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.

Steam locomotive NS 3737 of the 2'C-3T type sneltreinlocomotief, serie NS 3701 - 3820, 'Jumbo', soortmerk PO3, 2'Ch4-3T18, built in 1911 by Ned. Fabr. v. Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel, Amsterdam.
Preserved indoor at the Het Spoorwegmuseum / Railway Museum in Utecht Maliebaan former Station. July 15th, 2022.

After some test drives, the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS) was satisfied with the new 2C steam locomotive of the Noord-Brabantsch-Deutsche Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NBDS), the 'Blauwe Brabanders', and decided to develop a new type together with Beyer Peacock. design and order with four instead of two cylinders. It became a machine with 2 inner and 2 outer cylinders and a Belpaire firebox. They had twice the power of their predecessors, the SS 801-935 (NS 1701-1835) series.
They would be the series SS 701 - 778, 785 - 799 and 685 - 700. It turned out to be a good choice, because after the formation of the Dutch Railways, the then 3700/3800 series remained the most important locomotive type for express trains, even after the arrival of the heavier express train machines of the NS 3900 series.
On August 28, 1911, the first locomotive of this type built in the Netherlands, the SS 731, later NS 3737, was tested.
During their career the series went through a number of modifications, for example after the merger into NS, the operator position (as with most SS machines) was moved from left to right, they got a Knorr preheater, and most got a 4 -axle tender (some exchanged with those of the series NS 4600). 2 Locomotives were given a pulverized coal firing installation as a test, which, incidentally, did not meet the requirements and was therefore removed again. 6 Machines were fitted with a fairing, which was taken off again during the war.

After the 2nd World War, a number of machines exchanged their tenders for tenders from the NS series 4300.

The 3737 was the first machine of this series to be built in the Netherlands (Werkspoor, Amsterdam), which is why this machine was chosen to run the last steam train of the Dutch Railways on January 7, 1958, after which it was approved by the president of the Dutch Railways. NS Dr Ir F.Q. den Hollander was officially transferred to the Railway Museum. But before she was buried there, she was first refurbished and preserved in Roosendaal before being placed in the museum on September 24, 1958.

At the NVBS anniversary in 1971, when rides were organized with a German steam locomotive for thirteen Block Boxes and two Plan D's, the need for a roadworthy Dutch steam locomotive was great. NS decided to put the youngest steam locomotive of the Railway Museum in service again. The 3737 was then fitted with a new longitudinal boiler in Tilburg, after which she was put on the track in 1974 for a number of rides. She then went under steam at low speed at the SSTT on the Tilburg - Schelluinen section. However, this type of locomotive is not suitable for slow-moving trains. In 1975 the locomotive was returned to the museum. For the celebration of 150 years of railways in the Netherlands in 1989, she was overhauled by the SHM, after which she was shown driving to the public in the steam parade in Utrecht. She also drove some special rides with a line of Plan E carriages.

In 1996-1998 the locomotive in the main workshop in Tilburg was given a completely new boiler. The intention was to organize special journeys with locomotives, for which some NS drivers were trained as steam drivers. Unfortunately, given the high cost of a steam ride, this plan was rarely carried out.

During a visit of the 3737 to an open day in Winterswijk, some defects came to light, after which the locomotive was taken out of service. After the receipt of tenders, it was decided in mid-December 2008 not to repair the locomotive because of the high costs.

The museum is no longer considering making the 3737 serviceable. There are several reasons for this. The most important - apart from the costs - is that since 2009 installation of ATB has been required. This would result in impossible technical changes to the interior and significant changes to the exterior. An unforeseen ATB braking has the risk of flat sides on the wheels and turning the wheels can no longer be done in the Netherlands. The steam would also be shut off automatically and immediately by the accompanying technology, whereby the turning of the regulator key would pose a great danger to the personnel.
Powering the ATB system from batteries is not permitted. So a turbo generator should be placed on the machine.
The pick-up coils for the ATB signal from the track cannot be installed invisibly.
For an accurate determination of the speed, a conspicuously visible ash sensor should be added.
The machine must not be reversed faster than 45 km/h. Due to the lack of turntables, the machine would have to reverse large distances. But at the then permitted speed of 45 km/h, the train can no longer be fitted into the timetable during the day.
There are other obstacles that cannot be mentioned in this brief description.
Nevertheless, locomotive 3737 is considered one of the masterpieces of the Railway Museum.

Photo by Guido Allieri (guido@allieri.com)