Sir Madog

I´ll be watching this space with growing interest, Paul!

Which, incidentally, equates to just about 2/3 of the minimum radius on the Bernina line! It should look quite OK!

I couldn´t agree more. The difference of 2.5mm is hardly noticeable - at least for my bespectacled eyes - and therefore hardly worth the effort. While converting rolling stock seems to be fairly straight forward, the Kato Ge 4/4 II requires a new gear box, which is certainly not a walk in the park to design and build.

Zeitgeist, a new manufacturer has announced a set consisting of the old Bavarian Zugspitzbahn rack loco and matching car! The pictures show the yet undecorated and unlettered version. A set consisting of loco, car and 3m of track equipped with Riggenbach rack rail will be released to the shops during Q1, 2019. Prices range from about €300 for the DCC only version to € 370 for DCC &sound. Zeitgeist also offers flex track, a coach set, and catenary masts. No points - yet. Very, very tempting!

Please keep us informed, Paul!

Has anyone heard anything about these models from PIRATA?

The layout is a tiny 160cm by 70cm roundy-rounder with still lots to do. The wiring is not completed and so are the scenic details. Here is a birds-eye view of it: Some more detail shots: The electrics actually get their juice through the catenary.

Without intending to start the flame war Michael apparently wants to start, but that statement simply isn´t true at all. There are many railway modellers in other countries who have chosen Märklin as their hobby poison - for good reasons! The Märklin 3-rail AC system is not only the most comprehensive, but also the most reliable and durable model train system. The only drawback of Märklin HO trains is the rather unsightly plastic look of the track, combined with the general disadvantages of a settrack system, but that´s a common problem for Hornby, Fleischmann etc.With a little effort, Märklin track can be turned into something looking much better. For reasons of health, I had to give up my "regular" railway modelling activities and have gone back to my childhood days, when everything started with a Märklin train set. Here are a few pics of my current layout: Other than the buildings, scenic materials and decorations, the stuff is between 35 and over 60 years old and still in excellent nick! As you can see, I even use the old tinplate track! It´s foolproof to set up and operate! Of course one cannot compare such a layout with those highly detailed and realistic creations you will find here and in other forums, but hey - it was never meant to be that, just pure fun!

It says "available for Christmas 2018" on this announcement, but I was unable to find any source - not even PIRATA has it i their own web shop. Is that another practical joke PIRATA is pulling - just like their announcement of the ABe 4/4 III?

Most of the Dubdees remaining on the continent after WW II saw service with Nederlandse Spoorweg (NS), none of them ever entered service with DB or DR. The picture of a Dubdee in DB or DR guise is a nice Photoshop job of a picture taken by Andree Hastle on October 15th, 2007 (Source: Wikipedia)

FO class Ge 4/4 III was leased to RhB from late 1979 until the opening of the Furka base tunnel in 1982. Both locos saw service on the Albula line before being transferred to "tunnel duty, hauling the car trains through the tunnel. No. 82 "Uri" was scrapped last November, leaving only No. 81 "Wallis" in service. 36 years is an unusual short service life on Swiss NG lines.

Very nice models, but their prices are not for the faint-hearted! There is also a Dutch manufacturer offering some signature buildings of the MGB line- like the bridge & chapel at Stalden-Neubrück, a typical MGB station of the former FO line between Brig and Disentis, and some typical chalets and barns. Tilly Models These are resin kits of rather good quality. The bridge & chapel I used on my own Swiss layout.

A comprehensive overview of steam locomotive classes is available in "Taschenbuch Deutsche Dampflokomotiven" by Horst J. Obermayer, first released in 1979 with reprints still available. https://www.amazon.de/Taschenbuch-Deutsche-Dampflokomotiven-Horst-Obermayer/dp/3868523863 How good is your German?

Here is a link to Brawa´s web page https://www.brawa.de/en/products/h0/wagons/passenger-coaches/45059-passenger-coach-bc4-sbb/

... which allows the loco to negotiate a 150mm radius, but who needs that?

