*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 07:40:16 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Donate

We Appreciate Your Support

Recent

Author Topic: Andy's railway misadventures.  (Read 32021 times)

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Andy's railway misadventures.
« on: April 02, 2018, 07:54:36 PM »
At some point in my introductions thread I mentioned that I'm coming from a background in 1:55 scale model railways, and it was suggested I could put up some photographs of what I've built. I am easily flattered so here we are:

1:55 is an oddball scale in model railways with a handful of people making models, usually based on 12mm gauge track representing 2' (600mm) gauge prototypes. There's almost no trade support and you have to make most things yourself. This was an attraction for me as at heart I'm a storyteller, and as far as I'm concerned the more I can make, the better I can tell the story. I realised that if I use relatively inexpensive HO scale track and mechanisms in 1:55 scale, I could passably make Narrow Gauge models based on metre gauge (3'35/8") railways which were/are fairly common in Europe.

Cost is an important factor as I'm coming to the end of a long period of retraining due to ill health and we are (until May the first when I finally finish training and start work) on the German version of  income support.

My 'main' project is called the 'Körschtalbahn' which will hopefully be a model of a German Metre gauge line as it could have been if development of narrow gauge railways had continued into the present day, with big diesel locomotives and fast railcars.

This project ic currently moving at the speed of a toroise on Prozac.

So far the main evidence is a railcar that I'm currently putting off painting until I work out exactly which shade of green it should be, seen here getting a coat of primer (I really must take another picture of this unit):




Because I keep getting stalled on that project, mostly because it's my 'baby' and I'm afraid of making a mistake, I started on another model in the same scale but using 9mm gauge (N gauge) track. This would have come out as about 500mm or somewhere in the region of 18" gauge in real life, a gauge used for small industrial railways and park pleasure railways, not a common carrier/freight and passenger line, but I ignored that inconvenient reality.

This model is set in a world where The economic crash of 2008 was the abrupt end of oil as a readily available resource. since then globalisation has one into reverse and transport has become increasingly difficult. The village in the model has joined with others locally to rebuild an industrial railway into a local transport line so produce can get to market and children can get to school.

I moved a bit faster on this one with a Krokodil locomotive emerging from the workbench about eighteen months ago:



This was followed by a railcar last year:



And I made some progress on a railway to run them on:





Unfortunately the model managed to to be too small to be practical (trains kept hitting each other an random bits of scenery) while being big and bulky to store in our tiny apartment, so I packed away the trains and buildings until time and circumstances allow me to make something that works.

In the meantime I'm working on a heave diesel for the Körschtalban again, which is my main interest. I'm working on a model 'Based on' Brohltalbahn locomotive number D5. 'Based on' being a very optimistic description. The model is seen here receiving drastic surgery after I realised it was 15mm too long due to me getting my sums wrong. Again:



Of course I'm now being distracted by making a steam powered tank and some leagues for Pulp Alley, but I'm sure I'll get back to the railway soon. I usually do.

I manage to write about the railway modelling most weeks on my blog at www.korschtal.wordpress.com











« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 07:58:57 PM by Andy in Germany »

Offline OSHIROmodels

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Elder God
  • *
  • Posts: 27708
  • Custom terrain a speciality.
    • Oshiro modelterrain
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2018, 08:19:42 PM »
Great stuff  8)
cheers

James

https://www.oshiromodels.co.uk/

Twitter account -     @OSHIROmodels
Instagram account - oshiromodels

http://redplanetminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/
http://jimbibblyblog.blogspot.com/

Offline Michi

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4146
  • Hoist the colours!
    • Tableterror
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2018, 08:30:46 PM »

In the meantime I'm working on a heave diesel for the Körschtalban again, which is my main interest. I'm working on a model 'Based on' Brohltalbahn locomotive number D5. 'Based on' being a very optimistic description. The model is seen here receiving drastic surgery after I realised it was 15mm too long due to me getting my sums wrong. Again:




Excellent, I perfectly recognize the iconic Henschel D5 that resembles the V160 family design. Your idea of a fictional railway is very loveable. We have a 500mm narrow gauge museum nearby. Regretfully they are open for public on rare occasions only, but I managed to ride their trains two years ago. Great project, I am looking forward to see more of your work!  :-*

Offline dampfpanzerwagon

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2791
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2018, 07:47:49 AM »
I've just spent time browsing the Blog. The layout looks great.

Tony

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2018, 05:14:32 PM »
I've just spent time browsing the Blog. The layout looks great.

Tony

Thanks. I don't know when it will be possible to rebuild it. I've got my eye on some Ikea shelves at the moment but I'm torn between that and the metre gauge model that is my first interest. If the boys get into Pulp gaming I may have to make kits with them for a bit.

It's a hard life

Excellent, I perfectly recognize the iconic Henschel D5 that resembles the V160 family design. Your idea of a fictional railway is very loveable. We have a 500mm narrow gauge museum nearby. Regretfully they are open for public on rare occasions only, but I managed to ride their trains two years ago. Great project, I am looking forward to see more of your work!  :-*

I'm glad it's at least visibly similar. I always wanted by own V160 (which I know as Br218 as I came to Germany in the early 2000's) and when I discovered Henschel made some NG versions I decided that was a prime candidate for my heavy diesel. Henschel made locomotives for Spain, Thailand, Ghana (I think) and Bulgaria and they were all slightly different, which is my excuse every time I make a mistake: "It's not wrong,just built slightly differently for this customer..."

There are already some variations: the railings on my version are recessed, and the ends will be raked but flat instead of being rounded like D5. The first because the Bulgarian locos have flush railings and I like the look, and the second because I want to finish the locomotive within the year and if I tried curved ends I'd be fretting about it for months...

