Die Ercallbahn - Fulfilling a childhood dream.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

6 hours ago, Jon Gwinnett said:

Apologies to the Ercalverse for going off topic, but I’m generally very satisfied with Roco universal couplers, positive, light action coupling, not too hard to uncouple, delay latch built in, and nicely close coupled. I’ve bought some HOfine hooks to fit to my locos, as an experiment, and the Marklin close couplers offer the facility to shunt with a magnetic pole (I like to be involved in operation, so hand throw points with Caboose Hobbies ground throws and so on).

 

I don’t operate fixed rakes, but if I did, I’d be tempted by Fleischmann profis (or more likely the cheap Chinese knockoffs!) as they seem more robust than Roco close couplers, but not really suitable for shunting as they require a good whack to bring them together (or so I’m told).

 

If I can add my apologies to @ian for the continued thread drift, but just to pick up on @Jon Gwinnett‘s reference to Fleischmann Profi couplings requiring a push to get them together.  My understanding is this is in fact deliberate, so some gentle shunting push moves can take place without couplings always engaging.  In the tests I’ve done they’ve worked fine.

 

Personally, I’d take any European close coupler over a UK OO tension lock coupler any day.  And to get back to Die Ercallbahn, as the videos demonstrate, it’s worth noting Maerklin technology was decades ahead of its time.  Keith.

[SimonHMT]

A few evenings ago, I fitted the few Profi-couplings that came with Fleischmann wagons I bought last autumn to my Köf 3 and a selection of wagons, and had a bit of a play to see how they behaved. In general, I found them pretty good; certainly a lot better than the "standard" hook-and-loops. Another big advantage is the ability to lift vehicles out of a train without derailing the whole thing. I've also tried the Roco close couplings in an earlier (20 years ago) attempt at a layout but also felt they were a bit flimsy. The older Märklin coupling I mentioned earlier seems to be a bit of a backwards step, at least for hand uncoupling, as it tends to exert a bit of a "death grip" on its neighbouring coupling, though I don't suppose this would be a problem if I were using it as the manufacturer intended ie with a ramp!

[ian]

No apologies needed for thread drift - couplings are one of the eternal niggles of the hobby.

 

The Ercallbahn is constrained in its choice by the fact that most of the stock has couplers that can't be changed without extensive reworking of the rolling stock. Since most of the couplings are metal and can be adjusted by bending with a pair of pliers and, when properly set, work well, that will do me. They don't do close coupling, uncoupling without a ramp is a bit of a lottery - sometimes you lift the correct vehicle in the correct way and they come apart, other times you don't and they get tangled - and they look nothing like a real coupling.

 

Prior to starting this project I had been working towards an N gauge empire but had stalled with couplings. The fact that the standard issue Marklin ones worked was a major factor in the decision.

[ian]

Nearly three and a half years on from this:

 

I've finally got this:

 

And from the side that you never see in the catalogue:

 

Mind you, I have done other things on the layout during the course of the building's gestation - Neustadt didn't have a baseboard when I started it!

 

As you would expect there are lights:

 

 

The year is off to a good start!

[ian]

So, having made a rod for my own back, here is the new improved operations video with added layout schematic. You may need to pause it occasionally to make the most of the new information-rich environment and view it full screen rather than in a window.

 

Enjoy!

[Oldddudders]

Certainly the clever surrounding track-plan, with train descriptions, is helpful in demystifying what and where. 

[SimonHMT]

On 06/01/2024 at 10:02, ian said:

Nearly three and a half years on from this:

 

I've finally got this:

 

And from the side that you never see in the catalogue:

 

Mind you, I have done other things on the layout during the course of the building's gestation - Neustadt didn't have a baseboard when I started it!

 

As you would expect there are lights:

 

 

The year is off to a good start!

That looks great, Ian! The box artwork takes me back to my teens when I was first introduced to German model railways and it's nice to see the completed model more than fulfilling the promise. 

Happy New Year and thanks for the updates, 

Simon.

[Jon Gwinnett]

Blooming marvellous video, absolutely love it

[ian]

Those of us who have birthdays during the Christmas period will know the feeling of getting short-changed with presents that 'are for both Christmas and birthday'. Well, as I bought myself a loco for Christmas it seemed only fair to get another one for my birthday. It arrived after the event but, given it had come from Germany, that is forgivable.

 

What we have here is a BR 111, introduced on the DB in 1974 so brand-spanking new in terms of the layout context. These were passenger locos and it provides a bit of variety to the BR110s used on the electrically hauled D-Zuge.

