stivesnick

A few more pictures from Iasi and the OCS unit spotted on route Nick

Train journeys ended at Iasi which is a major city, and although many more trains than other stations, does not have a frequent service on any route. A range on rolling stock at the station as shown below. Iasi as a city has an extensive tram network with a range of vehicles including so newish looking ones. Regards Nick

The final rail trip was between Dolhasca and Iasi. We had arrived at the station to catch the 13.00 train but found that there was a private operate train service by Regiotrans at 12.32 which we caught. Not sure about the basis for these services, any thoughts or additional information welcome. It looks like they only operate 1 train a day on this route. link to their web-site: https://regiocalatori.ro/#/cautare/ The train was a former SNCF unit. The double track line had bi-directional signalling which we took advantage of to pass around some engineering works - no PPE visible! Pictures of Dolhasca station below: Nick

The link works for me to the home page. Then I found this.. Nick

Part 2 of rail trip 3. On the way back we got off the train at the mighty halt of Lungulet and went for a walk in the hills. Regards Nick

Time for rail trip 3. Another narrow gauge railway from Moldovita to Argel. Unlike the previous trip the railway runs alongside the road and there and very close to some front gates! The railway runs daily during the summer and at weekends the rest of the year. On the day of the visit, two return trips were run. Sunday is market day in Moldovita and the market is adjacent to the station. The station is the former standard gauge station. Although the standard gauge line closed a few years back, the track is still there and runs along side the road. At Argel there were lots of stalls serving food. Regards Nick

The third set of photos shows the train en-route and some of service vehicles used to move staff around. Nick

The second group of photos on the CFF Viseu De Sus show the passenger train on route to Platin including a water / refreshment stop. Regards Nick

The second railway trip was on the CFF Viseu de Sus, the last remaining logging railway in the country. Being the weekend there were no log trains in evidence but passengers trains were running for the tourists. 760 mm gauge Class 764 0-8-0 steam locos haul the passenger trains which comprise a support wagon (with wood for the locos and refreshments for the passengers). The passenger trains operate on around 21km track up to Platin which is around half of the total route. Passenger stock is a mix of former Swiss narrow gauge stock and some home made open sided coaches. There are diesel locos for the freight traffic At the upper terminus, that has no road access, passengers have around 90 minutes to go for a walk or have lunch. Once passengers alight, the empty trains travels a bit further up the line where the engine is serviced and the train rearranged. The train has no continuous brakes so the open coaches which have staff to control the hand brake need to be at the back of the train. The first lot of pictures show the engine sheds and sidings at Viseu de Sus. Regards Nick

Thanks Yes the trip did visit the Prison Museum in Sighet. As you say most interesting and a lot of history that I was unaware of. The museum provided a good english guide to the room content. The only other bit of "main line" was that between Dolhasca and Lasi. I will add these photos once sorted out. Nick

Part 2 of the first journey. The train at Valea Viseului and then at Viseu De Jos Next time a trip on the last active narrow gauge forest railway in the Vaser Valley Regards Nick

All Just returned from a holiday in Romania arranged by Ffestiniog Travel (usual disclaimer). The trip included 4 train journeys; 2 on the main line, 2 on tourist steam forest railways. The first trip was from Sighetu Marmatiei (near the Ukraine border) to Viscu de Jos. A local journey that lasted 2 hours for the cost of £2! The train was formed of a diesel loco and 4 coaches. The train reverses at Valea Viseului. There is some mixed gauge track (apologies no pictures) along the first part of the route. Platform surfaces are not the best and closing the doors before the train departs was optional. Photos below starting with the station building at Sighetu Marmatiei.

