Op der Bunn

[TT-Pete]

Three more trains have joined the roster;

 

4.- A Heljan "Clayton" class 17 with some ancient Hornby Benzoles.

 

This rake was a bit of a pain to get running, I had to change several wheelsets and straighten bent couplings before they would do a complete circuit without derailing. The loco is a bit fussy about one or two turnouts in the yards (derails about 1 in 10 passes), so some more fine-tuning is going to be needed.

 

5.- The first tank car in the Pennsy rake came from Bgman (Graeme, late of this parish) legacy sale at the SWAG meet this year. It was missing the wheels but I had spares to hand. My Pennsy RR interested started in the early 2000's when I spent 6 months living and working in Phlidelphia.

 

In a snowy Winter 2003 I was able to visit the Pennsyvania Railroad Steamtown museum in Harrisburg, PA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if the Red Caboose Motel is still there?

 

 

 

But anyway, I digress, back to model trains.

6.- The Rivarossi "Bourbonnais" from Dad's legacy stock needed a bit of work to get it going. It was last run in the late 90's and I at first thought it was fitted with traction tyres when I turned it over as the encrusted crud was that thick on the wheel treads. Plenty of meths, cotton buds and scraping with a micro screwdriver blade livened things up a bit although she still needed  dragging around with a banker for a couple of circuits to free everything up.

 

Each circuit is now populated with an UP and a DN train, so I can sit back and switch between them at will.

 

A bit of route learning is required, if I hear the clatter of a derailment in progress I am almost guaranteed to grab the wrong controller - "That one. No, that one! No! That one!" I am also very good at switching the right point, but just on the wrong yard panel, so some colour coding might be useful.

 

 

Rule 5. No KKK (KurzKupplungKinematik) close couplings on bogie coaching stock, even if they have NEM sockets.

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by TT-Pete

[Northroader]

My interest focussed on the Bourbonnais train (of course, tho’ the PRR notes were good) You can make the loco more sure footed by jumpers from tender to loco, bypassing the spring finger on the coupler bar, and also adding a feed from the wire to the headlight.

[TT-Pete]

@Northroader Thanks for that tip, I have now bent the spring over so that it makes firm contact with the spigot on the tender, with a good clean she runs very nicely indeed.

 

Is this circled above the headlight feed that you recommend taking an extra wire from? I take it that it runs from here through to the motor contact in the tender, is that a permanent connection?

 

********

Having now been running trains for a while I've come to the realisation that my gradients are too steep. I had been warned but felt it was an acceptable compromise to squeeze the viaducts into the space available, choosing form over function.

 

And I've also been reflecting on taste and aspiration and how it changes over time as the contents of boxes unseen for many years come out, and I’m thinking - "Yes, but do I still even like this?"

 

Over the years there was a hierarchy of the model trains on our attic layout. At the bottom were  venerable Triang-Hornby and Lima stock, victims of my first modelling fumblings and splodgy paintworks. Bashed about and vandalised, mercifully none of these seem to have survived.

 

As I got older and could be a little more trusted, Jouef became the default go to. Purchased from P.Mamer toy and model railway shop on Rue Du Fosse where we had a standing discount given the volume of business we had put his way over the years.

 

I would save up my pocket money (70 Luxembourg francs a week IIRC) and then scurry down into town on a 17 bus with Dad on a Saturday afternoon for another coach or wagon.

 

The DB electric Br 182 has particular resonance being the last loco I bought before entering the "model trains are uncool" stage of young adulthood. Price on the box is 778.-

With our discount that would have been about £10.

 

But trying them out now they have significant drawbacks.

 

The drive mechanisms use a naff rubber band for the drive belt from the motor. Like with old Hi-Fi decks of similar vintage nearly all of the rubber bands have perished, degenerating either into a black goo or stretching so that at best the loco revs its nuts off on full power and only just about has the tractive effort to creep itself forward, not mentioning any stock. It will be fun finding replacements.

 

The two tender-drive locos are better as they are geared, but still not quite powerful enough for the gradients and have to be thrashed on the up-grade.

 

They are also quite coarse and growl, clatter and wobble along. My tastes have moved on. The 11 year-old me was fascinated by these models, but they now don't quite stack up to my expectation of detail and overall "look and feel".

