Montreux_1991

Unclip the roof, then attack the eight retaining lugs (four each side) with a flat screwdriver, hoping you don't break anything. Then - while you're at it - replace the bogies? Minitrix SBB RIC EC: Tieferlegung mit korrekten Drehgestellen - Rollmaterial - spur-N-schweiz Forum

From memory - having bought and rejected the older Fleischmann UIC-X a couple of years ago - most of the excess height was due to (1) overall height of the bogies above the wheel bearings and (2) height of the lower body framing, which is painted dark grey in the photos above. And what's your source for the difference in cant rail height? I'd assume the contrary, that UIC-X coaches and their Swiss cousins would be very similar in their use of the loading gauge, and most differences between models are due to one manufacturer (or both) getting it wrong. Fleischmann know they got this wrong: the 'Neukonstruktion 2020' UIC-X coaches are marketed as having prototypically correct buffer height. Buffer and body height both compare favourably to my preferred reference, the Roco Eurofima: Comparing to your reference: The 'Neukonstruction 2020' model has been announced in FS grey (863960/1/2) but the release date has now slipped to 2025. For liver red and grey the 'modern' options with flush glazing are Arnold, ACME and Minitrix, but all have their issues... Arnold - too short, including the window openings which are only 5.5mm tall. My examples of HN4317 were also banana-shaped. The photo below shows HN 4265-3 but it's the same moulding: ACME - quite pretty in photos (although I think they went too far the other way with 6.25mm tall window openings) but the body mouldings are too thin to hold their shape and they also wobble and lean on their bogies: Minitrix - too tall, but it's all in the bogies so I've stockpiled some dark grey bogies from Roco 24264 donor carriages. Also Minitrix only produced the 11-compartment couchette moulding in this livery, even though one of the models is supposed to be a composite: All very frustrating! If you're interested, prototype notes and a comprehensive (2013, pre-ACME) review of N gauge models can be found and translated here: Carrozze UIC-X – parte terza: le sei serie italiane originali | scalaeNNe - Note Sparse (Treni, Ferrovie e loro modellazione in Scala N) (wordpress.com)

Also worth remembering / noting: between July 1993 (approximately 50 locomotives delivered) and November 1994 (approximately 100 locomotives delivered) due to poor reliability Re 460 were banned from IC services on the Geneva - Zurich main line, and many were used on goods and secondary services instead. LOKI spezial 6 'Die Simplon-Linie' shows Re 460s (on the front cover) hauling a mixed freight past Chillon, and (inside) hauling a goods train of mostly 4-wheel vans near Sion...

On the other hand... Pirata have announced two 'IC Lemano' sets: three Gran Confort coaches, and three handmade 'metal' Eurofima 2nd class. These are Art. 6193 and Art. 6194 respectively on the Pirata website, or the other way round in the 'Novita 2024' pdf. The previously announced FS 1983 restaurant car with ribbed roof (in the 'Benedetto Croce' set Art. 6160) now has a ribbed roof in the catalogue photo, although this could just be a photomontage. The previously announced 'metal' UIC-Z1 coaches in 1980s livery are are still represented by photos of the Arnold model.

I’m no longer sure the 2013 Re 4/4 tooling was all-new. It was initially exciting to find that spare glazing units, despite better colour choices and separately applied windscreen wipers, exactly fitted my existing models, but perhaps this was telling me (if I would only listen) that the original body tooling had been modified rather than scrapped. Perhaps this year we'll get an a new body and glazing but with many detail parts carried over from 2013 or from the Re6/6? And I’m not sure I understand what Fleischmann are thinking with the Cisalpino. The prototype illustration on page 47 features SBB Apm coaches (presumably on the Geneva-Milan route, between Veytaux-Chillon and Villeneuve) whereas the model photos suggest an FS first, using the ex-Roco Eurofima with no attempt to modify the roof moulding, and a brand new SBB Bpm incorrectly riding on Eurofima bogies...

Picking up a few comments on the Arnold BLS Re 4/4: Excess width is a longstanding problem in N gauge – not least on steam engines with (inevitably overscale) outside cylinders and valve gear. Arnold (BLS) and Fleischmann (SBB) Re 4/4s are both around 19.5mm wide. On the Fleischmann, most of the excess width seems to be in one place – the rounded ‘cab corner’ windows – making it obvious now I know what to look for. I’m not sure the Arnold is so obvious. That said, earlier Arnold production looked so bad (black plastic windows being a particular low point) that I’m surprised Lemaco never tried their luck in brass. As already noted by Frutigen, the model was reissued around ten years ago (HNS 2238 / 2239 /2240) with clear glazing, interior detail and improved finish. I assume this year’s models will have sound-related chassis modifications but no further changes to the bodyshell. For a replacement chassis I’d look no further than the (split frame, smooth-running) Hobbytrain SBB Re 4/4. If you’re not fussy about livery, complete brand-new models can usually be found on ebay.de from around EUR 125. I’m also puzzled by comments (on this thread and the recent ‘Ae 4/4 being winched’ thread) that BLS Ae 4/4 and Re 4/4 look similar. Doesn’t everyone just look at the cab window frames?

