Railway Museum

The Spoorwegmuseum occupies Maliebaanstation, built in 1874 by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij as a grand station that never got the traffic to justify it, standing too far from the city centre, closed to passengers in 1939 and given to the railway collection in 1954. The station building holds the historical displays; the platforms and the hall behind hold about sixty locomotives and carriages, from early wooden four-wheelers through the Dutch steam classes to electric stock and a royal train. The museum was rebuilt in 2005 with four themed sections and an emphasis on rides - a dark ride through railway history, a suspended vehicle over the collection, and steam trips on the site - which makes it firmly a family destination. Trains from Utrecht Centraal run direct to the museum's own platform on some days, which is the right way to arrive.

History

The museum was set up in 1927 in one of the main buildings of the Dutch Railways in Utrecht, at first with mostly pictures, documents and small objects. In the 1950s it moved into Maliebaan station, closed to trains in 1939, and reopened there in 1954; after a renovation from 2003 it reopened in June 2005, when the station also came back into use for trains for the first time in almost 66 years (Wikipedia, Railway Museum (Netherlands)).

Highlights

• An 1874 station - a grand building that never got the traffic, kept as the museum.
• About sixty locomotives and carriages - from wooden four-wheelers to electric stock.
• A royal train - among the vehicles in the collection.
• Rides through the collection - dark ride, suspended vehicle and steam trips.

When to go

All year. A day.

Before you go

Closed Mondays outside school holidays and very busy with families when open. Rides queue. The direct museum train runs on limited days. It is a family attraction as much as a technical museum.

Nearby

Utrecht's old town and Dom tower are a short walk west.

Key facts