BonsaiBänz RhB Nm

Gook the Goblin · May 30, 2023

A thread or a layout needs a name. This layout is not intended to bear any resemblance to any real place of a similar name or lie between Filisur and Davos Platz. The layout equally could have been called "Paul" as it is a unapologetic copy of his Bonsai Rhb mini test layout @PaulRhB.

As some may know from my RhB photo plank (CM January 2022) and elsewhere in the RM Web, Swiss Railways forum. I was sucked in via Paul's Bonsai RhB thread and bought some stock. With the plank finished and the stock list grown, I needed somewhere to run it. Available space at home is at a premium and the small size of Paul's layout meant it would fit in a cupboard I have for model trains. It also allows a continuous run and would be quick (hopefully) to build. This seemed to fit a number of requirements and so a start was made.

The board size was fixed at 720 x 450mm by the width of the doors into the cupboard and the the space between two removable support rails I added which also allowed sufficient height for the layout. A full size track plan was developed which was similar to Paul's only that I added a 62mm feeder frack so that I could avoid any electrics. The curves were the minimum 150mm radius Kato track.

Three 600x600x100mm thick sheets were ordered from Panel Systems www.panelsystems.co.uk/product/craftfoam-grey as an extruded polystyrene material which was advised could be easily be cut with a hot wire cutter and be embossed, it is popular for wargaming dioramas as well as model trains!

I wanted to create a model of Brombänz bridge on the layout and so the name "BonsaiBänz" was born with Brombänz corrupted by Paul's Bonsai title. I sketched out the bridge based on a series of photos with the principal span dimensions kindly given to me by Thomas Kestenholz kesti.ch/rhb1913/index.html. The height of the main span I estimated to be around 145mm from water level to track bed and was too high for me as I was limited to 100mm by the insulation board thickness and available headroom in the cupboard. I scaled down the main arch by around 29%.

Nigel

Frutigen · May 31, 2023

Lovely work, keep it coming.

Gook the Goblin · May 31, 2023

5 hours ago, Frutigen said:

Lovely work, keep it coming.

Thank you Keith. So as not to disappoint, fast forward to over a year. Since Christmas I have focussed on the Lehnen Viadukt side of the layout as in theory it was smaller and could be developed quicker. Some photos are as below, these have shown up some minor areas needing a bit more scenic work such as adding bushes etc. Following this work will continue on the Brombanz side and I have already started scribing stone on the side hidden from the viewing side.