A day at the Spoorwegmuseum.

Coming from India I am a person who loves trains and railways. I grew up seeing trains  and they always played a major part of my life when it came to travelling across the country at a rate was unbelievably cheap to the Western eye ( A train trip from Trivandrum to New Delhi would cost you all of 8 euros in 2^nd class, this covers over 3000 km).

When I came to know about the Het Spoorwegmuseum in Netherlands I was really fascinated by it and decided to pay visit to a museum which is exclusively dedicated to trains and I did not regret the visit which I made. This is a museum which is exclusively for  trains and any person who loves trains has to visit this place at least once. Whether it be classic trains from the 1910’s or Royal wagons the museum has it all. This museum is located in Utrecht and was established in 1927, it has been housed in the Maliebaan station, which is a former railway station.

The museum consists of various parts such as the ‘Great discovery’ which deals with Railways in the 19^th century this includes even an interactive foray into a virtual coal field and the excavation of it; Dream travels, which was regarding the majestic days of international trains around 1900; Steel monsters which deals with trains in the 1930’s and 1940’s ; and the Workshop which is essentially a large hall with trains. They even had a tiny roller coaster which takes you on a ride into the world of trains. There is also a special exhibition which deals with royal trains, and I was told that this was inaugurated by none other than Queen Beatrix herself.

The best part about the Spoorwegmuseum is that one doesn’t really have to be a great rail buff to have a great time at this place. It has a marvelous collection of more than 70 engines and wagons. There are moving models, paintings and even films related to train travel. I even got an opportunity to ride a train simulator inside the museum. Kids will also have a great time here with presentations which are made on the current high speed trains like TGV and the Thalys. All in all a highly recommended place to visit in Netherlands!