men on the railways

Stapels on the railways.

In the twentieth century the Netherlands Railways were a big employer, especially in Roosendaal where even today the civil registry recognise a special category "railway staff" (personeel spoorwegen). A new international railway station close to the frontier with Belgium was finished in 1907, the year my father was born. With its associated workshops it pushed employment in Roosendaal to impressive levels.

My grandfather Bernard Stapel knew the railways already via his youngest aunt Elisabeth, married to railway engineer Willem Bertus Pabst in the Hague en via his uncle Christoffel, who's daughter Wilhelmine Elisabeth married Karel Lodewijk Franciscus van den Broek, State Railway clerk in Flushing. In any case, 18 years old Bernard was the first (maybe second, see Johannes Hendrik) Stapel on the railways, perhaps so advised by his brother in law Kees Zoetekouw. Kees worked already on the railways as a conductor when Bernard's sister (Hendrina) Alijda married him in 1886. Bernard's elder brother Johan Stapel was a policeman in the Hague until in 1899 he came with his family to Roosendaal where he found work as a conductor. Johan's daughter Alijda later married Frederik Brugman, an engineer in Venhuizen. Chris Hintzen, Bernard's father in law as of 1904, was a railway engineer too, like his two brothers Leendert and Pieter and nephew Jacobus Hintzen.

Then there were four more railway men amongst the relatives of Bernard's great-uncles from Gendt:
- Jan Willem: his daughter Aletta Maria Johanna Hendrica's granddaughter married in 1898 a railway clerk Johannes Anthonius Josephus Marie Strenge in Nijmegen;
- Johannes (I): Johanna Maria, daughter of his eldest son Johan Hendrik Godfried married 1892 in Zutphen a railway clerk Harm van Driesten; her brother Johannes Hendrik Stapel was loading clerk when he married in 1896;
- Hendrik Stapel: his grandson Hendrik Stapel, son of Christiaan Willem Frederik married 1919 in Scheemda as a railway clerk.

The stories they told over and over again must have dated from those early days. As a kid on family visits I heard them eagerly remember as if still schoolboys. That they stopped their train at a farm to buy eggs, or late summers feast upon blackberries along the railway dike, passengers included. I was taken away by that sense of freedom, like their steamwhistles blowing into the skies. Now I know that they drove at a snail's pace to a rather relaxed time table. In 1863 the State Railways opened their first track from Breda to Tilbury with only three trips per day, taking 30 to 40 minutes to cover 25 km. Besides, it was only in 1909 that a national time replaced local time and the sun in the south no longer dictated that it was noon. Even in our small Holland local time differed a quarter between far east and far west.

By the way, engineer was not a healthy profession. Structurally irregular services, literally exposed to all sorts of weathers and clouds of steam, oil and coaldust. Prime target in wartime, not really protected by the thin cabinsheets. And accidents too. Like his eldest brother almost 50 years earlier Bernard Stapel died a very painful death, following a train collision at the foggy dawn of tuesday March 19, 1935. Quite close to his 40 years of service jubilee.

The next generation took its turn only after the Great War. Jan Remijn started at a Middelburg smithy but 19 year old moved to Roosendaal and was located as an engineer in Eindhoven, Den Bosch and Haarlem before he became Bernard's first son in law, marrying Betsie Stapel 1933 in Rotterdam. His daughter Elly still remembers his photograph hanging for years in their living as "still a young single on the runningboard of some famous locomotive like the Arend or the 3737..." Like her father her late husband Kees Dekkers was an engineer too.

locomotief 3737

Treinsite newsletter Aug.2011 pp.7/8 highlights the history of the century old NS3737, now in the Railwaymuseum. Beware: this pdf downloadtime is with 5-10 minutes also museumworthy.
I was told grandfather Bernard Stapel drove the 3737 too, once pulling the royal train.

Henk Stapel was the only one of Bernards children choosing a technical education. At 19 he went to Amsterdam as an engineer on the steamtram to Monnikendam. After 3 years he returned via Sliedrecht to Roosendaal as a metalworker. In 1927 he went to the Netherlands Railways workshops in Leidschendam but was stationed 1928 in Rotterdam where he married Dina Mastenbroek. Six years later they moved on to Utrecht and Jutphaas and finally returned to Roosendaal in 1938, where they spent the rest of their lives. During the early 2nd worldwar years his then retired uncle Johan kept them company as a lodger, before he moved back to his children in Amsterdam.

May 1929 my father Willem Stapel started as a railway worker and was located that same year in Tilbury, where he married Annie Swolfs in 1934. Two years later he was transferred to Bergen op Zoom where they stayed. During the thirties and fourties he studied quite a lot during evenings and made a steady career progress until he retired as a senior clerk in 1972. At home we put up with his irregular schedules, compensated as they were by the free railway passes.
After the 2nd worldwar Henk's daughter Beppie Stapel worked some ten years with chartering companies in Roosendaal: First at Van Gent & Loos and later the N.S. Together with some 25 other female clerks in one large office hall, until she married Wim Schütz in 1956. It was a matter of course in the fifties that a girl left her job the moment she married!

Railroad men were extraordinairy loyal to their company and the Stapels were no exception, proud to be part of the unique infrastructure which at the time could not be touched by road traffic. A strong bond was apparent in various ways, as there were: My fathers workmates joined us sleeping in our cellar when their was an air raid alarm; the N.S. organised post war holiday camps for underfed children; there was an N.S. foundation for social assistance to railway personell and in Roosendaal the N.S. managed a complete housing estate for their staff. Most of my family members were once living in the Waterstreet and the Spoorstreet in houses as shown on the right. The award my father got at his 25th service year jubilee stayed on their living wall until the house was abandoned.

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The shortened family tree below shows how the railway Stapels from Gendt are related. Inlaws are represented by the first Stapel connected to them. Striking detail: only Johan Hendrik's descendants had a professional interest in railways...