Noord-Friesche Locaalspoorweg-Maatschappij

hide North Friesland Railway

Legend

Km

40

Harlingen Haven

39

Harlingen

to Leeuwarden

38

Koetille

36

Midlum-Herbaijum

35

Wijnaldum

32

Sexbierum-Pietersbierum

30

34

31

27

26

24

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

20

18

15

13

11

Finkum

9

Stiens

8

Britsum

7

Cornjum

5

Jelsum

3

Leeuwarden Rijksweg

to Harlingen & IJlst

to Utrecht

0

Leeuwarden

to Groningen

The Noord-Friesche Locaalspoorweg-Maatschappij (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 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and was about 91 km (57mi) in length.

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 later the NS 7101-10. The locomotives cost f23,300 each and were built by 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

Goods wagons[]

The NFLS had the following foods stock:^[2]

Qty

Type

NFLS Nº

HSM Nº

NS Nº

2

van

DE1–2

DP3001–02

D2261–62

9

van with guard cab

CHG1–9

11950–58

CHC3236–44

2

van with steam heating

CHFF51–52

11959–60

CHC3561–62

4

open wagon with guard cab

CL201–04

29960–73

GL43661–64

16

open wagon

CL301–16

29974–89

GL41816–31

2

van with guard 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 rolling stock was all built by Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen & Spoorwegmaterieel, Amsterdam except for the two 6,500 litre water tanker, 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]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Stationsweb.nl Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d NFLS Materieel Overzicht (in Dutch)
^ NFLS Aanschaf Materieel (in Dutch)
^ Railromantiek (in Dutch)
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j NFLS stations article on Dutch Wikipedia (in Dutch)^{[unreliable source?]}
^ NS loc 7124 (in Dutch)

External links[]

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

[Wet-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Stationsweb.nl Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)

[Stock-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d NFLS Materieel Overzicht (in Dutch)

[Loco-3] NFLS Aanschaf Materieel (in Dutch)

[Hist-4] Railromantiek (in Dutch)

[Sta-5] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j NFLS stations article on Dutch Wikipedia (in Dutch)^{[unreliable source?]}

[NSlok-6] NS loc 7124 (in Dutch)

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