cornish trains jez

Cheers David. Euston will certainly return one day, and (space allowing) it will be bigger and better. This Swiss layout fits nicely into our current home and my work schedule and is a size I can cope with and have trains running quite soon. And yes, there will be plenty of loco hauled formations to enjoy too! Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Robert, Many thanks for your comments. Yes, the restaurant is a nice building and the roof will pose some problems but I’m hopeful of getting a reasonable representation. It may be that I look into some 3D printed bits to help the process a little. More than likely that I’m going to start on the station building first to build up my confidence! Best regards, Jeremy

Ha ha!! You’ve got the Swiss bug now! As I work away during the week, I’m going to take some modelling bits with me to start on drawing up the buildings so I’ll post a few pics. I’ve also managed to get another turnout finished today and tested with my trusty TGV coach. Also laid some of the track that will run in front of the station building. Again, I’ll post during this week some pics that I took today. Best regards, Jeremy

Good morning, A little information on some of the buildings I plan to build for the station area. I've decided to scratch build a station building very similar to this one, located at Kaiseraugst, and also its associated goods shed, the shed being a typical structure at most swiss stations. Here are a couple of google earth/street images. Viewed from the air, they are quite close together which is perfect for my layout as I'm a bit strapped for space at that end of the layout. The station building... The goods shed... Behind the ststaion and concourse area, I plan an in and out arrangement for buses etc and this rather nice hotel/restaurant building which I've found in Rheinfelden, two towns away from Kaiseraugst, while researching some suitable buildings that had the 3D google earth facility for me to get some dimensions and scratch build. The building will more than likely sit flush to the back scene. Viewed from the air... Ground view... I think this will sit nicely at this end of the layout and give a bit of depth to the scenic section. I'm conscious I'll need to balance the buildings at each end of the layout as I've already got the quite tall factory at one end and don't want to have an unbalanced effect. Any comments or suggestions always welcome. Best regards, Jeremy

Good afternoon, As promised, here are some photos of the full TGV Lyria set on the layout. It nearly fills the scenic section! I've also added a photo of it next to the altalntique style Lyria TGV. Of interest is the gaps between the carriages on the older TGV and the newer one, the newer one having a far closer coupling arrangement. I'm wondering if anything can be done on the older one to close the gap a little. If anyone has done this or knows someone who has, please let me know. Old and new together... This photo shows the gap between the coaches on the old and new TGV's. Best regards, Jeremy

That's a great find Grahame. It's amazing how these buildings change over the years. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Grahame, I've been enjoying following your progress on the buildings and looking forward to seeing the layout develop and the stock. Have you tried looking at the Britain From Above website? You'll need to register (it's free) to zoom in, but there might be some useful views, albeit most date 1900's to mid 1950's but should be good enough if there is anything useful to look at. Best regards, Jeremy

Kato do a great range of TGV's. I think the duplex one also runs into Switzerland. I too would like an orange/grey version, definitely my favourite livery. If I can pick one up I'd add the SBB logos, making it more relevant to the layout. Its a shame that Kato didn't do a 4 car add on set for the Blue/silver Lyria set. There was a French company who did some resprayed add on sets but they are no longer doing this by the look of things. I've found a shop in France who can supply the correct SNCF paint colors so may well have a go at respraying the extra coaches sometime in the future. Best regards, Jeremy

Morning! The posty delivered my latest model for the layout this week. I've already got the original "atlantique" style liveried TGV Lyria but really also wanted the up to date version that currently runs. So here it is, and another wonderfully detailed model from Kato. Have to say that all the decals are sharply reproduced on the model and the paint job is superb. A couple of photos below just out of the box. I'll try and get some more photos of it posed on the layout over the weekend. Best regards, Jeremy

Looking really good! I really like the lighting on your island platform canopy. I’m hoping to do this on my layout. Was it relatively easy to put together? best regards, Jeremy

Evening all, Many thanks for your comments and advice. I have decided to go for the loop and have laid the track this afternoon. Pictured below are the results. I think it looks really good and will create some additional interest. My main concern was that the line would be too close to the edge of the board and I would not have the space to add the overhead line gantries, but having measured, I think I'll get away with it. Our beagle snores away in the background of the first photo, bless her! Here with Lyria France-Suisse TGV. A new addition to my fleet is this rather nice offering from Rocky Rail. I've seen several photos of this SNCF loco heading through Pratteln station with car carriers, so the excuse to have one was right there! It's a cracking model with some lovely bits of detail. Can't wait to get some juice to the tracks and see this one running with my rake of Minitrix car carriers. That's all for now. I'm hoping to work on putting another turnout together tomorrow so will update if I get a bit further forward. Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks for the reply Robert. Hope you are able to get some time in at Interlaken station! Best regards, Jeremy

Afternoon all, I'm considering adding an additional line to the front of the layout which would follow the line of the outside track, giving me a freight loop so I could hold a freight train while a passenger speeds through, or departs from the station island platform. It could add some additional interest. So it would be like the turnouts for the loop to rejoin the mainline would be "off scene". Give me an excuse to have a working colour light signal. Perhaps a nice scratch built gantry like the ones around the Gotthard! What does everybody think? Best regards, Jeremy

I'm sure the show organisers would love to see this layout with an 80's twist!

