Dutch Rhenish Railway

Dutch Rhenish Railway

The Dutch Rhenish Railway station at Utrecht in 1866
Formation	1845
Extinction	1890
Type	privately owned railway company
Location	Amsterdam, the Netherlands

The Dutch Rhenish Railway or Dutch–Rhenish Railway (Dutch: Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg or Nederlandsche Rhijn-Spoorweg) was a Dutch railway company active from 1845 until 1890.

History

The Dutch Rhenish Railway Company Limited was founded in Amsterdam on 3 July 1845^[1] to take over the State-run Rhenish Railway, which was losing money. The majority of the shareholders were English.^[2] In or shortly after 1857 James Staats Forbes was appointed general manager for five years. He remained a permanent adviser to the company until its concession expired and it was nationalised in 1890.^[3]

Locomotive number 107, Sharp Stewart 3563/1889, is preserved in the Utrecht Railway Museum.^[4]

Lines

Lines built and operated by the Dutch Rhenish Railway include:

• The Utrecht – Rotterdam line, opened in 1855^[5]
• The extension of the Rhenish Railway to Germany, opened in 1856
• The Zevenaar – Cleves line, opened in 1865
• The Harmelen – Breukelen line, opened in 1869
• The Gouda – The Hague line, opened in 1870.

References

1. Frederick J. Teggart (1895). Catalogue of the Hopkins Railway Library. Palo Alto, CA: Leland Stanford Junior University. p. 132.
2. Augustus J. Veenendaal, Jr. (1995). State versus Private Enterprise in Railway Building in the Netherlands, 1838-1938. Business and Economic History 24 (1): 186–193. Accessed September 2013.
3. Charles Welch (2004). Forbes, James Staats (1823–1904). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33192.
4. James Waite ([n.d.]). Narrow Gauge Steam Railways in Holland. The International Steam Pages. Accessed September 2013.
5. [s.n.] (1 January 1855). The opening of the Dutch Rhenish railway at a temporary station in Rotterdam. Illustrated London News. Accessed September 2013.