WW2 Era Railway crossings.

[G-man69]

Hi Nearholmer,

 

Googling 'bullhead' rail comes up with a sort of dumbbell shape, with the lower bell being flat bottomed and the upper bell having a slightly rounded head.  If that's correct i think i can modify the kit part by adding some plastic strip to the vertical leg (see sketch below).

 

Which, in your opinion, would be the more accurate?

 

Regards,

 

G

[Nearholmer]

Unfortunately, Option 1.

[K14]

Have you considered Gauge 1? That's 10mm/ft or 1:32 scale, so pretty close to your 1:35.

 

£12.75 for a yard of bullhead flexi-track: http://www.tenmille.com/gauge1track.html

 

Pete S.

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Better idea, should have thought of it.

[GRASinBothell]

I've just discovered this thread, and as I read through, I wondered if anyone was going to suggest Gauge 1 as being suitable, then I finally got to the end and found it. Tenmille Models, in addition to selling the track and track components, also do a signal kit, gas lamps and some etched signs that might be useful in adding atmosphere.

Not being a Gauge 1 modeller, I'm wondering if anyone else offers Gauge 1 level crossing gates. Anyone know?

Gordon

[G-man69]

Hi again Nearholmer,

 

Thanks for the comment on the best modification option, however, I think the Gauge 1 suggested by K14 and endorsed by GRASinBothell will be the less painful approach.  The Miniart kit can be shelved until I build a mainland Europe scene, :-).

 

But thanks again for your invaluable help todate.

 

G

[G-man69]

Hi K14,

 

Thank you, that's a great suggestion, will save me a great deal of hassle.

 

Regards,

 

G 

[G-man69]

Hi GRASinBothell,

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and for endorsing K14s suggestion.  I will follow your suggestion and see what might be available infrastructure-wise in the scale.

 

Cheers,

 

G

[Harlequin]

Hi G-man69,

 

I think we'd all be interested to see the finished diorama (and possibly updates during the build if you are up for it). There is a forum section for dioramas: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/151-boxfiles-micro-layouts-dioramas/

 

A random thought: I wonder if a version at 1:76 scale would fit into a cakebox???

 

[G-man69]

Hi Harlequin,

 

I'd be more than happy to post some updates along the way, as well as the finished article for you guys to critique...it's the least I can do as a thank you for all your help.  I'm pretty certain that your feedback will help keep me on track (excuse the pun) and that your continued assistance will help make the finished product that more accurate.

 

The cake box comment made me chuckle, depends on how big a cake you can manage I guess, :-)!

 

Cheers,

 

G

[Harlequin]

On RMWeb a cake box has a very particular size: 8 by 8 by 6 inches. It forms part of an ongoing series of challenges to make small dioramas. For example: 

 

 

[michl080]

17 hours ago, G-man69 said:

The Miniart kit can be shelved until I build a mainland Europe scene, :-).

 

Morning!

 

That would be a scene quite late in WW2. This are "Reichsbahn" style chairs. Quite unlikely that they have been widely used anywhere in occupied Europe.

 

Michael

[G-man69]

Hi Harlequin,

 

 A box that size, 8"x8"x6 (203.2x203.2x152.4mm), would be quite a challenge, but you've got me thinking as to whether the idea I have would fit.  Looking at a tape measure, I suspect that with 1/72 or 1/76 scale it might just be feasible.  I'll see what the box size equates to in 1/72 and scale it up to 1/35 and set myself the added challenge if I think it's workable, :-).

 

Cheers,

 

G

[G-man69]

Hi Michl080,

 

Thanks for the feedback.  If i'm understanding you correctly, although Miniart call them European Gauge, you are saying that they're unlikely to be used anywhere outside of Germany?

 

Regards,

 

G

[Il Grifone]

Flat bottom rail is now general practice worldwide but each country/administration has its own  practice in the details. The gauge is usually 4' 8½"/ 1435mm but some countries are different (Russia, India, Spain, and Ireland for example).

 

The model favourite is Peco Streamline. at least in 00 and H0 scale. It is actually H0 scale (1:87), but since both use 16.5mm gauge, it's convenient to ignore the difference in scale.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard-gauge_railway

Edited September 30, 2019 by Il Grifone

[G-man69]

Hi Il Grifone,

 

Thank you for your input, I knew that the Russian gauge was different as Miniart,  the company that makes the European gauge that I was initially intending to use, make a specific set for WW2 era Russian track.  However, I was surprised at Spain and Ireland due to their proximity to other European countries.  I was also surprised at India due to their historical connection to Britain, especially regarding railways...every day is a school day, :-).

