From working on the track to living next to the track. The 73-year-old Huub Geurts lives with his wife in an old service home at the station of Vierlingsbeek. The former operator’s house is just a few meters from the track, but there is no inconvenience. “We almost have the Kedeng-Kedeng in the bedroom, but we don’t find that annoying.”
About forty years ago, the former construction worker at the Dutch Railways (NS) started his adventure. “I started all the way down at the Dutch Railways. I started there as a cleaner. Later I became a driver.”
“We then had a burgundy suit,” says Huub, while he stands at the station next to his house with the original machine cap on his head. “Everyone fits and still me. It wasn’t my favorite color.”
In his years of service as a driver, he also drove over the Maas line. “That was in the 1970s. I drove about fifteen years on that track, which runs past my village. I did that with great pleasure and have had many beautiful memories of it.”
“One of the nicest things was that I ever took Venray a court chapel on the train,” he recalls. “They went to Venlo, but actually wanted to get out in Lottum. I put them there on a railway crossing and they blew another tune there.”
Upgrade of the Maas line
With 22,000 travelers a day, the Maas line is one of the busiest regional lines in the country. The 88 -kilometer route is now being renovated considerably. Old diesel trains must make way for an electric variant, but for that there must be more than eighty kilometers of tracking. This is done with placing overhead line.
A few months ago the work in different phases started, after years of preparation, Huub Geurts knows. “When I started working at the railways about forty years ago, they were already talking about it. Finally it will happen now.”
A festive moment, although the morning was a little less festive for the well -intended act of the driver. “It was in the newspaper a day after. Totally wrong, of course, because the next day I had to come to the boss. What I had done was of course Not Done. “
“She could do her thing and the children were well kept with me.”
Another great memory for the driver is that his children regularly traveled with him. “My wife came to drop the children at the station of Vierlingsbeek. I then came by the train. She could then do her thing and the children were well kept with me.”
The children of Huub played games on the train or did homework. “Those were good times. Then we went up and down to Roermond and then we were two hours further. That was fantastic for me and for the children. Sometimes they were allowed to go into the cabin at the time.”
“People who have a bond with the track have always lived here, like me.”
In the meantime, the driver has retired, although he has not yet released the train. In fact, he moved a few years ago to an old service home right next to the station of his village. “It was built in 1948 for the manager of the Vierlingsbeek station.”
A train runs past eight times per hour, but that certainly does not feel like a nuisance for him. “People who have a bond with the track have always lived here, like me,” he says proudly. “So here no one has never complained about the trains that run. We have it Kedeng-Kedeng Almost in the bedroom, but don’t find that annoying. “
His passion for the train can still be seen in Huub’s house. A print in the kitchen tells his life story. “Everything is incorporated in a train.
The passion for the train even extends to the toilet and in the garden on the track, where the hedge was consciously cut. “That is done to be able to see the clock. We don’t have a clock in the living room, only those from the station. That is our clock and always look on it. We still have a bit of a spoortic,” he concludes with a wink.
The story of
Do you want to share your story with us? That’s possible! Editors from Omroep Brabant are still until Wednesday 8 October in Vierlingsbeek, Boxmeer and Cuijk. You are welcome to share your story with us.
On Tuesday we will be in Hotel-Café Restaurant ‘t Departure, Stationsweg 12 in Boxmeer.
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