Nearly there...

Less than a week to go, but Westerooge is almost complete. The scenery is down and the track works- most of the time. It isn't as smooth as I'd like but better than I thought I'd manage, so that's not too bad. Even the bit that went wrong is working this time around. The remaining jobs are to repaint the overly vivid sky, (maybe with a representation of some houses in the distance, and the road continuing, but only if I'm feeling brave), add some bushes and a small 'shed' to hide the points switch, paint the black band on the lighthouse and maybe add a crossing sign. On the other hand, I do have a heck of a lot to do before we get on that train on Monday, so I'm not sure I'll even have five minutes to stick things together, and of course I now have a distraction: I want to just play trains...

Even the track join of doom works, most of the time...

Dark art of the sector plate -2

It works...

After some fairly intense bodging, filing, soldering, and at least one length of mangled track, the first train on 'Westerooge' wobbled and lurched its way onto the sector plate this weekend. This in itself was good, but that it managed this without spilling itself onto the desk in an unpleasant mess was a real surprise.

In the event, the biggest problem wasn't the sector plate but the join with the scenic section I made last week: the rear track goes up dramatically as it approaches the edge. As I'd already managed to melt rails off their sleepers in a previous soldering attempt I went for the bodger option and filed down the top of the rail a bit so it doesn't make the train wobble quite so dramatically, and decided to ignore the rest.

Extensive 'testing' (playing) by daddy and eldest son have got most of the bugs out of the system, although although the mess van has a habit of clouting the side of the box file when I pull it out of the middle siding. Never mind: I can finally get on with the fun part: scenery.

And I've got two weeks to do it...

Head of Steel

If I seem a bit excited today, its because a couple of nights ago I finally laid the track in the scenic section of 'Westerooge', making it not only the first model railway I've owned in the last 16 years, but also my first successful attempt at soldering in at least that time. I've decided I like variable temperature soldering irons.

I also moved into uncharted territory by using electrofrog points which have the advantage that they are live everywhere so your locomotives don't stall and embarrass you, but the disadvantage that if you don't wire them up the right way then they short-circuit the whole model and and embarrass you. After drilling a hole through the switch to take the brass rod, I wired it up to the track and turned the power on in the confident expectation of seeing the layout disappear behind a cloud of blue smoke. Remarkably, not only did that not happen, but the blue diesel moved, and in the right direction as well...

Point control and baseboard join: Not pretty, but it works...

So, having conquered this mountain, we can now start adding the ground cover and adding the bits and pieces that will hopefully make this look less like a box file and more like a model railway, and move onto the brave new world of the sector plate fiddle yard.

32 days to go.

Unterfeuer Westerooge

While I wait for the electrical gubbins to arrive I've been working on the lighthouse that will hopefully set the scene and hide the fiddleyard a bit. Actually the model is not of a traditional lighthouse as much as an 'Unterfeuer' which I think translates as a 'Navigation light'. An Unterfeuer tends to be smaller than a lighthouse, and works with an 'Oberfeuer', which is much taller and usually further inland, so that ships can line up the towers or lights to guide themselves through river or sea channels. The model is based on an Unterfeuer at Baumrönne, one of several which work in conjunction with the Altenbruch Oberfeuer, and is not too far from where Westerooge is supposed to be. As an added advantage the height of the Baumronne Unterfeuer in 1:43 scale is almost exactly the length of a standard tube from a roll of kitchen towels.

I'm debating if I should have the windows clear or of they should have a card backing, as the picture of the original seems to show the windows being largely shuttered. I know I could make a detailed interior, but 'Westerooge' is supposed to be a short-term project and I'd like to finish it before we go to visit my family in mid-May. This isn't as ambitious as it sounds: I've ordered the remaining electrical parts so they will arrive any day now, and I already have all the track and scenic bits for finishing off what will be a fairly flat model, so I think things will speed up now, as long as I don't keep procrastinating.

I'm already planning the summer project: I'll tell you about it in the next blog entry.

