22 SEPTEMBER
We ride with driver Hugo Struyven in number 1331, an electric locomotive with much more power. It will need it because it's heading for the hilly landscape of Wallonia. I learn that a crocodile, a dog and a tortoise have nothing to do with animals but are trainspeak for things on and along the rails. Trains are totally new territory for me. My meagre knowledge about the sand consignment is news to the train driver. Hugo knows all the landmarks along the route, he drives it four times a week (two return trips). There's water on our right or left, a Belgian flag on a rock and a wonderful high railway bridge. We cross some woodland where a deer has been recently hit by a train - the last of a group to cross the railway line. Didn't make it. Wasn't fast enough. It has been dark for hours when the train comes to a standstill in Bettembourg. 1500 tons of sand for the glass industry.