De Lijn 5898 (0621 P) at Beveren-IJzer – 28 Apr 1997

Monday 28 April 1997 (1748) - De Lijn (Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn) 5898 (0621 P), DAF powered Van Hool A120 integral new in February 1982, seen leaving Beveren-IJzer on the final portion of the 1630 Ieper-Poperinge-Roesbrugge-Beveren-IJzer-Hoogstade Linde service 744. This trip runs Mondays to Fridays between Ieper and Beveren-IJzer extending to Hoogstade Linde on schooldays only.

Service 744 closely follows the route of the former Poperinge to Veurne tramway opened in the 1900s as part of the Belgian Government’s policy of providing transport in rural communities. The tram line diverged from the street to reserved track to the right of the stone building which I think was an NMVB property. The trams have long gone being replaced by buses (in the early 1950s?) and NMVB has in turn been replaced by ‘De Lijn’.

This being my birthday I had rewarded myself with a trip from Poperinge to Beveren-IJzer on the this bus returning at 1815 on bus 5534 (1596 P), a similar style vehicle new in September 1979, which was operating the 1724 service from Veurne to Poperinge (arriving at 1834). A pleasant little outing on a lovely sunny evening.

De Lijn was created in 1991 from the northern part of NMVB (Nationale Maatschappij van Buurtspoorwegen) and both buses had been new to NMVB.