Dutch Railway Preservation

[Chris Chewter]

Hopefully, I'm off to The Netherlands soon. However I wondered what the dutch railway preservation scene was like? Whats the best place to go, and what should I steer clear from! Do they have heritage railways like over here? Any ideas?

[Chris Chewter]

I forgot to say, I'm going near Sassenheim! Guess that would've helped!

[3737]

There are a few preserved lines to be found in Holland. Most run the smaller industrial type of locos, and unfortunately you won't find (m)any authentic Dutch mainline locos. Those that survived WWII had all been scrapped when steam was abandoned in 1958. The ones that still remain in the NRM in Utrecht are only on display. However sometimes bigger steam locos from foreign origin can be seen running on our preserved lines.

 

The line nearest to Sassenheim is:

 

http://www.smalspoor...Menu/index.html

 

Most other preserved lines are to be found by clicking the links on this site:

 

http://www.nvbs.com/...seumlijn-nl.htm

 

or

 

http://www.hotspotho...oomtreinen.html

 

(Some links are probably the same on both websites).

 

 

And of course we shouldn't forget the NRM in Utrecht:

 

http://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/home.html

 

The web site says nothing about locos or rolling stock, and is... errrm...... quite commercial, but all in Dutch.

 

Some of their steam locos:

 

http://spoorwegmuseu...9046865.htmlwit

 

The SSN in Rotterdam, that are still running (quite often on the NS-mainline) and maintaining their 7 preserved steamers from German origin, can possibly be visited:

 

http://www.stoomstic...L/index_NL.html

 

I hope this helps a bit to enjoy your stay in sunny (not always) Holland.

 

Leen.