Line 201 Emmen

Information

In april 2007 I tracked some railways in the north of the Netherlands. The line from Emmen to Stadskanaal has almost dissapeared from the landscape. Parts of the line are roads or cycle tracks. Other parts simply vanished.

History

The line has been build by the NOLS, a railway company in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was expanding the railway network build by the national railway companies. The line from Zwolle to Stadskanaal was a part of the NOLS local network. In 1905 the sections Emmen - Gasselternijveen and Gasselternijveen - Stadskanaal were opened. On the section from Emmen to Gasselternijveen there was so little traffic the company decided to close it in 1938. Only to be used during the second world war for a couple of months. The section between Gasselternijveen and Stadskanaal was closed for passenger traffic in 1939, but opened again from 1940 untill 1947. In 1972 it was closed for all traffic due to the Herwag-plan, which reorganised the national railways freight traffic division. The rails from Emmen to Stadskanaal has been removed. On a few parts of the line a cycle track has been build.