Finnish countryside in 1930's

[ATT]

Greetings, I have been reading this forum for years and finally decided to write about my current layout project to see if there are people here interested of a Finnish layout.
 
The concept of the layout is to represent Finnish countryside in the late thirties. All buildings date back to 1900-1910 making that the earliest correct time period and with some alternations in the details the period can be stretched all the way to the 1950’s so a great variety of rolling stock can be used.
 
The layout consists of four sections each of them have 1200x600mm scenic area which makes the whole layout just under five metres long. The basic structure of the section has two overlapping insulation board pieces glued together. The rear side of the section has a 100mm wide shelf for wiring and other electrics including point motors. The sections are aligned together with steel L-profiles with conical pins and matching holes for precise alignment.
 

 
An mdf board pieces have been glued to the insulation boards to form an even and smooth surface where the track can be nailed to. All electrical wiring is in plastic tubing that runs under the scenery from the back of the layout to the desired point. Same applies to the point motors, they are at back and operate the points by a metal rod inside a metal tubing.
 

 
So far track has been laid for all sections and the scenery has been painted with brownish green base colour.
 

 
The basic scenery – which means static grass – has been applied on one of the sections.
 

 

 

 

The rolling stock will be mostly out of the box and modified kits and also some hand built items.
 

 
I have also some locomotives under development using mostly etched and 3d-printed parts.
 

 
I’d be happy to hear if there are people here interested of Finnish model railways, thank you for reading!

Edited November 6, 2016 by ATT

[NGT6 1315]

Well, the way I have got to know the RMweb community and their highly diverse modelling interests, I'm sure I'm not alone in definitely being interested in seeing more of your project! I cannot remember ever having seen any Finnish themed layouts before, as a matter of fact.

[NHY 581]

This is looking very nice. Looking forward to this developing.

 

Rob.

[SHMD]

Lots and lots of trees!

 

 

Apart from that I can not really help you with 1930s Finnish countryside but you can definitely put me down as one of the 'interested' RMwebbers.

I've travelled to Finland a few times and have another 2 trips scheduled either side of this Christmas.

 

The foods good, Helsinki is lovely and there are some really good rail related museums.

Apart from that, there are a LOT of trees!

 

 

Kev.

[chris p bacon]

Lots and lots of trees!

 

 

Apart from that I can not really help you with 1930s Finnish countryside but you can definitely put me down as one of the 'interested' RMwebbers.

I've travelled to Finland a few times and have another 2 trips scheduled either side of this Christmas.

 

The foods good, Helsinki is lovely and there are some really good rail related museums.

Apart from that, there are a LOT of trees!

 

 

Kev.

And lakes.....don't forget the lakes.

 

Very interested, I've only been to Finland once so far (WRC Rally Finland) and loved it. Stayed near Jyväskylä  and saw some of the railways used for transporting all those trees, also popped into the station with its impressive timber roof.

[ATT]

Thank you very much for everybody! I hope I can provide regular updates about the project. To be honest the progress has been rather slow so far, there has been periods of months of no progress because of all the other things going on. The beginning of the work for the layout actually dates all the way back to 2011.

 

A very good note from SHMD about the trees! I have estimated I need at least four hundred trees for the layout. Actually, one of the sections will be almost entirely forest. I'm going to follow mostly the methods described in Gordon Gravett's books when making the trees which takes quite a bit of time for each tree so I'm anticipating the tree making task with horror. The other signature element is water - as Chris there quite correctily pointed out - the layout should represent the part of the country where there is a lot of lakes, another one of the sections has a large portion of it covered by water.

Edited November 6, 2016 by ATT

[chris p bacon]

The beginning of the work for the layout actually dates all the way back to 2011.

That's nothing, There's quite a few here including me would find that positively rocketing along 

[£1.38]

A very good note from SHMD about the trees! I have estimated I need at least four hundred trees for the layout. Actually, one of the sections will be almost entirely forest. I'm going to follow mostly the methods described in Gordon Gravett's books when making the trees which takes quite a bit of time for each tree so I'm anticipating the tree making task with horror. The other signature element is water - as Chris there quite correctily pointed out - the layout should represent the part of the country where there is a lot of lakes, another one of the sections has a large portion of it covered by water.