[Update: Just as I was about to publish this entry, DHL delivered a box of electrical goodies]

Stuck.

I'm stuck. It's inevitable when working in a different country where things aren't always the same as you are used to: Sometimes there is an annoying delay while you hunt for bits. This time, the bits in question are electrical -an area I'm not too confident in. I've found a shop on the internet that sells what I'm after: plugs, and slider switches, which is a step forward in that I know what to ask for, (Thanks to Zabdiel for the Wiki tip) but lack of knowledge makes me a bit cautious about forking out €20 in one go, which is the minimum for an online purchase. I'm searching for a local electrical shop where I can have a good look at the components first.

Which is a bit frustrating, so let's talk about something more interesting. I've got a train ticket to go to a model railway and toy exhibition with Eldest Son this weekend, where I'll hopefully be able to meet Alexander Rainer, a German member of the Gnatterbox, who will be exhibiting an model railway in a shoe box. He wants me to take my mess car along for a visit. I just hope it fits on his model.

Meanwhile I'm still hoping to get this model done by May, after which we will go to visit my family in the UK. After we come back, I've got another idea for a project, which is just a few sketches and a vague idea at the moment. I'll give more details as I know them. It is another attempt at the Körschtalbahn, although Sägewerk Pfeifle will have to wait still longer until my boys desist from climbing up the furniture.

The dark art of the sector plate -1

Ever since I started Westerooge I've had the same nagging thought at the back of my mind, namely that I hadn't a clue how to make the offstage area, usually called the 'fiddle yard', which represents the rest of the Island. I knew I would have to attempt a sector plate, a sort of sliding table for trains to save space offstage, but sector plates always seemed to be a dark art: a mysterious knowledge knowledge passed down to the initiated, but never divulged to the masses. That's why I've been putting off working on the fiddle yard in Westerooge for ages now, but the trouble with that is it became even more of a barrier in my mind, so yesterday I decided it was time to have a go.

The box 'closed' with the cutout fitting into the same attachment as the fiddle yard.

Remarkably, it seems to be working so far: the base fits into the side of the board and hasn't warped, sagged, or fallen off.. I'd hoped to get the deck for the track completed before posting this, Next job is working on a deck for the track and hopefully getting the electrics sorted out, and I can finally play trains and start the creative scenery bit.

On the subject of electrics, if anyone out there knows the name of DPDT switches (Seen here on 'Plankerton Wharf') in German, and where to get them, Please let me know...

Spot the difference.

On the face of it, there seems to be little change since the last time I posted, but the track is here, giving a far better idea of clearances and radii, while a friend who is a carpenters apprentice has carefully cut the front and sides of the box file out, I've built up the ground level inside the box, giving an eye-level, rather than 'lighthouse keeper's' view. The front folds back up, allowing the box to close normally.

I'm also working on a mock-up for the detachable fiddle yard, made from the usual cornflake packets of which I have an inexhaustible supply. This is proving to be the tricky part of the design, partly because I've never built anything like it before, but with work finally beginning to calm down a bit I'm really hoping to get the design together in the next week.

I'm planning to use plastic card as my construction material, which may seem odd but I want to keep weight down, and with such a tiny fiddle yard, (about the same length as the big freight wagons on the Körschtalbahn) I don't think it will cause too many problems. We shall see. All thoughts, feedback, etc, welcome.

Going up in the world.

Westerooge takes shape. The unfinished lighthouse
lends a distinctly 'Steampunk' feel to the model.

If this entry seems even more disjointed than normal it’s because I’m writing it between dealing with a wriggly toddler and getting ready for the evening meal: life is hectic and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down for a while.

However, on Sunday I had a few moments to spare and it dawned on me that I can still work on the few structures which will be on the layout and the plan, so here is a progress shot showing how things are developing.

The two sidings are an attempt at an 'Inglenook' shunting puzzle (look here if you're wondering what that is): it looks a bit crowded though so perhaps I should remove the points and just have one siding to avoid cluttering the model. The 'main line' theoretically crosses the only road on the island (where the locomotive and wagon are sitting) and continues to the next clutch of houses. In fact, of course, it will drop off the front of the model.