 

Thanks again for the information,

 

G

[ikcdab]

I agree that the variation was massive. Every crossing was different. Have a look at dunster sea lane crossing. The road served a U.S. army base at dunster beach and was used in the build up to d day. I have a story of a tank demolishing one of the gates.  There are a number of pictures of the crossing in gwr days around and i have more details if needed.

[G-man69]

Hi ikcdab,

 

Thanks for the heads-up, I 'googled' the dunster crossing, and one of the first images is the sort of thing I was envisaging (see image below).  Now all I need to do is try and scale off dimensions of timbers etc.

 

Brilliant, thanks again,

 

G

[kevinlms]

3 hours ago, G-man69 said:

Hi Il Grifone,

 

Thank you for your input, I knew that the Russian gauge was different as Miniart,  the company that makes the European gauge that I was initially intending to use, make a specific set for WW2 era Russian track.  However, I was surprised at Spain and Ireland due to their proximity to other European countries.  I was also surprised at India due to their historical connection to Britain, especially regarding railways...every day is a school day, :-).

 

Thanks again for the information,

 

G

Take a look at Australia then, the track gauges here are a disaster!

[timbowilts]

14 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Take a look at Australia then, the track gauges here are a disaster!

No worse than South Africa surely? They started off with 4’ 8+1/2”, switched to 3’ 6” when they got to the mountains, then added 2’ gauge where the mountains got even more difficult. Now in this century they have built a new 4’ 8+1/2” gauge railway to move commuters into Johannesburgh!

Tim T

[michl080]

On 29/09/2019 at 12:45, G-man69 said:

Thanks for the feedback.  If i'm understanding you correctly, although Miniart call them European Gauge, you are saying that they're unlikely to be used anywhere outside of Germany?

The chairs that sit on the sleepers to fix the rail are German "Rippenplatten". They have been standardized in Germany in 1926. See wikipedia for details.

Other countries like France had different designs to attach the rail on the sleeper. It might have been possible that the German Reichsbahn modified rails in occupied Europe with German style parts, but I assume that local material would have been preferred. So the Miniart kit models the German style of European gauge.

 

Michael

[Mark Saunders]

The gauge of your countries railway was fundamental to your counties defence, it would mean if anyone invaded they could not use it to easily transport their Military easily!

[Il Grifone]

14 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

The gauge of your countries railway was fundamental to your counties defence, it would mean if anyone invaded they could not use it to easily transport their Military easily!

 

It didn't stop the Russians in WWII or the two sides in the American Civil War (the North used standard gauge and the South 5 Feet generally). They just used the captured rolling stock or regauged the track (relatively simple with rails spiked to the sleepers).

 

We can blame the Stephensons. They used their mineral line gauge, but it was later found to be too narrow and a wider gauge was preferred  in some cases (Brunel, as always, exaggerated!). The problem was when they came together. Brunel stated he had a solution to 'Change of gauge', but never revealed what it was!  (An SF story I read once suggested very wide tyres on the wheels, but that would present problems all of its own.)

Narrow gauges were used where tight curves were required.  (The Taff Vale wanted to use Brunel's broad gauge, but he said they couldn't have it (presumably for the curves) and insisted on the standard (or narrow as it was then) gauge for the line.

 

Sorry for waffle and forgetting Australia, but the list was already getting long....

[Mark Saunders]

2 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

It didn't stop the Russians in WWII or the two sides in the American Civil War (the North used standard gauge and the South 5 Feet generally). They just used the captured rolling stock or regauged the track (relatively simple with rails spiked to the sleepers).

 

 

It does not say stop an invasion but make it harder to transport after the event!

 

The Russians may have came by road but later extended their Russian guage of 5' foot further West !

 

[G-man69]

Hi KevinLMS, Timbowilts,

 

Thanks for the comments regarding all the different gauges...it's bad enough trying to get it right for a model in the UK.  I never knew it was potentially such a complex subject, I thought track was track apart from timber or concrete sleepers, lol!

 

Cheers,

 

G