BillB

Hi Simon, thanks for that. In case it is helpful to anyone, your experience of different running numbers for the same Roco product number for the Donnerbüchsen is opposite to mine for the ex-Prussian 6-wheelers. I saw that the 1980s Roco issues of these coaches for the DRG did not have the yellow eagle roundels printed or decaled onto the coach, but had them as separate plastic parts to be glued on, so I sought out models on ebay that had not had the parts packs applied as that made them, to a degree, epoch-neutral. I found the following different product numbers had the same running numbers: Roco 44207C (issued 1984-6) and Roco 44508 (issued 1986-92), B3 Pr 07b (mit BrH), are both Erfurt 23707 (Leipzig – Saalfeld); Roco 442221C (issued 1987) and Roco 44513 (issued 1987-91), C3u Pr 04/30 (ohne BrH), umgebauter C3tr, are both Erfurt 53505 (Leipzig – Saalfeld). There are also several duplications amongst the SNCF ex-Prussian 6-wheelers, but this is not the place to list them.

Hi, thanks to all for your replies. One attraction of a Roco set, rather than individual coaches, is they will all have the same route labels, so they can be marshalled together in any quantity or combination and still be consistent. Since my question I found pics of these coaches on a heritage railway with the DRG yellow and black eagle roundels, at Crailsheim in 2007: Donnerbuechse-Sonderfahrt_SEH_08.12.07_in_Crailsheim.jpg As the Roco 04062S set I saw (on ebay) looked in mint condition and was £90 and only 20 miles away so no international postage I decided I can use it as a modern heritage set, as I also have Gutzold DRG 71 373. Luckily I was the only bidder. I’ll find out if it is really mint when it arrives, but all the parts bags looked to be present and unused. The good thing about a model railway is it can spring into the 2020s on occasion at the whim of the (not so) Fat Controller! Thanks again, Bill.

Hi Hank, thank you very much. Your info helps me a lot. Piko TT have 2 brown Czech vans and 1 brown MAV, so I will stick to those! I don't need many, as it is just a branch line, and I suspected beer might not travel from Popavice as far as a small village in the DDR in the 1950s! Best Regards, Bill.

Hi, I have seen Roco set 04062 S from circa 1984 of 5 HO Donnerbüchsen coaches for the DRG Ep2 (lettered for Leipzig - Magdeburg). Does anyone know if there was an equivalent set for the DDR DR, Ep3? I have googled adjacent Roco catalogue numbers without success. I imagine the eagles, etc, disappeared from DDR coaches pretty quickly after May 1945 and certainly didn't last into the 1950s. Thanks, Bill.

Hi Phil, thanks very much for your reply. I will fit the track together on a temporary basis to see if it all works. I just didn't want to fry anything, as I think even DC locos have chips in them now, and the Piko kl 55 costs circa £250. Happy Easter! Bill.

Hi, I am planning a small TT layout on a 6-ft plank, station to fiddle-yard. There will be a passing loop and 2 or 3 sidings in the station, and a fan of 3 sidings in the FY (see early sketches below. BTW Anyrail now has PECO and Hornby TT in its track library). It will be analogue and most likely “one engine in steam” in the station area. I know how to do this with traditional isolating points, i.e. where to put the power feeds, insulated joiners, etc., but I have not used PECO Unifrog points before. The instructions with the TT Unifrog points say: “It is completely live, with only the metal frog tip and wing rails insulated from the rest. It can be used like this with no further wiring necessary, using conductive metal rail joiners on all rails. Both routes are live at all times, making it ideal for DCC controlled layouts. If using analogue control, isolated track sections with switched power feeds will be required to park trains.” Am I correct in thinking this means that if I use metal rail joiners throughout, a single power feed can be put anywhere on the layout and it will make the whole layout live, including all the dead-ends, headshunts, etc., with no short-circuits (i.e. left-rail meeting right-rail), and providing I have only one engine operating it will go anywhere the points are set to with no need for any electrical switching, providing I don’t wire any of the frogs to be live? Also that the point blades perform no role in switching the current, so poor contact between point blade and stock rail ceases to be an issue? If so I will put the feed where the station meets the FY to minimise distance for the little volts to travel! And do the same principles apply to PECO HO Unifrog points? Thanks, Bill.

