Help sought concerning Dutch publications

[Calthrop]

I suspect that the Memorabilia, Media & Publications sub-forum might be more appropriate for this post; but reckon International Transport likely to reach a greater number of interested and possibly in-a-position-to-help, folks; admin, please move post / thread if you wish.

I have a matter with which I hope participants from the Netherlands, and / or with an interest in the Dutch scene from times past, might be able to assist. I have long found fascinating, the Netherlands' one-time numerous steam tramways -- now all long closed. Am harbouring thoughts of attempting to write a book, in English, on these lines' history. There is a wonderful series of little books, in Dutch, on this subject: a book for each region of the country -- overall series Trams en Tramlijnen, titles along the lines of "De Stoomtrams Van..." (assorted authors) -- published by Uitgevers Wyt of Rotterdam. I own the majority of these (am competent in German, and of course English -- feel, perhaps over-confidently, that with the help of a good dictionary I would be able to tease the meanings out of Dutch text).

There a couple in the series, which I lack: "Den Haag en Gouda", and "Zuid-Hollandse eilanden / Zeeland" (certain systems east of the Ijsselmeer; and the far south-east of the country as a whole; appear not to be listed as covered by the series). Would be eager to acquire the specified missing ones; and / or to learn whether anything further in the series, has been published. Any help or suggestions concerning same, would be greatly appreciated: if there were any question of expenditure, I would of course refund the money. It crosses my mind that Amazon might be a possible source of "the missing ones" (I'm not very au fait with, or bright about, Amazon)?

I would be extremely grateful for any assistance with matters described as above.

 

[biko]

I do not have any expertise in this field, but I did a quick search on Google and I found the book about Den Haag and Gouda on the Dutch equivalent of Amazon: https://www.bol.com/nl/f/stoomtrams-in-en-om-den-haag-en-gouda/9200000048240368/. I should add that it is a second-hand one. Also on another site where people sell second-hand books: https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/170771537/De-STOOMTRAMS-in-en-om/.

I also found the book about the Zuid-Hollandse eilanden and Zeeland twice on the second-hand book site: https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/118624672/De-stoomtrams-op-de-ZuidHollandse/ and https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/129...s-op-de-ZuidHollandse-eilanden-en-in-Zeeland/

About the missing books I am not sure which systems you mean. I could find one about Gelderland which is the area east of the IJsselmeer (it was still Zuiderzee back then): https://www.bol.com/nl/f/stoomtrams-in-gelderland/9200000048782791/ For the southeast, I am not sure if one exists, I could not find one, but the Dutch Wikipedia page has two books as sources, so these might be relevant: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburgsche_Tramweg-Maatschappij

I hope this is of use to you.

 

[Calthrop]

@biko: very many thanks -- this puts me excellently on the trail of the couple of items which I know of, and seek (condition of books, immaterial !).

The envisagedly "missing" books: "east of the Ijsselmeer / Zuiderzee" -- essentially, just a few lines: Zwolle to Blokzijl; and to Nunspeet and Kampen; and, far out to the east, the odd little 1435mm line centred on Oldenzaal. Am wondering whether, in respect of the book series, these few "fell through the cracks", so to speak. (I have the book about Gelderland -- stronghold of the 750mm gauge -- in the series.) The "missing" southeast as per known coverage by the series: essentially everything south-east of a line drawn approximately from Nijmegen to Weert. As you mention -- possibly they just haven't done a book on the steam tramways of that region. Thank you for the link provided.

Once again -- am most grateful for your assistance on this subject.

 

[dutchflyer]

There is -of course- a Dutch Railway-enthusiasts society, named NVBS (Ned. Vereniging voor Belangstellenden(=Interested) in Spoor(=train) en tramwezen).
They have a shop/library/main centre in the station building of Amersfoort en there is also a library which has all dutch railway boox ever published and a 2nd hand shop-last time I was there they had rows of those Wijt booklets. However during these corona times only open on appointment for members. I assume you have at least some command of our language so I assume you could also peruse their online library-stock-listing to see whats available. Its nvbs.com (.nl is society for the blind-same abbreviation).
ON the former RTM, south of Rotterdam, last surviving such interurban trams there are dozens of books. In fact there are at least 2 comprehensive all-dutch books about the subject you intend to, both out of stock now. There are separate, often locally produced (local history etc.) books on all ever existing steam/horse/electric local trams/systems. Besides the WIJT series-which started it all off, there is also a large series of larger books from (sorry, forgotten, I think de Boektant, Iĺl try to find them back home later) on the same subject.
I moved home last yr and have done away then with most of the old WIJTbooks-only kept those about electric trams. If you had written this last yr you could have got them from me.

 

[Calthrop]

@dutchflyer -- thank you very much for the "nvbs" pointer. As mentioned in my OP: having fair German -- and, of course, knowing English -- I find that I can usually "get" relatively short stretches of "written / printed" Dutch; especially when its content is to do with with railed transport !

