Vellekoop Drawings

The Vellekoop drawings are a well-known concept within the Dutch model railway world. They were created by J.J.B. (Jan) Vellekoop, who for decades produced a very extensive collection of model building drawings of Dutch railway rolling stock. His work is still considered one of the most complete collections of drawings of Dutch rolling stock.

Characteristics of the Vellekoop Drawings

• Almost all drawings were made for Gauge 0.
• Vellekoop used his own scale of 1:40 instead of the usual 1:45.
• The drawings are fully equipped with model dimensions, cross-sections, views, and construction details.
• Long carriages were sometimes shortened, so that models could also run on smaller curve radii. The drawings indicate where these shortenings have been applied.

Subjects

The collection includes hundreds of drawings of, among other things:

• steam locomotives;
• electric multiple units (Mat '24, Mat '46, Hondekop, etc.);
• diesel rolling stock;
• passenger carriages;
• freight wagons;
• luggage and postal carriages;
• local railway and historical rolling stock.

From Private Collection to Drawing Archive

After Mr Vellekoop's death, his extensive collection was preserved. The drawings were subsequently incorporated into the NVM Drawing Archive (Dutch Association of Model Builders).

Since 2018, the original Vellekoop drawings have been progressively:

• checked;
• re-catalogued;
• digitised;
• re-issued via the NVM drawing archive.

A new series from the Vellekoop collection regularly appears in the NVM newsletters.

Historical Significance

The value of the Vellekoop drawings is significant because:

• much original railway rolling stock has now disappeared;
• Vellekoop often took measurements himself from existing vehicles;
• the drawings are based on original NS, HSM, and SS documentation;
• they are still used for museum restorations and high-level model building.

Still Available

A large part of the collection is still available today via Modelbouwtekeningen.nl, where the drawings are re-issued by the NVM. Dozens of Vellekoop drawings have now been re-published, and new editions from the original collection are still appearing.