Laantje van Van der Gaag

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The Laantje van Van der Gaag (in German about: Alleechen des Van der Gaag ) was a small avenue a little south of Delft , which in 1847 was an obstacle for the construction of the Delft – Rotterdam section of the Amsterdam – Rotterdam railway line . Therefore, the railway line was laid out as Kromme Lijn ("crooked route") around the obstacle, but was only in operation from June 3 to 7, 1847.

“Artist's impression” by HW Last, in De Nederlandsche Stoompost of June 6, 1847

prehistory

In 1842 Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HIJSM) acquired land in order to be able to build the railway line from Haarlem to Leiden . One of these properties was on Zandvoorterweg in Heemstede (on the site of today's Heemstede-Aerdenhout train station ) and belonged to Baron Aarnoud Hendrik van Wickevoort Crommelin, heer van Berkenrode . He was a partner in a company that advertised Zandvoort as a seaside resort.

When the HIJSM negotiated the property, he made the condition that a train station be built on Zandvoorterweg. Bathers would have had a quick connection to Zandvoort. The HIJSM informed him, however, that there would be no train stations between Haarlem and Leiden, as the line was only intended for express trains. The baron therefore assumed that the stagecoach traffic between Haarlem and Leiden would be maintained in order to continue serving the towns in between and sold the property for 1,600 Dutch guilders .

The HIJSM changed its plans, so that stops were built along the route. Stops were built in Vogelenzang , Hillegommerbeek , Veenenburg , Piet Gijzenbrug and Warmond because the property owners had sold their properties on the condition that they would be built there. After the railway line opened on August 17, 1842, stagecoach traffic soon ceased, and Zandvoort and Heemstede were more difficult to reach by public transport than before. Inquiries to the HIJSM by representatives of these cities to set up a breakpoint were unsuccessful.

The Laantje

Van Wickevoort Crommelin saw a new possibility in 1845 to have his wish fulfilled. At that time, the HIJSM bought land to build a railway line between The Hague and Rotterdam . A little south of today's Delft train station , he acquired a Laantje a few hundred meters long and perpendicular to the railway line . This resulted from the hostel Buyten at Delft Zuideinde to the west of it located Krakeelpolder . Herberge and Laantje belonged to Jacob van der Gaag (* 1784, † 1867) and had been owned by this family for generations, which is why it was called Laantje van van der Gaag .

Van Wickevoort Crommelin bought the Laantje for 200 guilders. In May 1845, the HIJSM turned to him and asked about the terms on which they could purchase the property and offered 100 guilders. The baron demanded the price paid and a train stop at Zandvoorterweg. The HIJSM was probably ready to accept this request, as the draft contract allowed such a stop and also states that the stop frequency of the station must correspond to that of the Nieuw Oosteinde station (today: Laan van NOI ) and a contractual penalty of 20,000 in the event of closure Guilders were to be paid. The Board of Directors should have decided on the contract on November 21.

On November 19, 1845, however, the HIJSM submitted an application for expropriation . Since the sale of the property had not yet been entered in the land register, these proceedings turned against Van der Gaag. This acted on behalf of the baron who financed the lawyers. The procedure took longer than expected and was still running in the early summer of 1847, when the route was finished except for this section. The HIJSM decided to put a track around the avenue. This was called Kromme Lijn (Crooked Route), which was also a reference to Crommelin . This was only a provisional solution, the curve radius was very small at 65 meters and the superelevation was very high at twelve centimeters. Test drives on May 31st showed that driving on the Kromme Lijn in a train was possible. On June 3, 1847, the Hague – Rotterdam railway, including the Kromme Lijn, went into operation.

Van Wickevoort Crommelin made two suggestions for arbitration : Either the HIJSM would get the property against reimbursement of the costs it had incurred without further obligations, or the HIJSM would get the property free of charge if it were to build a train station on Zandvoorterweg. The HIJSM rejected both proposals. On June 7, Van Wickevoort gave up Crommelin and left the property to the HIJSM free of charge and without any further conditions.

In the night of June 7th to 8th, the railway line across Laantje was built and the auxiliary track dismantled. The cost of the whole action is unknown. It is believed, however, that responding to the Baron's wishes would have been more beneficial.

The Laantje today

Today nothing on the railway line reminds of the Kromme Lijn . It has been running in a tunnel here since 2015 and thus crosses under the former Laantje.

The remaining part of Laantje van Van der Gaag, east of the railway line, was renamed Crommelinlaan in 1847 and is now part of a new district from the 1990s. Also in this new district are a Laan van Van der Gaag and a Conradlaan, which is named after the director of the HIJSM at the time.

Worth knowing

  • Today, the bypass route is often incorrectly referred to as “Laantje van van der Gaag”, although the name only referred to the small avenue.
  • In 2008, the renovation of the Delft station was tendered and awarded to a consortium called Combinatie CrommeLijn VOF - the name CrommeLijn is a mixture of Crommelin and Kromme Lijn , an allusion to the events of that time.

swell

Remarks

  1. ↑ Some sources report 1200 guilders. However, the HIJSM's offer of 100 guilders and the estimate of the value in the expropriation proceedings of 80 guilders make this seem unlikely.
  2. ↑ Laan = street.


Coordinates: 52 ° 0 ′ 10 "  N , 4 ° 21 ′ 32"  E