Veluwse Stoomtrein Maatschappij
Encyclopedia
Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland, about 60 miles south east of Amsterdam, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre and has 155,000 . The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, has over 155,000...
to the town of Dieren
Dieren
Dieren is a town in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Rheden, between Zutphen and Arnhem.Dieren was a separate municipality until 1818, when it became a part of Rheden....
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. On its way from Apeldoorn, it passes through the following villages: Lieren / Beekbergen, Loenen, Eerbeek on the Veluwe
Veluwe
The Veluwe is a forest-rich ridge of hills in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts....
, a region in the Netherlands.
Rides on steam trains are popular with tourists visiting the region, and that is why the VSM operates mainly during the summer vacation. The VSM is operated by volunteers and was founded in 1975.
As of 2010, the VSM has 19 steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s and 22 diesel engines. Also over 20 passenger coaches and several goods wagons. The rolling stock is usually stationed at the VSM’s depot at Beekbergen
Beekbergen
Beekbergen is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Apeldoorn, about 5 km south of that city.Beekbergen was a separate municipality until 1818, when it became a part of Apeldoorn....
.
Most of the steam engines originate from Germany, from the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...
and the Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn
Deutsche Reichsbahn was the name of the following two companies:* Deutsche Reichsbahn, the German Imperial Railways during the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the immediate aftermath...
. There are also 2 locomotives from Poland, and one from Austria. The VSM displays engines of classes 23
DB Class 23
The steam locomotives of Class 23 were German passenger train locomotives developed in the 1950s for the Deutsche Bundesbahn. They had a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement and were equipped with Class 2'2' T 31 tenders...
, 44
DRG Class 44
The Class 44 was a ten-coupled, heavy goods train steam locomotive built for the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a standard steam engine class . Its sub-class was G 56.20 and it had triple cylinders...
, 50
DRB Class 50
Because the Deutsche Bundesbahn had sufficient goods train locomotives, they could quickly phase out the DRB Class 52 engines, so that the ageing boilers on the Class 50s could be replaced by those of the Class 52s. Even the 'bathtub' tender of the Kriegslokomotiven was used by the 50s amongst...
, 52.80
DR Class 52.80
The Rekolokomotives of DR Class 52.80 first appeared in 1960 in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany as extensive rebuilds of the wartime locomotives or Kriegslokomotiven of DRB Class 52...
, 64
DRG Class 64
The Deutsche Reichsbahn had a standard passenger train tank engine with a wheel arrangement of 1'C1' or 2-6-2 and a low axle load, which was designated in their classification system as the DRG Class 64 . The Class 64 was developed from 1926 onwards and it was built between 1928 and 1940...
, 80
DRG Class 80
The Class 80 tank engines were German standard locomotives with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. They were intended to replace the aging, rickety state railway line engines performing shunting duties in their dotage at large stations.- History :...
and the Polish TKp. Most of these were built in the 1940 or 1950s. The oldest locomotive owned by the VSM is number 80 036 (DRG Class 80
DRG Class 80
The Class 80 tank engines were German standard locomotives with the Deutsche Reichsbahn. They were intended to replace the aging, rickety state railway line engines performing shunting duties in their dotage at large stations.- History :...
) from 1929, and which has been at the VSM since 1976.
The diesel engines are originally from the Dutch state railways, Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
(NS), apart from one. This way the VSM has a valuable collection of Dutch diesel engines dating from the fifties and sixties from the last century. Present are locomotors (serie 200/300), shunters (serie 500/600) and main line engines (series 2200/2300 and 2400/2500).
Passenger coaches available from the NS are six ‘Blokkendozen’ (Mat '24) and eleven ‘Bolkoppen’ (Plan D and Plan K), one coach Plan E and two steel guard coaches. Also eight Austrian carriages with two axles and open platforms. Also present are 3 Wagon Lits dining cars and 3 Mitropa
Mitropa
Mitropa is a catering company best known for having managed sleeping and dining cars of different German railways for most of the 20th century. Since its reorganization in 2002, the company only provides stationary food services for rail and road customers. The name Mitropa is a derivative of ""...
cars. Most of these are licensed to run on the Dutch railways. Among the other items there are a coaling crane and an accident crane from the NS.
In march 2011 one of the individual who possessed a number of locomotives decided to sell his collection. This would have ment that the VSM would lose some of the biggest and most populair locomotives in their collection. The VSM decided to buy the whole collection in order to keep it save for the future
Terug naar Toen (Back to Then)
Each year, on the first weekend of September, the Terug naar Toen event is held (literally: "Back to Then"), using everything that will run. Usually a number of guest locomotives appear too.The last run on Saturday used to be the highlight of the event until this year, originating in Apeldoorn. The train was pushed and pulled by all operational steam locomotives. In 2005 and 2006 that were 10 (!) engines and a number of carriages.