Hi Good to talk to you today. The layout does not have any future bookings at present - so open to offers. My British layout Porthallow is booked at Ely next year. Regards Nick

Some progress on the weed killing control car. It has been painted, windows glazed and some basic decals and crew added. I managed to find a plastic part from an old kit that looks like the spray nozzles on the end of the wagon. The body has been added to an Atlas box car chassis. The spare box car body has been converted to a grounded box car that will appear on the layout somewhere. Photo enclosed. Nick

One way to solve this problem is to have timed entry and them limit the amount of time people spend in the exhibition to say 45 minutes. So when people turn up they can be given an entry time ticket and at least they can look around the rest of the museum or have a coffee etc rather than just waiting. Too late for today perhaps, but possible for tomorrow. I am planning to go tomorrow with pre-booked train tickets so will see what improvements if any have been made. Regards Nick

For that size of space, a Kato tram set might be the solution and will give you double track! The basic set is however 620 x 496mm but that does include extra road space. Details here: https://traintrax.co.uk/40-811tv1-unitrack-basic-set The track is available without the road and you can get 140mm radius curves that would fit into you space and the trams will be perfectly happy with this. Hope this helps Nick

The Feb 23 Model Railroader included a picture of a Great Northern model weed control train in HO. The model used a kit produced by the Great Northern Historical Society 15 years ago. The control car is a converted outside braced box-car with some end windows and a recess in the roof. I assume this area contains some valves to control the weed killer. I also assume that the control car was at the end of the train and was used to control the flow of weed killer rather than used as a driving cab. Anybody have any additional information on this? Thinking this might be a suitable additional train for my forthcoming layout, I spent a little while looking at a model box car thinking how I could convert it. As the box car body is a single piece, I decided it would probably be easier to build one from scratch. I used Evergreen N gauge car siding and plastic sections to create the box car. The windows and doors are from Kestrel (Gaugemaster} kits. Progress photos below. The roof is not yet stuck on and will happen after painting and I have glazed the windows. I will also need to add some lights and think about how to create the spray pipes. Regards Nick

My layout was called Matoko and there was an article in the Nov 1997 edition of Continental Modeller. Copy of article below. Nick

Great to see these photos - I visited Victoria Falls and across the bridge to Livingstone during the 1990s. I then built an N Gauge layout based on Victoria Falls as the idea of having through trains change locos had great appeal. It was never intended to be an exact copy so I invented the NRS (National Railways of Somewhere) linking with the ER (Elsewhere Railway). I have since considered a model of the Zambesi Saw Mills railway although I could not find any suitable steam locos in N. There is a book on the railway "Sitimela" by Geof M Calvert, ISBN 0 7974 2837 2. I have a copy if anyone would like any information. The book has track plans, schedules and rolling stock details. Nick

There is an article about the unit in the current edition of Modern Railways. It says that hydrogen is not the most energy efficient way of moving a train, but on a rail network with no or little chance of electrification, it may be the way to go. Looking at the pictures, the lack of colour contrast for the doors is interesting and something that would be be acceptable in the UK. Thanks for posting the images. Nick

Hi Andy Just been reading the article about the layout in Railway Modeller. Great stuff and great pictures, well done! Looking forward to seeing new developments on the layout. Regards Nick

Good to hear this and the fact that social media appeared to play a part. With the decline in local newspapers this may be the only way to reach the local population and get people interested in the hobby. Hopefully they will return next year. Regards Nick

Went today - great show as usual with good quality layouts. The hall appeared very busy. Minor niggles: the show had run out of show guides by lunchtime (sign of how busy it was) and many of the hall lights were not working. Nick

A flying Pacer unit - a great idea. Don't tell the government or they will want to rip up all the tracks and bring the pacers back as a cheaper version of the railway! Look forward to seeing how this develops. Nick

I very much support the original question - I usually attend one exhibition a month as a way of having a day out and perhaps an opportunity to visit a new place. So yes I would like some idea on what to expect. A variety of layouts is what I am looking for. I have helped plan a number of exhibitions in the past, so I am slightly surprised that some exhibition managers would consider this extra work. I would hope that most managers would do this as a matter of course as a way of checking that they are attempting to get a variety of layouts. Therefore, producing and then seeing a list where each layout says "00 steam engine shed " should raise the alarm bells. Regards Nick