 

Compared with Rivarossi.

 

Next step up in the attic MR hierarchy came East-German PIKO.

 

 

There was another model shop in town located off Avenue de la liberte on Rue de la Greve, one of those old-fashioned tardis-like model shop emporia of the sort that you just don’t get anymore; bare wooden floorboards, gloomy, dusty and crammed with boxes and cartons piled all over the place to ferret about it. Heaven. :^)

 

(I am glad that I had already left Luxembourg and so didn’t have to witness the street of substantial Belle Époque buildings being levelled to make way for shiny modern office block monstrosities :^(

 

 

The owner specialised in DDR BTTB and PIKO products as sole importer for Luxembourg. That didn’t cut much ice with the central-planning authority in East Berlin. He would tell us of his annual stock ordering pilgrimage; through the year his customers would tell him what models they wanted from the BTTB/PIKO catalogues. He would then tot this up and once a year he would go to East Berlin and have a meeting with the officials of the Staatliche Plankommission (State Planning Commission) and present the list of his customers’ desires.

 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatliche_Plankommission

 

They were never interested – “The Plankommission has calculated the level of user demand in Luxembourg. This is now fixed in the 5-year plan. Here is the list of products that you will be supplied with this year.” And that was that.

 

The real business then took place through the unofficial channels of personal connections in Storkower Strasse and in Sonneberg – and time-honoured barter and “arrangements”. (Fleischmann not being easy to come by in East Germany for example.)

 

And so a little hint of the flavour of the reality of daily life under Real-existierender Sozialismus over there in the ersten sozialistischen Staat auf deutschem Boden wafted to us over the iron curtain into our little haven of coddled Western consumerism - You get what has been decided for you (unless you have connections).

 

https://www.marxistische-bibliothek.de/real-existierender-sozialismus/

 

http://www.michael-lausberg.de/index.php?menue=grosswerk&inhalt=gruendung_ddr

 

How do they stand up?

 

Although motors and drives are a million times better than Jouef, they suffer from the same plasticky look. Details are moulded and they have a bit of a general “sheen” to them. Like with Joeuf a little unfair perhaps to put them alongside Rivarossi, but there you go.

 

The later models produced from around the Wende in 1990 and thereafter are not as good as the earlier ones in my opinion, it feels as if they were trying to improve quality and cut costs at the same time. The plastic they used is not durable and become brittle - I’ve lost two loco from split frames/housings or crumbling drive wheel spokes – I’d steer clear of this vintage.

  

I prefer the older 1970’s versions, they have a bit more about them than Jouef, have far less plastic in them and although a little clunky, the mechanisms are rock-solid and powerful. Just about indestructible I’d say, in a post-apocalyptic scenario I’d expect the cockroaches to be driving them.

The little Br 89 0-6-0T tank is an absolute star, it handles the 14-wagon test train with absolute ease on the gradients and easily outperforms some Fleischmann locos that baulk at it.

 

The Br 55 0-8-0 is just as sure-footed and its fun sitting back watching the veterans clattering by.

 

 

And of course it’s just amazing what Dr. René F. Wilfer has done with the place since 1991 and is one of those few VEB-Treuhand privatisation stories with a happy-ending.

 

Anyway, better go do some scenics now.

 

Cheerio.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by TT-Pete

[DIW]

1 hour ago, TT-Pete said:

But trying them out now they have significant drawbacks.

 

The drive mechanisms use a naff rubber band for the drive belt from the motor. Like with old Hi-Fi decks of similar vintage nearly all of the rubber bands have perished, degenerating either into a black goo or stretching so that at best the loco revs its nuts off on full power and only just about has the tractive effort to creep itself forward, not mentioning any stock. It will be fun finding replacements.

Pete,

Have a look at DVD/CD drive belts - they are available in various sizes - here's a sample advertisement. That may sort out the perished belt problem.

Dave

 

 

[Ian Morgan]

Nigel Lawton uses belt drive for some of his 009 chassis. They are a lot quieter than gears. He sells various sizes here:

 

http://www.nigellawton009.com/DriveComponents.html

 

If you get a belt the right width, but too long, it can be cut to length, and reformed with a spot of superglue.

