I find steam locomotives incredible pieces of engineering. Very functional, but beautifully made. And if you start to realise what kind of tooling and machine facilities they had in those days, it becomes even more incredible.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Quite a few members appear to also be (model) steam train Affectionados!
Today we went from model steam locomotives to real steam locomotives!
This weekend saw the annual Steam Day of the Steam train depot in Rotterdam. The steam depot is a society that restores and maintains old steam locomotives. They focus on locomotives that have been in use by the various Dutch railroad companies in the days of steam. They have their well-equipped workshop and an army of volunteers. Many former and current railroad men and women, who enjoy doing this in their spare time.
Once every year, they get to use the track between Rotterdam and Gouda. They fire up several locomotives and have two steam locomotives each pulling some 6-7 vintage carriages back and forth. And there is a lot more to see and do.
As I mentioned in the model steam locomotive thread, our grandson Ben is crazy about trains. And both his parents, Luc and Maloeke too. Grandad makes four.
We met at 10.00 o’clock at the entrance to the depot, got our tickets and went inside.
This was the first thing we saw; a huge train play area. This is a Thomas the Tank Engine set. But with lots and I mean lots of track, engines, carriage and a whole bunch more.
Ben thought he was in seventh heaven and would have been perfectly happy to spend the whole day playing with it.
There was also a huge Lego track. They build these Dutch Railroad locomotives. Very impressive.
But this is what we came for!!
These are massive steam locomotives. And several of them were under steam! So they huff and they puff, they spit out steam, water, condensation, there is soot in the air! It is utterly brilliant!!
Luc and Ben taking a look at a “hot” boilerplate!
A lot of TLC goes into keeping these massive machines in tip-top condition. Endless polishing.
This was a slightly smaller locomotive, still impressive. It was not fired up.
Look at this wheel. Notice that pipe in front of the wheel pointing towards the track? The engineer could pull a lever and that would enable sand to spill out of this pipe onto the track. It was used if the track was slippery. Steam engines provide enormous torque and wheel spin is something that happens frequently!
Time for a video. I only shot a few videos but I think they do give a good impression of these mighty machines and the atmosphere at the depot!
Check out the main drive wheels at around 0.18 min. You can see wheel slip happening!
Next to several steam locomotives the depot also has a few diesel locomotives. These were all used for shunting and or short-haul freight.
This is one of the latest additions to their collection. Still needs a lot of work done before it can be fired up and driven I guess.
We had a cup of coffee and a fizzy drink for Ben inside the depot.
The catering was set up in between the numerous work benches, lathes, drills and so on.
They had several market stalls, selling stuff and or demonstrating various things. Of course, the guys with the steam models were out in force on an event like this.
Of course, several vendors sell model railway stuff too
One of the locomotives taking on water. These steam engines use a load of coal and water. They need replenishment a lot.
I like electronic controls on my cars, planes, and boats. But a footplate of a steam locomotive is, no arguments here, so much cooler! Only figuratively, as it is a very hot and dirty place to work.
There was also a vintage fire engine. This is a steam-powered fire pump. It was drawn by horses. It is from a fire engine museum in Gorinchem, only about 6 kilometres from where we live.
Continue reading Jeroen’s experience for BHPian comments, insights and more information.
