BillB

Hi Hank, thank you very much. Your info helps me a lot. Piko TT have 2 brown Czech vans and 1 brown MAV, so I will stick to those! I don't need many, as it is just a branch line, and I suspected beer might not travel from Popavice as far as a small village in the DDR in the 1950s! Best Regards, Bill.

Hi, I have seen Roco set 04062 S from circa 1984 of 5 HO Donnerbüchsen coaches for the DRG Ep2 (lettered for Leipzig - Magdeburg). Does anyone know if there was an equivalent set for the DDR DR, Ep3? I have googled adjacent Roco catalogue numbers without success. I imagine the eagles, etc, disappeared from DDR coaches pretty quickly after May 1945 and certainly didn't last into the 1950s. Thanks, Bill.

Hi Phil, thanks very much for your reply. I will fit the track together on a temporary basis to see if it all works. I just didn't want to fry anything, as I think even DC locos have chips in them now, and the Piko kl 55 costs circa £250. Happy Easter! Bill.

Hi, I am planning a small TT layout on a 6-ft plank, station to fiddle-yard. There will be a passing loop and 2 or 3 sidings in the station, and a fan of 3 sidings in the FY (see early sketches below. BTW Anyrail now has PECO and Hornby TT in its track library). It will be analogue and most likely “one engine in steam” in the station area. I know how to do this with traditional isolating points, i.e. where to put the power feeds, insulated joiners, etc., but I have not used PECO Unifrog points before. The instructions with the TT Unifrog points say: “It is completely live, with only the metal frog tip and wing rails insulated from the rest. It can be used like this with no further wiring necessary, using conductive metal rail joiners on all rails. Both routes are live at all times, making it ideal for DCC controlled layouts. If using analogue control, isolated track sections with switched power feeds will be required to park trains.” Am I correct in thinking this means that if I use metal rail joiners throughout, a single power feed can be put anywhere on the layout and it will make the whole layout live, including all the dead-ends, headshunts, etc., with no short-circuits (i.e. left-rail meeting right-rail), and providing I have only one engine operating it will go anywhere the points are set to with no need for any electrical switching, providing I don’t wire any of the frogs to be live? Also that the point blades perform no role in switching the current, so poor contact between point blade and stock rail ceases to be an issue? If so I will put the feed where the station meets the FY to minimise distance for the little volts to travel! And do the same principles apply to PECO HO Unifrog points? Thanks, Bill.

Thanks for your replies. Re the Piko catalogue, I was in fact looking at the current Piko TT catalogue and wondering which of the Ep III ex-Prussian "G" vans lettered for neighbouring countries might legitimately turn up on a Saxony branch line, as the number of DR vans available is small. Piko have five vans for the CSD, which is very close by (two standard brown vans, two green for different breweries, and one blue, maybe insulated?), plus one standard brown van for the MAV. I'll take your comments to mean "any of them, but not all at once". Thanks again, Bill.

Hi, I am wondering whether Czech, Polish, or Hungarian wagons and vans appeared on East German rails in the 1950s, and what other "visitors" might have appeared (e.g. Austrian?). And how frequently. Might they pop up on a branch line? And am I right to assume that non iron curtain counties wagons would not appear, and neither would Russian wagons because of the gauge difference. Grateful for any info, Bill.

Hi Stefan, thanks very much! Bill.

Hi, Piko TT have released a class 55 for the DR (GDR) Ep III with a load of writing on the tender, which begins "Our promise..." (but in German). It is described in all the catalogues, retailers websites, etc., as a "printing variation". I have googled the loco number, 55 545, for images but with no luck. I am wondering if anyone can cast any light on what the model actually represents, i.e. if it existed, when, where and for how long? https://www.piko-shop.de/en/artikel/ger-tt-dampflok-br-55-parteitag-dr-iii-35415.html Thanks, Bill.

I just found a pic on Pinterest of the interior of an empty BR steel mineral wagon, derailed on Basford Crossing. It answers the question for these wagons, at least, and provides a useful guide for modellers modeling empties.

Thanks very much to all. I will go for natural wood, with a good coating of coal dust for my empties! To Doilum - I don't know if still available, but years ago I got several E&WYUR wagons, all with different nos., from Going Loco in Potovens Lane, Wakefield. They were not printed, but decalled, with whole body-side decals. I don't know the source of the decals. When I lived there the line was worked by saddle tanks, but I can't remember if they were BR or NCB. I used to sit on the banks of the cutting that ran from the bridge under the A642 towards Patrick Green, waiting for a train to rumble by, and never saw a tender engine, and whilst memory fades, I don't remember any long trains. I also don't remember the brake vans specifically, but I'm guessing they were the LNER / BR standard ones.

