North Friesland Railway

The North Friesland Railway was a railway serving the sparsely populated north of the Dutch province of Friesland. It was operated by the North Friesland Local Railway Company (Dutch: Noord-Friesche Locaalspoorweg-Maatschappij (NFLS)). It was what would be known in the UK as a light railway. The line was built to standard gauge and was about 91 kilometres (57 mi) in length.

North Friesland Railway
Km 40 Harlingen Haven 39 Harlingen to Leeuwarden 38 Koetille 36 Midlum-Herbaijum 35 Wijnaldum 32 Sexbierum-Pietersbierum 30 Oosterbierum 34 Franeker 31 Dongjum 27 Tzummarum 26 Firdgum 24 Minnertsga 28 Berlikum Mooie Paal 21 St. Jacobiparochie 19 Koudeweg 16 Langhuisterweg 17 St. Annaparochie 14 Vrouwenparochie 13 Vrouwbuurtstermolen 47 Anjum 45 Morra-Lioessens 42 Metslawier 40 Wetsens 37 Dokkum-Aalsum 32 Hantum 30 Ternaard 26 Holwerd 22 Blije 20 Ferwerd 18 Hallum-Westernijkerk 15 Hallum 13 Hijum 11 Finkum 9 Stiens 8 Britsum 7 Cornjum 5 Jelsum 3 Leeuwarden Rijksweg to Harlingen & IJlst to Utrecht 0 Leeuwarden to Groningen

History

The NFLS had a network of lines in north Friesland. The lines opened in eight stages:

Leeuwarden – Ferwerd	22 April 1901
Ferwerd – Metslawier	2 October 1901
Stiens – Tzummarum	2 December 1902
Tzummarum – Franeker Halte	1 October 1903
Tzummarum – Midlum-Herbaijum	1 October 1903
Midlum-Herbaijum – Harlingen	2 May 1904
St. Jacobiparochie – Berlikum (freight only)	before 1910
Metslawier – Anjum	24 August 1913

Wetsens station closed in May 1902, less than eight months after opening.[1] On 1 December 1905, the NFLS was taken over by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM), which itself was nationalised on 1 December 1938, becoming part of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).

Locomotives

The NFLS had a fleet of 10 2-4-2T locomotives, numbered 1-10. They became HSM 1051-60 and NS 7101-10. The locos cost f23,300 each and were built by Maschinenfabrik Hohenzollern.[2][3]

Carriages

The NFLS had the following passenger stock, all built by Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen & Spoorwegmaterieel, Amsterdam:[2]

Qty	Type	Class	NFLS Nº	HSM Nº	NS Nº
10	four-wheel carriage	2nd class	B1–10	B1060–69	B1071–80
25	four-wheel carriage	3rd class	C1–25	C1072–96	C1146–70
2	four-wheel brake carriage	2nd class	BDL1–2	BDP1070–71	1001–02
3	four-wheel brake carriage	post and baggage	LD1–3	DP3003–05	PD1026–28

Freight wagons

The NFLS had the following freight stock:[2]

Qty	Type	NFLS Nº	HSM Nº	NS Nº
2	van	DE1–2	DP3001–02	D2261–62
9	van with brakesman's cab	CHG1–9	11950–58	CHC3236–44
2	van with steam heating	CHFF51–52	11959–60	CHC3561–62
4	open wagon with brakesman's cab	CL201–04	29960–73	GL43661–64
16	open wagon	CL301–16	29974–89	GL41816–31
2	van with brakesman's shelter	FO601–02	5490–91	FB70774–75
8	van	FO651–58	5492–99	FB70571–78
3	water tank 1 × 5,200 litres (1,100 imp gal) 2 × 6,500 litres (1,400 imp gal)	WW1–3	4197–99 to 1911 4142–44 after 1911	158059 158056–57
1	ballast wagon	1	13646	—

The stock was all built by Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen & Spoorwegmaterieel, Amsterdam except for the two 6,500 litre water tanks, which were built by Nivelles in 1896, and thus acquired second hand.[2]

Closures

The lines were closed in stages, with some short term reopenings taking place during the Second World War:

