Obermatt Swiss N gauge layout

[Frutigen]

Thank you Peter, really useful tips there. 

[Frutigen]

Someone kindly donated a good camera to our charity shop and it fell to me to check it out before we list it on our eBay store. Well, it wouldn't have been a proper test without shooting some video clips.

 

 

Keen-eyed regular readers will spot that this was filmed before the plastic trees at the front resigned and got replaced by something else. Not to mention the dodgy point on the entry to the station.

 

It's 6 minutes just watching the same train go round, which is exactly what Obermatt was designed for. The shaky camera work in the latter half is down to me trying to learn too many skills at once - zooming on the fly and using the back of an office chair as a camera dolly for swivel and sideways movements.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Frutigen

[Samedan]

I’m a bit late to the conversation, but I’m glad you went with the deciduous screen at the top of the embankment. It looks really good and works much better than the individual conifers you tried. The more scrubby trees look more like you would find in such a confined situation and are actually less intrusive in the overall scene, whilst paradoxically providing more visual separation between the levels, in my view. 
I’m often struck, when visiting Switzerland, how deciduous trees predominate over conifers even up to quite high altitudes. Whereas, on model railways, conifers almost always are stuck in everywhere. 

[Frutigen]

4 hours ago, Samedan said:

I’m a bit late to the conversation, but I’m glad you went with the deciduous screen at the top of the embankment. It looks really good and works much better than the individual conifers you tried. The more scrubby trees look more like you would find in such a confined situation and are actually less intrusive in the overall scene, whilst paradoxically providing more visual separation between the levels, in my view. 
I’m often struck, when visiting Switzerland, how deciduous trees predominate over conifers even up to quite high altitudes. Whereas, on model railways, conifers almost always are stuck in everywhere. 

Thank you for the encouraging words. I’ve lived with the new trees for a while now and it feels like they belong there. I agree, they manage to provide better scenic separation while still being less intrusive, and I’m content with that. 

[Gordonwis]

13 hours ago, Samedan said:

I’m a bit late to the conversation, but I’m glad you went with the deciduous screen at the top of the embankment. It looks really good and works much better than the individual conifers you tried. The more scrubby trees look more like you would find in such a confined situation and are actually less intrusive in the overall scene, whilst paradoxically providing more visual separation between the levels, in my view. 
I’m often struck, when visiting Switzerland, how deciduous trees predominate over conifers even up to quite high altitudes. Whereas, on model railways, conifers almost always are stuck in everywhere. 

 

Indeed. We are back full circle to my comment in January that said the same thing and precipitated (I think) the change

 

Geographically, in terms of railways and trees, the majority of main line railways in mountain areas are of course in valleys, which is where the trees are usually deciduous. This is why trees near tracks on model railways in Alpine settings ought to be predominantly deciduous for maximum realism. Mountain backscenes and the transition to the latter is the place for conifers In addition to my example on the Lotschberg back in January, another example is near Amsteg-Silenen on  on the Gotthard. This angle from the village web site is instructive - deciduous trees alongside and around the railway - conifers on the hilsides : https://www.silenen.ch/images/slider/slide-a.jpg

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Gordonwis

[Frutigen]

As mentioned in another thread, I now have the correct BLS Bt coach to go with my Arnold EW I Lötschbergbahn coaches. Clearly this calls for a video.

 

 

Best wishes to all for Christmas and the New Year.

[swisspeat]

Superb:

 

video

 

train

 

layout!

 

Well done. You have shown the benefits of N scale.

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter

[Frutigen]

Thank you @swisspeat 🙂

[Nutbrook]

Nice clip Keith, trees look great as well. 

 

[Frutigen]

My friend has been collecting and restoring classic luxury train coaches for his Ludwigshafen layout, and today he brought them to Obermatt for a visit. We gave the Orient Express the customary pair of Re4/4"s for motive power, and for the Rheingold we tried out his newly acquired Br185. Throwing caution to the wind, it was the second hand 185's first test run and we had to temporarily install a decoder for use on Obermatt. Despite the odds it ran really well.

 

I've no idea if these train formations are anywhere near correct, but it was great fun. 

 

 

 

Edited January 26 by Frutigen

[Frutigen]

I now have a more up to date phone with a fancier camera, but somehow it doesn't seem to cope with this situation very well. I had to ditch quite a few clips because they went too far out of focus as the train moved around. Maybe I need to read the manual. If there is a manual.

 

Anyway, here's a long freight train.

 

 

Edited January 31 by Frutigen

[cornish trains jez]

On 31/01/2024 at 20:21, Frutigen said:

I now have a more up to date phone with a fancier camera, but somehow it doesn't seem to cope with this situation very well. I had to ditch quite a few clips because they went too far out of focus as the train moved around. Maybe I need to read the manual. If there is a manual.

 

Anyway, here's a long freight train.

 

 

Love it Keith! Re10/10 with a nice long freight meandering around your superbly landscaped layout - always a pleasure to see!

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

[Frutigen]

Thank you Jeremy. I'm hoping the next one will be a bit more in focus now that I've looked up how to work the camera on my phone. I think.