EXCURSION TO MUSEUM VAN ZUILEN
Werkspoor factory, Museum van Zuilen
Our members Gert Jan Luijendijk and Kees Huisman have prepared an interesting afternoon at Werkspoor Utrecht that we would like to bring to the attention of our members. You can register via Gert Jan's e-mail. See below.
An excursion to Zuilen with a lecture on Werkspoor is planned on Thursday 10 April next.
In 1827, Paul van Vlissingen started manufacturing steam boilers, steam engines and machinery for the sugar industry in Amsterdam. Over the course of almost two centuries, the Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen, later Koninklijke Nederlandse Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel, since 1929 Werkspoor and, after its merger with Stork, in 1954, Verenigde Machine-fabrieken Stork-Werkspoor, had both high and low days.
Winning the contract to build the Moerdijk railway bridge was a heyday but also got the firm into serious financial trouble in 1871. With help from the bank, the company was reorganised. A quarter of a century later, three new halls were needed to handle the large order from the Nederlandsch Zuid Afrikaansche Spoorweg Mij.
There was no room for further growth in Amsterdam. However, there was some near Utrecht in the village of Zuilen, conveniently located along the Merwede Canal and the railway. A whole new complex for the manufacture of railway carriages and large steel constructions was built there from 1913 onwards. Some of these constructions were the traffic bridges over the Waal river at Nijmegen and Zaltbommel and over the Hollands Diep at Moerdijk. To build large appliances and boilers, the Apparatenhal (known since 2013 as the Werkspoor Cathedral) rose in 1960. Not long afterwards, orders started to decline and/or went to (foreign) competitors. In 1972, the rolling stock department was closed down, in 1983 the apparatus construction department, and in 1989 the Finnish company Wärtsilä took over the remains of Stork-Werkspoor. Many of the company buildings in Amsterdam and Zuilen have since been demolished.
Werkspoor was a major customer of the Nederlandsche Staalfabrieken v/h J.M. de Muinck Keizer, abbreviated d.M.K. popularly known as Demka (which became the official name in 1921). In 1913, this firm also moved from Hoogezand to Zuilen, to the site next to Werkspoor.
The arrival of these two factories had a huge impact on the immediate area. The small village in the until 1954 independent municipality of Zuilen, grew into a large district of Utrecht where many of the thousands of Werkspoor and Demka employees lived.
The interesting history prompted Wim van Scharenburg, son of a Werkspoor man, to start collecting. In 2009, he opened the Museum van Zuilen in his shop on Amsterdamsestraatweg. In 2020, the museum moved to the Werkspoor factory, the former sheet metal works whose large shed has been preserved.
Programme
13.30 h reception with tea/coffee and something to go with that at the Werkspoor factory
14.3 pm welcome to the Museum van Zuilen with a short introduction
14.30 h lecture on Werkspoor
15.30 questions and looking around
16.30 o'clock closure
REGISTRATION AND COSTS
The Museum van Zuilen has room for a maximum of 15 people during a lecture. You can register for this visit on 10 April by sending an e-mail to g.j.luijendijk@xs4all. nl stating your name. Should there be a lot of interest, we will organise an extra visit.
The cost for this afternoon is € 25.00 per person. This includes tea/coffee, the lecture and a donation to the museum. Please transfer the participants' contribution to NL 82 INGB 0002212763 t.n.v. G.J. Luijendijk in Amersfoort quoting Zuilen and your name.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Gert Jan Luijendijk via the above e-mail address
Online participation: