The Railway Museum ( nl, Het Spoorwegmuseum) in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
is the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
national
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
. It was established in 1927 and since 1954 has been housed in the former Maliebaan station.
History
The museum was established in 1927 and was initially located in one of the main buildings of the
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...
(Dutch National Railway) in
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
. At that time, the collection consisted mostly of pictures, documents, and small objects. In the 1930s the first steps were taken to conserve old historically significant rail equipment. A portion of this collection was lost during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Maliebaan station
The collection was briefly located in the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, but in the 1950s the museum was moved back to Utrecht. Maliebaan station, which had been closed in 1939, was found to be a suitable site. The building was remodeled, and in 1954 the museum reopened there. In this location there was far more room to exhibit the entire collection to the public, including historical rail equipment. Until 2003, a long line of historic
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s on track one of the station was one of the most distinctive aspects of the exhibit.
Expansion and renovation
Over the years, more rail vehicles and
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s were added to the museum, and in the 1960s the plaza in front of the building was filled with rolling stock, which suffered much from the weather. An initial improvement, in 1975, was the construction of a roofed platform behind the building. In 1977 the museum was expanded with a pedestrian bridge, allowing access to an exhibit area on the other side of the freight rail tracks behind the main building. The space in front of the building was then converted to a parking lot.
The right wing of the main building contained the "historic" department, with the "modern" department located in the left wing. Among the distinctive parts of the collection are models of bridges from early on in the development of the Dutch railways, and models of various train types. In addition there are paintings, prints, and railway equipment to be seen. The "modern" section was changed in the 1980s when it was updated to include the most recent developments, including the front of a "Sprinter" train.
Between 1988 and 1989 a major renovation was undertaken. The interior of the station building was completely redone according to the modern views of that time. This version was in place through 2003. In addition, the back lot was integrated into the museum and a "railway landscape" was built there. It also became possible to take rides, both in model trains and full sized ones. Additional buildings were added, such as the signal box from Hoogezand-Sappemeer, and a crossing guard house from Elst (in the province of Gelderland). One of the oldest railway bridges, from Halfweg, was also included. Finally, rail service between the main railway station of Utrecht and the Maliebaan station (the museum) was established by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
Later additions, in the 1990s, were two warehouses, one of which now houses a restaurant, and a new building on the back lot with a large model railway. The growing collection of rolling stock was largely restored, and partly returned to operating condition. Some of the trains had suffered due to being stored out in the open, so there has been an ongoing effort to have the entire exhibit area roofed over.
2003 remodeling
In 2002 a decision was made to do yet another major remodeling of the museum. The station building was closed in September 2003, gutted, and then largely restored to the way it looked in the 19th century, with the addition of the "Royal waiting room" moved there from the "Staatsspoor" railway station of
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, which was demolished in 1973.
Sections of the station building
* Station hall
* Freight hall
* Dining room
* Waiting room, 3rd class
* Waiting room, 1st and 2nd class
* Royal waiting room
The new building
![Utrecht Rail Museum main shed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Utrecht_Rail_Museum_main_shed.jpg)
During the 2002 remodeling, the back lot was also largely cleared, and completely renovated. A large new museum building was constructed, which now contains four "worlds":
# The great discovery (the early years in the 19th century)
# Dream travels (the glory days of international trains around 1900)
# Steel monsters (the 1930s and 1940s)
# The workshop (large hall with trains)
The presentation was redesigned to appeal much more to the general public, especially visitors with children, and to be interesting for corporate events and the like. The technical and historical substance of the museum has become a lower priority. The collection now serves mainly as a kind of "background" for visitors.
Much attention was given to decoration. The choice was made to offer "a little of everything" to appeal to the general public. judging from the sharp increase in attendance since the reopening in June 2005, it would seem this goal has been achieved.
In April 2010, the 5th anniversary of the re-opening was marked by a special exhibition of royal trains, called “Royal Class, Royal Railways”, opened by
Queen Beatrix
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...
.
Sections of the new building
* Conference hall and foyer
* The Open Depots
* Automated Audio Tour "world 1"
* Theater "world 2"
* Track "world 3"
* Plaza "world 4"
* Simulation "world 5"
* Warehouse "Nijverdal"
* Model Trains Cellar
* Exhibition Area
* Museum Shop
* Restaurant
Outdoors exhibit area
On the exhibit area outside, a water tower was added near the existing signal box. There is also a model railway, a children's playground, and an area for special events, as well as a
turntable
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
.
