rekoboy

Amazing news from Kirchheim - I managed to devote two evenings and a bit to the building of the overhead crane for the goods yard. As you can see from the photos some of the railwaymen are astonished to see such rapid progress, but the one in the blue mac, the Health and Safety Inspector, is clearly concerned that Rekoboy still has to add the railings to the ladder! There are all sorts of detailing jobs still to do and there is rust to be added, but generally I think the finished product looks OK, and, yes, it's another kit from Auhagen.

In spite of too many other commitments of late I have managed to find a little time for Kirchheim and to complete the additional office building behind the loco shed. The building is from one of the wonderful 'Schatzkisten' by Auhagen which contain loads of useful bits and pieces for TT and for HO from concrete mixers to bikes to small buildings. As you can see the office is lit and the door, which will shortly have the shedmaster standing in it, is ajar. I need to add the downpipe for the gutter - it's painted and on my work-table, but I forgot it! I have also finished the lighting of the loco shed and goods areas, and my next projects are the overhead crane and the platform canopy - but they will not get done for a while. I have also added an edge to the cobbled area next to the ramp track in the goods yard and plenty of weeds, too. This Autumn I shall definitely tackle the untouched area on the right-hand end of the layout within the spiral - there will hopefully be a tram terminus and a GDR housing estate with a block and a few 'Einfamilienhäuser' and and....I have found a wonderful one-man Czech company that produces fantastic brass trams in TTm on Kato chassis - but I think if Frau Rekoboy finds out what I am about to pay for a Tatra KT4 then my days will be numbered!! You will also have noticed - possibly - the pallets on the trailer and the cable drums by the signal box. They are, like other bits and pieces on the layout, designed for 'N' scale and for 1:160 are over-sized but perfect for TT. On my table there are 3 or 4 packs of pallets awaiting assembly at present!

As I predicted work has been hectic of late - and dealing with the rainforest garden has been a priority, too! I have managed to get a small amount done on the layout, though. You will see from the photos that the the whole retaining wall behind the goods loading area is finished, and lighting installed, although some dribbling water leaks need to be added, and the tunnel mouth behind the loco shed is more or less complete. I am attempting to work outwards from the middle of the layout to the front, and later back, edges so that complete projects do not get damaged by leaning over them or dribbling dollops of paint on them. The next two big projects - probably in the Autumn - are the installation of the portal / overhead crane (Auhagen again) in the goods area and a canopy on the broader of the two platforms. The canopy and the intricacies of its construction and lighting help me day-dream through tedious meetings!! The eagle-eyed among you will also notice a grain-of-wheat bulb poking up behind the loco depot - that is the site of a further small office building, once again a product from Auhagen.

Perhaps the attached photo of the Piko BR 130 coupled to her 30 years older sister by BTTB might demonstrate how TT models, especially of diesel prototypes, have developed in recent years! The original BTTB Ludmilla was designed to be produced with minimum extra investment and therefore made use of the existing NOHAB chassis - that meant a rather telescoped loco body as a NOHAB C-C diesel is shorter. This matter never really bothered me until Roco and Piko produced scale models of the BR 130!

I have managed to snatch a few moments to more or less finish the signalbox - the roof needs a final coat of paint and the gutter needs to be attached, though. The sign was produced in Word using the font 'Preussische IV44 Ausgabe 3' which I think I mentioned in a post on 'signs' and printed on photo paper along with platform signs etc etc. As you can see there is a lot of cable still to lay, but the signalman (Stellwerksmeister Sellering) is on duty. As a little reward to myself for my tireless work at the moment I have just bought the latest Piko TT loco from Herr Ludwig in Ziesar - it is a BR 130, the original Ludmilla designed for freight work and fitted with no train heating. She is particularly lovely, and as a Piko product remarkably inexpensive! Aaah!