Most model railway manufacturers paint the interiors of their private owner coal wagons with the exterior body colour. In the 1950s - 60s I lived next to Newmarket Colliery and its East & West Yorkshire Union Railway branch line, and I used to play in the ancient dead wagons stored in a siding just east of the bridge under the A642. As I remember they were all wooden and seemed to be bare, weathered wood inside and out, though I think there may have been rusty metal plates on the floors of some, maybe repairs to cover holes. I am wondering whether in the days of private owner coal wagons the interiors were painted (seems unlikely), creasoted (seems most likely), or just left as bare wood (I assume not, as some attempt would be made to maximise longevity)? Asked in the prototype section as it is about the prototype. Thanks, Bill.

The typical reason for providing a weather-board on the tender is so an engine can run tender-first for prolonged periods. This requirement arises typically on branch lines without turntables. So I am wondering if those LNWR / LMS Super Ds / G2s / G2As so fitted were used on branch lines, and if they ventured onto the North Wales branches? Best Regards, Bill.

Hi, thanks for your comments. I think my branch line will be set in circa 1900-5, and the workhorse will be a T 9.2. All this interest arose during the frost, when I unearthed my vintage Roco and Fleischmann sets and decided they were far too big to post to anyone, so rather than list them on ebay I should use them. Fleischmann 481102 "Berliner Wannseebahn" has a T9.2 plus coaches with modern numerals on the doors, as does the lone coach in Fleischmann 4895 "Preußischer Güterzug mit Personenbeförderung", whilst Roco set 43025 "K.P.E.V. Epoche I" has 6-wheelers with the latin numerals, as does the associated Roco 44013 2-coach add-on pack. The Roco 43026 "Berliner Stadtbahn" set has three pairs of close-coupled Roco 6-wheelers with modern numerals. Both Roco sets include a T 16, and I assume both T 16s and close-coupled passenger stock were more commuter service than branch line. Of all I have the Roco 6-wheelers with the latin numerals are my favourite coaches, so I think my chief operating roster will be those coaches with the Fleischmann T 9.2s. My most characterful looking engine is a Roco P 4.2 4-4-0 (Roco 63302), but sadly that has no provision for fitting a front coupler, so I would need a turntable, which I won't have room for.

Probably asked and answered many times, but I rather like the look of the Latin / Roman numerals on the Roco and Fleischmann KPEV passenger carriage doors, but I am wondering if opting for those would be placing my branch line in the middle ages!! Thanks again, Bill.

Thanks very much, great 1st pic that explains it all. As I am doing a pre-1914 branch I can settle for conventional coal handling, and delete 2 nice looking items from my ebay watch list!

I know that coal tubs on flatcars were a very early item on British railways, soon succeeded by open coal wagons for simplicity. But I see Fleischmann make a set which are Epoch 2. It seems to me such a tub would need specialist infrastructure to utilise it, e.g. some sort of hoist? And maybe were only used in industrial locations? Or could a crane on an average branch line / industrial siding handle them? And how widespread was their use? I'd appreciate any info. Thanks, Bill.

Hi, I am looking to choose a readymade for a small project, and I would be grateful for info on products. My ideal would be a single-story, 2-bay. I have asked this in the Bachmann as a starting point, but Hornby Skaledale is relevant too. 1 Probably asked and answered before, but is the Bachmann Scenecraft 44-0095 Stone Booking Hall based on a real building, or a specific company / line architecture, and if so, which, please? 2 Same question for the Bachmann Scenecraft 44-175 Stone Station? 3 Am I right that the Hornby Skaledale R8798 East Station (maroon paint) and R9836 Granite Station Building (green paint) are both Dent (Settle & Carlisle)? 4 I seem to remember a few years ago a 2-bay "North Eastern Railway" stone station, but I can't seem to find it anywhere and I wonder if I am mis-remembering either Hornby Skaledale R8798 East Station or Bachmann Scenecraft 44-0095 Stone Booking Hall. Is there another such ready-made station, and if so by whom, please? Thanks very much, Bill.

Hi Keith, good info, and thanks for looking at the couplers for me. I think Altona is the allocation. Wiki lists the builders for the class T 16 and T 16.1. Do I see a builder's plate on the tank sides? If the builder is legible that should reveal where it was built. None of the builders listed by Wiki were based in Hamburg (Altona). Best Regards, Bill.

Hi Keith, can you confirm what type of coupler mountings the T 16.1 in the Fleischmann 4886) set has, please? The pics I have seen online seem to show a Fleischmann Profi coupler in a mount that cannot be swapped out. Other pics, e.g. Osterhun, suggest that the KPEV T 16 did not get NEM pockets until the 2010 issue, which seems a bit late. It seems odd that the wagons in the Fleischmann 4886 set do have NEM pockets, but the loco does not. Best regards, Bill.

