Stop Zaamslag

The tram line Drieschouwen-Zaamslag-Kloosterzande was opened on 1 July 1916 by the Zeeuwsch-Vlaamsche Tramweg- Maatschappij (ZVTM). The tram station in Zaamslag was located on Plein Noord and then at the height of the current café plein23. The guardroom has been erected just outside the centre on the Veerstraat, opposite the cemetery. In the façade, the tile panel with the letters Zaamslag can still be seen. On the platform at the station there was the possibility to change to Axel. The station was built around 1926. The first station master was Dirk de Blaay.Nu drive on the ring road around Zaamslag towards Hulst or Terneuzen, in earlier days the road to and from the ferry port in Walsoorden or Perkpolderhaven ran right through this cross village. In the same way, the tram line was used to travel via Kloosterzande to Perkpolderhaven and then to take the steamboat service to get 'on the other side' in Kruiningen. Accidents and irregularities have occurred on every track of the ZVTM, e.g.: a tram that suddenly stopped because the driver had to make a hole in a frozen ditch with a piece of iron in order to get hold of a few buckets of water to fill the water trough, which was almost empty. A tram loaded with ammonia that derailed at Stoppeldijk, or two locomotives with 1 carriage that derailed at Zaamslagveer due to the heavy snowfall and both slid into the ditch. Fortunately, the carriage remained on the rails. Unemployed people from Hulst and the surrounding area were put to work to cut away the frozen snow between the groove rails. The tram has not crossed the village of Zaamslag since 1949. The Prov. Stoomboot Dienst between Perkpolder and Kruiningen has been discontinued since 2003 and if you now want to go 'on the other side', the Westerscheldetunnel near Terneuzen is a quick alternative. The Westerscheldetunnel is a 6.6-kilometre-long toll tunnel in the N62 under the Western Scheldt between Ellewoutsdijk on Zuid-Beveland and Terneuzen in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, making it the longest road traffic tunnel in the Netherlands.

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