Work-wise the next few weeks are going to be hectic and we shall have Frau Rekoboy's cousin Michaela staying with us so the last couple of days have seen some concentrated activity as I have tried to get the signal box project as far advanced as I can before I am obliged to leave the railway for a while. As you can see, some of my Preiser railmen are amazed! I have had two Auhagen Saxon signal box kits for ages - I had thought of combining the two into one large box as used to be seen at Dresden Hbf - but then I decided to assemble at least one as it ought to be. Some details need adding and a bit more weathering done and the scenery (i.e the ground) around completing but I am quite happy with the product - which has taken hours as many of the parts need painting and weathering before being stuck together.

In spite of the garden, the house full of visitors, the York show etc I have managed to progress a little further in that the trackage in the station has been air-brushed and the vegetation on the right-hand station throat enhanced. Now it is on to completing the signal box and building the canopy on the wider of the two island platforms. For the first time I can see a proper station and railway!

Sorry folks, I forgot to add this link. This site is great! http://www.eisenbahndienstfahrzeuge.de/sammelsurium/asf/asf.htm

Thanks to my work commitments not much has happened at Kirchheim of late - apart from the fact that a very interesting addition to the motive power has appeared. My good friend Günther was with us this week - and before leaving for the airport he collected a little something for me from Herr Ludwig in Ziesar. This is Hornby-Arnold's latest TT offering - and what a gem! As you can see, 'little' is the operative word! The ASF (Akku-Schleppfahrzeug) (Rechargeable Towing Vehicle!) was developed by LEW in Hennigsdorf for the DR as a shunter for loco depots - in spite of its mini size the real ASF can move a Ludmilla or tender loco with no problem, except for the fact it has hand-operated brakes!! Lots of ASF are still in service across the whole DB AG network - some, indeed, are now in ICE colours! A good many were also sold to industrial plants, and mine is in the livery of the Leuna chemical plant. Eventually the ASF will be the works shunter at a plant still to be built! In spite of its tiny size the ASF runs remarkably well - even over dead frogs - but it is not at all keen on dirty rails. It will shift 3 BTTB goods wagons with no problem.

With reference to my last post and mention of Meinerzhagen and Krummenerl this link will reveal some beautiful pics! http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/foren/read.php?4,6562588,6738688#msg-6738688 And try this one, too....http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/foren/read.php?4,6781522,6781522#msg-6781522 This was the route I used to take for my trips to Cologne when I was teaching in Kierspe - in those days it was a secondary main line from Cologne to Hagen via Gummersbach, Marienheide, Meinerzhagen, Kierspe and Bruegge, but the axe fell in the 80s and 90s. Full reopening 2015/16

At last! I have managed to complete some further work on the layout, much of which was made up by the tedious task of installing yet another multicore cable from the back of the layout to the front, so that the first two turnouts and three electrical sections on the top level could be connected up. The only permanent part of the upper level are the two turnouts - there will be hidden sidings behind the blue line, but I have not decided whether two or three! The rest of the track is there to play around with layouts and radii, but since I have obtained an elderly Pola solenoid-powered loading mechanism there WILL be some kind of quarry or mine! I am thinking in terms of Krummenerl on the branch from Meinerzhagen where I lived for a year in the 1970s. Look up Krummenerl on Drehscheibe-Online (Sichtungen) and you will see what I mean! More to follow!

A little more work has been done on the layout - but we have been away at a family funeral in Germany and, sadly, my job has got in the way, too! The benchwork is now complete - the top section is is in its final L-shaped form and I can get on with with some serious planning of track, buildings and scenery. I have also re-jigged the hidden sidings with a curved turnout which allows train lengths to be increased as can be seen in the photo. I have also finished the majority of the tunnel mouth works on the left-hand end of the layout. This will be it for a while as I shall be away in Germany working on our research project. Watch this space, as they say!

