Utrecht Maliebaan railway station
| Spoorwegmuseum | |
Railway Museum in 2010
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 Location of the museum in Utrecht in the Netherlands
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| Location | Utrecht, Netherlands |
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| Coordinates | 52°05′17″N 5°07′52″E / 52.0880°N 5.1312°ECoordinates: 52°05′17″N 5°07′52″E / 52.0880°N 5.1312°E |
| Type | Transport museum |
| Visitors | 355,000 (2012 est.) Ranking 10th nationally (2013) |
| Director | Nicole Kuppens, a.i. |
| Website | www |
The Railway Museum (Dutch: Spoorwegmuseum) in Utrecht is the Dutch national railway museum. It was established in 1927 and since 1954 has been housed in the "Maliebaan station", a former railway station.
The museum was established in 1927 and was initially located in one of the main buildings of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch National Railway) in Utrecht. At that time, the collection consisted mostly of pictures, documents, and small objects. In the 1930s the first steps were taken to conserve old historically significant rail equipment. A portion of this collection was lost during World War II.
The collection was briefly located in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, but in the 1950s the museum was moved back to Utrecht. The Maliebaan station, which was closed in 1939, was found to be a suitable site. The building was remodeled, and in 1954 the museum reopened there. In this location there was far more room to exhibit the entire collection to the public, including historical rail equipment. Until 2003, a long line of historic steam locomotives on track one of the station was one of the most distinctive aspects of the exhibit.
Over the years, more rail equipment and also tram equipment was added to the museum, and in the 1960s the plaza in front of the building was filled with rolling stock, which suffered much from the weather. An initial improvement, in 1975, was the construction of a roofed platform behind the building. In 1977 the museum was expanded with a pedestrian bridge, allowing access to an exhibit area on the other side of the freight rail tracks behind the main building. The space in front of the building was then converted to a parking lot.
The right wing of the main building contained the "historic" department, with the "modern" department located in the left wing. Among the distinctive parts of the collection are models of bridges from early on in the development of the Dutch railways, and models of various train types. In addition there are paintings, prints, and railway equipment to be seen. The "modern" section was changed in the 1980s when it was updated to include the most recent developments, including the front of a "Sprinter" train.
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Wikipedia