rekoboy

The eagles disappeared very quickly after the end of the war - in all zones of occupation.

Thanks to numerous tasks about the house and garden and plenty of grandparent duties virtually nothing has been done at Kirchheim of late. Today I did manage an operating session - and a lot of track cleaning!

If you look at the goods wagons in this Piko catalogue from 1960 on Conrad Antiquario's website you can get a good idea of which 'foreign' freight vehicles could be seen on the DR at that time. As a caveat, though, Piko had export in mind, too! If you click on the initial picture of the catalogue cover you can scroll through the pages. http://conradantiquario.de/content/katalog/piko-1960.html

I agree with TPC's analysis. Try gently to pull the wheel sets slightly apart and use a back-to-back gauge to get the distance correct.

Electric shunting locos have been something of a rarity, with the exception of the E63, maybe. Today's large-scale yards with hump-shunting, such as Maschen, Halle/Saale or Kornwestheim, rely entirely on diesel power for sorting, with electrified arrival and departure roads.

I think you may need to search a bit further online to find a variety of freights on the DB network - I am attaching a photo (courtesy dpa) to this post with a photo from the Rhine valley - quite a variety in the train. The best source for photos, admittedly a chore to sort through the posts, is this... https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/list.php?004 The site is updated constantly - I try not to go to it too often as I find myself whiling away too many hours! You get some really top quality photos on 'Drehscheibe Online' - like these.... https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?004,10700172 or these... https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?004,10689244

Here is my only Jago loco, the BR57. The loco looks great, but runs quite badly on turnouts and sharper radius curves. The reason is simple - the axles on this 0-10-0 need more sideways play and the centre axle could really do with a set of flangeless wheels. She looks good in the display cabinet, though!

Temos (short for Technische Modellspielwaren) was set up by Herbert Franzke and partners in 1948 in Köthen/Anhalt, home town of Frau Rekoboy. After an initial false start with H0 scale rail wagons they turned their hand to making very appealing model railway accessories, buildings and 'mini-scenes'. All German (W and E) model railway accessory manufacturers, from Busch through Vaupe, Pola, Brawa, Faller to OWO, Auhagen and Temos included so-called mini-scenes, ready-made little dioramas, in their ranges in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Temos was particularly good at producing appealing little dioramas which often included figures and vehicles from other companies. Recently, I was beside myself with happiness to secure, for a very modest price, a boxed, mint-condition Temos mini-scene. The van body is either by Zeuke (later BTTB) or by a sub-contractor to Zeuke and BTTB, Dietzel of Leipzig. The figure is original, probably VEB Harzer Schmuck or its predecessor, but is rather an unfortunate choice as the guy looks like either a madman or a burglar, rather than a railwayman! Temos ended its days, sadly, as a producer of camping tables and chairs, a victim of GDR state rationalisation of manufacturers. There is not a huge amount of material around on the company. Herbert Franzke's son produced a very nice booklet on Temos a few years ago, I have still not managed to get a copy. There is also an informative book by Wolfgang Ziemert in a series on GDR toy firms. I am attaching a link to an English-language website on Temos. http://davidksmith.com/birth-of-n/temos.htm Temos Sammlerfaszination 2.pdf

My New Year's resolution to buy no more motive power for Kirchheim, ever, has been broken already, I am sorry to say. For years I have been a keen fan of the products of Jatt and Jago, long-vanished manufacturers of upmarket TT locos and stock. Both companies were started and owned by Jürgen Jagoschinski, who was employed originally by Bemo - he sold Jatt to Tillig, and then started a new TT manufacturing business under the name of Jago. The only Jagoschinski-designed loco still in production, as far as I know, is the BR106 diesel shunter at Tillig. Production ceased at Jago quite a few years ago. All of Jagoschinski's steam locos have cast metal bodies and fine, elegant spoked wheels and metal valve gear, but are not always reliable runners. So when I found a BR78 on offer at a well-known Sheffield model shop I could not resist! The 4-6-4 BR78 is one of his better creations - it has a very beefy Maxon motor and a large brass flywheel which allow it to coast to a halt realistically well. The products by both Jagoschinski companies are not easy to find nowadays and tend to command a high price on German EBay. Ať present there is a BR94 on offer at around €430. I have one Jago loco, a BR 57 0-10-0, I shall write about her at a later date! The new loco is already in test service. After a little lubrication she runs like new.

Willi Ade had a very long and distinguished career in the model railway industry. He died in 2011 and his firm was continued by his daughter, selling off the remaining stock, maybe. The web-site is still live, as you can see, but has not been updated for ages - I think. Willi was a very talented model-maker and engineer - his first venture was the plastic-kit manufacturer WiAd, with a long stint later with Röwa, and indirectly Trix, for whom he designed, before setting up again in his own business. His scale-length H0 coaches are fantastic. https://ade-eisenbahn-modelle.de/147/lokomotiven/diesel-loks https://www.modellbahntechnik-aktuell.de/meldung/modellbahnpionier-willy-ade-verstorben/#

As I wrote in an earlier post, older Fleischmann, Gützold, Hornby Dublo motors tend to draw a lot of power - I think a rating of 0.6 amp/600mA on the controller is not sufficient for continuous use. The overload protection on the controller is very likely a bi-metal strip which will be heating up nicely as the Fleischmann loco runs. Fleischmann's own power units from the past (and those by Piko and Trix) deliver a meaty 1.2 amps to the track.