Any car marked "Epoche III" will fit the bill!

I can hardly await to see the MDS RhB Ge 4/4 II next to the Kato version. Both play round and about in the same league, concerning pricing, with a slight topping for MDS, buying you separately applied hand rails both at the doors and the loco front, plus some finer detail on the roof and the pilot. For the aficionados of Rhaetian Railways, it´s a much cheaper alternative to Bemo´s offerings. Mind you, the price of a Bemo Ge 4/4 II in DC only buys you the MDS one including DCC & Sound, without really sacrificing on visible detail. What´s still lacking is a selection of 1/150 scale buildings. Stadt im Modell - a German manufacturer of laser-cut building kits, has announced a number od typical RhB buildings in N scale, but I am not sure about the actual scale of them. Faller´s "Stugl/Stuls" and "Langwies" station buzilding are actually even smaller than !/160 scale!

I think it is rather unlikely that Peco publishes a track plan which does not work out the way it is planned. The layout dimensions are 3`6" by 7´6", so you are quite comfortable at putting it on a 4 by 8 baseboard. Bredon has been built some 30 years ago and was displayed at shows. I don´t think the builders would have taken the pain of building a lyout and luggung it to shows, if they hadn´t been able to operate the layout as intended. SRman´s advice is certainly not wrong, but rather generic and, in this case, not necessary. I think I have dine my deed and leave the discussion to be taken from here by others. Good luck!

To my knowledge, Peco does not have downloadable templates for setrack points.

I just tried it myself and there are two areas of mismatch. I used flex track to correct one of the mismatches and the other one is within the usual tolerance of +/- 1mm, so it can be ignored! I´ll be emailing the SCARM file to you in a minute!

I think that´s a good decision! Try to get your hand on the July 1985 copy of the Railway Modeller magazine, in which the layout is featured. All the track and points you need for this layout is avaible in a bundle from this source! The price quoted includes British VAT of 20%. which you can subtract to get your US pre-tax and duty price 8if I am right).

I feel flattered that you like my design, but to be frank, it is far from being a good design. Asa others have mentioned, it is quite difficult to incorporate the platforms in a sensible length and the fiddle yard could also see some make-over. The 4 by 8 baseboard imposes restraints, which makes it difficult to follow the prototype closely.. Now, if you could accommodate a 6 by 10 ft. layout, things would be a lot better. In that case, I could incorporate a curved point on the right side, a slightly wider radius and an operating pit in the middle. The staging or fiddle yard could evolve into a second station or some sort of freight facility. If I were to walk in your shoes, what would I do? Most likely, given, the space restraint, I´d drop the idea of modelling a prototype location and go for a more generic design, like the Bredon layout from the Peco Setrack plan book. It´s a proven design, interesting to build a has lots of character. Losely following GWR practices, it could easily be "relocated" to Southern Rlwy. territory, claiming it´s the Bluebell line. But that´s only me! It is your layout and there is nothing wrong in doing what you like best!

I am happy to oblige, but it may take some time - I have pretty much exhausted the energy left in my body for this day.

Here we go again! I used OpenRailwayMaps to get the station´s track plan. It´s drawn using Peco code 75 rail and bullhead flex track, as suggested earlier. I tried to come as close as possible to the prototype´s layout, but putting it on a 4 by 8 required some compression and adjustments.

Well, the plan is certainly not a bad one and, IIRC, has been featured in RM some 30 years ago. The picture I have in my mind was that of a nice and authentic looking layout with a charming GWR flavour to it. I think before we get into the routine of endlessly generating various layout ideas, there are a few questions which need to be settled: How strongly are you tied to modelling the Bluebell Rlwy.? How strongly are you tied to confine the layout to a 4 by 8 ft. baseboard? The latter question comes to my mind, as yoiu stated somewhere along thge discussion, that the layout is accessible from all sides.