It has dawned on me that I can squeeze one building on the model, and that is a lighthouse. This would not only set the scene as most definitely coastal, but also distract the eye away from the hole in the side of the box where trains will enter and exit the model. The excellent website at Leuchttuerme.net has lots of different designs and is packed full of information about the different types, colours and purposes of lighthouses which I'll ramble on about that when the model is more complete. for now suffice to say that the lighthouse will be a modern design, partly to place the model firmly in the present day, and also for other reasons too long to bore you with right now but which will become clear as the model progresses. It is about 11 scale metres at the moment, quite respectable for a small lighthouse, but I'm wondering if artistic licence requires it to be a tad smaller. I expect I'll have to build it to find out, but any thoughts are welcome.

And on that thought, I'll be off to make the tea.

Small Steps

Current progress is slow, frustratingly so, but I’ve at least managed to paint the wagons so they look a bit more like the real thing. I’ve managed to get a bit of weathering and texture on a couple as well, but they are crying out for some rust to be added at some point.

As there is unlikely to be any progress on the box file this week the MFO staff say they'll try and get the couplings fitted and the Körschtalbahn wood wagon finished. Don’t hold your breath...

The High Tech MFO spray shop

Newly installed painting equipment at MFO.
Heady stuff, especially before someone opened a window...

The Maschienenfabrik Ostfildern is proud to announce the opening of a new high-tech eco-friendly spray booth, made entirely of recycled materials found lying around the workbench. The wagon seen resting on the paint stand (found after a long search in the wood bin) is the high-capacity wood wagon being built for the Körschtalbahn. This has waited for about two months for the MFO staff to finally get organised, and had to be dusted before it was painted…

The stock for Westerooge is also primed and ready for painting up into their future work-worn state, so construction could finally commence.

Meik said it was the wrong shade of grey.

The wagons on Monday evening.
The MFO say they 'got a bit more done'
since then and promise to post pictures
as soon as possible...

Island or Hallig?

Ockelützwarft, Hallig Hooge. The land in the foreground is flooded during spring tides. The houses are clustered on the small hill or Warft to keep them above sea level. Source: Wikipedia.

In my last post I was muttering about changing Westerooge from a deserted nature reserve to an inhabited island. I still like the idea of the nature reserve, but I’ve realised that for a whole host of reasons, one with people is probably easier to start with. I wasn’t going to make a plan until the track arrived, but I was getting distracted by ideas for the next project which I’ll inflict on you sometime, and I wanted to focus on the box file a bit. I sketched out an idea on the Gimp, which I'll inflict on you as well.

Here was my dilemma though: should it be an Island or a Hallig? A Hallig is a very low-lying patch of land, just barely above the sea, and left over from the days when the sea destroyed the coast in the Middle Ages. Instead of being ringed by dykes they are left open to flooding while any houses stand on a man-made hill, called a Warft, which keeps them just above the waves at spring tide. Thats a very rough definition anyway. For a more in-depth definition and history of these places, have a look here.

Luttmoorsiel-Nordstrandischmoor railway looking towards the Halligen in the distance.
Source: Wikipedia

In some ways the two Hallig railways are more interesting because they are the only connection to the mainland and the locals all have their own little railcars. They –the railways that is- are also flooded when there is a spring tide. And there was the problem: I wanted a building, and you don’t build those on flood plains. On the other hand, a building, however small, would dominate the model, so I’m going with Westerooge as a Hallig. No buildings but plenty of open space. Well… sort of.

Miscellany.

I’ve got no modelmaking done so far this weekend, nor am I likely to as I’m working most of today and tomorrow, I’m waiting for some bits like track that I’ve ordered, and I managed to forget the money I needed to buy spray primer on Thursday.

