Vecchio

Considering the short time you have been there you have seen (and photographed) a lot of different locomotive types and trams. Having lived and worked in Vienna for 40 years my selection of photos is probably smaller than yours. Problem is if you live there the trains are nothing special, so if it is not something new or very old you do not take notice of it.

I wonder you didn't see the BBO class 16 (ex KKstb class 310) in Strasshof. Some people (in this forum) say it is the ugliest loco ever built, I consider it as elegant. Probably it was running somewhere as a special service. Strasshof, 17th June 2018, the loco gets prepared for fathers day and is already in steam. 20180609_164828

will be approximately 10-12kg, depending on the ply you are using. The handles are a good idea, I rather put them close to the ends (as you need two people for that anyway) but put a third one at the centre of gravity (normally the middle, but if you have heavy stuff at one side it may change) so you can also lift it on your own if needed. . Found a photo of my green fiddle yard. Those are sandwiched (scenic side against scenic side), and have a weight of 18kg (I used 6mm ply) for 2 boards in their frame. You see the handles on the side of the 2 top packages. Worked a treat yesterday at Royston. IMG20240414113219

Log cabin experience: I have mine now for 10 years, it needs of course painting every other year. It is Billy-oh Devon with 44mm walls, double glazing, roof and floor in 19mm wood. It stands on a concrete base. The roof is insulated with 75mm PIR board. I am rather happy with it, the only thing that happened was that after a few years the roof started sagging. I corrected this with two roof trusses, since than no trouble. Invest in proper roof tiles (bitumen tiles, everything else is too heavy. I used Katepal roofing shingles). After 10 years mine looks still good. Shed from its creation onwards: DSC00777 Untitled 20141205_085000 And today. You can see my layout is packed up, going to Royston tomorrow. IMG20240411175938 Temperature: the roof insulation is a must. What would I have done differently if I would have know before: The floor out of 19mm boards is rubbish. Hard to clean because of the gaps between boards, and also the nails are coming out. I would go for a damp proof particle floor board, 22mm, and some durable lino.

Looking forward to this show, not only because I am a member of the Milton Keynes Model Railway society, but also as it will be the first time we show Frimingham , an end to end 0 scale layout, to the public. IMG20231029123022 We have turntable style fiddle yards on both ends, so we can quickly change from one train to another or just turn one around... IMG20231013172742 Hope to see some of our forum writers there!

In most of the continental tunnels of Switzerland, Germany and Austria you have leaky feeder cables since more than 20 years. I agree that social media is not a must in the car, especially not for the driver (google maps excluded) but I feel pretty safe if I listen to the radio and the tunnel control centre can tell you over the radio channel if there are any incidents you should know about.

Start with a reset. CV8=8. the loco will be on address 3 after that, but all the sound part stays. Normally sound on is F1, on some zimo decoders sound on is on F8. good luck.

Thanks Stefan, I know perfectly were they are as I worked in the 12th district for 14 years... (Oswaldgasse 33, once a cable factory, now housing). Problem is the number of relatives in Vienna is almost down to zero, means the chances to get there are low. I suppose it was also the personal judgement of the customs officer. I sent another decoder back a few years ago (after Brexit) and there was no problem. Will try again, but after the next show. This time the 4010 Transalpin will run without sound. At a show you cannot hear it anyway. Actually I am in Spain end of this month - may be I put the envelope into my suitcase and post it from there...

Zimo return: Went well wrong, got the envelope back after more than 6 weeks - "insufficient documents for customs clearance". My Austrian friends were a bit over-bureaucratic. They were probably not happy with the value - a damaged decoder has in my opinion a value of zero. Anyway. something for later as I am on show on the 13th April in Royston. Quick check of my scenic fiddle yard VID20240401134601 IMG20240401134727 Now it is time to pack everything up.

Well they are ok on a branch line, as long as you have the picture of a power station on your background. There were trains from Poland and from the Czech republic delivering coal to the power plant in the video, I suppose it was twice a week. I got myself the PKP (Polish) Vectron with 13 Fals hoppers to simulate such a train on my layout. As far as I know the plant stopped working a couple of years ago for environmental reasons. Roco had for some time hoppers in their program (Falns) which were actually working, means the flaps opened when they went over a special ramp (also from Roco)

Mainly block trains. Main load was coal for power stations. They have a drive through unloading system. I attach a video of a Czech coal train going through Austria (with their own locomotive, which is a multisystem Siemens Vectron, 8800 hp). The train load is 2000t of coal for a power station near the city of Graz, in the south of Austria. The train crosses the Semmering pass, where it needed banking and a double header to get over the rather steep pass. The banking and double header engines are Siemens Taurus, in the video at about 8 minutes from the start. Those locos have a similar power, 8700 hp each. After crossing the pass the train runs with one engine to the power station and unloads the coal. See at 36 minutes from the start. I think the whole video is worth a look, as the train drives over the Semmering pass, first Alpine crossing ever built, finished 1854, 14 tunnels and 16 viaducts. Enjoy! P.S.: My parents had a house close to the Semmering line, I was there every weekend and during the school holidays. This was probably the start of being a railway fanatic...

