Construction work continues at Wendlingen in preparation for extending the S-Bahn system to Kirchheim. This is part of a major package of investment by Deutsche Bahn which will see a number of extensions and new trains replacing the 1960’s built units that are still used here. The old units are in pretty good condition having been refurbished fairly recently, so I suspect the replacements are more because DB want to prove they are investing as Stuttgart is renewing franchises soon.
Notice, by the way that there is no fence between the road (where I was standing when I took these pictures) and the construction area. In fact the line is still in use by trains running to Tübingen and beyond so that 15kv AC overhead wiring is mostly live. Another example of Germany’s commensense approach to health and safety.
When I took these pictures the line to Kirchheim was undergoing a posession: which I imagine won’t happen long as DB Schenker have a big customer at the other end of it, so they won’t take kindly to losing business while the S-Bahn is built.
Beyond Kirchheim there were once two railways: the Teckbahn, which I’ve mentioned elsewhere, and a line to Weilheim, which was closed to passengers in 1982 but still has track in situ. Hopefully the fact this is no longer miles from the main line but now close to an S-Bahn terminus may persuade the town to invest in resterting passenger traffic, especially as there are a number of schools and colleges in the town. In Germany, passenger rail is financed mainly at a local level so this isn’t impossible -as long as the local authority can be convinced of the need to invest in this area.
Posting is a bit sporadic at the moment because I’m still trying to get everything sorted for the move, and there isn’t enough banmdwidth in the world to detail the trials and tribulations of dealing with utilities companies.
In the hope of switching off, I had a brief look at YouTube and found this gem of a video from YouTube user Wimzelluv, whose videos of the RHB I’ve posted before. I’ve long suspected that Road-rail tractors could work on NG, an here’s the proof:
Another example of how NG can provide a simple, cost effective transport solution today.
Over the last few weeks I worked on two more variations of the card tippler, proving that I really am far too easily distracted by new ideas.
In a rare flash of planning, I made two variations on the one wagon, to save time, which is why the two pictures are taken from different ends: I wanted to see how much the appearance of the wagon would change withonly three vertical braces, and then with no horizontal strapping. Different sided wagons could, of course raise eyebrows, although you can’t see both sides at once anyway, so why not? it could double your apparent fleet, just don’t turn them around.
However, my goal was to gain practice making and weathering models from card rather than start a 1:32 scale empire, so I’m happy enough and I think I’ve got enough ideas to make a start on smaller scale models. I don’t know if the container wagon will be card- it would need a lot of thin, easily breakable sections, but simple things like the container are perfect subjects. I can even get some corrugated card that would work for sides, although that would mean spending money. I’m wondering if a 1:55 version of the RHB Van would be possible in card though: The ribbed sides may need to be a bit thicker but overall I reckon it could work.
The good news is that with the house move happening and running smoothly, I can start to negotiate for a couple of metres wall space as we plan the new apartment, so a layout may well be coming along soon…
By popular demand, here’s the view from our future apartment over the roof of the house opposite… While it’s not exactly the Swiss Alps, compared with the street we currently live in (The truck in this picture is about one metre from our living room window) it’s a major step up, so we’re happy. You can just see the hills in the distance, even though the weather wasn’t so great on this day… As well as the move I’m looking for work, as although the current job isn’t in danger, working freelance in media and theatre is looking very shaky in the current economic situation, so I’m running about getting applications ready and making arrangements for interviews. If all goes well, I could be commuting soon.
All of this at once, and trying to do it in German and get used to the German system for seeking work and getting training and things, is taking a lot of time and is a tad stressful, so I’ve not a lot of energy left over to build anything or write about it, but I’ll keep posting when I have a break in the clouds…
Incidentally, that door on the right in the top picture leads here. I’ve seen smaller modelling sheds…
Over the last week I’ve been carrying this piece of paper about and doodling designs for a container wagon whenever I’ve had a moment to spare. Unfortunately this made the paper a bit dog-eared, but that’s life. At least it gave me something to stave off the withdrawal, as well as hopefully giving me a clear direction when I finally get around to building anything. One of the problems with the railcar was that I was essentially working it out as I went along (ie: I didn’t know what I was doing) which is one reason it took ages.
