Real Steam

Steam has held my fascination since my early days. We were camping in Limburg an der Lahn for a day or so on our way to Switzerland. O wow, it must been back in the early 1970s. We were camping
Show a bigger map just on the water front of the Lahn as on the other side of the water a giant thing came thundering by with a rake of coaches. It tilted so nicely in the gentle curve. The setting sun shone on its majestic side, spokes wheels glimmering, drive rods flashing. I was deeply impressed. More than that: the image was etched into my very soul. "What is that?", I remember asking my father. I had never in my life seen a steam locomotive. "The Jerries still have steam", my father sneered. I ignored his disdain. Many more trains followed during our very short stay there, it may have been for just one night, my memory is not so clear on that. But anyhow, every time one passed I was out on the field to watch it. I didn't realise it then, but I was hooked for life.

Only a year later the seed that was sown butted and I decided I wanted to have a model railroad. And steam never went away. My first railroad set contained a very poor depiction of the Prussian T3 (Minitrix) and the first real steam locomotive was the very one I had seen speeding by in Limburg a/d Lahn: the Baureihe 01, or I least I think it was. From then on I worked on my N gauge layout throughout my youth years. By the end of my teens I bought my first H0 set but that was at the time the hobby gave way to other interests. Work and family took over and although my interest never really disappeared I spent very little time and money on it.

Then one day I got a job at the Dutch Railways, and believe me: purely coincidentally! When I came to work for the organisational unit responsible for the maintenance and overhaul of locomotives and rolling stock the modelling bug started itching again. So I returned to the hobby in my forties having now both time and money to spend. Since then I have been busy building and collecting models of my main interest: Dutch, Swiss and articulated steam locomotives of any kind.