Museumstoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik

The Museumstoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik runs museum steam trains between Hoorn and Medemblik, across the polders of West Friesland, and also operates the MS Friesland boat between Medemblik and Enkhuizen. Together they form the Historic Triangle, which is closed with the regular train between Enkhuizen and Hoorn.

Who they are

It presents itself as a living, themed museum about how people used to travel: you do not look at the locomotives in a hall, you ride on them. It is run by a foundation which, according to its 2016–2020 action plan, does the work with volunteers wherever possible; in 2015 it had 21 permanent employees and about 270 volunteers, who drive, check tickets and restore the stock. In the Hoorn workshop they restore locomotives and carriages, such as locomotive 16 or the Bello carriages, and the museum wants to recover stock from the old steam trams of the Gooi and the Westland. They collaborate with the municipalities of Hoorn and Medemblik and with the Vriendenloterij.

What it offers

Single tickets for the tram or the boat, the Triangle day ticket and combined tickets with the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen. On service days, the first tram leaves Hoorn and the boat leaves Enkhuizen at 10:40, and on the peak days marked on the timetable there are more trams. You can only start in Hoorn or Enkhuizen, not Medemblik, which is where the tram and the boat connect. Between Hoorn and Enkhuizen runs the regular NS train, every half hour and in about 20 minutes, with a separate ticket; and from Medemblik to Hoorn there is a bus, line 239, 139 on Sundays.

Besides the regular service they organise special trips: drinks trains in summer, combined boat-and-tram journeys in autumn and, in November and December, Sinterklaas and Christmas trains, which need booking and a supplement. The museum, the shop, the locomotive shed and the Hoorn buffet open an hour before the first tram.

Tickets and bookings

Tickets are bought in the online shop or at the ticket offices in Hoorn, Wognum and Medemblik; anyone boarding at an intermediate station pays the conductor. With the Dutch Museumkaart you travel free. Booking is normally not necessary, but it is recommended from 15 people and is compulsory on the special trains. There is a buffet on the boat and on the 10:40 tram from Hoorn, and groups can order food.

Accessibility, bikes and dogs

The carriages have three or four steps. In a wheelchair you must be able to transfer to a seat and the chair must be foldable; the boat has a stairlift, but electric wheelchairs are not admitted. They recommend compact pushchairs. Bikes, including electric ones, travel with a €4.50 luggage ticket, and so do dogs, if they do not fit on a lap; they are not allowed in the Zuiderzeemuseum. The website is in Dutch, English and German, and the commentary on board is in Dutch.