Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum
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The Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum (literally, Dutch Railway Museum) is the Dutch national railway museum. Established in 1927, it has since 1954 been housed in a former station in Utrecht, known as the Malibaan. In 2004 it underwent a major renovation project which created the following:
- An extensive playground
- More interactivity (such as "rides" that show what railways used to like) and games inside carriages, and being able to go inside carriages, such as the mail sorting car and the possibility to hear the stories of actors, impersonating people from the golden era of trains.
- A show: Which is presented in the "world" number 2. It talks about what it would be like to voyage on the Orient Express
- Worlds.The division of the area into three "worlds". World 1 is a mining village, followed by a station where you can see the first Dutch train ever, the "Arend" (Arend is Dutch for Eagle). World 2 is set in the golden era of railways, at the end of the 19th century. You enter in a station, and to gain access to the theatre, you must go through a fake Timbuctu-style town. World 3 is the most "ride"-like world of them all. It seems to happen somewhere in between 1920 and 1945
- One Restaurant a self-service) with high capacity
- A Café
- A total restructuring, which involves moving the entire museum into a brand-new building, the old station building has been to converted to hold the ticket booths, the café and several restrooms.
[edit] History
The museum was established in 1927 and was initially housed in one of the main buildings of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen in Utrecht. The collection mainly consisted of images, documentation and attributes. In the nineteenthirties first steps were taken to conservate old railway material of historic importance. Some of this material was lost as a result of the war.
[edit] A new location
In the nineteenfifties, after being housed temporarily in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the museum was finally able to return to Utrecht. The Maliebaan railway station, which closed in 1939, provided a suitable location. In 1954, the museum opened its doors at this new location. The new location had much more space to show the collection to the public and to show historical material.
Throughout the years more and more material was added to the museum's collection and in the fifties and sixties the front yard was also filled with rolling materially that suffered under the weather circumstances. A first improvement was the construction of a perron with cover behind the museum in 1975. In 1977, another extension was build. The terrain in front of the museum was transformed in a parking place.