Happy New Year to all my readers! Before I forget I would like to thank some particular supporters of my works - Günther and Hartmut in Brandenburg, Herr Ludwig and his excellent shop in Ziesar, and John, whose gift of his collection of BTTB material finally provoked me into layout building! The festive season has not seen much activity on the layout - the family kept me busy! However, I have completed the road down to the freight depot - more or less - and I have started work on the left-hand tunnel mouth. The mouth itself is by Auhagen, the basic structure as everywhere on the layout is of foamboard and the masonry cladding is, as usual, by Faller. You will note that the upper part of the layout consists of bare MDF - when I am happy with the plans for the upper section that panel will come off and the track, turnout machines and wiring will be added on the bench before the panel is finally fixed. I still cannot make up my mind how to develop that section - I am very tempted to have a minimum of railway but more townscape and industry and a TTm tram route!

The current price for 99 6101 in Modellbahnshop Sebnitz is € 190.35. http://www.modellbahnshop-sebnitz.de/

This week has seen relatively little done apart from the completion of the retaining wall by the road down to the freight yard and the road surface itself which needs weathering and distressing. HOWEVER, there has been a new arrival at the Lokeinsatzstelle (sub-shed would be a translation) - a lovely Piko V 15 which the gentleman from Hermes delivered yesterday. The only thing I can criticize at all on the V 15 is the excessive brightness of the lamps - otherwise perfection! And there is power! She will take several wagons up the incline spiral thanks to the cast metal body and is amazingly sure-footed on pointwork! Fantastic! I think this weekend will see some serious shunting going on. As you can see my depot is now dieselized - for the time being, anyway!

I've not had especially much time of late to do much with Kirchheim, but I have managed to complete the area around the old box-van body and give the van some weathering. The weathering was a wash of black ink and surgical spirit and a splash of diluted brown powder paint followed by a quick spray of Humbrol acrylic matt finish. It looks OK, I think. Now on to building the signal box kit and finishing the cobbled road down to the goods yard. For those interested in how Kirchheim is powered there is also a photo. The power supply comes from two elderly Piko FZ1 transformers which may not offer particularly fine control but which are robust and have, more importantly, separate windings for the 12V track supply and for the 16V accessory output. Therefore they are perfectly suited to my version of common return. The situation will eventually change as a third Piko power unit is awaiting connection, but at present the right-hand unit powers the lower circuit and all turnout drives and the other unit powers the branchline and all lighting and accessories. Under the layout from left to right and back to front is a cross of heavy gauge bare copper wire which is hooked up to the return side of both 12V and 16 V on both transformers. Thus a huge amount of wiring is saved - the return side rail, all turnout drive return paths, the return side of all lights and accessories are just soldered to the copper cross as near to the location as possible. There are numerous connections from the return rail to the copper cross and they go a long way to ensuring reliable running. A good feature of the common return system is the fact that the buffer stop LEDs have their return side just soldered to the relevant rail - saving wire again. As you can see from the numerous switches the layout is also extensively sectionalized - EVENTUALLY (!) all the switches will be combined into a track diagram with electric-probe point switching, but right now all turnouts are controlled by a mixture of Piko and Viessmann switches (they are identical in design and from the same Chinese factory!) which were bought second-hand in Berlin. Some have LED indicators - I use them where the turnouts cannot be easily seen. And finally - more Czech road transport waiting for a road! The LIAZ tipper is from a kit, the low loader was bought in a model shop in Prague and the Japanese digger is by Tomytec to 1:150 scale - perfect for TT, as real-life excavators come in many sizes.

Today Frau Rekoboy decided to do something about the mini forest in the corner area. Now we have more trees, placed after much thought on her part, undergrowth and 2 gentlemen with a dog - one of the men is, in fact, Herr Jägermeister with a rifle over his shoulder. It all looks very good, indeed - although I had real problems getting the camera's autofocus to cope with the scene.

