Railfaning the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway

We included the Harz Schmalspurbahn (narrow gauge railroad) in our summer holiday. We spent several days hiking in the area around Wernigerode, Sorge, and then finally took the line all the way to Nordhausen.

The "Bahnbetriebswerk", engine servicing facility, at Wernigerode is impressive. You can really get a feel for the day to day operations of running steam as the primary motive power. The Harzbahn has graciously provided a viewing platform, and you can follow the ritual from steaming up, to coaling, lubricating, and watering the locomotive as it progresses over more than an hour.

These blue coaling cranes became common in the later days of steam in Germany. The Harzbahn never really abandoned steam. Although the former GDR (East Germany prior to reunification) had planned to dieselize the lines, this plan was stopped when the touristic value of maintaining steam operations was recognized. The Harzbahn now has a new beautiful facility for the construction and rebuilding of steam locomotives--

Current State of the Lost Shore Lines

It's been a while, mainly because I have stopped posting on social media and the internet in general. I just got tired of always taking photos, and I found it slowed me down. These photos show the two portable modules I've been working on, they are 22"x60" and represent the terminus of my Virgin and Lost Shore Railroad at Lost Shore. This entirely fictional railroad is set in 1919 on the coast somewhere between Rhode Island and Maine. It incorporates a lot of my past O Scale structures, and will include the water tower. Here are a couple of overview shots. There is a passing siding, a platform, and a couple of spurs.

The photos above show the first section of water after oil painting. I'm giving it a good long time to cure before doing work with gloss medium and gel medium on top. The following sections show more of an overview to get a sense of where things are.

The basic operating scheme is that trains arrive from a cassette (movable staging) and drop passengers and switch out freight before departing. I've set things up so that cassettes can be double ended. This way the departing train can be used as an arriving train easily.

This represents about half a year of progress. Wiring and track is largely complete, but things have slowed down as I create the paving and other ground work. I need to do some painting....everywhere, and it all seem connected, so I'm working accross both modules and gradually getting it up to snuff.

The harbor bottom and platform are removable, and do a lot to cover the joint between modules. This will also let me change out the harbor, having a ship in port or not, for instance, by swapping out the insert. It slides in a track under the "stone" wall. The platform hides the main wiring junction. Each module has a series of PC ties that all feeders are tied to, there are modular plugs between modules. The modules are sized so I can fit them both in our car with one back seat up, this way If I take them somewhere my son or daughter can come with me.

Kinderbahn

I built a rapid model railroad at Christmas so my daughter could play trains with me in the basement. Trains are best when they are shared, so I took my old metal track and built a layout that the kids could operate. My daughter who had not yet turned 3 already did a masterful job of operating the signals to stop and start trains. The entire thing is classic Marklin system from the early 1980s, with some older pieces mixed in.

These are the same transformers that I used when I came back to the US after living in Germany.

Wiring analog layouts with blocks and signals is no joke, even if you are well organized!

Making tracks for a narrow gauge layout in waiting

 I was based in Florida taking care of an ill family member for most of the Pandemic. That meant months away from workbenches, paint, and trains. Track building seemed to be the perfect diversion, and Fast Tracks could easily provide endless hours of diversion in a single box, and everything could fit neatly in a small space. I could literally work in a few square feet. I built a dozens of turnouts and even hand laid several double slip switches for an HOm (HOn3-1/2), meter gauge layout. 

A number 7 double slip is tricky in HOm because of clearances, there is a reason that you don't see double slips in some geometries. I created a paper template.

Not long after I started making tracks I bought a substantial collection of Bemo rolling stock and locomotives from the family of an old friend who passed away. Buying the collection did the family a good turn, and now I own about 15% of the Rhaetian Railways roster in the 1980's. These models are 15-30 years old, but are very high quality, even by todays standards. So, tracks and a meaningful roster of trains are in hand. I managed to keep my sanity during the pandemic thanks to Fast Tracks!

Bahnhof Tiefencastel Layout in Waiting

I made a point of visiting Bahnhof Tiefencastel while travelling in 2024. I've long thought of this location along the Rhaetian Railways (RhB) as an ideal location to model, especially in the 1980s, because it had an active cement silo and freight house. I've already downloaded the LiDAR of the topography, and amazingly this station complex can fit in a reasonable size in HO at almost true scale providing one shortens the passing siding past the road overpass (this has been extended in more recent times, and the station tracks simplified).

Visiting Bahn Museum Albula and meeting Bernard Tarnutzer

 We hiked several sections along the Albula line of the RhB in the canton of Graubunden in Switzerland in 2024. As part of that trip I had the good fortune of meeting Bernard Tarnutzer whose modules of the RhB and FO are in the Albula Bahn Museum. It was fantastic to see the models in person, and even better to see his working environment when he let me behind the scenes. 

19th Century Freight Wagon 01

This is a mixed media model of a 19th century freight wagon.  The prototype for this wagon was used  widely from the late eighteenth century to the mid 19th century, though they were so heavily constructed many lasted quite a long time.  The shape to the body was designed to keep material on board while traversing grades.  

The model below is a quickly made"first draft" made of 3d printed parts and paper. Several parts need refinement, and the body height needs to be adjusted.  Looking forward to making the next steps and doing a more careful build of this one.