Nederlandsche Spoorwegen : Netherlands Railways : They had 7 months : c1946
Published in around 1946 this is an English text booklet describing the destruction wrought on the Dutch railway system following the call from the Government-in-Exile for a general strike of the Netherlands railway staff in support of the Allied invasion of the country that occurred on 17 September 1944. The Germans capitulated on 5 May 1945 and by that date a "systematic destruction of the Netherlands Railways" had occurred.
The Railways estimated that 84% of its locomotives were destroyed or stolen as was 94% of passenger carriages - the figures for electric trains ran to 99% and diesel electric trains, 100%. For freight wagons the figure was 98% and in terms of infrastructure 18% of stations were destroyed, 68% of signal boxes along with 62% of the railbed itself. Across the system 70% of the nation's railway bridges lay in ruins. It was an almost devastating blow to what was one of Europe's most modern railways; the '30s had seen a massive investment in electrification and modernisation of services and infrastructure.
The booklet finishes with the comments that the NS was running again - but that travel "is not yet particularly comfortable". An understatement. As noted below, the booklet does not, needless to say, mention one aspect of NS's wartime history - it was complicit in the transportation of many hundreds of thousands of people to Nazi concentration and work camps, a fact it apologised for in 2005 and only fully accepted with a compensation offer in 2019.
The booklet notes it was published by NS at its headoffices in Utrecht but no designer is given - a shame as it has some interesting graphics, typefaces and layout as the back cover shows. Many of the illustrations, including that on the cover, are by "Gol".
Nederlandsche Spoorwegen : Netherlands Railways : They had 7 months : c1946
Published in around 1946 this is an English text booklet describing the destruction wrought on the Dutch railway system following the call from the Government-in-Exile for a general strike of the Netherlands railway staff in support of the Allied invasion of the country that occurred on 17 September 1944. The Germans capitulated on 5 May 1945 and by that date a "systematic destruction of the Netherlands Railways" had occurred.
The Railways estimated that 84% of its locomotives were destroyed or stolen as was 94% of passenger carriages - the figures for electric trains ran to 99% and diesel electric trains, 100%. For freight wagons the figure was 98% and in terms of infrastructure 18% of stations were destroyed, 68% of signal boxes along with 62% of the railbed itself. Across the system 70% of the nation's railway bridges lay in ruins. It was an almost devastating blow to what was one of Europe's most modern railways; the '30s had seen a massive investment in electrification and modernisation of services and infrastructure.
The booklet finishes with the comments that the NS was running again - but that travel "is not yet particularly comfortable". An understatement. As noted below, the booklet does not, needless to say, mention one aspect of NS's wartime history - it was complicit in the transportation of many hundreds of thousands of people to Nazi concentration and work camps, a fact it apologised for in 2005 and only fully accepted with a compensation offer in 2019.
The booklet notes it was published by NS at its headoffices in Utrecht but no designer is given - a shame as it has some interesting graphics, typefaces and layout as the back cover shows. Many of the illustrations, including that on the cover, are by "Gol".