Hello everyone,

now that Andrew was so kind to post the first message in this sub-forum I will introduce myself.

That's me:

(Well, actually that was me in 2003 and no, I'm not the yellow thing in the background.)

Some data about me: Full name Christoph Heuer, born in 1970 in Hannover,Germany, now resident in Kassel, Germany, married to Kerstin, no children.
First visit to Crich was in 1988, joined the TMS in 1993 when I was a student at what was then the University of Humberside in Hull; Crich conductor since 1994, driver since 2000, currently hold the licence for classes A0, A3, A5, A5*, H1 and H2.
Biggest claim to fame was that I was on the cover of a Crich leaflet, in 2004, I believe, with Adrian Roberts on 74. I was also one of the driving forces behind the acquisition of 902 and I am one out of two non UK-nationals and non-UK residents with a valid tram driving licence at Crich, Kerstin being the other.
I am also a member of the LRTA and the Hannover Tramway Museum Society in Germany (HSM, see www.wehmingen.de). There I am involved with the restoration of Gotha car Dessau 35 in its former identity as Dresden 213 107-8 (the yellow thing in the background of the photo) and I am also a driver and conductor there.
Apart from the forum I run the website www.gothawagen.de on the history of Dessau 35s sisters.

For those who wonder how to pronounce my German surname correctly: The "eu" sounds like the "oy" in "joy" or "toy", so it is pronounced like "hoy-er". Please do not pronounce the "eu" like "you" ("you-er") as many people do.

Regards

Christoph

My name is Wim Beukenkamp (at Crich better known as William), born in Rotterdam 1956. I am married to Josina van der Horst, no children. I am a professional railway engineer, though my origins are not in the railway industry. At present I am working in the Dutch Railway Inspectorate, part of the transport inspectorate as senior inspector and senior accident investigator. I am also part-time lecturer at Delft University where I am doing a PhD study on risk management in transport systems.
I learned about Crich shortly after I joined the Dutch railway and tramway association (NVBS) in 1972. In 1980 I met a couple of people from Crich who afterwards became friends forever. In 1981 I visited Crich for the first time and joined the TMS on the spot. Since then I became life-member. My wife Josina (who is also a technician and works in the Crich workshop as well) is also a life-member.
I am not very interested in driving trams, I want to restore them. For me the Crich workshop is still Walhalla. I was involved in acquiring Den Haag PCC 1147 in 1993 (buying it for the princely sum of 1 Dutch Guilder), organising its transport to Crich in January 1994 and helping with its cosmetic restoration a year later.
My first experience with historic trams was with the steam tram Hoorn-Medemblik museum and railway in 1972, (a 2 hour drive on my moped!). Luckily for me, a year later a group started restoring trams in Amsterdam, which was a lot closer to where I lived (and still live) in Haarlem.
I was one of the first hands at what is now the Amsterdam museum tramway. I was also one of the persons behind the initiative to reconstruct Arnhem 76 and subsequently develop and build a tramway in the Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem in 1996. I designed the route and the track layout for that museum.
I was a board member of the Dutch TMS from 1984 till 1994. Outside the railway and tramway world I am active in the field of preserving heritage, including protecting my beautiful city of Haarlem (one of the oldest in Holland) against town developers.
I am also a first aid and resuscitation instructor and examiner. I was treasurer of the Dutch association of first aid instructors between 1995 and 2008. I am still treasurer of a local First Aid society and president of another. For all my activities Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands decided to award me a Knighthood in the Order of Orange Nassau in 2006, see picture.
My favourite tram is a working steam tram based on MBRO 84 (now a jigsaw at Clay Cross) and Dundee 21. My electric choice is to restore the remains that are still at Clay Cross into an working Bristol tram. I also hope that somehow sometime Crich will be able to show a working Feltham.
My first priority though is the preservation of the existing fleet, for which I have taken the initiative to create a Crich Depot Climate Fund.