I have managed to pull in a couple more hours work on Kirchheim. The retaining wall behind the loco shed is now in place - it consists of my favourite Faller panels on a plastic card frame which tilts it slightly away from the wooden strip behind it and gives it a realistic slant. It needs, of course, its coping stones and a couple of buttresses. As you can see from the attached photos I have also filled up the space within the road down to the goods depot with an another of my favourite scenery tricks - the foam-board and expanded polystyrene sandwich. Foam-board from the art shop is a brilliant material for model building - it makes a great, quick and solid core for scratch-built structures and I use it in scenery. too, as in the round space inside the spiral. Foam-board can be cut with a sharp craft-knife, the expanded polystyrene is cut with a cheap hot-wire cutter hooked up to an old 6V Atari transformer rescued from the bin!! Whenever I make scenery shapes out of expanded polystyrene I start with a template made of A4 paper which is carefully made from the space available - then a piece like my 'sandwich' will simply drop into place. All of the scenery bits are stuck together or down with cheap white wood glue from the local do-it-yourself shop. When the retaining wall by the road is done (including a rock face cast in a Woodland Scenics mould) I shall add the road surface of Auhagen cobbles. Phew!

The corner scenery is finished! Well, nearly, anyway. Frau Rekoboy is casting an eye over the trees at the moment - she thinks that there should be one or two more and that the rows are too symmetrical. But overall, I am very happy with the results of my labours. Scenery for me has to be effective - but cheap! The most expensive item was the Faller retaining wall - everything else was virtually at no cost. The scenery is built on waste expanded polystyrene packaging cut with the hot wire, I used the cheapest possible filler from a do-it-yourself shop coloured with cheap powder paints bought in giant tins from a toy store, the coping stones on the wall are scored thick card from some packaging, and the trees, flock and decorative stuff were similarly bought in bulk in Germany - for, as they say, next to nowt! Aaah!

Oh yes, I cannot resist another shot of my Hornby-Arnold Köf at work. It's a tiny loco but seems hardly ever to stick on dead frogs.

Thanks to Elke and Marina at Tillig's parts department I got a replacement body shell for Sergei, my V 200, within 5 working days. Tillig's service is brilliant - for small items that I've needed in the past they did not charge anything, and dispatch is always very fast. The V 200's German nickname is 'Taigatrommel', coined because of the incredibly loud exhaust system that the first batch of locos possessed. The silencers were OK for thinly populated areas of the Taiga but not for the GDR where the exhaust note of an early V 200 working hard could be heard from several kilometers distance. The exhausts tended to glow red in the dark, too! Sergei, by the way, is the nickname bestowed on the class by Czech and Polish railmen - odd that the following class is female 'Ludmilla'! The V 200 is an interesting loco as regards its engine which is a GM-EMD two-stroke diesel built under licence in Russia. A V 200 with the modified/modernized exhaust system sounds very much like our very own Class 66, which is, of course, a GM product.

This must be a record! I have spent a few more hours at work on Kirchheim and the left-hand corner scenery is more or less finished, although the track still needs some treatment (rust, weeds etc!) and more greenery will be added, too - when I have time! I am also not entirely happy with the retaining wall - that needs some addition of damp patches, mortar, greenery and so forth. But on the whole I think it looks OK!

At last further news from Kirchheim. I'm afraid work has got in the way of any modelling for quite a while - but now I am back on task and have completed the 'rough work' for the left-hand corner which includes a large retaining wall made from my favourite N scale Faller masonry sheets. The siding next to the wall rises a little and has its own mini retaining wall - this is an experiment in deceitful perspective to make the viewer think the main line is on a falling gradient as the loco depot and sidings are pitched slightly higher, too. I am also experimenting with a new medium - black nail varnish, which looks great as oil or diesel puddles. My friend Matthias commented that I would be in serious bother if my layout had an environmental inspector round! Other work cannot be seen - I am putting up a 'safety fence' at the back where the hidden sidings are - in spite of functioning track circuits I managed a collision between my beloved V 200 Taigatrommel and a Ludmilla - the noise as the V 200 hit the ground and fell apart was heart stopping. A new body is on its way from Tillig as I write.

Gassner, which has the biggest range, does have a website - www.gassner-beschriftungen.de

Germany is teeming with decal manufacturers! Follow this link and you wll see what I mean! http://modellbeschriftung.de/hersteller_liste.htm Best wishes, Rekoboy