locomotief SS1

Professionally-built model of locomotive SS 1

The Railway Museum commissioned a model of a steam locomotive for the first time in 1935, from the professional modeller F.E. Werumeus Buning (1898-1950). Buning was an engineer by trade and an enthusiastic hobbyist who began building model ships in his living room. By the end of the 1920s, he was receiving so many commissions that he opened his own workshop in the ‘Insulinde’ factory in Hengelo. Here, together with his staff, he built a large number of maquettes and models for clients including the railway in the Dutch East Indies.

The Railway Museum asked this workshop to build a model of the first Staatsspoorwegen locomotive, the SS 1. This 1:10 scale model has wheels that could really turn, moving connecting rods and a smoke box that can be opened in order to demonstrate the mechanics of a working steam locomotive. The model also demonstrates how difficult the fireman and engine driver’s jobs were in the nineteenth century. They stood in the exposed cab without any protection from the elements whatsoever.