 

You don't have to model each tree in detail - just the ones in the foreground. For the rest, the only bit you will see clearly is the canopy. Everything underneath will be dark and almost invisible.

[SHMD]

..and if it's a snow scene, just use cotton wool! No need for water or trees!

 

 

 

 

OK, maybe not.

 

 

Kev.

[ATT]

£1.38: A very good point, works especially with the dense spruce forest which will probably be a big mass of green at the back of the layout.

 

SHMD: Actually I've been toying with the winter setting for many years but never done anything like that. Perhaps I just hate winter too much!

 

I have also an older and smaller layout project that was originally meant to be an exhibition layout but eventually I didn't think it would be good enough. I wanted to create the feeling of a GWR branch line terminus in a Finnish setting - although a branch lines is something we don't really have here at all. Now the layout is still very much unfinished and serves as my test bench for landscaping ideas.

 

Here's some detail photos that won't reveal how much work-in-progress -state it really is in. The locomotive is kit built, everything else built from scratch.

 

A station building and a small warehouse, original design from late 1860's:

 

 

 

A larger warehouse from the same period with an industrial Bjurström-type locomotive built in 1:1 by Finnish manufacturer Lokomo:

 

 

 

A narrow river is crossed while approaching the station:

 

Edited November 7, 2016 by ATT

[NHY 581]

Tapping a 'like' button is simply not enough here.

 

ATT, you have a good eye and a light touch with your modelling.

 

This is first class craftsmanship. The buildings are splendid but your approach to scenery is pure quality.

 

More. Now.......if not sooner.

 

Rob.

[NGT6 1315]

Can only second what Rob wrote. Top job so far!

 

By the way, are you using standard gauge H0 track or having a go at scratchbuilding 1,520 mm (or more properly for the period, 1,524) track?

Edited November 7, 2016 by NGT6 1315

[caradoc]

A very interesting project ATT, look forward to progress.

 

I've only been to Finland once, in 1986 when myself and two friends travelled over the inland rail route from Oulu to Helsinki. We were following our progress on the map but became confused when we couldn't find the station named 'Ravintola'. Only when we got to the next station, which also had a big sign saying 'Ravintola', did we realise that this is actually the Finnish word for restaurant !

[Allegheny1600]

Hello ATT,

Another fan here!

Not only have I never been to Finland, I've only ever met two people who actually came from that country! However, I find railways from every part of the world quite fascinating and applaud your work for attempting such an unusual model AND for the lovely work you have achieved already.

Wonderful stuff!

John.

[ATT]

nhy581: Thank you so much for the comments, as well as everybody else I might not have mentioned! I'm still gobsmacked by all these comments I couldn't have imagined getting among all the great modelling one can find on this site. I'll try to keep this thread updated - whenever I have actually time to get on with the project.

 

A good note from NGT6 1315, the track is actually standard Peco Code75. I have considered trying to build a layout with the correct 17.5 mm gauge but never seen it worth the effort really. On the other hand I've been thinking of building something in the 0 scale and with that I calculated that by choosing the scale 1:48 and using the standard 32 mm gauge track it is pretty much exactly correct. But with H0, mea culpa!

 

Caradoc: wonderful anecdote! Just like certain unreliable trains today; you sit in it for ages and the name of the station stays the same! Your story reminds me of the Soviet Union passenger coaches, one of them had a huge text PECTOPAH on the side and as a kid I was wondering who is so important he has his name on the coach like that.

 

Allegheny1600: Unusuality is all in the perspective - if I'll one day do something really exotic to me, I'll build a GWR branch line layout (which I'd love to do actually, being a huge fan of railways of Britain). :-)

Edited November 8, 2016 by ATT

[£1.38]

Using 16.5mm track for 5ft gauge in HO is quite a good compromise. Wheels in HO tend to be over wide compared to scale, so the outside of the wheel faces won't be far wrong for you.