 

 

[Northroader]

I’ve dug out my Bourbonnais and had a look at it (it’s a HO loco in an O loft)

I take the view that having electric headlamps on a model loco never look right, tho they’re a popular gimmick, and the best pickups are on the engine side but just feeding the headlamp. On the tender there’s just two wheels feeding the motor on the one side, and two wheels on the engine feeding the motor thro the drawbar spring. Soooo, I’ve discompooperated the headlamps leads, and taken flying leads from either side of the central tag straight across to the motor. This gives you four wheels picking up on the one side, and two wheels picking up on tother, through continuous wiring, rather than an iffy spring contact. The downside is the engine is permanently coupled to the tender, should you ever want to keep it in the box, but, hey... The fun bit is getting the leads from the engine to match correctly with the tender pickup before you solder them on the motor tags. (Drat,, looking at the picture one of the pickups is displaced!)

 Most interesting to read how the people’s republic ran the commercial dealings of PIKO, what a ghastly setup that was. I paid a visit only a few weeks after the curtain was removed, and had the peculiar sensation walking down the street, that I could feel everyone in the place was sensing I was from the West, rather like a visiting Martian. I, too, have one of their models, a DR 2-8-2T, which has probably been the best performer I’ve had, a star on a small roundy roundy I had way back. To tone yours down, three ideas. Firstly, chalk dust. You can get artists pastel chalks, say, black and dark brown, rub them on emery paper to get plenty of dust, then scatter it over the model surfaces, and work in with a dry paintbrush. For a really mucky appearance you can mix the dust into a paste with some water, brush it on, let it dry, then brush the surplus off with a dry brush. This process is reversible with a wash in soapy water if you don’t like the look. More irreversible is mixing a small amount of Matt black paint with a large quantity of white spirit, and painting this on, really runny, so that it will run into all the crevices, and just dull the flat surfaces, and take the whiteness off the lettering. I think this would help with the bright red of the tender frames. I’m somewhat old fashioned with paint such as Humbrol enamels and expect them to be oil based and work with white spirit, but I suspect Phoenix for instance are more of a test tube job. Thirdly is to just go over the model with a coat of Matt varnish to take the sheen off. Probably best done with a spray, I just brush, then to be sure of the varnish, I’ve had some end up with shiny patches or dry with whitish accumulation, both of which caused considerable swearing and disappointment.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Northroader

[TT-Pete]

I’d always had the concept that the right-hand scenic board would have the viaducts and the town, and that the left-hand board would be countryside-based and that the split levels would mean bridges, embankments and rock outcrops – loosely Ardennes-inspired.

 

I don’t know if you ever get this, but sometimes I am totally ignoring a major aspect of a project out of avoidance, for years on end, and then am pleasantly surprised at how quickly it then actually comes together, almost seemingly by chance.

 

 

Back in the “cardboard and plywood” mock-up stage I had the Branch in the foreground, the twin circuits behind descending over a bridge and the TT circuit up in the background.

 

 

 

The crossing box is an age-old Kibri kit bought second-hand from Contikits with a brittle and yellowed instruction sheet proudly stating “Made in Western Germany”. I have made an attempt at de-Germanifying it by leaving off the “frilly” covered external staircase and giving it a stone base and a slate roof.

 

 

Jos stares disconsolately out of the window, he’s reflecting on the bum hand that life has dealt him - once a proud member of the Preiser “French Gendarmerie motorcycle and roadside check” figure set, he is now demoted to CFL Blockstellenwart and will end his days standing at the window gazing out over the level crossing that is now his responsibility.

 

 

And I think that I’m starting to get the hang of sculpting rock formations from blocks of Celotex insulation foam and plaster, incorporating a gash I made when I got a bit excited with the curved riffler needle file that I gouge it with, as a cave in the rockface.

 

 

There’s going to be a road leading down from the crossing with a little settlement in the foreground, including that typical feature that you see in Ardennes towns, a U.S Army Sherman tank.

 

[ian]

That is coming together really well.

 

It is wonderful when the vision in your head starts to take form - and looks good.