If I don't get to distracted with the steam powered tank, I'll post progress...
« Last Edit: April 05, 2018, 06:36:48 PM by Andy in Germany »

Offline Michi

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4146
  • Hoist the colours!
    • Tableterror
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2018, 05:56:35 PM »
I always wanted by own V160 (which I know as Br218 as I came to Germany in the early 2000's)

BR 218 was only the latest version of the single-engine hydraulic transmission diesel, there were many predecessors which looked exactly the same at first glance. That's why we call it the V160 family ("Verbrennungsmotor (combustion engine) - 1.600hp").

You might be aware that there was a narrow gauge BR 251/252 too - very similar to the V100 family and rather close to your home...  ;)

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2018, 04:56:54 AM »
BR 218 was only the latest version of the single-engine hydraulic transmission diesel, there were many predecessors which looked exactly the same at first glance. That's why we call it the V160 family

My sloppy communication as usual. Yes, I know there were several types, what I was trying to say was that by the time I was in Germany the only remaining classes as far as I remember were the Br128's with the distinctive 'ears'. I briefly looked at HO models then decided that at those prices I could build an NG model, and still feed the family for several weeks...

I did look at the Br251/2 as well, but I preferred the V160 shape, and besides, with lots more being built I have a better excuse for variations.

The little red Krokodil is loosely based on the V29 diesels though

Offline Michi

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4146
  • Hoist the colours!
    • Tableterror
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2018, 03:08:07 PM »
The little red Krokodil is loosely based on the V29 diesels though

Yes, I noticed that.  :D

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2018, 05:04:25 AM »


It's been ages since I posted anything here, although that's partly because of work and othe pressures, and I'm getting distracted making ever more unlikely machines for Pulp Alley.

I’m moving at a speed that a glacier would probably consider tardy on this project, but I have finally managed to complete the sides and even attach them to the frame.

Appropriately, I’ve built the sides thick enough to be an ice breaker, partly for strength and partly because it made it easier to be sure the angled sides would be the same on both sides of the locomotive. I tend to think this is even more critical than getting the ends perfectly identical because it is relatively difficult to see both ends for comparison when the loco is on a model, whereas it’s quite common to see it end on.

The thick sides also made things like the steps and handrails easier to fit. I used recessed handlebars on this model, not because I’m such a model making genius but because I thought it may be easier to get them straight, or if I didn’t I could hide the fact more easily with some weathering.

It’s worked for the most part, just about. Although somehow the body has managed to twist a small amount, it isn’t noticeable if you squint…

The original Henschel locomotives have a slight horizontal curve on the lower and upper parts of the nose which I’d like to repeat on the model, but I’m spending ages worrying about it instead of just getting on with the job. It would probably be more sensible to just make a straight end like the Bulgarian Railway locomotives I started with, so I can finish the model and then build the second example as a more ‘pure’ Henschel, giving me two similar but not identical locomotives with slightly different capabilities.

Either way, it’s about time I stopped messing about and got on with it…

Offline Ultravanillasmurf

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 9304
    • Ultravanillasmurf
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2018, 03:50:29 PM »
Nice start on the locomotive.

That is a nice railcar.

Offline Michi

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4146
  • Hoist the colours!
    • Tableterror
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2018, 09:41:24 AM »
Excellent progress! I really like the look of those inset handrails.

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2018, 09:49:57 AM »


Thanks for the kind comments. There's not been a lot of progress here. As usual I was overthinking everything about the project, imagining a dozen different ways to make the curve on the nose and how they could all go horribly wrong.

Eventually I decided that it would be better to actually finish the model at some point and reverted to plan ‘A’.

The problem was that despite my early sketches of the loco I really wanted the distinctive chromed light clusters on the the Brohltalbahn’s D5 or its standard gauge cousin, the Deutsche Bahn type 218. It identifies the locomotive immediately and hopefully makes it clear that the model is in Germany as opposed to Austria or Switzerland. As this will be a somewhat unusual model I wanted to have as many of these visual cues as possible to set the scene quickly in viewers minds.

More to the point I really like the class 218.

For some reason I’d got stuck on the idea that if I didn’t make the nose curved I couldn’t have the 218 styled light bar because… um… Reasons. so I’d followed the idea down the rabbit hole and was looking at the headlight designs on the similar Bulgarian railways type 77 when I happened to come across a type 218 picture and noticed that it has flat ends. Of course it does. I’ve travelled behind class 218’s for hundreds of kilometres and every one of them had an absolute lack of curve on the ends. I’d just… missed it somehow.

Next problem is the lights, but I've a cunning plan for those...

Offline Andy in Germany

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 391
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2018, 09:28:25 AM »
It's been a while since I posted here. I've been working on a modern panel van for my railway, as usual, painfully slowly...

Here's the first drawing:



Followed by the sides. Don't look too closely at the spacing on those panels...



After a certain amount of swearing I got the sides to stay upright and vaguely square:



And after a certain amount more swearing I got a roof on:





Then details, although I have to admit I did make a few of these up as the details on the original were a bit too complex. I doubt anyone will notice, and you won't tell anyone, will you?



And then, wheels:



I'm a bit further than this. will update when I remember to take pictures...

For those with a low boredom threshold there's more detail on the blog, starting here:
www.korschtal.wordpress.com/2018/07/21/drawing-board


Offline OSHIROmodels

  • Supporting Adventurer
  • Elder God
  • *
  • Posts: 27708
  • Custom terrain a speciality.
    • Oshiro modelterrain
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2018, 09:37:41 AM »
Excellent  8)

Offline voltan

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1175
Re: Andy's railway misadventures.
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2018, 10:30:05 AM »
Cracking job.
Yvan eht nioj!