How do trains get from Utrecht Maliebaan to Utrecht Centraal?

[sprunt]

Just looking at the Google satellite view, there doesn't appear to be any loop that would allow trains to get on the line towards the central station. Do they reverse somewhere, and if so where?

 

[gazthomas]

Just looking at the Google satellite view, there doesn't appear to be any loop that would allow trains to get on the line towards the central station. Do they reverse somewhere, and if so where?

Very recently did the line, yes, they reverse, I remember stopping under a bridge. I'll have a look on OpenRailmaps now

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 15:40 ==

Just looking at the Google satellite view, there doesn't appear to be any loop that would allow trains to get on the line towards the central station. Do they reverse somewhere, and if so where?

 

[eastwestdivide]

Yes, same route as above when I did it in 2017. Look out for the flat crossing (like at Newark) just W of the arrow in the map above, where one route is now out of use and rusty since the line via Maliebaan is no longer a through route.

 

[sprunt]

Thank you both!

 

[Bemined]

Yes, same route as above when I did it in 2017. Look out for the flat crossing (like at Newark) just W of the arrow in the map above, where one route is now out of use and rusty since the line via Maliebaan is no longer a through route.

That flat crossing has been removed and the rusty tracks have been lifted a couple of years ago. Only the city part of the route (from the first level crossing till the museum) the rusty tracks are still in place, a buffer stop prevents trains from entering this now dead end track though.

The track they reverse on is the former main line track from Amersfoort to Utrecht. It is still a through track, but since the construction of the fly-over only local trains from Utrecht to Amersfoort still take the lower track, the trains from Amersfoort to Utrecht all take the upper track, with local trains crossing over back to the slow tracks after the fly-over. So museum trains can reverse here without being in the way of through trains.

 

[Amalie]

It’s also one of the few train rides in the world where you get to see the train driver walk through the train in the middle of service, outside of anything even resembling a platform.

 

[Bemined]

It's also one of those trains where you can watch the departure at one end of the line, then walk to the other end of the line and watch the same train arrive. You will have to walk quite fast, but it is doable without running.

 

[eastwestdivide]

That flat crossing has been removed and the rusty tracks have been lifted a couple of years ago.

Thanks. I had wondered if they might be removed at some point - no point maintaining diamond crossings that aren’t used.

 

[AdamWW]

It’s also one of the few train rides in the world where you get to see the train driver walk through the train in the middle of service, outside of anything even resembling a platform.

Not so long ago the Prague "Semmering" line had a double reversal where you go to watch the driver to it twice in short succession.

 

[Bemined]

Thanks. I had wondered if they might be removed at some point - no point maintaining diamond crossings that aren’t used.

Unused stuff usually isn't being removed proactively, but rather when it can be combined with other engineering works or when it reaches its end of life. And for crossings like this the lifetime is typically shorter than for regular points. Also overhead wires at crossings like this are complex, the wires for the Hilversum - Maliebaan line were movable as you can see in this video:

 

[43096]

It’s also one of the few train rides in the world where you get to see the train driver walk through the train in the middle of service, outside of anything even resembling a platform.

In the same way that SWR staff do whenever Reading line services are diverted via Weybridge, with a change of ends outside Virginia Water.

 

[rf_ioliver]

The Dutch language wikipedia page https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_Utrecht_Maliebaan has this (Google Translate)

Shuttle Service: Utrecht Centraal – Utrecht Maliebaan During the 150th-anniversary celebrations of the Dutch railways in 1989, a shuttle service was operated using a historic "Blokkendoos" (box-style) train set. Since 2005, the Dutch national railway operator, NS, has provided a shuttle service between Utrecht Centraal and Utrecht Maliebaan during weekends and school holidays, coinciding with the opening hours of the Dutch Railway Museum (Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum).

From July 26, 2010, the shuttle ran daily (except Mondays) via the Blauwkapel junction. A few late-afternoon services ran via Driebergen-Zeist; in both cases, the train had to reverse direction (change ends). Following the closure of the line between Maliebaan and Lunetten in September 2012, all services now operate via Blauwkapel.
Although the NS journey planner and railway maps state that the service is "exclusively for visitors to the Railway Museum," the station can be used by the general public without requiring a museum admission ticket—though only during the museum's operating hours. The station is equipped with standard NS ticket validators and an NS ticket machine. The station is exempt from the requirement—which applies to almost all other stations on the main rail network—that NS must provide at least two trains per hour in each direction on weekdays between 06:00 and 20:00.

Series Train Type Route Notes 28300 Sprinter (NS) Utrecht Centraal – Utrecht Overvecht – Utrecht Maliebaan Train to the Railway Museum; operates only when the museum is open (not on Mondays, except during school holidays)

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Went with my dad to the annual model train days at the museum for a number of years. I remember taking the shuttle and reversing somewhere near Lunetten and then some year it was switched to the northern route. Still always rather boring modern stock unfortunately