Thanks for your replies. Re the Piko catalogue, I was in fact looking at the current Piko TT catalogue and wondering which of the Ep III ex-Prussian "G" vans lettered for neighbouring countries might legitimately turn up on a Saxony branch line, as the number of DR vans available is small. Piko have five vans for the CSD, which is very close by (two standard brown vans, two green for different breweries, and one blue, maybe insulated?), plus one standard brown van for the MAV. I'll take your comments to mean "any of them, but not all at once". Thanks again, Bill.

Hi, I am wondering whether Czech, Polish, or Hungarian wagons and vans appeared on East German rails in the 1950s, and what other "visitors" might have appeared (e.g. Austrian?). And how frequently. Might they pop up on a branch line? And am I right to assume that non iron curtain counties wagons would not appear, and neither would Russian wagons because of the gauge difference. Grateful for any info, Bill.

Hi Stefan, thanks very much! Bill.

Hi, Piko TT have released a class 55 for the DR (GDR) Ep III with a load of writing on the tender, which begins "Our promise..." (but in German). It is described in all the catalogues, retailers websites, etc., as a "printing variation". I have googled the loco number, 55 545, for images but with no luck. I am wondering if anyone can cast any light on what the model actually represents, i.e. if it existed, when, where and for how long? https://www.piko-shop.de/en/artikel/ger-tt-dampflok-br-55-parteitag-dr-iii-35415.html Thanks, Bill.

I just found a pic on Pinterest of the interior of an empty BR steel mineral wagon, derailed on Basford Crossing. It answers the question for these wagons, at least, and provides a useful guide for modellers modeling empties.

Thanks very much to all. I will go for natural wood, with a good coating of coal dust for my empties! To Doilum - I don't know if still available, but years ago I got several E&WYUR wagons, all with different nos., from Going Loco in Potovens Lane, Wakefield. They were not printed, but decalled, with whole body-side decals. I don't know the source of the decals. When I lived there the line was worked by saddle tanks, but I can't remember if they were BR or NCB. I used to sit on the banks of the cutting that ran from the bridge under the A642 towards Patrick Green, waiting for a train to rumble by, and never saw a tender engine, and whilst memory fades, I don't remember any long trains. I also don't remember the brake vans specifically, but I'm guessing they were the LNER / BR standard ones.

Most model railway manufacturers paint the interiors of their private owner coal wagons with the exterior body colour. In the 1950s - 60s I lived next to Newmarket Colliery and its East & West Yorkshire Union Railway branch line, and I used to play in the ancient dead wagons stored in a siding just east of the bridge under the A642. As I remember they were all wooden and seemed to be bare, weathered wood inside and out, though I think there may have been rusty metal plates on the floors of some, maybe repairs to cover holes. I am wondering whether in the days of private owner coal wagons the interiors were painted (seems unlikely), creasoted (seems most likely), or just left as bare wood (I assume not, as some attempt would be made to maximise longevity)? Asked in the prototype section as it is about the prototype. Thanks, Bill.

The typical reason for providing a weather-board on the tender is so an engine can run tender-first for prolonged periods. This requirement arises typically on branch lines without turntables. So I am wondering if those LNWR / LMS Super Ds / G2s / G2As so fitted were used on branch lines, and if they ventured onto the North Wales branches? Best Regards, Bill.

Hi, thanks for your comments. I think my branch line will be set in circa 1900-5, and the workhorse will be a T 9.2. All this interest arose during the frost, when I unearthed my vintage Roco and Fleischmann sets and decided they were far too big to post to anyone, so rather than list them on ebay I should use them. Fleischmann 481102 "Berliner Wannseebahn" has a T9.2 plus coaches with modern numerals on the doors, as does the lone coach in Fleischmann 4895 "Preußischer Güterzug mit Personenbeförderung", whilst Roco set 43025 "K.P.E.V. Epoche I" has 6-wheelers with the latin numerals, as does the associated Roco 44013 2-coach add-on pack. The Roco 43026 "Berliner Stadtbahn" set has three pairs of close-coupled Roco 6-wheelers with modern numerals. Both Roco sets include a T 16, and I assume both T 16s and close-coupled passenger stock were more commuter service than branch line. Of all I have the Roco 6-wheelers with the latin numerals are my favourite coaches, so I think my chief operating roster will be those coaches with the Fleischmann T 9.2s. My most characterful looking engine is a Roco P 4.2 4-4-0 (Roco 63302), but sadly that has no provision for fitting a front coupler, so I would need a turntable, which I won't have room for.