The Sik of Snits

On January 29, 2005, the National Model Railway Museum opened its doors in Sneek's completely restored station building. The same day, Sik 323 was also unveiled, which had been set up on a piece of track next to the station after a thorough refurbishment. A sign near the locomotive read the text below:

Locomotor NS 323 'Sik van Snits'.
In 2005 this former locomotor 323 of the Dutch Railways was placed as a reminder of the streetcar line Sneek-Bolsward which was discontinued in 1968.

On August 8, 1882 the Nederlandsche Tramweg Maatschappij (NTM) opened the Sneek-Bolsward line. So Sneek already got a tramway connection before the railroad line Leeuwarden-Sneek was opened a year later. In 1886 the tramway was extended to Joure-Heerenveen and from Bolsward via Arum to Harlingen. There were also direct streetcars from Bolsward via Sneek over the railroad to Leeuwarden. The connections to Harlingen and Joure were terminated in 1947. After this period, the Sneek-Bolsward route remained as freight traffic. The NTM steam tram locomotives were replaced in freight service by the locomotors series 201-369 of the Dutch Railways. These 21-ton diesel-electric locomotives drove the daily freight streetcars from the Sneker yard, via the Bolswarderweg and right through the villages of Ysbrechtum and Nijland to the 'Hollandia' dairy factory in Bolsward v.v. until June 28, 1968. From Sneek these locomotives also drove freight trains to IJlst, Oudega and Bozum. They also provided the shunting service with freight wagons on the former Sneker yard.

The locomotors were nicknamed "Sik", after the wailing sound of the exhaust-gas powered whistle. The one on display here with the number 323 was built in 1949 by Werkspoor in Amsterdam. After a working life in freight and shunting service with the Dutch Railways, this 'Sik' was taken over by Volker Stevin and used for railroad renewal work. In 2004 the 323 was donated by this contractor to the municipality of Sneek as a reminder of the goods traffic via the Sneek-Bolsward streetcar line. Thanks to the spontaneous cooperation of many companies and agencies, which helped make this project possible, the 'Sik' was unveiled at this stand on January 29, 2005.

In 2022 the Sneek Sik received another expert paint job.