Allegheny1600 Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 There’s a mouthful for you! To be fair, the title is actually the names of my proposed three new layouts not just one individual layout. So how on earth did this come about? Recently I have become greatly enamoured with the railways of Bavaria in what we would call the ‘pre-group’ period or in German, Epoch 1 and I discovered that the Royal Bavarian state railway (K. Bay. Sts. B. or K. Bay.) served a town called Neu Ulm (I believe this is pronounced ‘Noi Ulm’!). This is on the right hand side of the Danube, across from which is the Wurttemberg city of Ulm. This rang rather loud bells with me as I remembered that one of my favourite US railroads, the Chicago & North Western railway served a town called New Ulm in Minnesota! (no problem with pronunciation there, I hope!). This was also on a section of the C&NW that was at one time almost exclusively powered by Alco locomotives, making it even more appealing to me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that today, the two towns are twinned and in fact, the US town was started by German immigrants in 1854! There is even a brewery as another German connection! Hmmm! I thought “I can do something with thatâ€! Initially, I was going to have one layout but with interchangeable buildings however the scenery would be so very different for each location, I decided that I would be better building two layouts! That’s not quite as bad as it sounds, honest! The layout/s can only be 7’2†long by about 18†wide with a fiddle yard of about 3’9†but at right angles to the main boards. Also, the fiddle yard will serve both layouts as I will only be using one layout at once! If you’ve read any of my ramblings previously, you’ll probably know that I’m into all sorts of prototypes. Well, I kept thinking that there must be a way of incorporating this ‘Nu Ulm’ business into a British outline theme? Then it struck me! Not ‘New’ but ‘Old’, which would give me “Old Ulmâ€. Rather a bizarre way to come up with a plan but that’s how my mind works! Anyway, with a British layout called “Old Ulm†(Oldham, get it!?!), it would be north west based and set in the late sixties, which is my favourite British era due to the mix of Blue and Green locos available. Hopefully, it would not be pushing things too far to be able to run class 17’s and 28’s alongside 24’s, 25’s and 40’s, maybe even a ‘new’ class 50? I feel this would give me a nice ‘north west’ feel. Obviously, the British layout has to be in ‘00’ gauge in order to utilise the H0 gauge fiddle yard - with three layouts being constructed, I need to maximize my resources! Both the British and Bavarian layouts will utilize Peco code 75 track while the American layout can run on code 83 Peco. Any comments, anyone? Well, that’s all for now, folks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 If I was planning on something like this I might have looked at how feasible it would be to keep the same infrastructure but to have it so that there are certain buildings and other scenic items that could be easily swapped over to change the location from UK, US D. That would minimise the construction time and enable you to perhaps do a quick identity swap during the day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Well, not totally on topic, but there's a German tongue twister that might help: In Ulm, um Ulm, und um Ulm herum roughly translating to "in Ulm, around Ulm, and right round Ulm" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Flying Pig Posted June 23, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 23, 2011 you say? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 you say? Danke! Yes, in Bavaria - where the trees are made of wood! :lol: John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 If I was planning on something like this I might have looked at how feasible it would be to keep the same infrastructure but to have it so that there are certain buildings and other scenic items that could be easily swapped over to change the location from UK, US D. That would minimise the construction time and enable you to perhaps do a quick identity swap during the day. Hi AMJ, Many thanks for the suggestion - I have considered it most carefully but unfortunately there are a couple of things that prevent me from doing this. I wish to use Peco code 83 track for New Ulm, Minnesota (C&NW) and some experimentation has shown me that some German models (slightly older Bavarian types, anyway!) won't run on the code 83 without bouncing up and down the flangeways. I like the code 83 too, I think it gives a really good 'American' look to the track. The British and Bavarian versions should be fine with code 75 but; I've done some research on both US and Bavarian style track layouts and they are rather different, not to mention the fact that they will serve quite different styles of industry in completely different time periods. For instance, on the Bavarian layout it will be fine to have a three way point at either end of three loops as the main station tracks. In the US, this will not do at all as they rarely use three ways and only actually need two loops (or, a main and a loop!). I have sketched out the Minnesota track plan, just got to work out the Bavarian plan next. Oh! A third reason for doing it this way is, due to my fickleness with regard to which prototype I am into - I need to be able to take long breaks from one model, indeed to be able to 'forget' about it for awhile, whilst I get to work on a proceeding project! Sad, eh? John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 In fact, here is the track plan for "New Ulm, Minnesota"! I'm adding the state name as I have recently discovered there is a 'New Ulm' in Texas - Hmm, most intruiging! No doupt, you'll spot the unusual angle at which the last part of the 'L' baseboard goes off at? This is to accomodate the turntable type fiddle yard, having used this type of fiddle yard on a friends exhibition layout, I do find them a very useful design. Had I run the boards in the conventional L design, the fiddle yard board would have been right along the wall and would therefore have been unable to turn! Another thing to spot is the increased size of the plan! I must have earned a heck of a lot of brownie points as I have permission to use the front spare bedroom for this project! The main line will climb away from 'New Ulm' starting at the point opposite to the cement plant, hence why both the cement plant and the brewery siding have to be accessed from the town loop. The brewery is based upon reality, as is the climb out of town, everything else is fictional including the fact that this is a terminus! Please excuse the hand drawn nature of the plan - thats how I work! Any comments welcome! Thanks for looking, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 By way of contrast, here is my initial plan for "Neu Ulm, Bavaria"! As can be seen, the style of track plan is utterly different from "New Ulm, Minn"! There are the two three way's I referred to earlier and all the other sidings come from the three main loops. I understand this is how things were on Bavarian branchlines. In addition, we now have a little loco depot, the 'Lokschuppen' complete with small turntable. This is to reflect that Neu Ulm is larger than the average Bavarian branch line (Nebenbahn!). Somewhat larger locos than usual would be needed to work the trains to the colliery (I have a small collection of gorgeous Trix bogie coal hoppers - which I must use!). The brewery is virtually obligatory on a Bavarian railway but the dairy is slightly different? Hopefully, all these ramblings will be of interest to someone besides myself! John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted July 11, 2011 Author Share Posted July 11, 2011 Well, I thought I'd better get on and (try) and design "Old Ulm", the British version of my trio of layouts! I have to say that I'm not terribly happy with it. For example, both of the previous two designs have three separate industries each, while this has only one industry (the colliery!). Also, look how much space is devoted to the station area/passenger facilities! It's a branch terminus for only a moderately sized town, after all! I do however, like the still in use loco stabling point right by the abandoned steam loco depot - I feel that would give some character to the place. The colliery sidings/loading point look okay to me but....the rest of the plan? Hmmm.......? Maybe some redesign work needed! Comments more than welcome now, please! John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the penguin of doom Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 My sister lives in Ulm, (Germany), and for a time had a house with a balcony overlooking the station throat. It was awesome watching the world go by over a wiess beer. Reminded me of the WCML about 20 years ago..... Cheers. Sean. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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