So I’m mostly planning and ‘imagineering’ right now, and trying to figure out how to make Westerooge fit into a boxfile. I’ve been playing a bit with different combinations, but none seems to have fitted as yet, partly because I’m finding it hard to combine my goal of having a spacious model, and an interesting one to operate. I’ve also been wondering how to make it clear that this is a modern railway. I’ve been looking through collected photographs and ideas, and realised that with the ‘uninhabited island’ there is nothing that can date the layout in the present day, and also that what really interests me is how the railway interacts with people and the landscape around it. This is making me wonder if I should relax a bit and allow the island to be inhabited or maybe even have a link to the mainland. This would give me the chance to have a road across one part of the station and perhaps some signs dotted about, so a viewer can get an idea of the scale of the trains. I’ll keep doodling.

I’ve not forgotten the Körschtalbahn either: I’m keeping Growler 1 on the shelf by my desk, and occasionally working on stock even though it is going to be a while before I can actually build a layout in 0-16,5. I had a bit of a clearout a while back, and rediscovered those two Hornby chassis I had lurking away so I’ve been doodling ideas for them too. I’d really like to get them wired together and running vaguely reliably, because I’m still dreaming of of having my own Krokodil…

Layout inna box

Westerooge continues to develop and I'm confronted with the problem of how to get a feeling of wide open spaces in a box file. The best solution I can come up with is to make everything very simple, so my plan is to play about with one set of points and a couple of bits of track until I get a combination which seems to work, and then start building.

It also occured to me that don’t know what to use as an exit point. Westerooge is an uninhabited island, so it’s not like there’s a convenient café to hide the fiddle yard behind, nor are there any bridges, pipes or even large trees. I think the most likely solution is a dune or a dyke with a gap for the trains, and then a ramshackle workshop to serve for small repairs, a few more rolling dunes and if I'm feeling brave, just a hint of the North Sea on the backscene...

Maybe I'll just say it's foggy that morning and paint it grey...

Train of thought…

The picture above shows the extent of this weekend’s progress: I've adapted 7 wagons from the Black Dog Mining Co. to take DG couplings and glued underframes to bodies. I’ll put the couplings on after I spray the wagons with primer, which will be after I get some primer, probably on Thursday as I’m teaching English near the hardware shop then.

I guess I should have some belated new year resolutions here, so I can check in December and be reminded of them, but with Middle Son still doing the ‘King Kong’ impressions up the shelf, I don’t know when I’ll be able to start on ‘Sägewerk Pfeifle’ –especially as his smaller brother is already claiming the high ground on the Sofa, so he’ll be climbing anything with a foothold in a couple of months, so I doubt the model will be safe in the near future. On the other hand ‘Westerooge’ is moving along if a bit slowly, and if I follow my plan to keep it in a box file it should be safe from small fingers (and teeth) so track permitting, this will probably be the main project for the year.

I’m also hoping to go and see a few other railways, especially local Narrow Gauge lines, as there is a lot of the local area that is accessible by rail, the most civilised transport form, and I’ve not had a good look at it, and as I have a railcard offering a 25% discount it’d be silly not to use it more, so I’ll aim to be taking lots of pictures and I’ll inflict my stories on you all as well.

But then, “The Körschtalbahn” is a bit redundant as a blog name if I’m going to be writing more about prototype railways, and the model I am building this year is based on the North Sea coast, so to reflect all these changes, I’m changing the title -for now at least- to the broader “Railway Misadventures”. I’ll see if I like it enough to keep it…

The Körschtalbahn still remains my first interest though, so I doubt I’ll be able to stop working on buildings and stock for Sägewerk Pfeifle, ready for the day when the smaller persons are less prone to try and eat it…

Complete Mess

Meik was getting on my case about fixing the mess van so I finally got it together yesterday. When tested on the normal chassis the it showed a tendency to dive nose first into the track when moving which spilt Meik’s coffee. After Meik calmed down the chassis was duly lengthened, and a test run was accomplished without further damage.

The roof is made from the same deluxe materials as the walls, namely cereal packet card although it does have an overlay of recycled printer paper. I figured Meik wouldn’t want to mess about with an arched roof, so I made it pitched, and added shutters to protect the windows when the van is stored outdoors. These two measures make it look like a garden shed on wheels, but there we go.