The idea is that the wagon will have the complex appearance of a modern container wagon, which would obviously be built as lightweight as possible, so the to save as much weight as possible. I expect any engineers watching will find problems, so please let me know if there’s something glaringly off, preferably before I spend hours cutting the things out… The bogies are a bit undefined: they’re making me a bit nervous to tell the truth as I can’t hide them as I would in 7mm scale: hopefully I’ll hit on a way to make them detailed enough to pass muster without being over the top.
If it works I’ll probably add at least two more, and maybe in the long distant future I could try a twin set with a shared centre bogie… but I think a layout will need to be built before I try anything that ambitious.
At this blistering pace I’ll probably have a prototype by September…
Germany may be missing basic elements of civilisation (Marmite for example), but it does seem to retain a sense of proportion. A week or two ago I was in Vaihingen, and while waiting for my tram I saw these gentlemen squeeze through a gap in the hedge, call the control box on a cell phone, set up the ladder, open the front of the signal and change the bulb. When the tram needed to pass, the driver rang the bell, they moved the ladder, and then carried on when it was clear.
I’m pretty sure that in the UK that would have required several more people, scaffolding, fences, flags and possibly a line possesion. Here, it takes about six minutes.
Mind you, changing lightbulbs is pretty simple really, what happens when something more complex happens, like when the overhead wires need a bit of attention?
Notice the family passing the truck at the end of the video: it never occurred to anyone to close the foot/bike path.
When the tram needed to pass in the other direction they didn’t even stop working.
No line possessions, replacement bus services or other palaver with associated inconvenience to passengers, just safe working and common sense.
We were suddenly told last week that an apartment was up for rent on a quiet road in the village, so we went along to have a look, more to eliminate it from the list than anything as we thought it would be way over our budget. This one had all the signs of being unaffordable: recently refurbished with a newly tiled toilet and bathroom, a brand new heating system installed two years ago and extra insulation added to the roof at the same time. We usually take this as a bad sign: when a laondlord invest heavily in a building they usually expect a high return. I was so convinced that this wasn’t going to happen, that I almost didn’t bother to ask the price, but eventually we did, to get it over with.
It turned out to be within budget.
It’s an attic flat, which of course means a lot of steps to climb, but in Germany comes under a different set of rules to a normal apartments, mainly that when the roof is lower than a certain height, the rent goes down. We’re not as tall as the average German so the low roof will be less of an issue, and to be away from the main road will be a more than adequate pay-off in any case. Besides, the height means we can see over the houses opposite to the trees and the hills in the distance. I’d be willing to move for that alone.
Not only that, but the heating costs would be lower than we currently pay, and the new heating system means we’ll have a much lower environmental impact. Not exactly zero, but a lot better than the environmental disaster we have now. And there’s a safe place for us to store our bikes with a step-free entrance, which can’t be taken for granted in this part of Germany. And it even has a two balconies, which is more than enough for me to launch into fantasies about a small garden railway, but as there looks to be more shelf space for the Körschtalahn I’ll not push that just yet…
We took the boys to see the place and they were all thoroughly excited about it, so we’ve been rushing about getting things signed, writing to the current landlord and giving three months notice and generally trying to get organised which is why the blog went quiet for a week, but yesterday we were told we can move in on the first of June.
Gorgeous wife is already packing.
I will write more railway related content when I have time. I promise.
I’m not getting a lot done at the moment because of work and looking for a new apartment, but another burst of enthusiasm last week saw the Longyearbyen wagon mostly painted and heavily weathered using my normal artists acrylics. I’m still working on the final effect which I want to achieve with the weathering. I’m after an almost monochrome look created by loading fine coal in high winds and running through a blizzard to the port. My imagination pictures the whole model as dark buildings and snow and coal dust, with occasional splashes of colour to relieve the scene, so it’s almost a natural monochrome. Not that this layout looks likely in the near future unless I build it on the windowsill in the loo…
I think any future wagons may have less horizontal bracing so that I can get a three digit number on the side. I think that would improve the wagon and give an impression of seeing a small part of a bigger complex. I’ll also have to work on some bogie detail and coupling method on the production run. Speaking of coupling methods, the yellow end is to denote a ‘normal’ coupling on the wagon. I’m assuming that the wagons would be in fixed rakes -probably three as any longer would be too big for the layout- with a simple bar within the rakes so they could be emptied, and a normal coupling on the ends.
