On the occasion of 175 years of railways in the Netherlands the Dutch Railways Museum organised a gathering of the oldest locomotives in (European) railway history: Icons of the rail
1 The exhibition was indoors. We knew the weather would turn bad later in the day so we opted to browse the outdoor area first.
2 The driving trailer coach of the former Benelux service (Amsterdam-Bruxelles). This is a very recent acquisition as it ran on this service until december 2012.
3 Access to the railway is prohibited
4 The third rail indicates the width of the original broad gauge, 1945 mm, of the early railways in the Netherlands, inspired by Brunel's ideas. As the battle of the gauges turned towards 1435 mm, building of new railways in broad gauge ceased and in 1866 the remaining broad gauge had been converted.
5 The signal box of Groningen.
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1808
"Catch me who can" is the oldest exhibit dating from 1808. It was built for demonstration purposes by Richard Trevithick.
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1825
"Locomotion" pulled the world's first passenger train between Stockton and Darlington
28 This loco is, like all others by the way, a replica.
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1829
"Sans pareil" was another competitor in the Rainhill Trials. Again this is a replica, BUT the original is still in existance and resides in the National Railway Museum's Shildon location
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1829
The "Marc Seguin" named after its inventor was the first locomotive to used a tubed boiler.
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1835
The "Adler" was the first Geman steam locomotive to pull a passenger train in revenue earning service.
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I am completely at a loss why this Crampton was included in the exhibition. Although it is interesting in itself, it has little to do with de pioneering period of the railways.
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After seeing the special exhibition we ventured into the remaining indoor part of the museum. We entered a "world" depicting Britain in the 1820s, and telling the story of the start of the railways.
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1839
And this is the final piece of the exibition. The "Arend", the locomotive that pulled the first Dutch passenger train