" from the past. I still don't know, because there was a good connection - as we pulled in, so did the train from Vlissingen and we were soon on our way. Joy of joys - it continues on past Rotterdam to The Hauge (Den Haag) too, so that saves me a change ...