Museum steam tram brings tourist from Amsterdam to West Friesland
This summer it will run for the first time: the ‘Holland Boven Amsterdam Express’. The first steam train will depart from Amsterdam to Enkhuizen from Saturday. And that makes West Friesland a tourist attraction richer.
A journey through time through West Friesland, that’s what the new train line should look like. Tourists depart by steam train from Amsterdam to Enkhuizen, take a historic ferry to Medemblik, take the steam tram to Hoorn and then travel back to the capital on the main railway.
According to René van den Broeke, director of the Museum Steam Tram, it should give a boost to tourism in West Friesland. “The fact that we can use the rail network for this is, of course, cool. As an entrepreneur, we look for the border every day.”
Tomorrow the first steam train will leave from Amsterdam. “The enthusiasm is great. Many have already signed up for this pilot. We are driving a number of times this summer and are very curious whether it will work.”
Chug through the landscape
But it’s not just from location to location. Van den Broeke: “We show a piece of West Friesland, with a rich history. The tourist in the Netherlands does not get further than Volendam from the Zaanse Schans. But our province has much more to offer than just windmills and fishing.”