I’d have to think of something else for the railway to carry so operating gets a bit more interesting- perhaps a dingy mess van or stores for the hungry miners up at the summit which would both make interesting project in 1:32.
Next time we visit our new apartment, I’ll measure the loo windowsill…
Back in the mists of time someone’s granddad realised that if you make a standard sized box you can fill it full of anything from rocking horses to paper clips, put it on a truck or a train, and when you came against a barrier said truck or train couldn’t cross, like the Atlantic, you just hoisted said box on a ship in a few minutes. This would save time and money, and incidentally keep your valuable products from any light fingered toerags lurking about the dockside. The idea caught on and now containers and similar are one of the major ways to shift stuff about.
Which may or may not be interesting but on the face of it has little to do with the my fictional narrow gauge empire. However, the Körschtalbahn is going to have a lot of intermodal traffic: it reduces the problem of double handling, where you have to put a load onto a narrow gauge train, run it for a few kilometres and then move it all over again to put it on a normal train for its onward journey, and it uses standard (ie:cheap) equipment that is the same all over the world. And I think container trains look really cool. And it’s my railway. So there.
John P of the Little Trains blog and I have been discussing this occasionally,and John recently posted about one solution called a lowliner, which saved me several hours of research. John is working in 1:72 scale on 9mm gauge track, and feels that a well wagon as used by the RHB is probably easier for him, but in my chosen scale of 1:55 scale on 16,5mm track I think a lowliner is feasible. A train of these would look pretty good being hauled up the valley by a big electric locomotive so the Maschienenfabrik Ostfildern has been instructed to get moving with getting on with a new design…
I built this wagon in a fit of creative enthusiasm at least a one weekend ago, and it’s been sitting on the shelf ever since. This is an experiment that’s been a long time in the offing: a 1:32 scale tippler. I’ve had a vague notion to build a 1:32 scale model since seeing pictures of Christopher Payne’s Paradise Mining, which happened to be just after I read Michael Palin’s book ‘Pole to Pole’ which contains this description of arriving in Longyearbyen, the main town of Spitzbergen after two days of snowmobiling over the mountains:
“Although we make fast progress towards Longyearbyen the weather hasn’t finished with us. Turning in to the broad valley that leads to the town we are hit full in the face by a blizzard of stinging wet snow… a hard and uncomfortable end to the ride.
After five and a half hours of travelling we see through the murk the first lights of Longyearbyen, and the snowmobiles screech clumsily along the wet highway.
It’s half past ten and we’ve reached our first town, 812 miles from the North Pole.”
(from “Pole to Pole” by Michael Palin, BBC Books)
The idea of a grimy coal railway in a barren snow-ridden landscape appealed and I’ve been making the odd doodle ever since. I don’t know when this project will take place, in fact I strongly suspect it’ll forever remain an idea for ‘one day’ as ephemeral as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, so this quick and easy project was more to get a bit of experience making models out of cardboard and recycled materials than a statement of serious intent, and this isn’t exactly how I envisaged the wagon to be, but considering that this started life as several ‘Krispy Flakes’ packets I’m pretty happy with it.
Construction work continues at Wendlingen in preparation for extending the S-Bahn system to Kirchheim. This is part of a major package of investment by Deutsche Bahn which will see a number of extensions and new trains replacing the 1960’s built units that are still used here. The old units are in pretty good condition having been refurbished fairly recently, so I suspect the replacements are more because DB want to prove they are investing as Stuttgart is renewing franchises soon.
Beyond Kirchheim there were once two railways: the Teckbahn, which I’ve mentioned elsewhere, and a line to Weilheim, which was closed to passengers in 1982 but still has track in situ. Hopefully the fact this is no longer miles from the main line but now close to an S-Bahn terminus may persuade the town to invest in resterting passenger traffic, especially as there are a number of schools and colleges in the town. In Germany, passenger rail is financed mainly at a local level so this isn’t impossible -as long as the local authority can be convinced of the need to invest in this area.