[ATT]

Exactly! And when the outside of the wheels are at the correct place, for example the motion gear and cylinders of a steam engine don't need to be widened and so on. Also, it's possible to replace the commonly used RP25/110 wheels with ones that are correct width to scale and use the correct gauge without other modifications.

 

Meanwhile, third attempt with the base colour of the lake gave the desired effect. The shallower shores need some touches of brown in same manner as in the river photo above. After other necessary detailing has been done the water can be modelled with Vallejo's Still Water.

 

[westerner]

I'm liking this. It is quite refreshing to see layouts based on railways other than those in Britain

[ATT]

Progress. It is slow - but imminent. Some landscaping work has been done with the lake section of the layout. The enbankment has now it's basic coat of sand and also some grass - where the weed killers of the period didn't reach them. Also the ground of the forest has received it's basic coating, static grass alternating with sandy ground. The lake itself is yet to receive it's final surface.

 

The mound behind the track is representing a ridge that was created from sand by the melting ice during the end of the last ice age. The railway at the shoreline of such ridge might look a bit exotic but it has a match in the real world - there are places where railway follows such shoreline for miles in southeastern part of the country.

 

Later the nearest part of the ridge will get bushes and small trees. Behind that, some birches and other broadleaf trees and the majority of the forest will be pines which are typical for such setting.

 

 

[NHY 581]

Oh this is very good indeed.

 

Rob

[Miss Prism]

The tranquility is fabulous.

[SHMD]

I am currently working Espoo, which is just outside Helsinki, at Aalto University. I have been coming here for the last ten years or so and visit the same customer every year or two.

We get along great although, currently, we are embroiled in a “chocolate-duel” where I bring good British chocolate for her and she gives me the best Finnish chocolate. I like to think of this as a “win-win” situation but I can't help thinking that I am getting the better deal out of this!

 

Anyway, I asked her “what was typical 1930s Finnish Agriculture?” and I then proceeded to show her this thread as way of explanation.

 

She immediately replied “Cows”!

She then went on to explain that Finland was based on Dairy Farming so cows would have been seen everywhere and that they would have been fenced in too. She also said that a good place to check (for this and any other examples) would be old films.

I confess to not actually seeing any cows during any of my visits here!

 

 

Kev.

[ATT]

Indeed, cows are (or at least have been) a very common sight - at least if you go outside the cities to the countryside. Unfortunately nowadays only large farms are able to succeed here so it's not that common to see fields here and there with cows on them, like you would have seen still in the 1980's.

 

I've lived all my life at the countryside so I didn't even think somebody would consider seeing cows exotic.

[ATT]

It's not just about the landscape, here are some examples of the rolling stock currentily under construction and ready for the paint shop.

 

First, two examples of the luggage/conductor van type F. These were used on both passenger and freight trains as the quarters for the train staff and for transporting small freight.

 

 

 

Next, two variations of a general purpose closed van, type Ga. This type was introduced at the end of the nineteenth century and was the standard type until it was replaced in the twenties and gradually left for secondary duties.

On the left, the van has a lever operated hand brake and the van on the right has a compartment with a handbrake for the brakeman. Although Finland was one of the earliest adopters of the Westinghouse brake system (second in the world if my memory won't fail me) neither of these have it installed.

 

[ATT]

The passenger trains on the layout will be operated with two kit built ten wheeler locomotives. The unbuilt kits are from 1980's and I've managed to find them during the last few years. Both locomotives are basically the same type, the main difference are the tenders; one has a short three axle tender and the other a four axle longer one. Currently the short tender is ready for the paint, otherwise there is still a long way to go.

 

 

The original Gibson wheels have been specifically made for the kit. Unfortunately the plastic of the wheel centers is very fragile after three decades, like glass. That's why I'll replace at least the drving wheels with new Romford wheels. They are not quite as accurate but close enough.

 

The boiler and cylinder blocks will be replaced with resin cast items, the originals for the castings will be 3d prints. Two main reasons for the replacements are the modeller's laziness and also the fact that the appearance of the original white metal detailing parts can be improved.