Lucie – a former steam tram engine which was operated by the East Brussels Tram Company in Belgium – has recently been returned to steam at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, joining an elite group of steam tram engines which have run in the UK over the years.
Built by the John Cockerill Company in 1890, Lucie was numbered 8 in the East Brussels Tram Company fleet and ran alongside sister vehicle 7 between Saint Jose Place and the Brussels Cemetery in Evere. The company also owned other engines as well as carriages and Lucie would have plied her trade on normal passenger services, funeral trains and possibly freight turns too.
When the SNCV took control of the tramway they converted it to metre gauge which meant that Lucie was no longer required and it was then sold to the Vielle Montage Mining Company where it became an industrial steam locomotive – and was named Lucie at this point in time. Eventually returning to the UK in 1987 the loco has run at both Peak Rail and the Middleton Railway before moving to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where it has recently been restored to use.
Lucie passes light locomotive through Grosmont carrying the livery of the East Brussels Tram Company. (Both Photographs by Philip Hunt)