Rolling stock collection
The museum currently owns a large and varied collection of rolling stock. The collection is too large to be shown in full in the limited space available. For this reason, most of the trams were dropped from the collection in the 1990s, and some of the trains are in storage. The remaining collection is no longer shown by category, as was formerly the practice, but is placed more or less at random.
The collection currently on display contains, among other things,
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s,
electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas ...
s,
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
s, train cars, freight cars, and some trams.
Steam
![Spoorwegmuseum loc NS 3737 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Spoorwegmuseum_loc_NS_3737_%282%29.jpg)
*
De Arend (1839) - Replica built in 1939
* NS 700 no. 705 (no. 13) - Built in 1864
* NS 1000 no. 89 Nestor - Built in 1880
* NS 1300 no. 326 - Built in 1881
* NS 1600 no. 107 - Built in 1889
*
NS 3700
The NS 3700 class was a class of express steam locomotives with the wheel arrangement of 2'C (4-6-0) of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) and its predecessor Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS).
History
The first 109 locomotives ...
no. 3737 - Built in 1911
* NS 2100 no. 2104 - Built in 1914
* Indonesian Railways CC50 class no 22 "The Monster" - Built-in 1928, The largest locomotive in the collection.
* NS 6300 no. 6317 - Built in 1931
*
WD Austerity 2-10-0 73755 Longmoor
War Department (WD) Austerity 2-10-0 No. 73755 ''Longmoor'' is a preserved steam locomotive.
One of the 150 WD Austerity 2-10-0s all of which were built by the North British Locomotive Company. 73755 was built in 1945, NBL Works No. 25601. It ...
- Built in 1945
Diesel
![NSM103](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/NSM103.jpg)
* Oersik 103 - Built in 1930
* Oersik 137 - Built in 1932
*
NS Class 200
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 200 diesel locomotives were built for shunting duties. 169 of these small locomotives, numbered 201–369, were built by Werkspoor from 1934–1951. They were known as "Sikken" (Sik in singular, goats) by ...
no. 311 - Built in 1940
* NS Class 200 no. 345 - Built in 1945
* NS Class 200 no. 362 - Built in 1951
* Hippel Bakkie NS508 - Built in 1944
* Hippel Bakkie NS512 - Built in 1945
*
NS Class 600
The NS Class 600 were a class of 65 shunting locomotives built by English Electric in England between 1950–1957 for Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). The first 10 were built at Dick, Kerr & Co, Preston and the remaining 55 at Vulcan Foundry, Newt ...
no. 605 - Built in 1955
* NS Class 600 no. 629 - Built in 1956
* NS 2200 no. 2215 - Built in 1955
* NS 2200 no. 2264 - Built in 1956
* NS 2400 no. 2498 - Built in 1956
Electric
![Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum loc NS 1201](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Nederlands_Spoorwegmuseum_loc_NS_1201.jpg)
*
NS Class 1000
The Dutch State Railways Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 1000 was a set of ten electric locomotives (numbered 1001-1010) used in the Netherlands during the latter half of the 20th century. The electrical systems and three completed units were ...
no. 1010 - Built in 1949
*
NS Class 1100
The Class 1100 locomotives of Nederlandse Spoorwegen were a class of 1,500 V DC Bo′Bo′ electric locomotives, introduced from 1950. They were built by Alsthom to an original design of the French SNCF Class BB 8100, BB 8100. They operated in t ...
no. 1122 - Built in 1951
* NS Class 1100 no. 1125 - Built in 1955
*
NS Class 1200 no. 1202 - Built in 1951
* NS Class 1200 no. 1211 - Built in 1952
*
NS Class 1300
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 1300 was a Dutch locomotive in service for 48 years from 1952 until 2000.
It was built at the same time as the NS Class 1100 at Alsthom and was based on the SNCF Class CC 7100. The Class 1300 is a bigger ...
no. 1302 - Built in 1952
* NS Class 1300 no. 1312 - Built in 1956
*
NS Class 1600
The NS Class 1600 is a type of B′B′ electric locomotive built by Alstom between 1980 and 1983 based on the SNCF Class BB 7200, and in use by the Dutch Railways since 1981. They were styled by the French industrial designer Paul Arzens.
The ...
no. 1656 - Built in 1983
*
NS Class 1700
The Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) Class 1700 is a class of electric locomotives built by Alstom in 1990-1994.
Description
The Class 1700 locomotives were built by Alstom in 1990-1994. 81 of these locomotives, numbered 1701-1781, were built.