1000mA is 1 amp at the mains transformer (separate 'wall wart', as they say?) but what is the rating of the controller? Do you have any other power packs, not Bachmann, to test the loco?

Old(er) Fleischmann motors tend, like old Gützold or Hornby Dublo ones, to draw a lot of power compared to modern motors. What is the rating of the Bachmann power controllers? Do they have a sufficient continuous output for such old ladies? It would be interesting to check what power the Fleischmann motor is drawing. I would test the loco with a higher-rated power controller first before blaming a weak magnet or a duff capacitor.

The only bridge-located station buildings which I know in Germany are all on the S-Bahn in Berlin and Hamburg. In all of my travels in Germany or Austria I have never encountered a rural or small-town station in that configuration. In contrast I can think of several with the station buildings up against a reinforced embankment with a pedestrian tunnel to the platforms.

I mentioned in an earlier post my home-produced couplings for use within sets of the original BTTB Reko carriages. The outermost carriage still needs a standard TT coupling, of course. My couplings are made up from the shaft of an original Zeuke/BTTB coupling with the head of a standard N scale coupling. They reduce the distance between vehicles and are handy to use, in that carriages and wagons can be simply lifted out of a train without disturbing anything coupled to them. From the photo you can see the stages of manufacture - firstly the removal of the coupling loop, then the removal of the front hook, the trimming of the N scale coupling, finally the glueing together (with Araldite or similar). Whether it is still possible to find the old-style Zeuke couplings I am not sure - I have a bag-full from conversions and rebuilds, and can spare a few if any reader needs some.

https://www.davidduggleby.com/auctions/120120242245/SingleOwnerCollectionofModelRailway.aspx

Here is a photo of the BTTB BR35 tender which shows the bogie sideframes as an integral part of the moulding. The sideframes are clearly marked where the stub axles touch slightly. Those marks will be used to drill out holes for bearing cups once the sideframes are sawn off the tender body. Hopefully, I will able to construct two free-running bogies and attach them to a new tender internal floor. More to follow!

Apart from a little more detailing and a couple of transfers the tram is more or less finished. Instead of the vintage Herr pantograph I have fitted a nice red one by Sommerfeldt from my spares box. The tram has been repainted and reglazed, now there are just bits and pieces to add. The chassis (Kato Pocket Line for about a tenner(!) plus postage from Plaza Japan) runs absolutely beautifully - coreless motor and a flywheel.

In between sessions working on the tram I have finally got round to improving the appearance of a BTTB BR35 2-6-2 tender loco - the one in the BTTB range that looked the least satisfactory, mostly because of a over-large gap between loco and tender, a one piece tender that is too high-pitched on a rigid wheelbase with imitated bogies and a very plastic-y appearance. The first move has been to lower the tender body so that the axle stub ends actually line up with the axle boxes. This was done by removing the original clip fittings and glueing a tapped brass block inside the tender body which takes a screw fitted through the plastic chassis. The trailing truck with the tender coupling has been sawn apart, shortened and glued together - this alone has hugely improved the appearance of the loco. Most of the very plastic-looking parts have been painted. The next move will be a new motor and flywheel - that will give space in the cab. I have a spare tender on which I plan to carry out major surgery to give it actual bogies and lower it even further.

Happy New Year - und ein gesundes, glückliches Neues Jahr - from all at Kirchheim!

You will remember that I completed a kit for a Czech bogie flat wagon some time ago and loaded it with one of my Karsei tram trailers, bought in a job-lot. The tram trailers are more or less redundant as I do not intend to run anything more than single cars on my tram route. A day or two ago, though, after seeing the attached photo of a preserved Gotha tram, I decided it was a waste to use the tram trailers simply as wagon loads and time to motorize at least one of them with a spare Kato Pocketline chassis and the last elderly pantograph in my collection. So far the chassis is complete - it needed some trimming and building up and will be be secured to the body shell with a self-tapping screw at each end. The body shell has acquired a little of the roof detail - the banks of resistors on the roof will be fabricated out of poly strip and rod. The panto is not attached yet, such put in place for effect! The body shell also needs a good scrub in warm water to get rid of the grubby marks and the transfers. More to follow!

Apologies for double posting. I placed this on the German Railways section - but some of you may not read there. https://www.piko.de/KAT_PDF/2024/99424.pdf

Piko has just released the 2024 TT 1:120 catalogue. The biggest gem is the BR 62 tank loco! https://www.piko.de/KAT_PDF/2024/99424.pdf

No train cancellations at Kirchheim - but there are plenty of people waiting in the cold for their connections! Frohe Weihnachten!

Mmm, somewhat! I think maybe Auhagen produces components in rather more delicate, realistic colours - which you might expect, given their somewhat eye-watering prices! €32 for the crane.