On the 18th of October, we held our annual meeting of the Dutch Hornby Railway Collectors Association, hosted this time by Paul van Hooft in Zeist. In addition to ten members of the Dutch HRCA, two guests-Mitchell Bäcker and Dirk Jan Noordermeer-were also in attendance. Pictured from left to right are Jacob Wieringa, Niek van Ees, Hans van Dissel, Duco Postmaa, Paul van Hooft, Barend Westerveld, Mitchell Bäcker, Rob van Teylingen, Dirk Jan Noordermeer, Peter Zwakhals, Chris de Groot and Erik van Dam.
To start the meeting, Paul took us back in the history of the Dutch HRCA. He even still has the letter he got from the HRCA secretary on his enquiry to get a list of all active HRCA members in The Netherlands. All this led to the formal inauguration of the Dutch HRCA in 1994 at the 25th Anniversary of the HRCA.
Some of the members also brought Hornby - and many other brands - items to swap or sell. Also train related books, Meccano and Dinky Toys swiftly changed hands at the beginning of the meeting. Many of those present could add something to their collection.
Along with a spread of delicious sandwiches and soup, Paul treated us to a presentation titled "Are Collectors Dangerous?"-a question that, to our great relief, he concluded with a definitive "no.".
Eric van Dam shared an interesting train-related background from his family. He found that his great-grandfather (Paul Jüdel) was the founder of the Pullman Club in 1927.
Like almost all our members, Paul's interests in tinplate trains are not limited to a single brand; in fact, his most extensive collection is not of Hornby Trains or Märklin (shown below), but rather those of the German manufacturer Kraus.
Mitchel brought along his version of one of top-model Gauge 1 Kraus locomotives to compare with the one in Pauls' collection. Although it is the same model, there are many differences to be seen in the details. This suggests that the finishing of this model was likely done by hand.
Up in the attic Paul has a lay-out to run Gauge 0 and Gauge 1 trains. Not shown in the photo: there is a chimney in the attic that gets very much in the way. Paul has cleverly created a detour around the chimney, which causes the two outermost tracks to briefly leave the room and then return.