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…

The Works...

Time is very short in this season, but I’ve managed to build the cab on the little Westerooge diesel. I’m trying to use lots of different methods in this project to see what works, so I made the cab as a home-made riveted job to protect Jan and Meik from the elements. Jan is already complaining at the gaps around the door…



To supplement this I’ve been working on a background for taking pictures of locomotives and stock made by the “Maschinenfabrik Ostfildern”, partly to learn how to make printed backgrounds and buildings, but also so that I’m able to keep doing some model making. This is a (heavily scaled down) version:


I figure that I can make this into a back wall, with the end turned so the track goes in front of the wall, and through the blue door, and maybe even set the track into concrete. At the very least it’ll make a nice display for the shelf by my desk…

Developing 'Spitzenwald'

Carl Arendt emailed to suggest the plan I came up with for “Spitzenwald” would be impractical because the siding at the front blocked the fiddle yard. (I’m not claiming he reads the blog, I emailed a copy to him.) I could see his point, so if this siding is built it will now disappear into a low-relief building instead, giving access to the fiddle yard from the front and at the same time increasing the possible traffic this shed can take- I can now run open wagons into there and load them up with wood by hand for example, and then if I feel the desire, it can become something completely different with a change of sign. With that change I can just use the building as a scenic break which in turn dispenses with the overbridge and allows me to have a couple more buildings if I feel up to it… Thoughts and feedback welcome.

If you’re wondering, there is a lot more going on than drawing track plans on the Gimp: there are three wagon chassis on bogies and frames cut for a fourth, and as soon as the rain stops I’ll make a picture of them…

Spitzenwald

Let’s face it: you can have too many pictures of a white plasticard van, so I figure it’s time to introduce my ideas for “Spitzenwald”, the layout which will hopefully soon grace the Ikea shelves in our living room. The original plan was for an inglenook-style model, but that was replaced when I tried it out- running 64mm wide stock makes for big overhangs and effectively shortened the sidings. The current plan is partly plagiarised from Bob Hughes’ N-gauge “Altgarten” model –in particular his idea of putting the station and goods shed on the siding at rear. Bob also helped me to tweak a couple of details, which I’m grateful for. You can see the original "Altgarten" here.
During operation, I’d assume the two lines exiting the scene at left would be a loop, from which there would be access to an intermodal terminal. This wouldn’t be a big operation: probably just one siding with a concrete pad and a container crane, maybe a warehouse for more specialised deliveries or palletts:

Container stacker at Nagold railway station, a few kilometres away from the Fictitious KÖB.
The "terminal" at Spitzenwald would be similar.

Of course in reality it will end in a couple of sidings or a traverser, depending on how brave I’m feeling at the time.
At the moment I’m leaning towards a wood yard as a scenic barrier in front of the fiddle yard, as wood is most likely to be the staple traffic of the line, (more on that at a later date). The road bridge may be reborn as an old city wall: this would be narrower and possibly more convenient as a scenic break, and could turn with the backscene a bit as well. It’s not unknown for railways to enter older towns this way in Germany.
The KÖB will also have a maintenance shed for railcars: This is common on the smaller independent railways here because the early commuter and school services need to start at this end of the branch. At the moment it’s one road but I may have a low relief door at the end of the middle road as well.

Small railcar fuel and maintenance point in Endingen, near Freiburg, used by road and rail vehicles. I like the pump to the right of the door...

Behind this is the general freight shed, probably used by the local farmers cooperative. It would also be a place to unload post wagons. I expect the station will have been rented or sold, so people will have to get their tickets from a machine on the platform.
That’s the plan anyway. I now hesitantly offer it up for criticism, ideas, thoughts, and suggestions before I start gluing things to other things…

Körschtalbahn Route map.

Today’s post was to be about the ISO container that’s (Just) visible in the last post, but unfortunately that isn’t happening because (1) The weather is foul and I haven’t got enough light, and (2) I haven’t had time to finish the container so it’s equally foul and I didn’t want to spoil your evening. So instead here’s a plan of the railway as it currently exists in my head. I’ll post the container another time… I’d be grateful to geographers for ignoring some of the more glaring inaccuracies. I’ll clean those up for a later version of the map.