The Dutch Rhenish Railway or Dutch–Rhenish Railway ( nl, 'Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg' or ) was a Dutch

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an rail transport operations, operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation ...

active from 1845 until 1890.

History

The Dutch Rhenish Railway Company Limited was founded in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

on 3 July 1845 to take over the state-run Rhenish Railway, which was losing money. The majority of the shareholders were British. In or shortly after 1857,

James Staats Forbes James Staats Forbes (7 March 1823 – 5 April 1904) was a Scottish railway engineer, railway administrator and art collector. He was the uncle of the painter Stanhope Alexander Forbes, and father of the zoologist William Alexander Forbes. ...

was appointed general manager for five years. He remained a permanent adviser to the company until its concession expired and it was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

in 1890. The Dutch businessman and politician

Hendrik Adriaan van Beuningen Hendrik Adriaan (Hein) van Beuningen (18 June 1841, Rossum – 7 February 1908, Utrecht) was a Dutch businessman and politician. Van Beuningen was the son of Willem van Beuningen, a Protestant pastor and Adriana Maria Boonen. In 1858 he started ...

started his career at DRR as a clerk, but was soon promoted to freight transport manager. Locomotive number 107,

Sharp Stewart Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamatin ...

3563/1889, is preserved in the Utrecht Railway Museum.

Lines

Lines built and operated by the Dutch Rhenish Railway include: * The

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

–

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

line, opened in 1855 * The extension of the Rhenish Railway to Germany, opened in 1856 * The Zevenaar –

Cleves Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...

line, opened in 1865 * The

Harmelen Harmelen is a town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of Woerden, and lies about 6 km east of Woerden. In 2001, the town of Harmelen had 6557 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 1.11 km², and c ...

–

Breukelen Breukelen () is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the north west of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and tour ...

line, opened in 1869 * The Gouda –

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 o ...

line, opened in 1870.

References

{{reflist, refs= Charles Welch (2004)
Forbes, James Staats (1823–1904)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33192. .n.(1 January 1855)
The opening of the Dutch Rhenish railway at a temporary station in Rotterdam
''Illustrated London News''. Accessed September 2013. Frederick J. Teggart (1895)
''Catalogue of the Hopkins Railway Library''
Palo Alto, CA: Leland Stanford Junior University. p. 132. Augustus J. Veenendaal, Jr. (1995)
State versus Private Enterprise in Railway Building in the Netherlands, 1838-1938
''Business and Economic History'' 24 (1): 186–193. Accessed September 2013. James Waite ( .d.
Narrow Gauge Steam Railways in Holland
The International Steam Pages. Accessed September 2013. Railway companies established in 1845 Railway companies disestablished in 1890 Railway companies of the Netherlands Companies based in Amsterdam Former Dutch railway company Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij