Settebello

More Pics..

While ( trying!) to catalogue my recent photos, I came across some shots of a rare modeling subject i though might be of interest- Rail ferries The link between the Italian mainland ( Villa San Giovanni) and Sicily Messina) still sees fairly frequent passenger rail traffic, with both day and night train services as well as sporadic rail freight movements. A Messina based group, the Associazione Ferrovie Siciliane embarked on a project to model to model the station and ferry terminal complex at their home town as well as the ferry boats that travelled between Villa S.G. And Messina. I had the pleasure of seeing the layout, ( then under construction) as well as their stand showing further examples of their beautifully built vessels at the Verona Model expo show back in 2017. Credit to the club for transporting it all a mere 1,200 kilometers!! ( I would consider both the Verona Model expo show as well as the Hobby model Expo exhibition in Novegro( Milan) as two regular shows it would be worth planning a weekend around- both are general model shows with a very strong model railway presence....anyway, enough from me! Hope you all enjoy the pics.

Excellent work – the catenary poles work very well, and great to see some Italian electric traction in N…….must admit the E 656 will look fantastic on your layout, Ed – well worth waiting for! Must confess that at one point I dabbled (very lightly!) in N scale, but as you had mentioned earlier it was incredibly difficult to obtain anything decent ( at least at sensible prices!) if modelling the Italian prototype. I do have two mementoes from that era that might make interesting viewing. At an Italian exhibition in Trieste, over thirty years ago now, (yikes!) I met a modeller who made very small production runs of N gauge rolling stock, including a model of the FS Class 207 “Sogliola” shunter, a photo of which I attach……non-motorised, naturally.. Any thoughts of taking this the odd show, when it all starts up again???

PS...Andrew, once again - hope you dont mond yet another "Hijack" on my part!!

Staying with the “Vintage trains” theme, but this time electric and I’ll admit my all-time favourite locomotive - the venerable E 636, a Bo-Bo-Bo design, so typical of the FS….A few pictures from a special working in Sicily ( quite prolific in terms of tourist trains of late ), organised by Treno Doc. The trip was from Palermo to Cefalu and return on the Palermo Messina main line, in the north of the Island. E 636 128 at Deposito Palermo ready to join the train at Palermo Centrale Four beautifully restored Centoporte carriages.... Ready to Depart Palermo. The proud crew pose for a souvenir photo at Cefalu prior to turning the loco around Ready for the rteurn leg to Palermo.....

Hi Ed, Yes, good point about the E 483, and they have actually run on the Riviera del’ Ponente ( west of Genova)….indeed some were manufactured ( or assembled??) at the Bombardier plant in Vado Ligure just down the road from me, so plenty of test runs hauling passenger stock as well….. Who knows, the Arnold E 656 might just be the “game changer” for Italian N, as the Roco E 626 was for HO. Prior to that the Italian range of models was very limited…….. …OR….you go down the scratch building route and set your layout in the “three Phase “ era ( sorry, really flimsy excuse to show a photo of scratch built models in N by Claudio Nastasi – Hope you don’t mind!!) Saluti

If you coupled the two power cars together, you could get away with running the “Ligure” TEE which ran as a two car diesel unit from Marseille to Milano via Ventimiglia and Genova from the fifties through to the seventies... You’d have to repaint the power cars red and cream though for a bit of authenticity! ( Must admit though the blue Pullman set is a very handsome consist, so fully agree with you invoking rule 1).....Interestingly an N gauge version of the TEE set is produced by an Italian “ artigiano “ producer called LoCo - and the chap actually produces some examples of Italian electric motive power as well, including a couple of Bo Bo Bo examples. Prices don’t seem to be at the eye watering levels of some of the Artigiani produces, although ( speaking as a total NON expert modeller), quality might be a little short of current levels.....Here’s the link to LoCos site www.locomodels.it The only other pure artigiano producer of motive power in N that comes to mind are a German outfit called Euromodell FP. I remember seeing them at the Novegro exhibition for a few years and their models were superb (although they were eye wateringly expensive). Link to their catalogue page here: www.euromodell-fp.de/index.php?seite=produktauswahl&kategorie=2. I’ve rattled on long enough! Keep up the good work Ed....I think you’ve got the sweeping curves shown on the close ups just right, by the way!! Saluti

Sorry about the typos....I really must slow down! Hope you enjoy them....!

Having a few spare moments, I managed to browse through some of my rail photos and managed to find a few ( moderate quality!) shots of the E 444 nBo Bo electrics in as built condition: The First two shots being taken at Milano Greco Pirelli station, a very hand photo spot as it was just south of Milano Greco depot, and the coulour shot tekan very quickly at Centrale on my way to catch an Intercity to Venezia

1st test

Hi Ed, Link below for the N gauge pge posted with pleasure: https://www.msaccessoriferroviari.it/index.php/shoponline/palificazione-in-n As mentioned earlier, this " Artigiano" producer is a relative newcomer on the scene. Unfortunately I didnt manage to travel to the Novegro exhibition last year, but I remember that, on my 2018, they actually had products to sell ( rather than producing "exhibition prototypes" ) that sometimes never appear. Again, hope this helps. If you need any follow up, please don't hesitate to Pm me, and I can contact them on your behalf. saluti!

Good afternoon everyone, please forgive the nervousness of my first post!. Delighted to see a diorama of “my neck of the woods” having transferred to Liguria fourteen years ago. I hope to contribute further posts from Italy, but just to say that an Italian based supplier of N Scale catenary ( palificazione) are “accessori ferroviari “ www.msaccessoriferroviari.it They exhibited at the Novegro (Milan) model show for the first time in 2018, and a glance at their website seems to have examples of the classic ‘M’ type classic tubular catenary masts, long associated with the FS, in N scale. Hope this helps! – Keep up the good work