Section	Date	Action
Tzummarum – Franeker Halte	8 October 1933	closed, track lifted
Tzummarum – Harlingen	15 May 1935	closed to passengers
Dokkum-Aalsum – Anjum	15 May 1935	closed to passengers
Stiens – Tzummarum	15 May 1936	closed to passengers
Leeuwarden – Dokkum-Aalsum	1 July 1936	closed to passengers
Midlum-Herbaijum – Harlingen	11 January 1938	closed, track lifted
Leeuwarden – Dokkum-Aalsum	28 May 1940	reopened to passengers
Stiens – Tzummarum	28 May 1940	reopened to passengers
Leeuwarden – Dokkum-Aalsum	1 December 1940	closed to passenger
Dokkum-Aalsum – Anjum	27 July 1942	closed[4]
Stiens – Tzummarum	30 October 1942	closed to passengers
Tzummarum – Midlum-Herbaijum	7 December 1961	closed, track lifted
Minnertsga – Tzummarum	4 May 1966	closed, track lifted
Mooie Paal – Berlikum	27 September 1971	closed, track lifted
Stiens – Minnertsga	1973	closed
Holwerd – Dokkum Aalsum	1975	closed
Stiens – Holwerd	1978	closed
Stiens – Dokkum-Aalsum	1980	track lifted
Stiens – Minnertsga	1980	track lifted
Leeuwarden – Stiens	1997	closed
Leeuwarden station	2006	track lifted

Stations

Leeuwarden - Anjum line

All distances are from Leeuwarden station.

• Leeuwarden 0 km (0 mi)
• Leeuwarden Rijksweg 3 km (1.9 mi)

Leeuwarden Rijksweg (or Halte) station was demolished in 1970[5]

• Jelsum 5 km (3.1 mi)

Jelsum station was demolished in 1944.[5]

• Cornjum 7 km (4.3 mi)
• Britsum 8 km (5.0 mi)

Stiens.

• Stiens 9 km (5.6 mi)
• Finkum 11 km (6.8 mi)

Finkum station was demolished by 1970[5]

• Hijum 13 km (8.1 mi)
• Hallum 15 km (9.3 mi)

Hallum station was demolished in 1970[5]

Marrum-Westernijkerk.

• Marrum-Westenijkerk 18 km (11 mi)
• Ferwerd 20 km (12 mi)

Ferwerd station was demolished in 1974[5]

• Blija 22 km (14 mi)
• Holwerd 26 km (16 mi)
• Ternaard 30 km (19 mi)
• Hantum 32 km (20 mi)

Hantum station was demolished by 1960.[5]

• Dokkum-Aalsum 37 km (23 mi)

Dokkum-Aalsum station was demolished in 1974.[5]

• Wetsens 40 km (25 mi)

Wetsens station closed in May 1902.[1]

• Metslawier 42 km (26 mi)
• Morra-Lioessens 45 km (28 mi)
• Anjum 47 km (29 mi)

Stiens - Harlingen line

• Vrouwbuurtstermolen 13 km
• Vrouwenparochie 14 km (Vrouwenparochie station was demolished in 2002).[5]
• Langhuisterweg 16 km
• St. Annaparochie 17 km
• Koudeweg 19 km
• St. Jacobiparochie 21 km (St. Jabobiparochie station was demolished by 1960).[5]
• Minnertsga 24 km
• Firdgum 26 km
• Tzummarum 27 km
• Oosterbierum 30 km

Oosterbierum station was demolished by 1980.[5]

• Sexbierum-Pieterbierum 32 km
• Wijnaldum 35 km
• Midlum-Herbaijum 36 km
• Koetille 38 km
• Harlingen 39 km.

St. Jacobiparochie - Berlikum line

• Berlikum

Tzummarum - Franeker line

• Dongjum 31 km
• Franeker Halte 34 km

Accidents

On 12 June 1927, NS locomotive 7124 derailed near Holwerd and ended up on its side in a dike. The locomotive was recovered on 23 June and returned to service after repairs were made.[6]

See also

• Spoorlijn Leeuwarden - Anjum (Dokkumer Lokaaltje) (in Dutch)
• Noord-Friesche Locaalspoorweg-Maatschappij (in Dutch)
• Spoorlijn Stiens - Harlingen (in Dutch)
• Spoorlijn Tzummarum - Franeker (in Dutch)

Information contained in the above articles has been used in compiling this article.

• Spoar fan Ljouwert nei Eanjum (in West Frisian)

References

1. Stationsweb.nl Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)
2. NFLS Materieel Overzicht (in Dutch)
3. NFLS Aanschaf Materieel (in Dutch)
4. Railromantiek (in Dutch)
5. NFLS stations article on Dutch Wikipedia (in Dutch)
6. NS loc 7124 (in Dutch)

External links

• Stationsweb.nl Railway stations in Friesland (in Dutch)
• stichting Noord-Friesche Lokaal Spoorwegmaatschappij (in Dutch)