Holland trains on May 1st
 

I probably should have asked this before I starting booking travel... will there be trains at least a few times on May 1 between Amsterdam and Alkmaar?

Since May 1, 2008 is too far ahead for a online inquiry at Dutch Railway's website, I checked how many trains they had on May 1 this year:
With 4 direct connections per hour from A'dam Main Station to Alkmaar you should be on the safe side.

cool, that being a national holiday and all......
you can actually look backwards on the railsite?

Yep.. actually, I was a bit surprised, too, that I could.
www.ns.nl

Usually, there are not that much differences between train services on holidays or working days.

<i>cool, that being a national holiday and all...... </i>

May 1 is not a national holiday in the Netherlands. April 30 is a national holiday, Queen's Day, and Amsterdam has one of the greatest street parties in the world. Trains will run on Queen's Day but Amsterdam Centraal Station has been closed in past years if it gets too busy with drunken people falling on the tracks.

http://www.simplyamsterdam.nl/public...etherlands.php

Hemelvaartsdag / Ascension Day
Thursday May 1 2008

Public holiday. Shops and banks are closed.

My mistake.. I thought that NL was also observing Labor Day on May 1st.
Nevertheless, since May 1st, 2008, is a holiday, you can expect trains to operate under the regular &quot;sunday/holidays&quot; schedule. On a major line like the one you plan to take, it will not mean a lot.
You can check again on NS's website in mid-december 2007, once the new timetables take into effect.

A surprising number of shops will be open on Hemelvaartsdag. But a lot of Dutch people will make an even longer weekend of it than normal with Koninginnedag and Hemelvaart falling together next year. If the weather is halfway decent the coast will be busy. The trains will probably run a fairly normal service.

We travelled on May 1 in France. The service was the same but the trains were empty.