Rear view of the van while Meik was shunting.

I’m wondering about having red and white warning signs on the corners like a lot of German work vehicles do, so I tried it out using the Gimp:

And then, as I was using the Gimp in any case, I couldn't resist one for the British ‘modern image’ enthusiasts…

Making a Mess

The smaller island and Hallig railways all seem to have at least one stores/mess van in some form or another: when working away from the main depot it’s possibly the only form of shelter for a long way, and on Minsener Oog it's the only way from ship to shore.

Naturally the Westerooge line needed its own version, and true to prototype it is made up of scrounged materials, in this case low quality cardboard which started life as a cornflake packet, but which proved pretty strong when two sheets were glued firmly together. The main superstructure was built from this with ‘metal’ strapping from sketch paper.





The walls need painting so they look a bit more like real wood, and the windows will need shutters for protection against the elements. I thought I’d finished the outside but looking at the photo I’ve forgotten a couple of corner pieces.

The inside is complete though. Meik was insistent that there had to be a stove and a decent table inside.

The table cloth is a bit askew, possibly Jan left in a hurry. He seems to have left his coat hanging by the door as well. Hopefully he'll remember it before he goes home on the boat tonight

Complete Loco

I've not posted for a while- mostly because I had some dental work done with a general anaesthetic, which put me off modelmaking for a bit. However, I was able to get the Westerooge diesel finished enough to be presentable...

Rear view showing rudimentary controls and Meik peering out of the window


Front view again, showing the other side. This view hides a couple of bodges, but it doesn't do the glazing any favours. At least the glazing itself is clean though.

I've also found that the self-removing paint problem I've been having is probably because of the primer I've used up to now, which is a brush-on Acrylic. Apparently I need a spray primer so I'll be looking for a car respray shop. There must be some in Germany, but as I don't own a car I've never looked before.

In the meantime I'll be working on building some some wagons for Jan and Meik to move materials and the generator around whilst repairing and maintaining the sea defences, and hopefully a small mess coach where they can retreat when caught on the wrong end of the causeway in a storm...

Technicolor Cab

Slowly but surely the new cab takes shape on the Westerooge diesel. Last weekend I gave it some colour:

Remarkably I managed to mix a new batch of blue to roughly the same shade as the old.

Meik trying the cab out for size. He complained about the draught until I told him the alternative. I have since put some glazing in, and the sandwich seems to have been suiccesfull. The painting was less so. I have to touch up just from the handling required to put the windows in. I'm going to try spray-on primer in future I think.

I’m sure no-one will notice that there isn’t a door handle.

Interior Decoration

Meik is a big lad, and even with the 'extended' cab of the Westerooge diesel, the only way for him to fit inside would be drastic surgery to his lower leg. Omen figures are a bit expensive for that, so I'm modelling the cab door permanently open so his feet can stick out. Of course this meant some basic detail in the cab itself as it would have been odd for him to sit on the worm gear of the chassis...

I think it's getting closer to painting time. I was thinking of light grey for the cab interior, dark grey for the controls, and perhaps brown or green for the seat…

Projects galore.

As 'Westerooge' is now the most likely short-term model, I worked a bit on the diesel yesterday and got the beginnings of the new cab together. As the main reason for the replacement was the flimsy old cab and the filthy windows this one is built like a brick bog with a sandwich of three layers of plasticard with a gap where I can slide the glazing in after painting. This way I get clean, see-through windows and a crisp edge on the colour. That's the theory anyway. I’m hoping to have the door open- Jan wants to stretch his feet out when he’s driving.

As a side point, I’m wondering how I managed to have so many half-finished projects on my shelf. Strictly speaking I’ve not really finished Growler one, which needs railings, and so does my big van. On top of that the wood wagon has been sitting on the shelf for so long I had to dust it off when I took this picture, and there is a further chassis I haven’t even touched yet that should eventually become yet another van. Where did all these come from?