On the Saturday we went to the village of Simpelveld for a ride with a steam train.
This rail track is no longer in use for standard trains since 29 may 1988.
It was the 1st track in The Netherlands to Germany when it was opened in 1853.
There are actually 3 tracks:
Maastricht Aachen (Germany) opened 23 oct 1853
Sittard-Herzogenrath opened 20 April 1896
Schaesbergen via Kerkrade-Centrum to Simpelveld opened 15 June 1934
The last track was very expensive because of the hills etc and costed 1 million dutch guldens per 1 km at that time !
Here you can read and see more:
http://www.mergel.nu/stoomtrein.html
Here you can see more photos of the material in use by the organization:
https://www.miljoenenlijn.nl/collectie-materieel/
There is not so much material in riding condition.
We made a tour from Simpelveld, via Schin op Geul to Wyrle with the 1910 Steam Train they have in riding condition.
This came from Sweden but is quite similar in design to the locomotives they had here.
After we spent the whole afternoon in Wyrle for an art exhibition at different locations in that village we went back to Simpelveld with the 1959 Dieseltrain they have. This came from Germany but is quite similar in design to a no longer electric train which was in use on this track.
The station in Wyrle, especially the platforms are very simple as you can see.
Only 3 trains in either direction stops here per day on the riding days.
Marcel
