Nijkerk - Stoomgemaal Hertog Reijnout - Nijkerk

The Arkemheen polder is one of the oldest polders in the Netherlands. For a hundred years, Hertog Reijnout steam pumping station ensured the drainage of this polder. Even now, the coal-fired steam pumping station is still allowed to assist in extreme water levels. The pumping station is open to the public and a visitors center […]

Sea level rise

In 1356, Duke Reinoud III of Gelre granted the residents of the Arkemheen polder the right to build dikes. Not an unnecessary luxury, because the gradual rise in sea level put the Arkemheen polder under increasing pressure. In 1825, the entire Zuiderzee coast, from Amersfoort to Friesland, was ravaged by dike breaches and flooding. Only when the Zuiderzee turned into the IJsselmeer due to the construction of the Afsluitdijk did the danger of major flooding pass.

Drainage

For centuries, the water level in the polder was regulated with floodgates that were closed at high tide in the Zuiderzee. Excess water was discharged through a drain. This old system of water discharge was in dire need of improvement. In 1820 there was already talk of a windmill for drainage. But it was not until 1863 that the mill was actually built. He was given the name Hertog Reijnout, after the grantor of the 14th-century dike law.

Steam engine

Twenty years later, in 1883, the windmill was replaced by a steam pumping station. The old windmill was converted into the home of the pumping station operator. The steam engine came from the company Backer & Rueb from Breda. The pumping station has two paddle wheels. It can drain an area of 3,000 hectares. The steam pumping station has served exactly one hundred years. In 1983, the drainage was taken over by an electric pumping station. After a restoration, the steam pumping station can be visited by the public. It is operated under steam about 12 days a year and occasionally it is stepped in if the electric pumping station cannot handle the work alone.