[Ian Morgan]

20 hours ago, TT-Pete said:

There’s going to be a road leading down from the crossing with a little settlement in the foreground, including that typical feature that you see in Ardennes towns, a U.S Army Sherman tank.

 

 

The plinthed Sherman tanks seem to mostly have one or more big holes in them where they were taken out of action.

 

[Northroader]

The one I’ve come across is at Colmar, where I gather there was a pitched battle, but no holes visible.

[TT-Pete]

 

@Ian Morgan, @Northroader got it in one. :^)

 

Why an American Sherman tank?

 

The North of Luxembourg has the dubious distinction of being invaded twice by, and being liberated twice from, the Germans during WWII.

 

Invaded and occupied firstly on 9th May 1940 as German troops swept through the Benelux countries bypassing the French Maginot line in their "race to the coast" culminating 4 weeks later with the Dunkirk evacuation on 4th June. Then liberated by American forces after D day in September 1944 with German forces being pushed without much resistance over the Our and Sauer rivers into Germany. But the worst was yet to come.

 

 

On 16th December 1944 the Wehrmacht launched what would be their last (and ultimately futile) major offensive of WWII "Wacht am Rein" the Ardennes Offensive, attempting to recreate the success of 1940 to reach the Port of Antwerp and cut the Allied armies in half - subsequently immortalised as "The Battle of the Bulge".

 

December 1944 German Army Group "B" with the 7th Army forming the Southern flank of the attacking German forces passes through North Luxembourg on the way westwards, before then being pushed back again by US forces (Kampfgruppe Peiper, Malmedy, Bastogne, "nuts" and all that...) in mid-January 1945.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

 

The irony of war - a knocked-out American Sherman and German StuG lie side-by-side in a cemetery, Ettelbruck 1945.

 

The 1 month fighting in Luxembourg was particularly bitter and correspondingly hard on the civilian population - over 2,100 homes were destroyed and another 1,400 seriously damaged with around 500 Luxembourgish civilian fatalities and over 45,000 refugees fleeing the destruction. The larger towns of Clervaux, Wiltz and Ettelbruck suffered significant damage – and memories would linger.

 

Various items of German military hardware and several American Sherman tanks now stand plinthed in various locations in memorial to the fighting, at Clervaux castle

 

 

In Ettelbruck

 

 

In Wiltz

 

 

...and at the most excellent Battle of the Bulge museum in Diekirch (if you are needing an excuse to visit Luxembourg? This is it – go.)

 

 

http://ardennes.secondworldwar.nl/museums-diekirch.php

 

What I said about memories lingering, in about 1975 we went on a day trip to Clervaux (I clambered all over the tank), by the parking in the town centre Mum went into a little tourist-trap tat shop to buy us ice-creams. The elderly lady behind the counter had problems understanding when Mum spoke to her in her native German. (All Luxembourgers are at least bi- if not tri-lingual). Giving the universal I don’t know what you’re on about blank stare and shrug of the shoulders, Mum could only stand nonplussed and stare at her. At that moment Dad walks in the shop and addresses Mum in English. The old lady’s face lights up “Ohhhh, you are English” she says “but certainly, Madame, what flavours would you like?” – in perfect German.

 

 

So, an Airfix kit (haven’t made one of these in decades) and a plinth made from various offcuts.

 

 

And do they even let kids clamber over them these days (or were we not supposed to have, even back in the day)? I’m sure H&S would have something to say about it…

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by TT-Pete
Mei leiwe jong.

[31A]

And in Arlon .....

 

[TT-Pete]

27 minutes ago, 31A said:

And in Arlon .....

 

I used to have the encyclopaedic After the Battle "Batlle of the Bulge" research volume, huge, heavy, thick as a doorstep and bloomin' expensive. It went AWOL during one of the many housemoves :^(

 

It listed all of the Bulge relics across Luxembourg/Belgium with text and photographic narrative of the battle day-by-day (including finely-researched "then and now" photographic comparisons.) Birthday gift from a good friend - sadly missed.  I particularly remember a photo of a length of German 88 tank barrel, complete with muzzle-brake, being used as a roof support in a farmer's cow shed.

