Hendrik Willem Stapel
1905 - 1990
Sources:
Family archive from Beppie Schütz-Stapel, Roosendaal and Ad Stapel, Weert and myself
Family cards Stapel, civil registry Roosendaal
Railpublicity Foundation, "Witness of dark times" by Jan Matthijssen.
=============================================================================
Sources:
Family archive from Beppie Schütz-Stapel, Roosendaal and Ad Stapel, Weert and myself
Family cards Stapel, civil registry Roosendaal
Railpublicity Foundation, "Witness of dark times" by Jan Matthijssen.
=============================================================================
Henk
Stapel from Roosendaal attended the technical school in Bergen op Zoom and left for Amsterdam, Zaandammerplein 66 on August 20, 1924; his brother Chris joined him in 1925, be it on nr.68. Starting March 8, 1926 Henk was employed by the 2nd Noord-Hollandsche Tramweg Maatschappij, driving the steamtram Amsterdam - Monikendam. Via Sliedrecht he returned to Roosendaal August 22, 1927 as a metalworker but left again within two months for Leidsendam, Broekweg 17, to work in the NS workshops at Stompwijk. Short again, since Dec.12, 1928 he married Dina Mastenbroek in Rotterdam, where both their Children were born.
Henk StapelFrom "Getuige van een
donkere tijd" by Jan Matthijssen.
Stichting Railpublicaties.(Witness of dark times)
'40-'45.Railwaymen and -women from around Roosendaal
From "Getuige van een
donkere tijd" by Jan Matthijssen.Stichting Railpublicaties.
(Witness of dark times)'40-'45.
Railwaymen and -women from around Roosendaal
Left: Splendid action-picture of Henk Stapel. This is how an apprentice engineer went to work in the thirties. (Collection Jan Matthijssen)
Right: Retired engineer Tjaling Zijlstra: Shortly after the war I drove an empty carrier-train to Susteren, together with Henk Stapel. Back in Eindhoven, after more than twelve service hours, I asked the Eindhoven staff for something to eat. We got nothing, though trays filled with food were ready for distribution in the engineers mess on the second platform. So, without food we tried to flush the hunger away with water on our way back to Roosendaal, where we safely arrived with our empty coal-train. "Yes", I say, "you had to sacrifice something for the reconstruction of our Netherlands." He does not respond.
(Text above the locomotive picture: In the onetime straight locomotive shed in front of the 3737.)
Right: Retired engineer Tjaling Zijlstra: Shortly after the war I drove an empty carrier-train to Susteren, together with Henk Stapel. Back in Eindhoven, after more than twelve service hours, I asked the Eindhoven staff for something to eat. We got nothing, though trays filled with food were ready for distribution in the engineers mess on the second platform. So, without food we tried to flush the hunger away with water on our way back to Roosendaal, where we safely arrived with our empty coal-train. "Yes", I say, "you had to sacrifice something for the reconstruction of our Netherlands." He does not respond.
(Text above the locomotive picture: In the onetime straight locomotive shed in front of the 3737.)
Ad, only son of Henk Stapel, remembers the bike quite well: He himself sat in the child's-seat at the front. Because the bicycle dynamo had not yet been invented, the lamp was not an ordinairy one but a carbide lamp. Wearing an engineers uniform with a butterfly-tie was also rather uncommon then...
Another memory: The 3737 was one of the locomotives his father once drove. Steam traction was the love of his life. As a rule he went to his locomotive an hour or two before departure, just to check every detail. His understanding of and experience with steam-technology gave him a deep satisfaction and sense of safety that he painfully missed after he had to switch to diesel- and electro-traction. "When I had a steam problem I knew pecisely where to look and how to amend, but later it became a black box with knobs and buttons".
Additionally, the first generations electric trains had the driver's seat a mere meter behind the frontbumper and Henk was literally sickened by experiences of other drivers who, at speeds of 120 km/hour, had seen desperate people spring at them ... The latter part of his working life the couple found a job as caretakers, which left him plenty of time to express his love for steam by making many a steam engine with his own lathe. He also turned to oilpainting and copied Dutch masters as well as painted landscapes of his own. His "canal with windmill" decorated our livingroom for decades and still does at my sister Ineke's. Henk Stapel died nearly 85 years of age, less than a year after he burried Dina.
(home = www.cstapel.nl)
Another memory: The 3737 was one of the locomotives his father once drove. Steam traction was the love of his life. As a rule he went to his locomotive an hour or two before departure, just to check every detail. His understanding of and experience with steam-technology gave him a deep satisfaction and sense of safety that he painfully missed after he had to switch to diesel- and electro-traction. "When I had a steam problem I knew pecisely where to look and how to amend, but later it became a black box with knobs and buttons".
Additionally, the first generations electric trains had the driver's seat a mere meter behind the frontbumper and Henk was literally sickened by experiences of other drivers who, at speeds of 120 km/hour, had seen desperate people spring at them ... The latter part of his working life the couple found a job as caretakers, which left him plenty of time to express his love for steam by making many a steam engine with his own lathe. He also turned to oilpainting and copied Dutch masters as well as painted landscapes of his own. His "canal with windmill" decorated our livingroom for decades and still does at my sister Ineke's. Henk Stapel died nearly 85 years of age, less than a year after he burried Dina.
(home = www.cstapel.nl)