On couplers, my Jouef "Impéreales" have come with three types of coupler. What I take to be the earliest have something not unlike the old metal Hornby Dublo / PECO Simplex secured with a screw. This has the advantage of allowing a coach or wagon to be lifted out of a rake without hassle. What I take to be the "middle" version have a Roco style hinged loop coupler on a stamped metal frame, again secured by a screw identical in diameter and location to that in the early type, so those two coupler types are interchangeable. These Roco style are for me the ones that tend to bounce off each other rather than couple. The real stamped metal Peco Simplex is a slightly different shape to the Jouef version, but the hole at the back is in the right place and the right diameter to also fit with the Jouef screw, making it a direct replacement on "early" and "middle" chassis, and my first thought was to fit these to all of the stock, as I have a load of them. But then I got some of what I take to be the "latest" version, which have NEM coupler pockets fitted with Roco style couplers. These coupler assemblies clip onto a plastic peg which protrudes from a modified floor moulding, i.e. no socket for a screw. This design allows easy fitting of NEM Kadee couplers, which also make it easy to pick up a coach from the middle of a rake. These Jouef NEM pockets have no centering springing, so don't always align. The only coupler type that will simply fit to early and late chassis types is the Roco coupler. The only way to fit Kadees to the early chassis would be by using body-mounted coupler boxes, but these would at least provide centering springing and be reliable, and should be no problem on such a short chassis. The Rivarossi Bourbonnaise is designed to couple to stock with Roco coupler hoops, my Metrop "Bicyclette" tank has screw-link couplers, and the new REE model will have NEM pockets and thus take Roco or Kadee couplers. So I am undecided! Best Regards, Bill.

Thanks very much, that is the very wagon, and carries the same number, k.Sachs 46882, as in the Fleischmann set. Best Regards, Bill.

Hi folks, I have seen a Fleischmann goods train set issued in 1989 as Fleischmann 4886. It contains a steel open wagon lettered for Saxony. I am wondering if this was issued separately? And if so what the product number is? I don't want to buy the set, as whilst the wagons seem to have NEM coupler pockets, it has a KPEV T 16.1 which does not have NEM coupler pockets. I don't need a 1989 issued wagon if it was issued at other times with other #s, provided it is for the k.Sachs. I have looked on ebay Germany and thru my old Fleischmann catalogues for such a wagon, but have not found it, so maybe it only came in that set. Best regards, Bill.

Dear Klaus and Rekoboy, thank you very much for your replies, which are very helpful. My branch line will definitely be before 1920 and air-brakes. As to which company, that will depend on which loco is on the tracks at the time. I have a selection of interesting small tank engines, essentially one goods loco and one passenger loco for each railway, and all from traders stands at train shows or ebay, so not a new one amongst them! Thanks again, Bill.

I forgot to ask, what is the role of the brakeman's cabins when the train has a proper Gepackwagen at the back? And in special reference to short goods trains on branchlines, did a train need to have a gepackwagen too if it had a van with a brakeman's cabin? Thanks, Bill.

Hi, I am asking this here rather than on the prototype board because it is about getting my modelling practice right. I have several questions and even if some have been asked before I thought it might be handy to have all the answers in the same place! 1. Were brakeman’s cabins glazed, and the un-glazed models just a cost-cut? 2. Did each cabin just control the brakes on that wagon? 3. Was every brake cabin in a train manned? Or was there a mandatory number than had to be manned when a train was moving? 4. Did the brakemen on a train have to be from the same Landerbahn as the engine crew? Or could they inter-operate? 5. Did the brakeman on a train need to be in a cabin on a vehicle belonging to his own employing Landerbahn, or could he use the cabin of a “visiting” wagon? To put the above in context, if a goods train ran from Berlin to Dresden did responsibility for braking the train change at the border between Prussia and Saxony? Or could a Prussian brakeman in a Prussian wagon with brakeman’s cabin control the train for the whole journey? I have used Prussia and Saxony as the example, but the question applies more widely. And could you have a train running entirely within Saxony, say from Dresden to Leipzig, where the only wagon(s) on the train with a brakeman’s cabin was a Prussian wagon, with the cabin manned by a Saxon brakeman, or would the train need to have a Saxon wagon with brakeman’s cabin for the Saxon brakeman to use? 6. Would a branch-line train always have a wagon with brakeman’s cabin from the home company, or could the brakeman occupy any convenient cabin? 7. Did there have to be a wagon with brakeman’s cabin at the end of the train (e.g. to prevent runaway if a coupling broke mid-train). 8. Where the brakeman’s cabin is lower than the height of it's van and so has no commanding view, would that be manned in a journey or just used to brake the wagon when stationary, and thus that wagon could not act as the brake on a running train? (example, Fleischmann 5853 K). I'd be grateful for any relevant info, Thanks, Bill.