On the "NAVIGATION" page you get to choose between the Alco Pages,
the Dutch Railway Pages,
or the Model Railway Pages.
Please feel free to browse all of them as you wish, of course.
They are updated every now and then. A brief outline of my involvement in the railway industry and the railway hobby:

As a 6 year old youngster I was introduced to railways and associated interests,
by a visit to the "Nederlands Spoorweg Museum (Dutch Railway Museum)
in Utrecht in the Netherlands, with my father, who, by the way,
was a keen tram modeler of some repute.
My father had also produced a number of Nederlands Spoorwegen (NS) models,
among which a rather spiffy looking 4 car set of the "Blokkendoos" (Box-of-bricks),
dating back to a 1928 designed EMU, but his heart was with tramways, and in particular
with the RTM (Rotterdamse Tramweg Maatschappij - Rotterdam Tramway Company).

These 2 facts combined, resulted initially in a growing interest in anything propelled over
rails, be it trams, or trains. And being blessed by a major, and busy railway line in close
proximity to our house I could often be found at the nearest level-crossings, doing some serious
"trainspotting", often forgetting about time and thus arriving back home late for tea,
with a resulting reprimand and sometimes having to forgo said tea!

During holidays I stayed often with my grandparents, who lived only some 150 yards away
from a branchline station and gave me further cause to "study" the railway phenomenon
more closely! On one occasion I even managed to score the reluctant OK from dad,
to use his "boxie" to shoot my first train spotting photographs!

My first photographic efforts (as a 6 year old) at Wildervank, in the North of the Netherlands,
in those days a lot more properous, railway wise, than nowadays!
Now the museum group "STAR" rules the roost here and the "yard",
is a through line with a dead-end siding, overgrown by weeds, only!

On 5th December 1952 (St. Nicolaas) I received my first electric model train,
and a keen modeler was born!

Ever since that day in December I have been involved in the railway industry,
one way, or the other!

I have had model railways ever since, and from early 1967 I became involved even deeper,
as a trainee locomotive engineman (engineer in America) on steam and diesel in South Australia
(after having migrated there), although I have not spent a great deal of time on
steam locomotives, as they were rapidly disappearing from the scene in South Australia,
when I joined the railways there.

I left the railways in South Australia in 1979, to pursue another career, but in 1988
I re-entered railway service, be it in the state of Victoria this time.
I was, and still am, based in the state capital: Melbourne.

Again I spent some time on diesel locomotives, but in later years, untill the present,
I found myself driving EMU's (Electric Multiple Units) on the electrified suburban network.

Although I follow with a great deal of interest railways/railroads from all over the world,
some systems attract me more than others.
I have always had a pretty strong interest in North Western European Railways and the Netherlands
in particular and I rate its railsystem very strongly among my favorites.

German steam also stands out on my list of favorites.
I also have a strong liking for some American railroads, as well as Australian Railways.
I am interested in all railway related subjects and largely follow all railroad news,
from where-ever it reaches me.

I also have written, and also co-written a number of articles for hobby magazines.

Having lived in the Netherlands up to age 20 (and 9 months...) I took a shining to the Dutch railways, the NS, or Nederlandse Spoorwegen.
Be it out of national pride, or just pure interest in trains as I knew them, I do not know,
but this interest grew into an HO hobby, never-the-less.
As a result I model the Dutch railways
in HO (unfortunately only on the club layout) and have some American Railroads Material, in N-Scale,
for a N-scale layout presently under construction in the garage.

Despite steam locomotives disappearing in the Netherlands very early, compared to neighbouring
countries, I do remember many trips, as a kid, from the centre of Holland to the north,
on steam hauled trains in some very old carriages.

I could be found frequently at the local station as this was only a short bike ride from home.
I could sit there for hours, watching the trains go by. Unfortunately in those early years I did not
posess a camera to go "trainchasing"!

After migrating to Australia I often "chased" trains on my fairly frequent holidays to the
Netherlands and so gained quite a library of colour slides, but which has lately become rather
disorganised because of a series of slideshows for local enthusiasts, after which a large number
of slides have become mixed up out of sequence! This will take some time before I can sort that out!

I have introduced clickable thumbnails which will enable faster loading of the page and will
allow you to select the individual pictures you want to see enlarged, by clicking on them,
which should eliminate the mentioned problem entirely.

Site Navigation for the Railway Yard:

ALCO Motive Power:	Netherlands Railways:	General Pages:
Australian Alco's	NS Electric Loco's	About Me
Greek Alco's	NS Diesel Loco's	Navigation Page
Other Alco Sites	NS Multi Units 1	Dutch HO Railway
Steam Locomotives:	NS Multi Units 2	General Pages:
Australian Steam	NS D Multi Units	Favorite Links
German Steam	Dutch Steam	Dorrigo Railway Museum
Our Growing Other Rail Related Pages:
German Trams/Trains coming soon!	Trams in the Netherlands coming soon!	Italian Trams/Trains
Melbourne Trams coming soon!	Victorian Power	Miscellaneous Trains coming soon!

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