Diesel Multiple-units - Netherlands: Books - History

Diesellijnen Toen & Nu (1): Dieselend door vier decennia - Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe en Overijssel

Illya Vaes (in daily life an information analyst at ProRail) has been photographing trains since he was a teenager. In doing so, he increasingly also paid attention to the environment. He not only photographed in his living environment, but literally travelled the entire country to capture special trains and places, with a preference for non-electrified sections of track and diesel trains.

In about forty years, Illya regularly returned to some of the places where he had previously photographed, so that interesting comparisons of environment and equipment then and now arose.
The author often received positive reactions to his photos on the internet and suggestions to make a photo book with this theme, led to Illya diving into the photo and slide collection of himself and his late brother Camille and also supplementing the found shots with specially made shots in the present.

He was also able to make full use of the often attractive material of other photographers, sometimes made at remote locations, both for the past and for the present. The result of these efforts can be seen in this book, the first in a series of three. This part deals with the diesel lines in Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel. Join Illya on a journey across the country and through time!

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Gele Dieseltweetjes - Verbouwd maar vertrouwd

The story of the rebuilt DE2 starts in 1973, when NS planned the modernisation of part of the Blue Angel fleet (Plan X). Between 1975 and 1981, 26 rebuilt yellow two-car units entered service.
NS withdrew the last units in 1998, but their use continued briefly: in the same year, the company Oostnet took over the Almelo-Mariënberg line and operated two former NS units until 2002.
Although these 26 yellow units shared their origins with the 50 red motor coaches and two-car sets, they became a distinct rolling-stock type after rebuilding.

This book presents a complete history of the rebuilt DE2 and shows - with text and images - the lines in South Limburg, Gelderland, Overijssel, Groningen and Friesland where these trains shaped the local rail scene.
Limited attention is also given to the only motor coach painted yellow: the "Kameel", the unusual member of the Blue Angel family. The book concludes with an overview of what remained in 2017 of the 123 Plan X vehicles built between 1952 and 1955.

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Rode Diesels - Engelen zonder vleugels

Red Diesels: strikingly coloured, certainly for those who were only used to yellow trains, made themselves heard loudly on the secondary Dutch lines in Salland, Twente and the Achterhoek until mid-1985.
In the last year, these former Blue Angels were stripped of their beautiful Allan nose wings and enamel number plates. Of course, this made them somewhat less attractive, but it did characterise their final phase. A period in which they still ran in beautiful train compositions, sometimes in combination with their modernised yellow colleagues.

Frank Oude Elferink has made a selection of the most beautiful shots from his collection of railway photos for this book. This time of the red DE1 and DE2, the fact that a large number of diesel two-cars have been modernised and yellowed is largely ignored.
We see the red diesel trains in the last six months in particular when they hummingly transport their passengers in the east of the country. Much attention is paid to the use and circulation. The adjustment time at the dismantling centres in Zwolle and Roosendaal is not skipped either.
Finally, the red motor cars and two-car sets are accompanied to their final resting place: the well-known Koek scrapyard in Mijdrecht. Travel back in time more than thirty years and experience the last kilometres of this atmospheric type of material

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