Das Alternstigerle

Here’s my favourite story (so far) from the history book about the old railways between Nagold and Altensteig:

It seems that by the village or Rohrdorf there was a small fabric mill, and the apprentice from this mill was sent every day to stand at the gate and give the post to the train as it rumbled over the entrance.
Of course, apprentices sometimes have other things to attend to, and it happened “occasionally” that the train had passed before the duty apprentice had chance to make the gate with postbag. However, all was not lost: speed was not top priority on this line, and anyway, there were some sharp curves here so the train was not rushing. The tardy apprentice would leap upon his bike and pedal after the train.
Once level, the apprentice would throw his bag over to the Post Wagon. The guard was of course ready, and would catch, empty and return the bag in the same manner. Job done, the apprentice was able to return whence he came.

I wonder how often his “mates” would delay him deliberately…

Halfway Point

I’m about halfway through this time in Japan, and I’m starting to twitch. I really want to get back to building models.

I’m filling the gap a bit by reading the current issue of “Narrow Lines”, the bi-monthly issue of the 7mm Narrow gauge Association, and “Model Railways on a Budget”, which was written a long time ago by C.J. Freezer. Some of the ideas may seem a bit ‘dated’ like the suggestion to use Post Office relays (Remember those?), but to be fair that’s not a fault of the book –it was published 20 years ago after all. It remains a useful item for those of us who have to really consider every expenditure and besides I’m a bit of a dinosaur with technology and naturally warm to suggestions like using bicycle spokes for point control.

I picked up my copy in a second hand bookshop on the Wensleydale Railway in the UK for an appropriately miserly four pounds. I don’t know if a similar book has been printed since- it would bee an excellent idea, and a good antidote to the style I see frequently in Germany, where everything is available off the shelf and model making is known as the rich man’s hobby. I was able to start again because I had just enough knowledge to keep my costs down, but anyone walking into my local model shop in Stuttgart would get the impression that you need to mortgage the house and have a handy spare barn to make a decent layout -which cannot be good for the future of the pastime. Hopefully there will still be a few of us bodgers who follow the less well travelled paths and are willing to compromise on perfection in order to have our ‘own” railway at an affordable price. Bicycle spokes and all…

Perhaps there is a “Low cost model making conspiracy”. Come to think of it, “Model Railways on a Budget” is a small red book. Is there a subliminal message here?