Planned German Layout

[jhock]

I thought I would share my plans for a small German HO Layout .

 

The plan is for 9ft by 1ft scenic section with fiddle yard if and when I ever exhibit the layout. 

 

Set in the last 15 years or so using Peco code 75. 

 

Loosely based on an article in old magazine from 2007 called Modern Railway Modelling on place called Nagold near Stuttgart.   It features a small station, timber loading a warehouse for fright forwarding. 

 

[Les1952]

At the right-hand end do both tracks go offstage as a main line?   If so the crossover would need to be beyond the platform end.

 

Les

 

[jhock]

Hi Les,

 

It is terminus, so on the right neither lead off stage.  I did think I should flip the points so they clear the station.   Would that be needed if it a terminus?

 

James 

[roythebus]

No, it looks better the way it is. Continentals usually do things differently to the British way.

 

There's a metre gauge tramway I work on in Belgium (TTA) that has the exit crossover half way along the platform. And they often don't use the same raised platforms we have in the UK. It's nothing to find a siding branching off midway along a platform in Germany.

[rekoboy]

Good Morning! Does the station track layout have sufficient potential for operating fun and shunting - and is there sufficient opportunity to show off rolling stock to viewers (or to oneself!)? Might the warehouse or goods shed, labelled Spediteur, be replaced with an open-air loading track with a crane? Is there potential to the right of the station to add a one-road loco shed? Might you include a double-slip, found across many minor German termini?

[Joseph_Pestell]

Back in the early 90s, when I was visiting the Toy Fair, I found a small terminus on the north side of Nuremburg city centre that was very similar to your proposed layout.

I can't find it on current maps but if someone here knows what the station was called, you may be able to find details via the web.

[D9020 Nimbus]

Nürnberg Nordost?

 

Whether I've got the name right or not, this was a small terminus where trains from Gräfenberg terminated. The station and other (goods) termini in the Nürnberg area were often covered in Scale Model Trains in the past.

[Neils WRX]

I would move the crossover clear of the platform, but leave the point into the siding where it is.

 

Is the line double track to the fiddle yard ?

 

Are you running loco hauled trains, if so I'd make the platform a little longer to accommodate 212 and two Silverfish coaches as thats just under 3 foot in length.

 

Stay safe,

 

Neil

[Joseph_Pestell]

2 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

Nürnberg Nordost?

 

Whether I've got the name right or not, this was a small terminus where trains from Gräfenberg terminated. The station and other (goods) termini in the Nürnberg area were often covered in Scale Model Trains in the past.

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

Thank you. It looks very different now.

 

 

[jhock]

I had a little redesign:

 

German 7 by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

Not sure, but I think it might be more realistic?

[jhock]

Or maybe:

 

German 8 by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

I widen the baseboards a tiny bit.

Edited September 9, 2020 by jhock

[dick rowland]

7 hours ago, jhock said:

Or maybe:

 

German 8 by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

I widen the baseboards a tiny bit.

 

 

This is the best option so far, in my opinion. I feel that the timber loading area should preferably not be directly opposite the platform area. The whole thing 'flows' better.

[Joseph_Pestell]

This is a much more typical model railway branch line terminus.

 

Easier to operate but I feel that it is so much less interesting than your first design.

 

Definitely worth looking up some real German branch line termini and finding one that meets your requirements (albeit with a need to compress to your 9' length). Don't forget some locations that were through stations in the past but are a terminus now.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Looking at this again, I wonder if you can also make better use of the limited width by putting the station building to the rear and modelling it in low-relief.

[rekoboy]

'German 8' looks much more appealing to me, too. I agree with the comment about the station building as a low-relief structure at the back. I think it would be unlikely that a a rural terminus (or a former through station, would have a big freight warehouse. For a small station transformed from a through station to a terminus see, for example, Osterfeld on the former through line from Zeitz to Camburg. Here is a copy of some track plans, including the 'terminus' Osterfeld from the excellent book from the Kenning-Verlag.

Gunther Wilde, Hans-Jürgen Barteld: Die Nebenbahn Zeitz–Osterfeld–Camburg (= Nebenbahndokumentation. Band 28). Kenning, Nordhorn 1997, ISBN 3-927587-76-1 (96 S.)

Here is also a photo of Osterfeld just before total closure with a railbus belonging to KEG (Karsdorfer Eisenbahngesellschaft). That railway operating company arrived on the scene after German reunification with the privatization of the cement works in Karsdorf.

