NS steam locomotive 3737 by PixelPower

About "NS steam locomotive 3737"

by PixelPower

About the artwork

This picture is also available in colour.

Locomotive 3737, the original SS 731, built in 1911 by Werkspoor, made its first trial run between Amsterdam and Utrecht on 28 August 1911. She was officially put into service on 11 September 1911. Locomotive 3737 (from depot Roosendaal) drove the last official NS steam train from Geldermalsen to Utrecht Maliebaan station on 7 January 1958, where the Dutch Railway Museum was already located by then. Locomotive 3737 was subsequently included in the museum's collection.
In the 1970s, NS 3737 was again made roadworthy to be used for special rides. In the 1974 and '75 seasons, the locomotive was leased to the Tilburg-Turnhout Steam Train Foundation (SSTT), which operated a tourist train service on a section of the Tilburg - Turnhout railway line. At the jubilee celebration of 150 years of Railways in the Netherlands in 1989, the 3737 played an important role. In the years that followed, the locomotive, based at the Spoorwegmuseum, continued to operate occasionally on the railway network. In 1996, she received a completely new boiler with a new firebox. The intention was to use the locomotive on a regular basis, but she broke down after only a few journeys. When serviceable repair was needed in 2008, the Railway Museum announced its intention to use part of a grant received from the BankGiro Lottery for this purpose, but by the end of 2008 the amount proved insufficient.