Coast Tram (Kusttram) Model Railway Layout – The Light Rail Service along the Belgian Coast

Published on March 6, 2025

In this video, we discover a Belgian model railway layout which was built by the model train club called “Oost-Brabantse Modeltrein Vrienden”. The model railroad layout depicts the world famous coastal tramway, called “Kusttram”, in the 1970s and 1980s. The Coast Tram is a light rail service connecting the cities and towns along the Belgian coast between De Panne, near the French border, and Knokke-Heist, near the Dutch border.

At 67 kilometers or 42 miles in length, the Coast Tram is currently the world’s longest meter gauge tram line. Furthermore, the Coast Tram is the second-longest light rail service in the world, and one of the few interurban tramways in the world to remain in operation.

The miniature world in HO scale (1/87 scale) depicts the shuttle service between Mariakerke and Middelkerke and the stop at Raversijde. The model train layout is about three meters wide. The rails are made by manufacturer “Peco”. The rolling stock is made by manufacturer “Ferivan”, a specialized manufacturer of Dutch and Belgian tram scale models.

What is now the coast line started out as part of the extensive Belgian Vicinal tramway, a network of interurban trams that once covered the entire nation. The first section of the coast line between Ostend and Nieuwpoort was opened in 1885. Today, the line is fully electrified at 600 Volt DC. The service makes 67 stops along the line, with a tram running every 10 minutes during the summer months and every 20 minutes in the winter months.

Notable features are the sea-view in particular and the tracks through the dunes along the line. If you are wondering why a bunker and a torpedo battery are depicted on this model rail layout, this corresponds to reality, because these are the remains of the Atlantic Wall. The Atlantic Wall was an extensive system of coastal defenses and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during World War II. Although this defensive wall was never fully completed, many bunkers still exist in Belgium.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNEGQbGLAT4

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