Livery application has always struck me as the weakest point of the Lima NPZ - the shame is that Arnold re-issued centre cars (3256/7/8) in the 1990s with plug doors, close coupling and a much sharper finish, but didn't reissue the NPZ. Adding insult to injury, they used a ‘paler than Lima’ shade of yellow for the doors. Even today, a sharp coat of paint (plus - ideally - upgraded bogies and pantographs) would make a fine model, assuming the tooling remains usable. I wish I could say the same for the Arnold UIC-X coaches. Or pretty much any of the alternatives, for one reason or another…

Next up: Arnold 2024 looks like a great year for Italian motive power (D445, E646 and ETR1000) but the only new Swiss items are BLS re4/4s (161, 173 and 192, with or without sound) and two Epoch II Edelweiss-Pullman coach sets. It's now 33 years and counting since the Lima NPZ was last produced. Does this mean Arnold / Hornby don't have usable tooling?

Perhaps someone at Piko had been watching Youtube and thought they could crash Hobbytrain's party? ► Abschied von den BLS EW I Wagen (youtube.com) These won't be cheap - Menzels Lokschuppen have pre-listed the two-car 'Bdt plus B' set and the three-car set at 190 EUR each - but for my money (having one of each in my collection) the Piko Bdt is a better model than the Hobbytrain driving trailer, and likely to 'go' better with the Piko coaches.

Looks like Piko are first out of the blocks this year. With one locomotive: Two coach sets: And one wagon:

I remember walking my employer’s Chien Bernois on the Quai Des Fleurs, and being ID checked at 1am (on a night off) by the police, between Vevey and Montreux. In railway terms, lakeside settings make me think of smaller stations (Territet and Veytaux-Chillon on the Quai Des Fleurs, or Rivaz and St Saphorin in the Lavaux vineyards) whereas the larger stations with more developed track plans tend to be further inland. I’ll be watching this space to see how you blend the two…

To which (the wish for an up to scratch EWII D) I'd add - please let it be Piko and please change the usual release schedule so the 'old logo' version comes out first...

It's impressive - and currently for sale. I know what you mean about glimpses of trains. My room isn't ready yet for 'Montreux station on one 2.4m baseboard' but I plan to leave myself considerable flexibility on the final placement of buildings and the final levels / sight lines at the front of the layout. In particular, the layout will have to be deep enough to follow the sweeping curve of Avenue Des Alpes (away from the railway, requiring more depth and building construction) giving a view across rooftops, but with the option of cutting back to Rue de la Rouvenettaz, from which I accessed the end of the 'direction Lausanne' platform so many times... Hugh

The road layout doesn’t look right to me – in particular where it crosses four tracks on the level. The only level crossing I remember (Montreux) crossed the station throat just before two tracks became three: And was replaced (circa 1996) by this: Also have you considered / looked at Villeneuve? In 1:1 scale, the open nature of the site made this a better place than Montreux to watch mainline trains go by, and in model form it could use ‘flat’ baseboards and fewer structures than the ‘town centre’ stations (Vevey, Montreux) you’ve previously referred to. A few years ago I looked at fitting Villeneuve onto a single 2.4m long baseboard, modelling from the overbridges at the Lausanne end to Route de la Tour Rouge at the Brig end. There are vines and conifers (!) behind the railway and most ‘essential’ buildings would be in a view-blocking cluster at the Brig end – behind the railway a locomotive shed (housing a shunting locomotive for the adjacent ballast yard) and possibly 1 and 3 Route de la Tour Rouge, and in front of the railway a church, station building and post-war block of shops and flats.

For anyone with an unrebuilt (wooden-bodied) SBB De4/4 on their wish-list, this will be of interest: https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2023/11/25/sbb-de-4-4-di-lo-co Incidentally (for those not already familiar with it) the ‘scalaeNNe – Note Sparse’ website has hugely detailed articles on FS rolling stock, and others including TEE stock and Eurofima livery. All in Italian but very readable with Google Translate.