Antwerpen is a big city in the north of Belgium. Todays the city has about 530.000 inhabitants. Around 1880 there were onlys 170.000 inhabitants (although the area of the city was smaller than today).

Line paardentram TNA (Paardenmarkt - Merksem Oude Bareel)

Line paardentram Meir - Berchem

Around the year 1900 in Antwerpen there were 9 horse tram companies active in the city.

Line Meir - Berchem

The first line was opened on 1873-05-25 leading from the Meir to the village of Berchem. Later on more horse tram lines were opened in Antwerpen. In 1900 all lines were taken over by the CGTA (Compagnie Générale des tramways d Anvers) with the purpose to electrify the horse tram lines. In 1902 all lines were elektrified.

Line Meir - Berchem

On 1879-07-20 the TNA (Tramways du Nord d Anvers) opened a horse tram line from Antwerpen Paardenmarkt to Merksem Oude Bareel. The track width was 1500 mm. In 1887 the line was taken over by the NMVB, which changed the trackwidth to the in Antwerpen usual trackwidth of 1067 mm. On 1908-09-09 the line was electrified and the horse tram stopped.

On the line of the TNA from Antwerpen Paardenmarkt to Merksem Oude Bareel, a total number of 22 horse tram carriages have been present:

• Series D1 - D10. Closed tram carriages with 3 windows. The letter D was meant to distinguish the broad gauge rolling stock of the TNA. After they have been taken over by the NMVB, the numbers remained the same.
• Series D11 - D12. Closed tram carriages. The length was 6,2 meters.
• Series D101 - D110. Open tram carriages with 6 benches.

foto: the horse tram on the Meir.

foto: the horse tram on the Meir.

More information can be found:

• on the page of the Antwerpse tramways on Wikipedia.nl.