Morning all! winding back the clock a little at Banbury. Enjoy! best regards, Jeremy

A little side project I have for the layout in terms of rolling stock is this little 3D printed beauty in the form of the RABDe 500 ICN 7 car unit. It's an absolute must have model for me as I travelled on one back in 2008 from Geneva to Yverdon les Bains. Needs a little sanding and smoothing but its a great model. A chap on this forum is producing them along with some other tasty swiss units! His thread is here - Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks Ian. As mentioned above, Euston will make a come back one day but it's a layout that requires a huge amount of time and space, both of which I don't have at present. I will certainly be adding the overhead knitting, which will be a combination of off the shelf stuff with some scratch built parts added for additional detailing. Look forward to seeing the german layout as and when you start it. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi, Euston will re-appear one day in the future but for time being, this layout will be my modelling priority. Unfortunately, I don't have the space at present for such a large layout. Not sure on the "kings" bit but I chose the name based on a direct translation/play of words to where we have moved to. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi, Further to Roberts post earlier re: the sidings being close together, I've just checked the google earth image and the sidings are quite a bit too close together on my layout so I'll need to make an adjustment. Shouldn't be too much trouble though as I haven't laid the sidings yet. Best regards, Jeremy

Cheers. There are not many swiss layouts around but there are some great ones on this forum which I'm following with interest and I can get some ideas for my own layout. Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks Robert. Glad you like my project. I'm excited about this one as it's not too large for me to cope with with the spare time I have available but should be interesting enough to operate. And I'd rather have something that I can watch the trains go by and hopefully my children, being 6 and 2, can get involved too in operating it. I'll take a look at the sidings as, like you say, they are fairly close. I can still make adjustments as I haven't laid the track for them yet. Best regards, Jeremy

Thank you. I wanted something that was also large enough to act a bit as a scenic break so this factory should do the trick. I'm going to try and mock up the other buildings over the coming weeks. so Ill be able to post a photo of what it will look like with most of the buildings in situ. Track building isn't for everyone but can be very satisfying. Best regards, Jeremy

Good evening all, Its been a while since I built my first swiss layout so it was time to build a new one. This all came about with a relocation house move to the West Country, having less space and having to abandon my large project based on Euston station. I decided to have a change for this next project and return to my love of swiss railways. Progress will be slow as I work away during the week and I'll be sharing my weekends with family time and a little bit of modelling time. So enter "Konigsbrucke"! There are quite a few swiss layouts out there, mainly depicting the Gotthard or other similar routes so I decided on something a bit different. The layout is set somewhere in the Pratteln area, a little more industrial and flatter terrain, and loosely based around the Kaiseraugst and Wichtrach stations. I was looking for somewhere that would (with a bit of modellers licence!) allow me to run anything from the SBB to BLS with some SNCF, DB, SNCB, FS and OBB trains thrown in for good measure....basically anything! The main era will be 2000 - 2007 but I wanted to extend it to the present day so I can include as much variety as possibel. Again wanting to be a little different, I've decided to go for hand built track, with components from the 2mm scale society, mainly easitrac sections with copper clad turnouts. These will have the gauge narrowed to N gauge through the frogs so I don't have to re-wheel any stock. To the naked eye, you cannot really see the lines narrowing through the turnouts so I think I'll be able to get away with it. The result will be great looking trackwork which I feel is a good basis for the layout. I'm also gong to use this layout as a test bed to improve my scratch building skills, as all the buildings will be scratchbuilt based on prototypical structures (thank you google earth 3D!), and N track catenary with some scratch built parts using photos of the real thing. Why the name "Konigsbrucke"...well I now live in Kingsbridge in Devon, so a quick translation of the town name gave a rather credible swiss name in the german speaking area of the country. Here are a few photos of the baseboards and the trackplan which I created using Templot. The layout will have a scenic section of 1.62m by 40-45cm with return curves to each end which will be 43cm x 85cm deep. This will give smoother curved track which will allow some of the stock to be closer coupled. To the rear will be a fiddle yard with 10 roads (5 in each direction). I've kept the plan basic with two main running lines through an island platform, a goods loop and two Industrial sidings for additional interest. I've decided to mock up the buildings to a basic design just to get an idea of how it might look and if it looks right more importantly. The Industrial building is the first that I have started and here it is posed on the layout. It does look a bit big and maybe out of place. I may have to go for something a little less tall! Comments and ideas welcome! This is the prototype I'm basing it on, taken from Google Earth 3D image. The measuring device on this is really good so I have been able to get some measurements in order to create the building. (I assume I can paste google earth images, if not I'll take them down.) And finally, here is some of the track going down and my first turnout soldered. A bit messy but can be easily cleaned up ready for priming and painting/weathering. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi, juat been reading through your thread. Very nice layout! I really like the traverser fiddle yard. Looking forward to the next update. Best regards, Jeremy

Any recommendations on suitable chassis for the ICN and the above BLS 515 and Stadler double deck flirt?