With the RTM having been for long a fairly amazing, and not far from solitary, survivor of the Netherlands' one-time multitude of steam tramways; there's a more than tiny amount of material in print about it, in English. Re my contemplated project as a whole: I do feel in fact, that it may be a bit presumptuous of me to be looking at writing on a subject which has -- as you point out -- much scholarly coverage in the language of its own country; but this is a historical / geographic "patch" -- call it what you will -- which has fascinated me for decades, and which would seem not well known about by very many British enthusiasts. Trying to put together a modest-scale work about it in English might, I feel -- if it came to anything -- bring to some Anglophones, something which would be for them new and interesting. Again, perhaps, being presumptuous; but the late W.J.K. Davies wrote in English, works of considerable learning and of great interest to such folk as myself, about the minor railways of France and Belgium -- I feel a bit wishful of accomplishing something similar, if likely rather more "basic", re that scene in the Netherlands.

Thanks again, for your interest and seeking to help.

 

[biko]

@biko: very many thanks -- this puts me excellently on the trail of the couple of items which I know of, and seek (condition of books, immaterial !).

The envisagedly "missing" books: "east of the Ijsselmeer / Zuiderzee" -- essentially, just a few lines: Zwolle to Blokzijl; and to Nunspeet and Kampen; and, far out to the east, the odd little 1435mm line centred on Oldenzaal. Am wondering whether, in respect of the book series, these few "fell through the cracks", so to speak. (I have the book about Gelderland -- stronghold of the 750mm gauge -- in the series.) The "missing" southeast as per known coverage by the series: essentially everything south-east of a line drawn approximately from Nijmegen to Weert. As you mention -- possibly they just haven't done a book on the steam tramways of that region. Thank you for the link provided.

Once again -- am most grateful for your assistance on this subject.

On Dutch Wikipedia, there are two books mentioned as sources for Zwolle - Blokzijl (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoorweg-Maatschappij_Zwolle_-_Blokzijl) one of which was published by the NVBS (the society Dutchflyer pointed out). It also refers to this website connected to a museum: https://www.canonvannederland.nl/nl...vollenhove/blokzijl/stoomtram-zwolle-blokzijl.

For the line between Nunspeet and Kampen, I found the following book mentioned on Wikipedia: Fokke Bakker, Tom Bergstra: De Zuiderzeestoomtram. De Tramlijn Nunspeet-Elburg-Zwolle, 1908-1931 en de zijlijn naar Kampen. Uitgeverij Pirola Schoorl. 1987.
This is also sold on the second-hand book site: https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/174031731/De-Zuiderzeestoomtram-De-tramlijn/

On the lines around Oldenzaal I could not really find any relevant books.

 

[Calthrop]

On Dutch Wikipedia, there are two books mentioned as sources for Zwolle - Blokzijl (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoorweg-Maatschappij_Zwolle_-_Blokzijl) one of which was published by the NVBS (the society Dutchflyer pointed out). It also refers to this website connected to a museum: https://www.canonvannederland.nl/nl...vollenhove/blokzijl/stoomtram-zwolle-blokzijl.

For the line between Nunspeet and Kampen, I found the following book mentioned on Wikipedia: Fokke Bakker, Tom Bergstra: De Zuiderzeestoomtram. De Tramlijn Nunspeet-Elburg-Zwolle, 1908-1931 en de zijlijn naar Kampen. Uitgeverij Pirola Schoorl. 1987.
This is also sold on the second-hand book site: https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/174031731/De-Zuiderzeestoomtram-De-tramlijn/

Many thanks, again -- you indicate plentiful information available "out there": will embark on following-up of your and dutchflyers' suggestions.

On the lines around Oldenzaal I could not really find any relevant books.

Mentioned by G.E. Baddeley in his book The Continental Steam Tram -- an ambitious attempt at doing what it says; i.e. at covering basically every steam-tramway undertaking that there has been anywhere in on the European continent; but it does so in a very terse and "bare-bones" way: essentially giving just route(s), ownership details, first-opening and last-closure dates, and inventory of undertaking's steam locos. Per Baddeley, the Oldenzaal set-up (Oldenzaal to Denekamp, and to Gronau in Germany) was worked from its 1896 opening by the Hollandsche Ijzeren Spoorweg Maatschappij -- main-line company which also operated many steam-tramway systems -- until 1921, when taken over by Nederlandsche Spoorwegen, then outright takeover by the State in 1936 (closed 1938 !). I doubt whether I would lose much sleep over deciding that this one was a total "outlier" and maybe not a proper tramway at all; and thus ignoring it !

 

[Spoorslag '70]

I just had a look at what the search function on the NVBS website delivers for the Denekamp - Oldenzaal - Gronau line and found this: https://www.nvbs.com/zoekresultaten/#/d/library-catalog/Ta-114.001, which you could also buy (in used condition) here: https://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/b/195357138/Trammend-door-Twente-Druk/.

As I guess it is non-trivial to get to Amersfoort at the moment, maybe drop them an e-mail - I could imagine they could help you in some form.
What you could also try is the relevant regional sections of the NVBS, for the Oldenzaal area that should be Twente (https://www.nvbs.com/twente/) - maybe someone there has some material about that line (the same should apply for other areas).

 

[Calthrop]

To all who've responded to my OP: hartelijk dank ! The fine plenty of leads /suggestions / links, is greatly appreciated.

 

[Calthrop]

Emphasising my gratitude: am in the process of endeavouring to order -- per info / links kindly supplied -- the Trams en Tramlijnen books on Den Haag / Gouda, and "Zeeland and the islands". Undergoing a certain degree of struggle; but this is due much less to my extremely small knowledge of Dutch, than to my great ignorance and incompetence re most things involving computers and the Internet. Help to be enlisted from my housemate, whose expertise with all this stuff is great.