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All the Netherlands Utrecht The Railway Museum (Spoorwegmuseum)
AO Edited

The Railway Museum (Spoorwegmuseum)

Visitors can still take a train to this former train station turned museum.

Utrecht, Netherlands

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annebelle
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The front of the museum in present day.   Marion Golsteijn / CC BY-SA 3.0
Former royal waiting room within the museum.   Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed / CC BY-SA 4.0
The NRS 107, a steam train in service until 1938.   Niels Karsdorp, Dh3201 / CC BY-SA 3.0
20th-century train advertisements.   annebelleo / Atlas Obscura User
Front of the Spoorwegmuseum in November 1973.   Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed / CC BY-SA 4.0
Monument for the 1239 Jewish citizens who were deported from Utrecht.   EdwinH / CC BY-SA 4.0
Train service to and from Utrecht Maliebaan.   Sneeuwvlakte / CC BY-SA 4.0
Retired passenger trains at the museum in 2005.   Gert-Jan de Jong / CC BY-SA 3.0
Ticket kiosk formerly found at train stations. Present day kiosks contain a digital screen.   annebelleo / Atlas Obscura User
Train departure board before stations used digital timetables   annebelleo / Atlas Obscura User
Timetable for all routes in 1923.   annebelleo / Atlas Obscura User
Model train of the NS Intercity trains still in use today.   annebelleo / Atlas Obscura User
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From 1874 to the mid 20th-century, the Utrecht Maliebaan station connected the city of Hilversum to Lunetten, which is still in use today. Back then, Lunetten was only a station where passengers could transfer to a different train towards the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, as there was no entrance nor exit for pedestrians at the station. This route had very few passengers, especially as more stations nearby were introduced that connected the larger stations to each other. By 1939, Utrecht Maliebaan had closed as a functional train station, but it was reopened during the World War II to deport Jews from Utrecht to the Westerbork transit camp. 

In 1954, Utrecht Maliebaan reopened as the Spoorwegmuseum (The Railway Museum). There are two buildings that are part of the museum: the first building is the general entrance from the street and features the royal waiting room, the trains that the royal family took, and the ticket kiosk for the museum. In the second building, model trains and retired passenger trains can be found along with memorabilia from train travel in the 20th century. There is also a theater that holds performances, a train simulator, and a turntable that rotates a train onto a different track. In 2015, a monument was added in front of the museum to remember the Jewish community from Utrecht that did not survive the war.

Since 2005, passengers can take a sprinter (local) train from Utrecht's central station to the museum, with the station still being called Utrecht Maliebaan. This train uses the track situated between the two aforementioned buildings. It began as a novelty for children that ran when school was on break, but in 2010 the train became a regular route that operated every day, except when the museum was closed. On special occasions, an older passenger train may be used on this route, but otherwise the train is the same sprinter train that would also be used for other sprinter routes in the country with the same ticket system as any other train. However, the stations Utrecht Centraal and Utrecht Overvecht are the only ones directly reachable from Utrecht Maliebaan, where heading to a different destination requires a transfer. The tracks south of Utrecht Maliebaan were removed in 2012.

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Museums World War Ii Holocaust Trains

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It is also possible to visit the museum by car (as long as the car abides with the low emission zone rules of Utrecht) as there is a dedicated parking lot for museum visitors. Parking costs 12 euros and cannot be reserved in advance. There are 200 parking spots with four spots reserved for handicapped visitors.

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annebelleo

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June 6, 2025

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  • https://oud-utrecht.nl/nieuws/1166-spoorwegmuseum
  • https://www.spoorwegmuseum.nl/over/blog/oprichting-van-het-spoorwegmuseum/
The Railway Museum (Spoorwegmuseum)
Maliebaanstation 16
Utrecht, 3581 LE
Netherlands
52.087956, 5.131227
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