Edited September 11, 2020 by rekoboy

[jhock]

Thanks chaps.

 

I am beginning to think I am going to struggle to accommodate everything I want in one layout.  

 

I am more interested in freight operations, so perhaps could be better off going with an urban theme, I have been looking at Hamburg and it offers so really good potential for for dense urban freight operations.

Edited September 10, 2020 by jhock
Spelling

[Joseph_Pestell]

32 minutes ago, jhock said:

Thanks chaps.

 

I am beginning to think I am going to struggle to accommodate everything I want in one layout.  

 

I am more interested in freight operations, so perhaps could be better off going with an urban theme, I have been looking at Hamburg and it offers so really good potential for for dense urban freight operations.

 

We all struggle with space issues.

 

Given the era that you are looking to model (post 2000), any passenger operation is likely to be simple: a DMU, a railcar, or a push-pull unit. So the passenger element of the layout need not take up much space.

 

Freight will always provide more operational interest but, of course, small freight sites have declined a lot over the last 40 years, Nurnburg NordOst being an example. I wonder if you may have more success if you look for a site in former East Germany.

 

There are some "tricks" that you can employ to make best use of the space. Sidings/warehouse in front of the fiddleyard, runround loop modelled partly offscene (hidden by scenic break), etc.

 

Perhaps a terminus is not the right answer. A "timesaver" shunting puzzle plan with industry at the front and a single track passenger line at the rear, possibly at a higher level, serving a small halt could be  better. 

[Neils WRX]

16 hours ago, jhock said:

Or maybe:

 

German 8 by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

I widen the baseboards a tiny bit.

 

That looks better, my only suggestion would maybe to move the station into the centre of the loop, and maybe swap the two points for a double slip.

 

My Czech layout is also 9 foot long, includes a station, log loading, and a factory with two sidings (see link in my signature), however my layout is 2 foot wide and part of the run round does take place "off scene". My station is a former through station rather than a terminus. My passenger trains are load 3/4, freights are up to about 5 foot long.

 

Stay safe,

 

Neil

[michl080]

hi there,

 

I published small station layouts some time ago. If you are interested:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/140899-german-layout-idea/&do=findComment&comment=3417002

 

Michael

[jhock]

i have been ding a bit more Google research, it shame you can't get street view in most of Germany, but I found an interesting option:

 

Weissach by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

It is a small terminus that features an engine shed and seems to also be the destination for a preserved railway at the weekends.  I came up with this plan:

 

German 10 by James Hockley, on Flickr

 

I added the extra siding at the bottom so I can load timber and maybe sugar beat. 

Edited September 10, 2020 by jhock
Spelling

[jhock]

With a small revision:

 

German 11 by James Hockley, on Flickr

[michl080]

funny,

 

I am living in this village. If you need pictures, I can provide what you need.

here is the layout before the station was crippled.

 

 

Michael

 

[jhock]

25 minutes ago, michl080 said:

funny,

 

I am living in this village. If you need pictures, I can provide what you need.

here is the layout before the station was crippled.

 

 

Michael

 

Thanks Michael,

 

I take the station is no longer in use?

 

James

Edited September 11, 2020 by jhock
Spelling

[mezzoman253]

I thought that looks familiar, and then it dawned on me. I'd been there in 2008 on a preserved steam trip from Stuttgart Korntal. So you could run this...........................

Edited September 11, 2020 by mezzoman253

[michl080]

10 hours ago, jhock said:

I take the station is no longer in use?

 

8 hours ago, mezzoman253 said:

I thought that looks familiar, and then it dawned on me. I'd been there in 2008 on a preserved steam trip from Stuttgart Korntal. So you could run this...........................

 

 

Weissach has no traffic since the whole line was renovated. The last part from Heimerdingen tzo Weissach is still there, but all trains return at Heimerdingen. However, the line is still there and is is used by the GES, a heritage railway group that has its headquarter at the Kornwestheim marshalling yard https://goo.gl/maps/s1F5cuxCzumwvbTV9 .

As they have no shed there, they moved their workshop to Weissach.

 

50 3636 is a east German class 50, that was bought and operated by GES for quite a few years. Its boiler ticker expired some years ago and the boiler is in such a bad condition that the engine was towed to the Horb reailway museum. It is very unlikely that it will run anytime soon again.

 

Here is a picture from the 1970s showing the engine shed. There have already been heritage railways around at that time :-)

 

 

Michael