For years it stood at the public primary school De Hekakker in Norg: an old-fashioned steam engine. But because the school is being demolished, a new location had to be found for the historic equipment. That place has now been found at De Wachter Steam Museum in Zuidlaren.
Jelte Oosterhuis from the museum can hardly hide his enthusiasm during the move. “We would like to have this one,” he exults. “I received a tip that the steam engine needed a new location. Then I thought: this is it.”
The steam engine stood in Norg for years. Before the machine ended up at De Hekakker primary school, it operated in the village’s former dairy factory. Due to the demolition of the school, the historical association Historical Norch had to look for a next location for the machine.
“We have tried to relocate it in the new school,” says Bart Talens, chairman of Historical Norch, which has been maintaining the machine for years. “But the municipality, the school and the architect did not want that.”
“So we started looking for another place,” Talens continues. “That took a lot of effort, but in the end we ended up at De Wachter.”
At the museum they are very happy with the arrival of the steam engine. Oosterhuis also knew exactly what the museum was getting, because he knows the machine.
“I did research into it,” he says. “There are two more of these steam engines in the whole world. One is in Indonesia, in a sugar factory. It is still in use. And here is the other one. So that is very unique.”
The volunteers of Historical Norch are happy that the machine is getting a new place, although they also say goodbye with mixed feelings. “We have taken good care of it for years,” says Talens.
Yet Talens also sees a major advantage to the move. “It didn’t run on steam here, but on an electric motor,” he admits. At Stoommuseum De Wachter they want to change that.
“We want the machine to run at full steam again,” says Oosterhuis. “We have a steam boiler and about fifteen working steam engines.”
Nevertheless, that wish will still take a few years. “But it is special. Because then the steam engine will really be preserved.”