 

If the two lads by the lineside were railway enthusiasts they would be enjoying the spectacle of a new loco - so we must assume that their gripping reading matter isn't Eisenhan-Kurier but quite possibly something a little more embarassing as they are far from parental scrutiny. A glossy pictorial with unadorned Rhinemaidens perhaps?

[Northroader]

[Keith Addenbrooke]

31 minutes ago, Northroader said:

 

“Ticket offences fell dramatically after the newly recruited Fahrkartenkontrolleure were revealed.”

 

Edited January 10 by Keith Addenbrooke

[Oldddudders]

ISTR encountering a smartly-uniformed chap called a Zugrevisor. 

[ian]

A fare-dodger is known as 'Schwarzfahrer' - black traveller - and if caught were subject to an on-the-spot fine and much tutting and black looks from other people on the bus/train/tram.

 

Meanwhile I seem to have built a diving board!

[TT-Pete]

1 hour ago, ian said:

Meanwhile I seem to have built a diving board!

 

Hmm, looks like a Schwarzfahrersprungbrett to me.

 

(No Fahrschein? Ve haff vays of making you valk...)

 

[ian]

The locals are always on the lookout for signs that may portend forthcoming doom.

 

A pot of paint and a paintbrush is sufficiently unusual to count in that category...

[Alex TM]

On 10/01/2024 at 10:15, Keith Addenbrooke said:

 

“Ticket offences fell dramatically after the newly recruited Fahrkartenkontrolleure were revealed.”

 

Reminds me of a scene in one of the Indiana Jones films when, while Indy dressed as a ticket examiner and having thrown an SS officer out of the window, everyone was extremely keen to show that they had valid travel tickets ...

[ian]

The diving board has grown a bit.

[franciswilliamwebb]

Are you building a 1980s computer game? 😉

[ian]

The diving board now has a home. I know that the safety elf would have a fit if he saw it but it's my railway and I don't care! Mind you, the concrete pads on which the legs stand need some work.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

10 hours ago, ian said:

The diving board now has a home. I know that the safety elf would have a fit if he saw it but it's my railway and I don't care! Mind you, the concrete pads on which the legs stand need some work.

Well, I suspect you fooled us all with that one - the giant leap / fall / dive is off the bottom step, not at the top end!
 

(If only the bottom section was turned at 90° it would look a lot less scary when you start adding people)

 

[ian]

More trains working for their living

[ian]

So, with plenty of different jobs to do on the layout - naturally I have been doing something else - bothering buses.

 

True to form these aren't ones that were part done, they were all untouched specimens.

 

I had mocked up the Maifeld townscape for a visitor and, as there were a number of buses to hand and the predicted 10" of snow had turned out to be continuous rain the garage was a bit cold and danp. A dash to the garage harvested a handful of potential victims and I was good to go.

These two can be parked up between duties. All they need now is registration numbers, destination blinds, fleet names and numbers and some legal lettering. That's a job for another day.

One to go by a bus stop with passengers boarding. There's much more work to do here.

 

Still, the sun is shining now, so I am off to find a different job to start...

[ian]

The different job turned out to be adding a new control panel shelf alongside the scrapyard and container crane (site of) at Maifeld. Being on a roll I thought that I'd wire the crane in while I was at it. That was a mistake.

 

I had put the special control box somewhere safe. Very safe. Verry, very safe. It took me two days to find it. I wouldn't mind so much but I have got a spare - and that hasn't turned up at all.

[ian]

Whilst I was working in the area I wired the track for the container lorry.

 

The race car type throttle isn't really my cup of tea. I have fitted a plug on the end so that it can be removed and stored when the lorry isn't needed. The small switch to the left of the throttle is the gear lever offering forward and reverse options (the lorry must have DAF Variomatic transmission - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variomatic).

 

And then my butterfly attention alighted elsewhere and started looking at the scrapyard. It needs a weighbridge which will go by the hut pilfered from Billshaven Hafen.

 

It also needs a boundary fence. Chain link won't be much cop if faced by some low-flying scrap so something a bit beefier was sourced from the bits box as a potential solution.

 

Finally, the two mostly complete buses have made it all the way from my desk to the bus station at Maifeld.

[ian]

Progress on the scrapyard. It now has a hut, weighbridge, guard dog, safe storage and some vehicles - even a small pile of scrap!

 

Over at Maifeld Bhf the platform between Gleis 4 & 5 has been filled in.

 

At Neustadt the station building and Gleis 1 have been connected to the lighting supply.