Opening first railway in The Netherlands – Michel Mourot, 1839

Plegtige Inwijding van den IJzeren Spoorweg tusschen Amsterdam en Haarlem op vrijdag den 19de september 1839. Gezicht van het Station…

Plegtige Inwijding van den IJzeren Spoorweg tusschen Amsterdam en Haarlem op vrijdag den 19de september 1839. Gezicht van het Station van de Haarlemmer trekvaart bij Amsterdam.” (Ceremonial inauguration of the iron railway between Amsterdam and Haarlem on Friday the 19th of September 1839. View of the station of the Haarlemmer trekvaart near Amsterdam.) Lithograph made by Jean François Michel Mourot (1803-1847) and published by Desguerrois en Co. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 29.5 x 50 cm.

After the opening of the first railways in the United Kingdom and Belgium, plans were also made in the Netherlands for railways. The first plan, from 1831, was to open lines to provide quick connections between the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and Germany. Eventually, the first railway line in 1839 did not run towards Germany, but from Amsterdam to Haarlem.

Here we see the festive inauguration of the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (Dutch Iron Railway Company) on September 19, 1839. The train is at the station d’Eenhonderd Roe, located on the Haarlemmer trekvaart (Haarlemmer canal), with Amsterdam in the background, featuring the old Haarlemmerpoort (Haarlem gate).

On September 20, the steam locomotive Arend pulled the first train at a speed of 38 kilometers per hour from Amsterdam to Haarlem. Many people wondered if it was necessary and safe. Earlier that year, the boiler of a departing train had exploded near Ghent. Until 1839, the fastest mode of transportation was the horse-drawn carriage, which traveled at about 14 kilometers per hour. Traveling in the horse-drawn barge was much more pleasant, but it was only half as fast.

Despite all the initial doubts, the first train heralded an era of tremendous change. The Amsterdam-Haarlem route was soon expanded to what is called the “Oude Lijn” (Old Line), from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. More lines followed, with operations being handled by various railway companies.

The train quickly reached everywhere in the Netherlands and stimulated the economy. Transporting raw materials and products became easier and faster with the train. In the new industrial cities, factories sprang up like mushrooms, and people migrated en masse from the countryside to the cities to work there.

Literature: Frederik Muller “Nederlandse Historieplaten”, nr. 7006.

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