Haarlemmermeer railway lines

After the HSM bought up the shares, the plans were changed and this led, in the end, to the establishment of a local network of steam railways.

The lines lay in the area between Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Alphen aan den Rijn and Nieuwersluis, and were opened between 1912 and 1918.

Only the Amsterdam Haarlemmermeerstation – Amstelveen – Aalsmeer and Bovenkerk – Uithoorn – Nieuwersluis lines remained in service for passenger and cargo traffic.

In 1972 the lines were closed for freight, except for the Amsterdam – Uithoorn route, which remained in service between 1976 and 1981 to transport building materials for the new Schiphollijn (which originally had no connection to the rest of the national railway network) and Uithoorn – Nieuwersluis, which remained in service until 1986 to serve the Koek scrapyard in Mijdrecht, where the Dutch Railways demolished a lot of equipment.

In many places there are still the remains of dikes, and various stations and stops are still recognizable and used as residences, including stations in Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Aalsmeer, Uithoorn, Hoofddorp, Mijdrecht, Nieuwveen, Wilnis and Aarlanderveen.

Steam train over the swing bridge over the Zijl near Leiden, on the Leiden-Heerensingel route, around 1930
Overview of the network circa 1930. A few smaller stop had already been closed; the temporary track to Schiphol is indicated but was not yet actually in existence.