Voie Libre # 92

[ianp]

Browsing through the latest Voie Libre magazine was even more of a pleasure than usual this evening. First came the glorious news that REE Modeles https://www.ree-modeles.com/ is going to make a ready-to-run model of a 1950s Billard A80 railcar, with wagon. Presumably this will be HOm gauge. All I can say is "Hallelujah". It is beyond me that no-one in France makes a RTR engine of any sort in HOm, and this is just what I wanted. REE models are fantastic, especially as DCC sound comes as a standard feature with them.

The next really good thing was the article on the 27 micro-layouts displayed recently at the biennial Sedan exhibition. The layouts looked fantastic and the concept of a similar themed challenge for modellers might, I suggest, be taken up by the French railways society for its annual gathering.

[rue_d_etropal]

The micro layout challenge looked very interesting. I was part of Christopher Payne's group 4 years before, which was a similar challenge. I had not realised the latest one was actually this challenge, based on the blurb that was put out in advance.

Nice to see some r2r metre gauge, but it does not surprise me no-one hasn't already done it. Like in UK, the market is peceived as standard gauge, not narrow gauge. Atlas Editions showed that there was an interset in France's railcars, so I would hae expected someone to have produced fully r2r versions of those, plus others. in the mean time I am plnning to design some models for 3D printing. I have already done a150D(a bit basic being one of my early designs), and now feel more confident to attempt other railcars, with complex curved roofs, and front windows at various angles. I sometimes wonder how they managed to design the railcars in the first place.