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mp55aec

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  1. mp55aec

    The camera never lies :)

    By mp55aec,

    About thirty years ago I had a 'Saturday" job in specialist model railway retailer in Birmingham namely called Just Continental as simply they only sold at that time 'Just Continental", in fact to this day i still keep in contact with the owner who has moved on to other aspects of model retailing. At the time I was gradually building up a nice collection of French HO items and began to construct a small terminal station layout, unfortunately due to discovering 'females" the layout never got completed and i sold the finished four boards to Totally Trains in Ross on Wye.
    At the time besides odd trips to France, Continental Modeller and the old Euro Model Rail magazine you were limited to a phone call to a fellow modeller to get advice on infrastructure and other railway methods used in continental Europe. 'God save the World Wide Web".
    On construction of my SNCF layout I had it stuck in my head that as they drove on the right in France they must surely drive on the right on the railways too so duly placed working colour light signals on the layout accordingly, it was a later conversation with a member of the SNCF society that I discovered my mistake,,,. I didn't fancy up routing all the signals and filling in the baseboard holes where wires were meant to be cabled and asked, what he would do?. Well in the Alsace region they do run on the right as when the region became part of France after WW1 there were already railways operating to German right hand running so it was adopted for the region for the same reason as my HO blunder, infrastructure demanded it.
     
    So with the construction of my Norwegian layout, I have the best information highway anybody could ever want, the internet, youtube is simply a god send for information, train formation, infrastructure, station and building architecture, everything, you can actually travel for five hours in the cab from Bergen to Oslo and this gives all information that I need, no expensive flight, books etc etc
     
    Part one is here for your pleasure--
    (P.S. my blog picture above is 'Dag H" the poster used on 3/9/67 when Sweden changed the rule of the road from left to right)
     
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7rWhCqsh2I&feature=plcp
  2. mp55aec
    Well after nearly two months our insurance claim has at last fully recuperated our losses from the flood. We were on a new for old policy, normally this means they 'recommend" several retail outlets that will reimburse you with a like for like or similar replacement of damaged goods,,this is fine for our Bosch white goods as we have a currys electrical two miles down the bypass, however things get difficult when it comes to specialist HO models but now all is settled
     
    Ive purchased five new locomotives, four have arrived already and the final loco is on the way, i was very lucky in obtaining the one loco as its been out of production for a couple of years but there was one on a second hand list with an online retailer in Sweden, any way here is some quick photographs of the four here with a brief description.
     
    TOP-- Hobbytrade NSB Di6, built as a order for 12 locos by Siemens in Kiel inn 1996 by 1999 they had been returned to Siemens as 'nonoperational" with a plethora of faults ,they they became part of the Disspolok lease pool and served with CFL and NOB in Northern Germany and the problems now seem to have been resolved, some of series now classed 2700 have now returned to Norway and operate with the freight operator CargoLink.

    BOTTOM-- NMJ NSB/CargoNet Di8, built as an order of 20 locos again with Siemens at the MAK factory in Kiel with Caterpillar engines these were slightly more reliable than the Di6 locos but they havent been without their problems, they now operate within the CargoNet pool but 10 of these locos now operate in the UK with GBRf ,,now dont go looking for them on the WCML as they wouldnt get as far as the next bridge as the large Berne loading gauge means they can only be used within Lackenby and Redcar steelworks. I'm not sure of the colour scheme they operate in the UK.
     
    My next two locos come from neighbouring Sweden and can be seen operating in parts of Norway, modellers license is used here!!
     
    TOP-- JECO Models , a limited edition of 100 models of the RC3 loco in the now bankrupt open access operator Oftobanen who were based in Narvik Norway, this loco is my only loco with DCC sound. Jeco models are mostly highy refinished Roco models but they are gradually introducing their own range of models.

    BOTTOM-- Hobbytrade TGOJ class MZ, TGOJ were a famous Swedish operator now part of SJ and Green Cargo, these former GM Danish MZ class locos have become popular second hand buys in Norway and Sweden and can be seen with many operators a claim to fame of TGOJ was the pioneering use of GM 'Class 66" locos in Scandinavia , which will be available this year in HO scale,
     
    I will add a blog entry on some interesting items of rolling stock in due course.
  3. mp55aec
    Well, my modelling of any scale Rhb HOm or HO NSB had to come to a complete halt after we returned from a Ski trip to Andorra to find the house had be flooded severly during our stay away.
     
    My recent purchases of Bemo for my HOm and my modern UK outline were destroyed as they were in the rear utility room that was 4ft deep of stagnant water, my Norwegian HO survived thanks to being in the loft, but alas they have had to go into store until we move back to the house in 3 weeks time, Ive lost contact with the hobby and gaining my feet gradually . things are difficult when literally you have to fully furninish 99% of your home and electricals only this week have I managed to sign into RM web, however I will perservere and add more posts soon [ ]
  4. mp55aec
    Hello and welcome to my blog, I'm a collector rather than modeller of modern image British outline in OO. Ive got a good selection of rolling stock , D/EMU units and locomotives but I haven't had an operating layout for several years, all my stock remains in their boxes in various place's around the house.So I sat down and decided I'm going to spend my winter time constructing a small HO exhibition layout, the scale change is because I'm getting bored of all the constant franchise changes in the UK, you once could centre a layout on perhaps a geographical area or a 20 year period so unless you model Chiltern Railways who have and will be operating for several years, your 166's in FGW will soon maybe in ARRIVA colours , or your Virgin pendolinos First West Coast thus it's hard to pin point a correct date for a layout unless you use modellers licence and then you may as well run LMS too!
     
    I've always had a little interest in other European railways, pick up any recent copy of continental modeller and nearly every edition will have a North American, Rhb or German layout so I looked to stand out from the crowd. I also prefer modern image that I can relate to in my mind with photo's from visits to the country to be modelled, I eventually did a short list of possibilities for food for thought.
     
    1)Spain
    2)Hungary
    3)Czech republic
    4)Greece
    5)Norway
     
    And the winner is-------Norway,,,,chosen as beautiful scenery, loco hauled trains (some only 3 coaches long), not that many different locos (thus not lots of money lol),different (I dont know of any modern NSB layouts on the UK exhibition circuit).
     
    I will start my baseboards in the next few weeks and will keep the blog updated with progress of construction and rolling stock purchases.
  5. mp55aec
    My first three Norwegian locos arrived courtesy of DHL this morning. I chose to model Norway as there's not that many different locomotive types in use there be it diesel or electric and the two types of classes in my purchase are very similar looking in design.
     
    I will go into great detail with better photographs in a later blog but for reference we have from left to right -
     
    NMJ - Class EL17 (2221) in standard NSB red and black.
    Roco - Class EL16 (2211) in CargoNet early livery if black and grey.
    Roco - Class EL16 (2206) in standard NSB red and black.
     
    Of note since my last Roco purchase about 6 years ago in note that the box says 'made in EU" , 6 years ago they stated 'made in China".
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