Tintin exhibition pulls into Train World

Tintin, the fictional globe-trotting boy reporter beloved by millions, is currently the guest of honour at Train World, the rail museum in Schaerbeek that opened last year. In the museum’s first temporary exhibition, the role that trains played in many Tintin comic-strip albums is explored through original artwork and archival materials.

Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist who created Tintin (known as Kuifje in Dutch), loved the machinery of the modern age and sent his hero on adventures all over the world via various modes of transport. In his first adventure, published in 1929, Tintin travels by train from Brussels North Station to Moscow.

Hergé was the pen name of Georges Remi, who died in 1983. “Trains are featured in at least 10 of the 24 Tintin albums,” Train World director Pieter Jonckers told Het Laatste Nieuws. “Hergé used the train not just as a setting but also as a character. Many crucial scenes take place in a train station or train carriage, and often chase scenes, too.”

One room in the exhibition is dedicated to original drawings by Hergé from Tintin’s adventures and other stories. The main hall of the museum, where the permanent collection of train engines and cars is displayed, has also been augmented with artwork and original documents from the artist’s archives.

Some of the works are on loan from the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve, while others are taken from Train World’s permanent collection. The museum houses the collections of the Belgian National Rail Service, including 22 locomotives and hundreds of other objects related to the railway.

The museum is located both in the historic Schaerbeek train station and a newly constructed warehouse. In honour of the exhibition, a working train on the Antwerp-Schaerbeek-Brussels-Nivelles line has been decorated with Tintin artwork. The museum hopes to attract 50,000 visitors during the exhibition’s run.

Until 16 April, Train World, Brussels. Photo courtesy Tintin Press Club