The Utrecht Railway Museum

James Waite reports:

Here are a few pics from the Dutch national railway museum you might like to use. We went there for a day trip last Tuesday 22nd January 2008 courtesy of an Easyjet offer. A beautiful sunny day, unlike most of the days we've had recently, though it wasn't terribly relevant at the museum as most of the exhibits in the main hall are safely tucked well away from anything as natural as sunshine! We did enjoy walking back to the station through the old town afterwards in the late afternoon sunshine. Like many Dutch towns it has a historic centre. One of its claims to fame is that the Treaty of Utrecht in 1705 forms the basis to the UK's ownership of Gibraltar.

The museum is based around the old Maliebaan station dating from 1871 on the opposite side of town from Utrecht Centraal - a palatial 18th century building which closed many years ago. Most of the exhibits are housed in a purpose-built hall on the other side of the line from the old station. It dates from the museum's revamp in the early 2000's. There are 11 steam locos as follows:

• 2-2-2 'De Arend', a replica of the first loco to run in Holland - built in 1938 for the railway's centenary celebrations the following year. The original was Longridge 119/1839 and the replica is Zwolle Works 30/1938. It's 1945mm gauge. 
• Staatsspoorweg 2-4-0 no. 13 (Beyer Peacock 433/1865). (James originally stated that it had a Belpaire firebox but we stand corrected on this "Nr. 13 is one of the first Dutch engines to have been built with an injector. It also has pumps worked from the crossheads of the piston rods to feed the boiler. Its tender is from nr 8 – a slightly different machine – which was the only engine of a Dutch railway company ever to explode. This happened in the early morning of 31 March 1868 at Harlingen. Nr 8 was rebuilt, but nr 13 kept its tender (13 was a lucky number). Nr. 13 originally had a much smaller 4 wheel tender. It could keep the bigger tender of nr 8 as there was always a surplus of tenders. When an engine went into the overhaul shop, it tended to be there for a few months. The tender only needed to be there for a fortnight, or three weeks at the most." from Ms. Cisca Simons, Conservatrice Techniek. And she has sent a picture, see below, which confirms it! James meant 326 as stated in the text below!)
• Hollandsche Ijzeren Spoorweg 2-4-0 no. 89 'Nestor' Borsig 3730/1880.
• Nederlandsche Rhijn Spoorweg 4-4-0 no. 107 (Sharp Stewart 3563/1889).
• Staatsspoorweg 2-4-0 no. 326 (Beyer Peacock 2101/1881). 
• Rhijnlandsche Stoomtramweg 0-4-0Tm no. 2 (Merryweather 110/1881).
• NS 4-4-0 no. 2104 (BMAG 5304/1914).
• NS 4-6-0 no. 3737 (Werkspoor 272/1911).
• NS 2-10-0 no. 5085 'Longmoor' (WD/Longmoor Military Ry no. 73755 - NBL 25601/1945). Painted in WD grey. It says on its nameplate that it was the 1000th freight loco built in the UK for Europe after WW2.
• NS 4-8-4T no. 6317 (BMAG 10056/1931).
• PJKA 2-6-6-0 no. CC5022 (Werkspoor 563/1928).

All the locos are standard gauge apart from De Arend and the Javan loco. Note that 5 of the 11 locos are British, or 6 if you include the De Arend replica.

An interesting museum. The revamp involves displays to stimulate small children's imagination etc like most modern museums. There were some nice cameo scenes - a Merryweather steam tram engine in an urban Dutch industrial setting and a replica of Holland's first loco standing in a rural station complete with trees etc. and set in the middle of the night - an interesting touch that as it means you can't see the museum roof and could conceivably really be standing outdoors! 

The WD 2-10-0, the younger BP 2-4-0, the Werkspoor 4-6-0 and the Borsig 2-4-0 are all displayed together in the main hall with a good collection of rolling stock. The BP 2-4-0 326 is a delightful outside framed loco, beautifully restored although it has a Belpaire firebox which I imagine can't be original. The older BP 2-4-0 13 is also in the main hall but displayed around the side with a period train and is easy to miss. The SS 4-4-0 stands above head height so it's easy to look at it from below. The BMAG 4-4-0 stands in the main station platform with two carriages from the Dutch royal train.

The Javan CC50 and the NS 4-8-4T were a disappointment. They're both displayed, if that's the right word, in a sort of fairground tunnel of love/rollercoaster and you can only see them from the roller coaster train. In the case of the CC50 that means briefly - very briefly for rather less than 2 seconds as the roller coaster screeches past without stopping until the (dim) lights go off again. On my second trip around, once I had got prepared, I managed a grab shot during the one second of light with my ISO setting up to max - even with my 10mm lens it only got about two thirds of the loco in and that was blurred. The 4-8-4T is only visible briefly at wheel level in a sort of ghostly blue light. The ride was good fun but it really seems a shame that two of their star exhibits are effectively no longer on view. 

Notwithstanding this we enjoyed the museum. The standard of restoration is superb and it's well worth a visit. We had a really good lunch in the restaurant in the old station building, a room full of period character and much more atmospheric than the eatery in the new hall. There's a shuttle service from Utrecht Centraal station once an hour, leaving at 46 minutes past the hour or it's about a 20 minute walk through the old city centre. 

No's 89, 3737, 326 and 5085 seen from above, with the tender of no. 107 to the left.

No's 3737, 326 and 5085.

 No. 3737

The Merryweather steam tram loco.

No. 107

4-4-0 no. 2104 at the old station platform.

De Arend.

The following is an official photograph of SS 13 mentioned above provided by Ms. Cisca Simons:

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