Another voice for z21. Works great, easy to understand, no more numbers to remember if you use a smart phone or tablet as a controller. 3A output, so you can have several locos running at the same time. Point control (if you want to use it) works very well, also here no numbers, but a graphic representation of your layout on phone or tablet. rout programming, and the route is actually visible. If you want feedback and computer control go for the black one (Z21), if not the white one (z21) saves you a lot of money and does all I said before. Use it in the club (Frimingham) and also at home (Donnersbachkogel).

My personal opinion is you can mix Bachmann and Accurascale coaches. The west coast railway logo may give it away, the differences in colour I do not see as a problem. Don't put your noses too close to your layouts and you may not notice... 😄

well - the next plus one generation of railway modelers arrived a few weeks before my Mark 2b coaches. And they were a bit early as it frequently happens with twins... boys by the way.

Delivery arrived one hour ago, well it was worth the wait. I am quite impressed.

For me Z21 is the best system currently on the market. We using it since several years on our 0-gauge club layout, and this week I introduce it also for the 00 club layout. Who wants can still use a wired controller, even with a knob (Roco multimouse or Lenz LH100), with all the disadvantages of the old (NCE) system. And who wants can use their own smart phone or tablet. We will have a club database, so everybody can add his locos at home and then we copy them together onto the club database. Works a treat.

Just for your information - I use RC servos, an I used micro switches actuated by the servo arm.

Having had problems with switches closing too early or opening too late I scrapped them all and use frog juicers only. Works a treat. Donnersbachkogel uses approximately 40 of them. No issues so far. Layout in use since beginning of 2020.

I suppose trouble is starting where one manufacturer uses also logic functions (needs extra electronics for functions that consume current), while others have all function outputs amplified to 100mA... I don't write who is who, some readers may guess it.

Well the chipping of my blue and white express train didn't go too well, even I found a nice space for the speaker and the stay alive. Dyslexic people should always check their work before they switch on... I have soldered the first 4 wires correct to the 8-pin plug, but the second 4 in mirror image... Understandable that the decoder didn't like it. Will see what the Austrians say. On its way after filling in a customs declaration...😑 IMG20240203104035

IMG20240129202628 Together it is, and now some people will ask themselves "what on earth did he do?" Well, I ballasted the fiddle yard, there will also be some greenery. Why should a fiddle yard always look like track wacked to a board? I have seen a few 'green' fiddle yards, and they look better. Gives also the operators something to look at. IMG20240129202635 Now I can run much longer trains than before, also I can use all of my models, before it was restricted because of the radius. For instance the 4010 (the white express train for those not familiar with Austrian trains of the last century) I couldn't use. Point control is done via DCC and servos. The Z21 makes it easy by allowing routes. One click, all points set. IMG20240129202824 There is a little video showing one round on the layout. VID20240129202428

Some more work on the layout. I found out that for some reason the old and the new part are different in height. 2.2cm. Means all legs out, insert nuts for adjustable legs out, cut them, all back in... on we go, leg after leg... IMG20240121105947 The overhead line gets tested on the new bit. IMG20240128121611 Now everything is closed again, the landscape still needs a little bit of plaster and paint to get back to normal. IMG20240128192138 View from the fiddle yard side. IMG20240128192123 Also a few electric connections needed to be made, to get power and DCC signal to the fiddle yard. IMG20240128175630 Hope I can get it all together tomorrow.

Germany (and other countries) used wire ropes also for point control, and this is what the Artitec levers are for. If you want a nice UK prototypical signal box interior go to Severn Models.

Krois is a source for scenic Austrian small stuff. His lit up telephone box is very authentic. Also his signals are good, similar quality to alpha signal and a similar cost. At Krois you can decide which extra lights you want on the signal, a feature I like. Also Johann is good for a chat, every time I rented a car in Vienna I paid him a visit. (Shop in Schwechat, 10min from the airport). By the way - all signals on Donnersbachkogel are from Krois.

Hi Craig, also size is a problem. Even your layout is quite large, an exact scale model of a Semmering viaduct may be problematic. I have to say your viaduct is very close to the real thing. Hope you will be at an exhibition more south, Glasgow is a bit distant for me, Gaydon may be possible...