Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij

Merged content from Dutch Rhenish Railway to here.

Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij (NRS)

Platform of the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij in Utrecht in 1866, later Utrecht CS

Overview
Headquarters| Utrecht
Locale| The Netherlands
Dates of operation| 1845-1890
Technical
Track gauge| 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Previous gauge| 1,945 mm (6 ft 4+9⁄16 in)
Length| 118 km (73 mi) constructed, 240 km (150 mi) operated

Route map

Utrecht - Rotterdam
Gouda - The Hague
Harmelen - Breukelen
Zevenaar - Cleves

Woerden - Leiden

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

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107 in the interior area of the Dutch Railway Museum

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 British.[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] The Dutch businessman and politician Hendrik Adriaan van Beuningen started his career at DRR as a clerk, but was soon promoted to freight transport manager.[citation needed]

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

## Lines

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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.

## See also

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* History of rail transport in the Netherlands

## References

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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 fdzv.
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 [dead link].