Due to the development of the Corona virus in the Netherlands, the 4 April presentation with theme "Vanished railway lines", CANNOT GO ahead. Moreover, TU Delft's Science Centre, where the meeting was to be held, is locked that day. And will remain locked until at least April 6.

The board of the KIVI Department of the History of Technology (KIVI-GdT) has the pleasure of inviting you to attend a lecture (organised as usual in cooperation with the Histechnica association) on Saturday 4 April 2020.

The title of the lecture will be "DISTURBED SPORTS".

The speakers will be Mr Victor Lansink and Mr Michiel ten Broek.

Programme

09.45 a.m.: Building open; reception with coffee

10.00 hrs: General Members' Meeting of the Histechnica Association followed by:

11.00 hrs: Lecture by Victor Lansink and Michiel ten Broek

11:50 hrs: Break

12:15: Continuation of lecture / closing discussion.

12:45: End of meeting. followed by distribution of travel documents for participants of the Study Trip to Turin and Bologna from 19 to 25 April 2020.

Summary of lecture
Once upon a time, the railway network had a much larger scale than today. As early as the 1930s, dozens of railway lines were disbanded because their economic returns fell below expectations or because other means of transport proved more effective or cheaper. Disbandment was usually followed by breaking up the railway line, but a broken-up railway line never completely disappears from the landscape. Almost always, remnants of bridges and old hectometre poles can be found, or the route is still recognisable in the form of an overgrown dike or plot boundary. It is also sometimes possible to recognise the course of a vanished railway by the seemingly illogical diversions of other infrastructure, such as roads and ditches. For more than 25 years, Michiel ten Broek and Victor Lansink have regularly gone out into the field armed with cameras, old maps and drawings to uncover the remains of a vanished railway line. In the process, they uncover a fascinating piece of socio-economic history and their research has often proved useful in valuing cultural-historical heritage. They also do a lot of additional historical research in archives. But most important for them is the pleasure it gives to uncover the remains of a half collapsed bridge in dense undergrowth or to determine the course of an old railway embankment on the basis of deviations in the vegetation. Lansink and Ten Broek also regularly cross the border, because abroad the relics (they also refer to them as: 'railicts') of vanished railway lines are often even more spectacular. Ten Broek and Lansink sometimes risk their lives wandering through ruined locomotive sheds in desolate industrial towns or venture into kilometres of abandoned railway tunnels where daylight never comes, but in which they still manage to take surprising photographs. Since 2004, Lansink and Ten Broek have been publishing their experiences on the website railtrash.net, and in 2016 they published their book "Atlas van de Verdwenen Spoorlijnen in Nederland", with richly illustrated descriptions of more than 1,000 km. of vanished railway lines in the Netherlands. During the lecture on 4 April, Lansink and Ten Broek will talk about their research methods and show what makes treasure hunts along disappeared railway lines so fascinating.

Information about the speakers: Victor Lansink and Michiel ten Broek

Victor Lansink (Doetinchem, 1970) is a photographer and art historian who works as a custodian of the collection of historical visual material of Het Utrechts Archief. He publishes regularly on railways and the history of Utrecht. Michiel ten Broek (Vlaardingen, 1953) worked for NS for almost 40 years and is currently a railway engineering consultant with the engineering firm Arcadis. He was editor of various railway magazines for many years. Besides the "Atlas of Vanished Railway Lines", Lansink and Ten Broek also wrote a book on the fascinating history of the infrastructure of the Amsterdam-Utrecht railway line, which celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2018. Currently, Lansink and Ten Broek are working on a book on the Reconstruction period of NS.

Due to the necessary planning for accommodation and catering, to attend this lecture you should register in time, and please do so by Saturday 28 March 2020.

How to register:

  • KIVI members should register via the KIVI website

  • Interested parties who are not KIVI members are also welcome and can register there. Please note that there are costs involved.

Upcoming activities:

- 19 to 25 April 2020: Study trip to Turin and Bologna (already fully booked)

- saturday 5 September 2020: Lecture on One Hundred Years of Fluid Dynamics in the Netherlands. (Lecture by Dr Fons Alkemade)

- saturday 17 October 2020: "Field day" to Ghent (Belgium). Further information will follow in due course.


Documents