Glorious NSE

Ride must surely have been even worse on usual North American track where the rail joints aren't necessarily in the same place on each rail! Doesn't bear thinking about what that versus a logging truck would have looked like...

Graphic timetables now up: https://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/archives/graphic-timetables.html

Hmmm, top tip: If you're going to use lots of footage of East and Southbound trains, don't then go and film folk travelling on Northbound and Westbound trains so you have to keep running the stock footage backwards... Still, well worth the watch and some fascinating insights.

The 2019/20 passenger timetables are now visible here if you search for locations: https://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/de/willkommen.html First glance doesn't look much different to 2018/19. * No sign of any Capricorn-inspired timetable changes this year (though that's probably not too surprising.) * Davos-Filisur 'heritage' turns are still there. * This years Chur-Ilanz summer Sunday tourist diagram now runs summer Sat/Sun/Public holidays. Graphic timetables are not up yet.

On the Albula particularly train lengths can be quite long - the minimum regular (not GEX/BEX) passenger train in 2019 is a loco and 7 coach push pull set, and I reckon the majority will be longer than that as half the diagrams are hauled/shoved by Allegra units, some have tail loads, and they add additional passenger cars onto that too! Ones up to the region of 12 cars are not rare (looking at vids, a couple of years back one of the GEX trains was scheduled to be combined with one of the (then) 6 car Albula sets, making that one minimum loco +12!) Whatever you do will be some kind of trade-off... If you really wanted the extra length, double tracking one end would be possible in the space (R183s) without messing up the joints - but would then restrict the scenery at that end (double track tunnels I think wouldn't look right for that line...) I understand, always a trade-off - it's why my (first) little project will try and be all on one board despite that heavily compromising train lengths!

Visually, I'd suggest rotating the trackplan by a degree or so, which will mean the tracks don't match the baseboard edge, making it look more natural. That will make it harder to do the board joints though. You'd have the space to wind it down to put some staging tracks on a lower level if you wanted - though that'd make it a much more complex build.

Purists, probably better go look over there for a minute... So this arrived.... Whilst this might eventually provide a donor chassis for something more proto - in the short term I thought I'd give it a quick makeover to get it into service. The chassis on this new run is really nice, it's got a bit more weight and compensation which I think improves both pickup and tractive effort over the previous. it handles a 6 car GEX set with no issues. DCC could be fun, and I need to work out how to MT coupler it, but other than that I think it's well worth the money. Comes with a couple of wagons which could have possibilities too...

This suggests it's now an infrastructure machine: https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/schweiz~rhaetische-bahn~dienst--und-rangierloks/1177136/die-retrofit-infrastruktur-traktor-tmf-22.html

Looks like it's had a new rad grille and headlights too judging from this: https://bahnbilder.ch/picture/27462

Would agree - much heavier and more roof supports because of that - Pic of the original setup: https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/schweiz~rhaetische-bahn~personenwagen/147095/rhb---b-2111-am-15102000.html Scrub the idea of using the Gourmino car as a basis anyhow - had forgotten they only had doors one end! On another subject - I had got a bit frustrated trying to keep track of the different 1/150 RhB kits on Shapeways so created a list - here's the link if it's useful. https://www.shapeways.com/designer/gloriousnse/lists/1-150-scale-rhb-models?s=0#more-products I've deliberately not included any models which have since become available in RTR plastic from Kato and MDS. If there's any I've missed please let me know and I'll add them.

Bit of Google-fu - 2091-2093 were Bernina Railway goods wagon conversions, predating the RhB (though with lots of more recent mods) - wagons were themselves conversions from even earlier wagons, which date back to the opening of the Bernina line! https://www.berninabahn.ch/rollmaterial-berninabahn/l-303-b2-2092/

Can't remember where I found these, but I do have GA drawings for the early "planked" 4 wheelers (2091-2093) and 2111.

Thanks all - yes the "planked" 4 wheelers are taller (and I think a little shorter in length?) - unfortunately #2096 pictured here in Jon's photo above is the prototype one and it's a shorter (height) example. #2111 is the solitary bogie fitted one with the full roof in the fleet, same as Jim's photo, which would make a really nice one to model one day (I think I will have spare lettering from this one which would work) - I wonder if the upcoming Gourmino car could provide the lower half - though I guess that'd be an expensive way of doing it. http://www.haribu.ch/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=224 Looking again at this model I think the extra height is in the bottom half if it (depth of "floor") - so this isn't going to have a simple and accurate fix - but reducing the roof height is probably a good compromise way to stop it standing out too much when coupled to other cars. I don't think it's the end of the world, but I will give it some thought as to the best way forward...

