"A Taste of Albeř"

[Hobby]

I notice I haven't started a new thread on my new TTe layout. South Bohemia is featuring in next month's Continental Modeller according to the advert in this months but whilst it does exactly what i want in respect of capturing the feel of the Czech Narrow Gauge when I take it to shows I can't take my wife or the wheelchair so I needed something a bit smaller.

 

Albeř station on the line to Nova Bystric had caught my attention in the past with it's interesting stone/girder viaduct and it has the advantage of the track disappearing into the forest at each end. When we visited the line last year we also visited a Model Railway Display in Prague on the way home which featured an HOe model of the JHMD including Alber station and viaduct which confirmed it could fit into a small space.

 

First here's some views of the station and viaduct to give you an idea of the location:

 

 

The model in Prague features the current set-up with the bypass going under one of the two girder sections but before it was built the small river split with one going under the current "road" section and the other going through what looks like some sort of mill race, though I can't find any reference to a mill or wheel. The water crane is directly above the mill race section so it could be something to do with that, though that seems an expensive way to do it! This is the current view using Google Streetview looking towards the viaduct with the station off to the left:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@49.0304824,15.1390181,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slZmj6YleCH4OOpewOsNQqQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Hobby

[Hobby]

So, onto the model, as I said i wanted it small and portable so have used two 3ft x 2ft 6ins boards made from 9mm and 6mm ply, the scenic section is 2ft wide at the front with 6ins fiddle yards at the back. Each board has a three road fiddle yard on the back. One board has the viaduct on it and the other the station. I decided not to model the current set-up with the bypass but the older one with the river/millrace spilt under the two arches. It's not an exact model as you will have gathered from the title but a "taste" of it so whilst you will recognise the location things aren't quite the same as Real Life! I have also done it looking from the opposite side from the Prague model.

 

Here's the plan:

 

 

And here are the boards:

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Hobby

[Hobby]

The track at the back is standard Marklin and Peco Z with the plain track at the front being made up from Peco Code 60 rail and copper clad sleepers. I did consider using hand made points on the front (a fellow 009 Modeller had volunteered (!) to make some) but in the end the location of the main station point at the viaduct end would have been quite difficult to automate (I like to keep things simple with "rail in a groove and DPDT switch" method which wouldn't have been impossible with that point. So the front points are all Marklin electric ones and I'll have to try and disguise them best I can.

 

A sneaky way of getting those sharp curves just right... Take a Marklin set-track curve, remove some of the plastic webbing and replace with copper clad sleepers!

 

 

Track laying out the front virtually complete:

 

 

All my layouts are DC, I have far too many locos to afford to convert to DCC and TBH I find that Gaugemaster W's work extremely well with Z stuff once they've been reduced in power using a 12vAC input so see no need... Which also gives me more money to spend on new stock!! So the wiring. Each board is self contained, the viaduct board has a two wire connection to the station board (all the fiddle yard points are hand operated). The station board has a four wire feed wire, red/black to the W and blue/yellow to the Marklin controller for the points. Simple! No separate control panels, just some switches in one corner of the fiddle yard. The switches over the points are (ON)-OFF-(ON) for the points, the one in the centre of the loop is an ON-OFF-ON and the rest are just ON/OFF switches.

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Hobby

[Stevelewis]

Very  nice  thanks  for  posting  and  keep  us  informed  of  progress!

 

A query ............... in  the  first  photo  what  is  the  function  of  the  small round  roofed  building ( appears to be  metallic?)  are  those  signal  arms   sticking  out  of  the  top?  and  also what  is  the  function  of  the metal? plate  between  the  rails  adjacent  to  that  building?  It  looks  like  a  Kadee  coupling  uncoupling  magnet!

[Northroader]

Looks like a weighbridge to me. The round roof is a cover which lifts over, and has a balance beam underneath with the sliding weights.

[Stevelewis]

Looks like a weighbridge to me. The round roof is a cover which lifts over, and has a balance beam underneath with the sliding weights.

 

That  occurred  to  me  also, but  wonder   what  would be  weighed, and  why in such  a  location.

 

I also note  there  are  some other  photos on  the  Google  link, incl. steam loco on  the  viaduct.

[Hobby]

It is a weighbridge! At the other end of the siding is a loading bay, a road goes round the back of the station and ends up at the bay. We assume that lorries used to load something (we are not sure what!) and then the wagon was positioned over the weighbridge. There's more detail of it in a book on the line but it's in Czech!

[Hobby]

The reply from my Czech friends and a model of it!

 

The two arms up allows movement and if they are horizontal the vehicle cannot be moved:

 

http://mujweb.cz/mikulda/d1/htm/sesta4.htm

 

http://www.miniatur-eshop.cz/miniatur-eshop/eshop/2-1-Modely-TT-1-120/6-2-Stavebnice/5/118-Vagonova-vaha-1-120-stavebnice

 

Will have to get one now!

[Hobby]

More info on the weighbridge, it seems the siding was for a local textile firm for the delivery of coal and wool and sending out of manufactured goods. It was abandoned in 1966.

[Hobby]

The basic buildings... I using and in some cases re-using some models I have collected so again they are not models of the actual buildings seen at Alber. The "Hostel" is an Auhagen kits "House Carola" with the addition of an extension from another Auhagen kit, as an old "posh" house converted into a Hotel I feel it fits the bill... The station is from my original TTe layout and so is the small building next to the viaduct which is nicely dwarfed by the viaduct...

 

 

There are other things to add, one of the electricity sub stations which populate the rural areas and a small shrine I have hidden away together with an outbuilding or two...

Edited February 17, 2017 by Hobby

[Northroader]

Saw your previous line in this months C.M. as advertised. Looks really well presented, deservedly so.

[Hobby]

As we've lost the images I've transferred the main progress photos to Imgur and here they are in build order!

 

 

The layout is designed so it can be converted to HOe using 10.5" radius curves when i finally move away from TTe, so the backscene is deep and the trees large! Here's two photos showing firstly the TTe T.47 followed by it's HOe brother...

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Hobby

[Hobby]

Nearly time for Welshpool Gala Weekend (I'll be at Welshpool Station in one of the display sheds) so some modelling needed to be done... For the Gala just some ballasting and the addition of a "sky" backscene to add, I've got one of those photo backscenes which needs trimming to size... Plus testing!