Jaap de Groot (77) has been working in his garage in Sint-Michielsgestel for 45 years on a special project: building steam locomotives that can really drive, even with passengers. With endless patience he brings metal plates to life in the form of steam trains. For Jaap it still feels like he is playing with a toy.
In the garage behind his house, Jaap bends over his workbench with concentration. “I’ve been bringing dead material to life here for 45 years,” he says, laughing.
Jaap worked in metalworking all his life, but was looking for a hobby in his spare time. “I love making something working out of nothing.”
“I spend five or six hours a day doing this.”
In the 1980s he bought a small metalworking machine and discovered that he could make parts for model steam locomotives. “I made more and more parts until I was able to assemble my own steam engine,” he says.
His colleagues sometimes reacted with surprise. “They said: why are you still doing metalworking in the evening? You’ve been doing this all day.” But Jaap couldn’t resist. His passion started in high school and has never disappeared. “Everything you make with metal lasts a long time. So you can enjoy your work for a long time.”
Since he retired, Jaap has focused entirely on his construction projects. “I spend five or six hours a day doing this. If I don’t have to cook or do housework such as cleaning, then I can be found here,” says Jaap from his garage. In the evening he often works until twelve o’clock or later.
“It takes about fifteen years before one steam locomotive is finished.”
A steam train consists of hundreds of small parts, all handmade by Jaap himself. “You need technical knowledge, but also a lot of patience. Sometimes you rebuild a part ten times before it is right. In practice, you actually build two locomotives: one that works and one for the trash, because so many things go wrong.”
It is therefore a big job before Jaap can run one train. “It takes about fifteen years for one steam locomotive to be completed. Some people think I’m crazy for taking so long on it, but I don’t care. I enjoy doing it.” Jaap has built five trains in his hobby time so far.
“It still feels to me like you’re playing with a toy.”
To test his builds, he built a railroad in his backyard that even runs through his stone barn. “That track has been there for thirty years. When I needed a new shed, I simply made two openings in it so that the train could pass through. Demolishing the track was not an option,” he says with a smile.
Although the trains have not run on the rails in his garden for some time now due to the lack of a working locomotive, Jaap has already covered many kilometers with his models on special railway tracks for model locomotives throughout the Netherlands.
Behind the steam locomotive there is a special cart on which he and two children can sit. “My children grew up with it and loved it,” says Jaap, showing an old photo of him and his daughter sitting on the back of the locomotive.
The train runs on water that is heated with coal, which produces real steam. “Boys like to play with water and fire, and so do I,” says Jaap, laughing.
