During the past weekend I attended the traditional steam and diesel weekend at the Valkenburg Museum near Leiden, Netherlands. As some of you may know, I have become more directly involved with the museum recently and I have been part of the huge support team this weekend.
I made some video of the event which may be interesting to you. The video clips were shot on both days but arranged in logical order so they appear as a single day. They give a unique view of the huge fleet of (mainly industrial) narrow gauge equipment in this museum.
part 1 - firing up the steam locos and arranging the diesel stock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eki73yIVTGo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eki73yIVTGo)
part 2 - The steam locos go to work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gCqU_tlBIU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gCqU_tlBIU)
part 3 - The diesel loco parade followed by storing the diesels in the works sidings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u4SA7Uu1xI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u4SA7Uu1xI)
part 4 - The steam services are resumed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txi4b08B6zg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txi4b08B6zg)
part 5 - A trip down the line in a historic open carriage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSkiNGuJiug (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSkiNGuJiug)
part 6 - Final workings and putting the rolling stock away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VJPWASLle8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VJPWASLle8)
Thank you, Ted; great footage. Makes me seriously consider renewing my passport.
I was thinking of making some pithy comment in order to pour water on the chip-pan fire of the inside-frame vs outside-frame debate, but thought better of it! :laugh:
Thanks for these clips, Ted. It looks like a really nice museum.
Imagine that I actually lived in Leiden and the neighbouring Voorschoten and never had been there. Even though I was interested in trains at that time. I don't really know why I never did... Next time I'm in the Netherlands I really have to go there.
Do you know if the Backer & Rueb tram locomotive is going to be restored?
Thanks, all. Glad you like the videos, and it is a nice museum indeed - a lot of work is carried out to develop it to more than just a collection of rolling stock running on a railway. The construction of new buildings and the development of the outside area is progressing at a high pace, but the interior of the main museum building is next on the list.
The Backer & Rueb tram engine no. 13 'Silvolde' of the Gelderland Tramway and its Henschel companion no. 607 'Vrijland' of the Zuthpen-Emmerich tramway unfortunately are 75cm gauge instead of 70cm gauge. It is impossible to lay a third rail outside the existing track as the foot of both rails would be too close together, so mixed gauge track is out of the question. Re-gauging the locos to 70cm gauge is impossible as well as both are inside frame locos. The historic value would be greatly reduced if a complete rebuild would be attempted. I don't say never, but at the moment it seems very unlikely.
Quote from: tedp on July 04, 2012, 22:50
The Backer & Rueb tram engine no. 13 'Silvolde' of the Gelderland Tramway and its Henschel companion no. 607 'Vrijland' of the Zuthpen-Emmerich tramway unfortunately are 75cm gauge instead of 70cm gauge.
Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
They are in very good condition and probably are restorable although they would have to be stripped down to check on the boilers. With the gauge problem however I don't see it happen in the near future. We also have a number of restorable 90cm gauge locos, and there has been talk of setting up a short length of mixed gauge track to run them on, but even that doesn't have priority over the huge 70cm gauge operation.