 

If you like monuments of AFV's close to where they were knocked-out/salvaged, then there are some particularly fine German ones, King Tiger Koenigstiger and Panther. (like I said - need another excuse to visit the area?) :^)

 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by TT-Pete

[TT-Pete]

10 hours ago, Northroader said:

The one I’ve come across is at Colmar, where I gather there was a pitched battle, but no holes visible.

 

Northroader, Bulge purists (or bulgy purists) would argue that this, along with the one at Diekirch, are not "proper" Shermans being the later "Easy Eight" versions;

 

M4A3(76)W HVSS or M4A3E8 “Easy Eight”

 

A famous derivative, commonly known as the M4A3E8 or “Easy Eight”, first produced by Detroit Arsenal factory, had a 47 degree sloped glacis with large hatches, wet ammo bins, full up-armored sides, new HVSS suspensions, a revised turret with the long 76.2 mm (3 in) gun fitted with a muzzle brake. They were designed on British specs (local denomination “Sherman AY”), and were produced from March 1944 to April 1945, with 4542 units total. Many had upper side skirt protection.

They were fast, with the Ford V8 500 hp, giving a maximum 47 km/h (29.2 mph) speed. The “Easy Eight” had a range of 161 km (100 mi), with a 475 l/100 km (201.94 gal/100 mi) consumption. These saw action in the latest phases of the conflict in Europe and in the Pacific. The “Easy Eight” was retained in service long after the war and saw service in Korea and Vietnam, as well as in many foreign armies.

****

(Including Israel where it is interesting to think that they might have seen action up against the arab Panzer IVs)

 

So although the first armoured divisions would have been being started to be kitted out and trained with them in late 1944, it is unlikely that any of them were actually involved in the battle, although technically possible as the Americans threw absolutely everything they had into the fray, so if  there had been a training battalion close to the line (and it was believed to be a "quiet" sector of the front line), then...

 

https://www.landmarkscout.com/mardasson-memorial-bastogne-war-museum-bastogne-belgium/

 

I don't recall After the Battle going in to any particular detail on this, but then a finer distinction like that would have been lost on me at the time.

 

[Northroader]

The ‘British’ Sherman, at Slapton Sands, would be one of the earlier type, then? It was lost before the D-Day landings.

[britishcolumbian]

On 16/08/2020 at 02:00, TT-Pete said:

Bought in Vancouver on honeymoon a few years back this rake of 6 brand-new and very tidily constructed Proto 2000 New York Central boxcars were in the secondhand section at Central Hobbies (https://www.central-hobbies.com)

Bill Dixon of Central Hobbies is oneof the prime movers of TT here in Vancouver. 

[TT-Pete]

10 hours ago, britishcolumbian said:

here in Vancouver. 

Oh, how I envy you. The last afternoon of our trip we sat in the sunshine in Green Park on the Harbour front, looking out over the bay watching the seaplanes landing and taking off - and both agreed that if we had discovered Vancouver in our 20's - we would never have left...

 

Ah. Yes. American TT, my other guilty pleasure.

 

Some 20 years ago I was at a swapmeet, on my knees and ferreting about in dusty boxes underneath a trader's stall, as is my wont. I find a battered cardboard box of American TT, a miscellany of made and half-made boxcars and caboose,

 

 

a couple of locos, 4 passenger cars,

 

and 15 unmade original HP products kits.

Probably the sad remains of some poor modeller's estate.

 

As a TT enthusiast it's interesting, but I'm not interested as I already have more than enough projects at home and I don't want to diversify into yet another direction. As I slide the box back under the table, straighten up and start to turn to walk away, I see the trader eyeballing me. He's probably been carting this box from show to show for years and can tell that he is about to lose a potential buyer. "Tell you what, 50 quid the lot." Damm. Why can they always sense this weakness in me?

 

Then Lionel released their range of 1:120 scale diecast "display" locos and eBay was awash with them for a while

 

 

And people like Elmer McKay bring out motorisation kits for some of them

 

And a group of modellers in Germany had a very brief cottage industry of producing ready-to-run adaptations using Tillig motors and running gear.

I keep telling myself that one day, one day, I will get around to building and finishing everything off...