Loved the one where the treat passed between his legs without him noticing...

First of these in service, doesn't go together too badly despite the bendy resin. Overall looks a little tall though, I think I might try and lower the roof of the second one.

Hold on just a minute. We don't know the actual speed of the impact (and no, this is NOT me speculating either way!) We don't know whether one or both trains had brakes applied or released at the point of impact (Likewise, NOT a speculation). We do know the 80x was obviously moving, but we don't know the speed. We don't know whether the HST was stationary or moving, and if so what it's speed was. We don't know the actual point of collision. Because of that we don't know where the derailed coaches were at the time of impact. We don't know the derailment mechanism of the derailed axles. Ref high speed incidents: We do know for a demonstrable fact from previous instances that when an HST is involved in a high speed collisions it's coaches can also stack up - (Southall, Ufton Nervet are examples). That is no criticism of the HST, it's physics being physics. Northallerton did not involve a collision, nor was the HST there involved in traversing a 15mph crossover at the time. Suggesting that Northallerton (a high speed plain line derailment) would have turned out fundamentally differently because of what a minor depot rear end collision looks like from a newspaper image seems to be a gigantic stretch, without knowing all of the above. Again - can't we wait and see?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The majority was, absolutely - but we don't know that those two derailed cars were, because we don't know what the point of impact was. Just because the two trains are stationary in those pictures doesn't mean that one, the other, or both have are stopped at the initial point of impact.

And one of those trains appears to have had it's coaches all in a straight line at the point of impact so the force would go straight down the centre line of the train through the couplers, whilst the other train appears to have been traversing a low speed (sharp) crossover, so the forces there will work differently... Lets wait and see is all i'm saying.

It might well turn out to be that the final position of the trains doesn't properly reflect the point of collision - if the derailed coaches were traversing the crossover a few cars back from their present position when it collided i'm not sure I'm all that surprised that they derailed, or that they moved a fair way out of alignment with the other cars after derailing there... And if that is what has happened, then comparisons to other derailments on straight track at speed may not be especially relevant.

Or at least, that "this is easy, you just raise a few bridges" isn't the simple fix some say. HS2 newbuild sections will end up double-deck capable from new, even if the 1st gen HS2 trains are not double deck it will allow for future capacity.

On freight stock I've been picking up the odd cheap s/h wagon to play with as potential kitbash fodder. First was a Fleischmann wagon, body part removed here: Think this one might work well as the basis for one of these small dropside wagons which are still in departmental use, a bonus is the model has offset axles as many real RhB wagons seem to have but most donor chassis don't! Also this Peco ferry open, as yet untouched. Length is about right for one of the 4 wheel intermodals, but that wide axle spacing may annoy me too much to accept it....

Coaching stock, I painted the interior of one of the GEX cars and I think it helps, so will probably do the rest of the set... The pair of EW1s are interesting. Had a play at stripping one down to see what kitbashes are possible. The number of separate bits is quite high so there are possibilities I think. In the short term the 2nd class coach has had a slight fade and matt varnish, making them all look slightly different in finish as the real ones are seems plausible. I gave the roofs a slight weather too, looking at that video earlier I should have gone further though! I also made a start on the Aussichtswagen kits. The chassis are bent, but when it come to fixing them to the body part should straighten them up as that bends very slightly the other way!! Roofs look like they will be fun to fit too.

So to catch up, I sold some excess US stock at Armitage which let me order some more bits, the Hakone Tozan loco and EW1 set, and the rest of the GEX coaches. Actually that's not strictly true, I cocked up the order and ended up with two sets of 4x GEX coaches rather than one and the extra EW1s. Really not sure what to do with the extras...do I trade, or squirrel in case I do want a bigger layout on this theme, or use them as kitbash fodder? Hmm... Anyhow, my pair of Loks had a little attention. 644 has its lower colour repainted to represent the livery it wore more recently, and the roof has been weathered. With 622, I was a little disappointed in Katos finish, I have part repainted the ends to red (they looked a wierd orange colour) and used a black marker to get rid of more orange plastic round some of the windows, a bit of roof weathering in the pan wells again to finish it off..

So far as I can tell... The 8x boxy 2nd class NEVA driving trailers (17xx) date from 1999 I think, I haven't seen anything to suggest they are going so I think they will be augmented by these 8x new ones (528xx) with Allegra styling. They seem to have been delivered in 2018 but seem to have been quite slow into service? There's also the 6x new first class driving trailers (578xx) - again with Allegra styling, one for each of the 6x Alvra sets for the Albula line.