The Railway Museum (Dutch: Het Spoorwegmuseum) in Utrecht is the Dutch National Railway Museum.
It was established in 1927 and since 1954 has been housed in the former Maliebaan station. The museum currently owns a large and varied collection of rolling stock.

Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DMU) NS 41 of the type DE-1, serie 21-50, nicknamed "Blue Angel" built in 1954 by NV Allan & Co's Koninklijke Nederlandsche Fabrieken van Meubelen en Spoorwegmaterieel, Rotterdam.  Preserved at the Het Spoorwegmuseum / Railway Museum in Utecht Maliebaan former Station. July 15th, 2022.

These motor vehicles were soon nicknamed 'Blue Angel', because they were the saviors of a number of local railways when they threatened to be closed due to unprofitability; because they had a special blue color; because they had large aluminum wings on the carriage heads; and because at that time the movie "Der blaue Engel" by Marlene Dietrich was playing.
The trains mainly served on the local railways of Groningen, Friesland, Overijssel, Gelderland and Limburg.

The 41 entered service on November 15, 1954 from the Allan factory in Rotterdam, with 73 seats, of which 8 for a very simple 1st class.

The motor vehicle led a quiet life with no damage of any magnitude. From May 14 to May 29, 1958, the couple was in Haarlem for a minor overhaul. The major overhaul was carried out from August 26 to October 17, 1960, followed by a minor overhaul from November 2 to December 3, 1964.

From 1960 the Blue Angels were painted red with yellow piping.

In order to be able to serve on the German border track sections, the couple had to be equipped with Indusi, the German version of our ATB, which was installed on May 23, 1966. Strangely enough, the ATB installation at NS was prepared at Werkspoor from May 21 to on June 11, 1968, but the system itself was never put into use.

On May 14, 1969, train 838 Maastricht - Zandvoort consisted of the trainsets 690+270+258 that took the 41 in tow as far as Haarlem because the 41 had to undergo its major overhaul on May 16. This lasted until 11 July 1969. The carriage was also equipped with so-called 'ribbed benches'.

From June 10 to July 23, 1974, the 41 underwent a minor overhaul, after which the couple had to do it without overhaul for 8 years, just like its other Limburg colleagues. Due to the arrival of the renovated DE2s to the south, the 11 power cars were driven there and deployed from Zwolle per summer service 1982. In the night of 20 to 21 April 1982 the 41, together with the 39+40+47+48+49, came from Maastricht to Zwolle (followed a few nights later by the 42+45+50).

As of April 1983, the 41 was the only one from this group that remained, because she (along with the 22) had had a makeover from June 8 to July 15, 1982. On June 2, 1985, the curtain finally fell for the 41 after having been standing still from May 23, 1985, and the railcar was transferred to the historical file at the instigation of the Stibans. In 1987 the 41 was transferred to the Railway Museum.

The complete restoration was started in 1995, after which the 41 was definitively returned to the Railway Museum on 15 February 1996.

Since January 2009, the installation of simplified ATB (ATBe) has started. This project, which was the only one to be carried out in-house, was completed in November. The deployment certificate was received in January 2011, with which all rolling stock is operational again and has been found suitable by the Transport & Water Management Inspectorate (IVW) to drive through the country under its own power.
The 41 is in regular service in the Heimwee Express.

Photo by Guido Allieri (guido@allieri.com)