Land 3, Steel Monsters

‘I am proud of you, grandson. Proud that you are giving a talk about the railways.”  In land 3 you are visiting the attic of grandfather Harry Gommers. Three generations of the Gommers family have worked for the railways. In his attic grandfather Harry has assembled his own railway museum. From signal flags to caps to the amended timetables for the wedding of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. Today grandfather Harry is helping his grandson give a talk.

At the rear of the attic there is a door. Behind the door it is 5 o’clock in the morning. Blue grey light. Still an hour to sunrise. It is the early 20th century, the 20s and 30s. You step into a car that takes you past all the jobs that the Gommers family has done:  signalman, pointsman, engine driver, chief engineer … look out! Not too fast, here comes a traaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnn! Phew, you just managed to avoid the Bergkoningin, a monster of a steam locomotive. There are other steel monsters to be encountered on this journey. Loco 6300 for example, the biggest steam loco Dutch Railways ever had. It was also known as the Brute. It made the fireman work so hard that come the end of the day he was completely worn out. It needed so much coal