The Dutch National Railway Museum is located in the former station Utrecht Maliebaan. since 1939 a disused station on the line Utrecht - Hilversum. Since a complete renovation in 2003 the museum organises all kinds of events and fairs to attact more visitors. Though with reasonable commercial success this is clearly at the cost of its primary goal: being a railway museum. It is more an amusement park like Disney world. Major exhibits are buried under concrete structures and rest in tombs without even the slightest chance of a view that will delight a railroaders heart. Well anyhow, I visited the National Railway Museum today for the On Traxs event: about thirty top layout builders met to exhibit their achievements.
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2 I mean SPLENDOUR. The station's main entrance hall.
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4 Waiting room first and second class
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6 This is not original but nevertheless impressive: the royal waiting room from the former The Hague Staatspoor station
7 And the barber shop originating from the station in Dordrecht
8 The 2100 series were the largest 4-4-0 in the Netherlands and only little less powerful than it direct competitiors 3700 and 3500 (both 4-6-0 designs). They were known for their good handling. They were called "Blikken Tinus" (Tin Man) because of their clappering noise during running.
22 Time to visit another permanent exhibit: the Nestor, not so called because of its age, though respectable: 1880. But the whole series was named after Greek heroes. The Locos were later numbered in the 1000 series.
23 a 2-4-0 type, it was soon outdated and superceded by newer, stronger types. From then on they were confined to light passenger traffic.
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25 Oil pot for cylinder oil
26 Cylinder. Beuatifully round because the valve gear is positioned inside the frame
27 There!!! Stephenson valve gear, as was usual at the time
28 The radius links of the Stephenson valve gear between the frame plates
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30 Crosshead with adjustable pin and double crosshead bars. Note the grease pots
31 Driver crank with driver and coupler bars
32 Just gaze at the play of the lines
33 Wooden cab
34 Inside the cab
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36 One of the successors to the Nestor: "Grote Groene" (Big Green, imagine why). Again a 2-4-0 design. Stronger but soon to be superceded by a 4-4-0 design. The Big Greens were succesful though and no less than 179 were built between 1880 and 1895.
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38 Overview of the main hall of the museum. The modest size of the hall clearly show the poor state of Dutch locomotive preservation. Of the about 2000 main line steam locomotives built for the Netherlands only a handful survived. None of the larger types is operational. I know only of a few tramway of local locomotives to be operational.
39 Well, another layout then. A Swiss theme this time
40 A will known bridge over the Vispa
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42 Modern rolling stock
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47 Well, this was a layout that made me gaze for half an hour. Just look why
48 Diesel loco, running enigne sound, revving up when riding. Starting sound when firing up!! Look at the rust
49 But the scenery was just as striking
50 Take a look at that window. Amazing!! Every single detail was there!!
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53 And he agrees
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55 Fuel station!!
56 all the detail
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60 I had to tear myself away to the next layout
61 Of American origin
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72 Back to the permanent exhibits. The renewed mueseum offer "worlds". In one of these worlds you are are guided through the early beginnings of railroading in England and the Netherlands
73 Stephenson's locomotive factory
74 with a model of the Rocket in the window
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82 The brass steam dome
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84 A Belgian layout also attracted my attention
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89 The VIP car of the Dutch Railways, nicknamed the Camel, guess why. It is fully operational since a few months.
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91 One of the driver's cabs
92 The raised drivers cabs leave the front ends open giving a full view on the track
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94 The builder's emblem
95 A sunny spell cast a beautiful light on the signal post
96 Normal gauge (1435mm) compared to Dutch broad gauge (1955 mm). One of the widest gauges of the world, was used until conversion in 1866.
97 Longmoor. The 1000th locomotive to land on the continent after the allied invasion. War Department 2-10-0, later NS series 5000
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101 I don't like locos being displayed in this way
102 but it did give a good look at the drive and valve gear!!
103 The old lady of steam: 3737, last of the numerous 3700 class. 4-6-0 four cylinder. Operational until 2004 and now displayed as a static exhibit.
104 Oil pump
105 Feed water heater
106 Pump
107 Saftey valve in copper cladding
108 Three axle tender. Most tenders were soon replaced by tenders with four axle ones, giving more capacity and range
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113 The driver of the pump is derived from the crosshead
114 The 6300 series four cylinder casting. The only (accidentally) surviving 6300 clas is entombed in one of the ludicrous Disney-like attractions. A crime against railhistory!!
115 The Nestor you saw earlier bore the series 1000 numbering. Later this number range was reused on this series of (only ten) elocos
116 The Hilversum-Utrecht line on which the museum is situated is still operational. It cuts the museum area in two. A potential hazard: I have seen people who mistook the bells of the roadcrossing, signalling the approach of a train, for a museum piece. Intensity of the traffic on the Blauwkapel - Lunetten section is low though, so it isn't much of a problem.
117 At the end of the day the sole remaining two car set of the Mat '54 type was parked in the museum. It was used to carry passengers / visitors to and fro Utrecht Central Station
118 The charecteristic long nose gave this type the mick name Hondekop (Dogs head).
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120 Characteristic window arrangement (compared to the Mat '64 series)
121 My former collegue Norbert. His is a qualified train driver.
122 Closing the train's cab also means the end of the day