Maldegem station 030514

Maldegem station, May 3rd 2014

The station of Maldegem was opened on November 16th 1862, on the day the railway line 58 (Eeklo - Maldegem) was inaugurated.  A little over half a year later, on June 22nd 1863, the second part of line 58 (Maldegem - Bruges) was opened.  Originally, the line was a private initiative, founded by the Chemins de fer d'Eeclo à Bruges (Eeklo - Bruges Railway Line).  Together, the private companies of the Chemins de fer d'Eeclo à Bruges and Chemins de fer Gand - Eeclo hoped to rival the Ghent-Bruges line (line 50A) of the Belgian State Railways.

Around the turn of the 20th century, the Ghent-Eeklo and Eeklo-Bruges private lines were absorbed into the Belgian State Railways, and line 58 was degraded into a branchline.  Traffic gradually diminished as a result of increasing private ownership of cars, and on February 26th 1959 the last passenger train departed Eeklo for Bruges, after which this train service was replaced by a bus service and the Maldegem station was closed for passenger traffic.  In 1962 line 58 was bisected when part of the Bruges - Maldegem line was broken up; eventually the entire line would disappear between Bruges and Maldegem.  The Maldegem - Eeklo section of line 58 was still frequented by freight traffic, until this too was stopped in April of 1988.

However, trains would soon return to the Maldegem station.  Already in the 1980s, railway enthousiasts had gained permission to use part of the station for their activities.  In 1990, they managed to buy the entire station, which has since become the headquarters of the Maldegem Stoomcentrum heritage line.  Every year during the summer months, heritage trains are run between the Eeklo station and Maldegem station.  While a 1923-built annex to the station is now used as the heritage line's offices, the actual station building dating from 1862 has since found use as a restaurant.  The building itself has held the status of listed building since 2004.