rekoboy

The difference between Hobby and Expert is also noticeable in motor type and quality. The Hobby series locos generally have basic 3-pole motors, the Expert series locos have flywheel-fitted 5-pole motors.

Trackwork and paving more or less complete - still no overhead line! The track and turnouts are Minitrix, the cobbled paving is embossed card by Auhagen.

No overhead line yet but the tram has arrived!

Frau Schneider has bought rather a lot of the coffee and is hastening away on her bike before the people in the queue get angry!

If you follow this link to a Brawa leaflet from 1964 on Conrad Antiquario's fantastic, free catalogue archive you will find on P10 and P11 some familiar Playcraft accessories, I think! https://www.conradantiquario.de/content/katalog/brawa-1964-1965.html Pola used to include multi-lingual decorative sheets for their kits. I have acquired a few 1960s unbuilt Pola kits for nostalgic reasons - the decoration sheets give a clear indication that British buyers of purportedly Playcraft products might be needing them!

I have made use of an ancient Playcraft, really Pola, goods station crane on the coaling stage of my German TT layout which I picked up for a couple of quid with a lot of scrap kit bits. The crane was made by Pola, sold also in Germany by Brawa as a stand-alone, pocket-money layout accessory, and, of course, by Playcraft as part of the goods depot. Truly international! If you want to see more, my layout, Kirchheim, is on this website under the German Railways rubric.

Indeed it is the Pola signalbox made for Playcraft in Germany by Pola Quick and sold by them in various guises across Europe!

Roco did put the TT products on ice for a while but were bombarded with pleas and complaints from German and Czech modellers and relaunched the range a while ago. This takeover will hopefully consolidate Roco's place as a major TT producer. My German friends believe that Roco will shortly be bringing out TT starter sets with track and controls now that they have Kuehn's range. That can only be good for the scale and the hobby.

I understand that Herr Kühn is keeping the electronics division of his company which produces decoders for all model railway scales.

Apologies for the cross post - I have added this item to the German Railways section which some of you may not read. It has just been announced that Roco has taken over the TT scale producer Kuehn-Modellbahn. Roco is clearly using the takeover to establish itself as a real TT scale rival to Tillig and Piko as Kuehn's range includes a full TT track programme along with numerous DB/DR/DB AG/ CD electric and diesel locos and railcars, and, of course, the beautiful BR 94 steam loco plus some very nice carriages and freight wagons. The catalogue (see link) seems to emphasize only new items, as in those taken over from Kuehn, and ignores Roco's existing own TT steam locos, except for the BR 38, and makes little mention of Kuehn's BR 94. The missing BR 94 might well be as a result of the need for Roco to get Kuehn's moulds back to Europe (or Vietnam!) from the factory in China which produces for Kuehn. Might be a problem! And Roco may well want to rejig the loco with one of its own motors. https://www.roco.cc/documents/uploads/downloads/Kataloge/20230928_ROCO_TT_Katalog.pdf

It has just been announced that Roco has taken over the TT scale producer Kuehn-Modellbahn. Roco is clearly using the takeover to establish itself as a real TT scale rival to Tillig and Piko as Kuehn's range includes a full TT track programme along with numerous DB/DR/DB AG/ CD electric and diesel locos and railcars, and, of course, the beautiful BR 94 steam loco plus some very nice carriages and freight wagons. The catalogue (see link) seems to emphasize only new items, as in those taken over from Kuehn, and ignores Roco's existing own TT steam locos, except for the BR 38, and makes little mention of Kuehn's BR 94. The missing BR 94 might well be as a result of the need for Roco to get Kuehn's moulds back to Europe (or Vietnam!) from the factory in China which produces for Kuehn. Might be a problem! And Roco may well want to rejig the loco with one of its own motors. https://www.roco.cc/documents/uploads/downloads/Kataloge/20230928_ROCO_TT_Katalog.pdf

Afforestation progresses.....

That's right, the measurent is done thus because it was discovered that the middle of a track never is exactly the same within a few metres!