 

And Modelling Mojo is a funny thing, I had been happily beavering away on the scenery up to the point I went on leave on 26th August and everything kind of hit the buffers since then. Then this week comes the Hornby TT 1:120 announcement and I get all excited and pre-order a whole bunch of stuff (Damm. Again.) But this time, this time, I have promised myself that I am actually going to have a layout ready and waiting to run it on when it turns up, so back to work...

 

 

[britishcolumbian]

7 minutes ago, TT-Pete said:

Oh, how I envy you. The last afternoon of our trip we sat in the sunshine in Green Park on the Harbour front, looking out over the bay watching the seaplanes landing and taking off - and both agreed that if we had discovered Vancouver in our 20's - we would never have left...

 

Ah. Yes. American TT, my other guilty pleasure.

 

And Modelling Mojo is a funny thing, I had been happily beavering away on the scenery up to the point I went on leave on 26th August and everything kind of hit the buffers since then. Then this week comes the Hornby TT 1:120 announcement and I get all excited and pre-order a whole bunch of stuff (Damm. Again.) But this time, this time, I have promised myself that I am actually going to have a layout ready and waiting to run it on when it turns up, so back to work...

Funny how that works, isn't it? And here I am, longing to move to the UK. Starting to think my only option will be to use my Hungarian papers to move to RoI, get Irish citizenship, and do it like that... well, one day!

 

Did you get yourself one of the PRR SW1200s that MTB produced? I've got one that I kitbashed to an SP SW8 with dynamic brake, and a second undec that is earmarked for the BC Hydro yellow of my childhood... however I may sell it instead to fund British and Hungarian stuff... (actually, thinking of paring down my collection of coaches).

 

I know what you mean about modelling mojo... I've got most of what I need for my Japanese N project, a fair chunk for the Hungarian, but neither has progressed beyond planning stages. I'm really itching to get started with the British, but kinda feel like I don't want to commit to actually building any buildings (Pen Mill is the plan) until I've actually got some equipment in hand. So for the time being just doing little things like weathering equipment and living vicariously through others' layouts! I love the idea you have here for mixing scales for perspective/depth, and Lux is an intriguing subject on top of that!

[TT-Pete]

There hasn't been an update for a while, mostly of late I've been doing scenics - celotex, plaster, basing glue, dried tea leaves, poster paint, foliage clumps/tufts, hairspray, excetera.

 

 

The Fleischmann Br212 is a recent find, unboxed, battered and non-running "spares or repair", only required one loose bogie retaining screw to be fixed, paintwork touch-up and a coat of satin varnish. A classic Fleischmann mechanism, it runs like a sewing machine.

 

 

Petersweiler main street is still a little bit bare, but I thought it should have an xmas tree anyway.

 

 

In other news, I am totally to blame for this one;

 

 

Liliput(Wien) have a reputation for duff mechanisms. All German model railway forums will have loads of posts asking about about fixing bad running or re-motoring these locos.

 

Hence a Golden rule I have set for myself: Never buy a Liliput loco you have not actually seen running in the flesh first.

 

So I was at this swapmeet. Chap has a Liliput(Wien) S3/6 Br18 in DRG livery on his stall. I have a soft spot for S3/6's. "How does it run?" I ask. "Fine." Says he - well, he would, wouldn't he? To be fair it did do a number of circuits just fine before there was at first an almost imperceptible whine/whirring noise that got louder as the loco ran slower and slower. Now it just sits there screaming it's nuts off on full power.

 

 

German Modellbahnforii opine that this is a common fault with the tender drive. Don't bother trying to fix it, swap it out with a working one, good luck finding one. So with that the loco got relegated to the "embarrassing puchases" section at the back of a cupboard.

 

 

So I just happened to be looking into re-motoring old DDR-era Piko tender locos. I saw that PMT produce a drive that they market as "Just drops in!". Hmm. A Liliput(Wien) tender body is more or less of the same proportions as a Piko Br01 tender. Unlikely to "just drop in", but it might be feasible with a bit of surgery...

 

 

So Xmas Eve morning we were doing some last shopping in town, which included a visit to the model shop, where I just had to get this little seasonal feature;

 

 

And so from the mean streets of downtown Petersweiler - I bid everyone A merry Xmas, and a gudden Rutsch for the new year.

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by TT-Pete