Sir Madog Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Ever since a family vacation in Switzerland back in 1963, I maintained a love for the Swiss metre-gauge mountain railways. To favorite was the former Furka Oberalp Bahn, and only a split second behing the Rhaetian Railway. Over those more that 5 decades, I never had the chance to combine my interest in these railways with my interest in model railways. After some recent projects ended in epic failures, I decided to give it a go - for what is most likely the final layout I will be building. With no specific layout idea in the back of my head, I started to collect a few RhB related items - those nice laser-cut building kits from Faller, which are for reasons beyond my understanding available only in Switzerland, a railcar, a Glacier Express train set, some track. With those items on hand, it was time to develop a layout idea, which proved to be quite a task, as available space and funds are strictly limited. The idea of following the prototype closely soon had to be dropped for being too complex to realize. Instead, it will be a rather small (130cm by 80cm) tail-chasing roundy-rounder with a profound Swiss flavor. The track plan is a rather simple affair - just an oval with a siding. Operation will be limited, but thta´s not an issue. With previous more complex layouts, I found myself just letting a train run down the loop most of the time and those expensive points were a waste There will be some drama to the scenefry, though, which is a combination of the sation at Stugl/Stuls on the Albula line and a scene on the former BVZ now MGB line at Stalden Neubrück. Some more 3D pictures: ... and a short film: Construction will start wiith building the table holding the benchwork. It´ll be on casters so I can move the layout easily, should it be in my wife´s way ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Looks very interesting. Will follow this as I too am a (more recent) fan of RhB and a Glacier Express owner. Would like to see a photo of the laser cut buildings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 pauln - here are the pictures you wanted to see: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Oh very nice. If I hadn't come back from a trip round Switzerland only a few weeks back I would have popped over and got one of these. (and of course I should have said "please" in my original request) Thanks Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted September 11, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 11, 2015 pauln - here are the pictures you wanted to see: I like the name of the station ! Stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wollastonblue Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Another fan of the Swiss Metre Gauge. I too am about to embark on a layout based on the RhB. I look forward to your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 16, 2015 Author Share Posted September 16, 2015 I paid my local DIY-store a visit this morning and ordered all the lumber and boards I need to build the baseboard, which will essentially a small open cabinet on casters with the layout mounted on top of it. I also now have all the track I need on hand, but found out that I have a left-hand point instaed of the right-hand point I thought I´d get. No harm done, I just had to mirror the plan. The catenary required a lot more thinking. I intend to use Sommerfeldt catenary, which is readily available and, though not really cheap, still within my rather limited budget for this layout. "Stringing the wire" is a lot more complex than I thought it would be. Not like in the good old Marklin days, with stamped tin catenary wire, that was bent into curves. You need to understand quite a lot how the prototype puts up the catenary system, so I did quite a lot of research and finally bought the quite extensive manual from Sommerfeldt. Unfortunately, SCARM does not have a library for catenary, so I had to individually draw each different mast and OHLE wire - just to see how that will fit on my layout and get an overview and what I need to buy. Here si a pic of that effort: While I was at it, I redrew the plan on the basis of the mirrored track plan. I also prepared a short movie showing the different stages of preparing this layout concept: Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 If at all possible I would avoid a catenary post at the end of a siding. On the occassions they did this the post was substantial. Instead use a gantry. Hope I have explained that correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Seeing all those trees you might be interested in refering to http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/44123-experiments-with-t-trak-module-in-the-swiss-style/ What goes around, comes around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 16, 2015 Author Share Posted September 16, 2015 Mike, I remember your thread very well! Whatever happened to your layout? As for the catenary post at the end of a stub track, I stand to correct you There are a number of location along the RhB lines were you just encounter this situation. Check this model of Alp Grum on the Bernina line: Here is a video of the same layout - check the location of the post at 0.45min! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 As for the catenary post at the end of a stub track, I stand to correct you There are a number of location along the RhB lines were you just encounter this situation. Check this model of Alp Grum on the Bernina line: I would not necessarily rely on a model as a reference, however the real location does indeed have an example, so I stand corrected. Looking forward to seeing this progress. I must admit the Kato Glacier Express is tempting. How large is the layout using the Bemo items? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 16, 2015 Author Share Posted September 16, 2015 Mike - I know the prototype location quite well, but didn´t find a suitable picture, that´s why i took the picture of this outstanding location. Michiel´s layout is actually quite large - I understand something like 17 ft. by 15 ft, but I am not sure on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 It took a lot of searching but I did eventually find some large images on flickr. In fairness Michiel's layout is very close to the prototype. As far as size is concerned I was interested in your proposed layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 It´s just a tad bigger than a micro-layout, following Carl Arendt´s definition. The layout is 1.30m by 0.80m, track will be Bemo standard track (which I got for free), Catenary from Sommerfeldt. Buildings from Faller and Tilly Models/NL. The one signal will be from Schneider Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Quite a lot has happened since my last post 10 fays ago! The layout cabinet is now finished - thanks to the help of my friend Claus ( and his well-equipped workshop). Here are the two of us - the proud amateur carpenters: The cabinet is now at my home. I have temporarily put up some track, so I can run a train until the actual baseboard for the layout is built. Not really much of a layout, but still lots of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 A few weeks ago, my old computer died without a warning and I have been offline since. Today I received my son´s old `puter and I am back in business! Quite a lot has happened since. The baseboard has been built the cork roadbed installed and the track laid & temporarilywired,so I can now run my daily"Glacier-Express". The proud carpenters: Cork roadbed done: Trains are running: The controller wil eventually be integrated into a drawer, together with the switches for the building light, point motor and the signal I will have to think about a cup holder - nothing is more relaxing than watching the trains roll by while enjoying a nice cup of coffee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 It´s been a while since my last post and quite a lot has happened on my little layout. The basic scenery has been completed, most of the wiring is done as well, but there are still quite a few things to do before the layout is as completed as a layout can be. This is how the layout looks as per today: Installing the curved backscene is quite a challenge, but will come next. Catenary´s next after that! I have "moved" the layout from the RhB Albula line to the Matterhorn Gotthardbahn at Stalden (VS) - Neubrück, the prototype location of the bridge & chapel scene. More to come! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 Right in time for the Easter holidays, a surprise gift arrived at my doorstep! A Swiss friend of mine was unhappy with the fake Swiss PTT bus propped up on the road next to the chapel, so he sent me a highly detailed diecast model of a Saurer bus which formed the backbone of Swiss PTT bus services up untill the 1980´s What a nice gift! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Downloadable MP3 of the post bus horn still available here: https://www.postauto.ch/en/three-tone-horn Could get very annoying at exhibitions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 Thanks - that´s exactly what I was looking for! I agree - it could prove to be annoying, but I´ll be the only one who could get annoyed I doubt my layout will ever be exhibited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Installing the curved backscene was quite a hassle, but with the combined effort of a dear friend of mine and myself, we finally got it done. The backscene still needs some adjustments and blending in to be done, but I am already quite pleased with the result. For quite a while I was pondering to install a photo-realistic backscene, but gave up on the idea as it would prove to dominate the layout too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 The year is 2003. In Switzerland, the Furka-Oberalp Railway (FO) and the Brig-Visp-Zermatt Railway (BVZ) have just merged to form the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway. Locos and rolling stock yet have to receive the new livery of the MGB. On a nice day in August, railfans thus could observe FO locos pulling the famous Glacier Express on BVZ track, heading towards Zermatt. Here, the train passes through Stalden (VS)-Neubrück, passing the little chapel of St. Michael´s, before reaching Stalden station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Madog Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 Progress is slow these days, but there is progress! I finished the bus stop scene: .... populated the platform: .. and added some figures to a coach: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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