Th ...
no. 1768 - Built in 1993
DMUs
![Mat'34 27 Utrecht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Mat%2734_27_Utrecht.jpg)
* NS 41 - Built in 1954
* NS 27 - Built in 1934
* NS 20 - Built in 1954
* Plan U no. 114 - Built in 1960
* Mat '34 - Built in 1934
* DM90 no. 3426 - Built in 1997
EMUs
![Utrecht Spoorwegmuseum Bahnsteig 09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Utrecht_Spoorwegmuseum_Bahnsteig_09.jpg)
* ZHESM 6 - Built in 1908
* Mat '24 - Built in 1927
* Mat '36 no. 252 - Built in 1938
* Mat '46 no. 273 - Built in 1952
* Mat '54 no. 386 - Built in 1962
* Mat '64 no. 876 - Built in 1972
* SGMm no. 2133 - Built in 1979
Passenger cars
![Dutch national railway museum (125) (8201871776)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Dutch_national_railway_museum_%28125%29_%288201871776%29.jpg)
* Arend Wagons HIJSM 4, 8 & 10 - Built in 1839
* Saloon coach 1 - Built in 1864
* Koekblik SSC218 - Built in 1874
* NCS B 119 - Built in 1904
* HSM C 755 - Built in 1907
* Wooden carriage SSC723 - Built in 1910
* Oriënt Express WR2287 - Built in 1911
* Salon Rijtuig 8&9 - Built in 1932
* Blauwe Roemeen WR4249 - Built in 1943
* Plan D - NS AB 7709 - Built in 1950
* Plan D - NS RD 7659 - Built in 1951
* Plan E - NS CKD6910 - Built in 1955
* Plan E - NS C6703 - Built in 1956
* Plan K - NS AB7376 - Built in 1958
* Slaaprijtuig CIWL4750 - Built in 1964
* Plan W - NS B4118 - Built in 1966
* DDM-1 - NS Bvk 6908 - Built in 1985
* DDM-1 - NS ABv 6618 - Built in 1985
* ICR - NS Bs 28 101 - Built in 1986
* DD-AR - NS ABv 7576 - Built in 1993
Trams
![Utrecht Spoorwegmuseum Innenbereich 64](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Utrecht_Spoorwegmuseum_Innenbereich_64.jpg)
* RSTM 2 - Built in 1881
* Horse-drawn tram STM 16 - Built in 1891
Freight cars
The museum has a diverse selection of freight vehicles.
Overview of the collection
Some of the items in the collection are:
* Steam locomotives, for example:
** The ''
Arend'' ("Eagle"), the first Dutch locomotive (replica)
** WD 73755 ''Longmoor'' (NS 5085; WD Austerity 2-10-0)
** Locomotive no.
3737, the last steam locomotive in Dutch railway service (retired 1958)
* Motor-railcar mBC 6, built in 1908, the first Dutch electrically powered train
* A large CC50 1622
Mallet locomotive
The Mallet locomotive is a type of articulated steam railway locomotive, invented by the Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (1837–1919).
The front of the locomotive articulated on a bogie. The compound steam system fed steam at boiler pressure ...
which was operated by Staatspoorwegen, later Indonesian State Railway (
PT Kereta Api
PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) (English: Indonesian Railways Company, abbreviated as PT KAI or simply KAI) is the sole operator of public railways in Indonesia. It is completely state-owned and pays track access charges to the government. ...
) and repatriated back to the Netherlands in 1982.
* A Royal carriage
* A crane
Shuttle rail service between Utrecht central station and the Maliebaan station
As part of the reopening of the renovated museum in June 2005, Utrecht Maliebaan railway station was also reopened as a normal railway station for the first time in almost 66 years. There is now train service on an hourly basis, between the museum and
Utrecht Centraal railway station
Utrecht Centraal, officially Station Utrecht Centraal (), is the transit hub that integrates three bicycle parkings, two bus stations, two tram stops and the central railway station for the city of Utrecht in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. ...
.
See also
*
Dual gauge
In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...
*
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...
*
Rail transport
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...
*
Rail transport in the Netherlands
Rail transport in the Netherlands uses a dense railway network which connects nearly all major towns and cities. There are as many train stations as there are municipalities in the Netherlands. The network totals on of track; a line may run bot ...
References
External links
Spoorwegmuseum website (in Dutch)Railway museums in the Netherlands
{{Authority control
National railway museums
Railway museums in the Netherlands
National museums of the Netherlands
Museums in Utrecht (city)
Rail transport in Utrecht (city)