In the past the spacing on German railways was 3.5 metres, at present the rule is 4 metres distance on standard two track routes, rising to 4.7 metres on high-speed lines. This allows for vehicles of 3 metre width to pass safely. What is very important is the way that the distance is measured, or dictated. I have attached a little diagram to show how the measurement is made from the inside face of the rails - not from the middle of each track. 'Gleisabstand' means the distance between tracks - 'Gleis' is track. 'Spurweite' gauge. I am not aware of an English language website on this matter.

And then...

Some overall views to give an idea of progress at Kirchheim. The next step is the tram depot, and then the overhead lines for the trams.

Phew! The final two street lamps are in place and hooked up - via the basement of the block of flats - and now there are largely just two big tasks left in Konradsweiler, the forest at the side and back of the block of flats, which is an easy job, and then the overhead line for the tram. I have decided to leave this tricky matter for a little longer until I have finished the trackwork at the depot - hopefully soon! Fingers crossed!

Yes, the queue at the HO mini-market is definitely growing. Two more today! And the owner of the bike shop has got her Trabant estate back after the accident with a new driver's door - pity that they had no time to spray it! Kirchheim is a magnet for railfans - the photographer is beside himself that a BR55 is still in service - his girlfriend is less enthusiastic!

And this by Auhagen.... https://www.auhagen-shop.de/Bekohlung/14473

As I have a box containing about 100 largely second-hand Preiser and Noch figures I think that the queue could get significantly longer! But I also need queues for the bakery and the butcher's! Remember that this is the former GDR where shortages, real and imaginary, dominated people's lives. I shall never forget my first day of teaching at the university in Halle when student Ralf slunk in with a sports bag full of clinking bottles. I made a joke about enjoying his beer after the seminar and he opened the bag and showed me 20 bottles of ketchup which, he said, was in short supply in the small town where his girlfriend lived. The fact that he had personally caused a ketchup crisis in the suburb of Halle where he lodged was beyond him!

Several hours work have resulted in....not much more to see! The main push has been in completing the tram tracks at Konradsweiler with the 'cobbled' inserts which have been made up with material from Scale Model Scenery Ltd for paving N scale factory or freight yards. The inserts, made of MDF, are a perfect fit and allow space for flanges. I covered the inserts with Auhagen cobbled paving to match the street. It works! The turnouts are difficult to pave - so eventually they will form a roadworks scene! Otherwise, quite a lot of detail has been added - fences, a hydrant, a slide for the kids in the baker's garden and a bigger queue at the HO mini-market!

Auhagen. Look on the German model railway accessory maker's website - www.auhagen.de They have scores of kits for H0, TT and N. You might choose to copy one of their products!

The pavement is in situ and the power for the lights has been connected - with some loud swearing, of course. But I am up in the attic and Frau Rekoboy is cooking, so no offence is caused. As you can see, the street light is at the end of the alley and the Litfaßsäule is near the phone box. The two lights are connected in series to prolong bulb life and reduce glare. Next move, the overhead line posts and street furniture - seats, tram stop signs, a hydrant......

What seems like a small task has taken ages - the prefabrication of a length of pavement, including a cable duct, for the main street. It slots in perfectly as a friction-fit (although now lightly glued) in front of the post office, the party headquarters and the baker's - so a lot of careful cutting and sanding was involved. The pavement strip is laminated from two pieces of balsa, with a channel cut for wires, along with Auhagen pavement for the surface. There is one street light, deliberately placed, as you will see in a day or two, to be seen down the alley next to the baker's, and one illuminated Litfaßsäule - an advertising pillar with suitable GDR posters. For those who are perturbed by the appearance of the word it is pronounced 'littfass-zoyla'. The Litfaßsäule came in a job-lot from Germany, the street light, like two others nearby is an over-scale product for N gauge layouts by Model Power.

65 018 has survived and is preserved in working order in the Netherlands in the collection of Stoom Stichting Nederland...... https://www.stoomstichting.nl/