The Omnifarium - Trains

GTA Train Shows - November 2007

Category: Trains
Sun, 25 Nov 2007, 12:04

Train show season is well under way in the Greater Toronto Area. Two shows I try not to miss are the Pine Ridge Railroaders show in Whitby and the Toronto Christmas Train Show. This year, the shows were just a week apart in November.

The first one up was the show in Whitby. I usually bring my daughter along to this one, but this year I also brought her step so she could have a better view of the trains. Some clubs, such as the Belleville club, provide steps for the young kids, but most don't. When we got there, we first circled the room visiting the vendors. I knew what my daughter's attention span was like, and so I had to pace our visit carefully. Even before we were done with the vendors, she started to pull me towards the layouts.

The Whitby show usually has layouts from the clubs east of Toronto, such as the Soper Valley Club and the Belleville club. H0, N, Lionel, and even Z were represented and filled the whole gymnasium of the Father Leo J. Austin School. Just before we checked out all the layouts, my daughter started to get antsy and insisted on heading home.

With the demise of the Toronto train show put on by the Canadian Railroad Historical Society, the Toronto Christmas Show has become the premiere annual train show for the city. This year, the show took place in a larger exhibition hall at the International Centre, which made the show seem less cramped than before. But then, I did arrive later in the day. Normally, most model rail fans seem to try to get to these shows early to snap up the bargains.

There was no way my daughter could handle a big show like this, so she stayed home. I arrived about 2:45PM and made my first circle of the room checking out the vendors. I ended up back at the beginning after 45 minutes of shopping.

The club layouts for this show were almost all different than the Whitby show. The old "Ontario and Eastern" layout has new owners and is now called the "Ontario and Quebec". It's been reworked a bit, but it's still a treat for the eyes. The Ontario and Eastern club has a new layout, but this time the modules form a point-to-point layout, not an oval. It's an interesting concept for portable modular club layouts. But still, most people enjoy watching trains run. It's hard to get as much action on a point-to-point layout. Sure, most railroad operations are point-to-point, but most stations are through stations, and most trains run past without stopping.

Other clubs attending ran the gamut from N-scale all the way up the live steamers. Narrow gauge was represented by the "Narrow Madness Gang" and had a nice collection of small layouts. These layouts are fun to watch, but I don't think there's any risk of me catching the narrow-gauge bug.

Once I had seen everything, bought what I wanted, and took a few dozen photos, it was almost 5:00PM. I then had to get back to reality and face the hectic late Saturday afternoon traffic across the city.

Cheers!

Hans

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Dolmen-Sylvanau Update - June 2007

Category: Trains
Wed, 06 Jun 2007, 10:41

I haven't provided many updates on my layout progress lately. Part of that is due to laziness and being too busy with other things. Part of that is because my old camera broke down and couldn't be repaired. But a couple of months ago, I bought a new camera, and so that latter excuse is no longer valid. As for the former excuse, I quit my job and plan to take the Summer off work. (I'll look for a new job in the Fall.)

First, I've decided on a name for the larger town on my layout, "Dolmen". I had planned on adding a hill in a new section of the layout. Often, such a hill in Germany would be topped by a cross representing the dominant religion of the region. But in a spate of whimsy, I decided to put a statue of Buddha on top of the hill. When I couldn't find a suitable small Buddha, even at the Pacific Mall, I changed gears and instead decided to add a neolithic pagan stone monument, which were actually not uncommon in Northern Germany. This offered the inspiration for the new name.

Now, some photos showing my current progress. The first photo shows a factory area served by a siding. For the area to the left of the factory, I added some small industrial buildings. The left-most building was a kit-bashed effort. The kit included a flat roof, but I wanted a sloped roof instead. The other building was built entirely from scratch.

The second photo shows the area currently under development. At first, I wanted my layout to represent a predominantly flat area. But later, I decided I wanted some hills with exposed rock faces. On a prominent rocky crag, I put a church. This was a gift from my parents who thought I needed more churches on my layout. They obviously weren't aware of the two existing churches on the layout!

I'm still in the process of adding molded rock faces, but when that's done, I'll let the plaster cure for a few days before applying paint. In the meantime, I can paint and ballast the track running behind this hill. In the foreground, there will be a few more hills with a road running over the stone bridge and a pond.

Anyways, since I have free time now, I'll try to update this blog a bit more often than before.

Cheers!

Hans

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New Layout Extension Takes Shape

Category: Trains
Tue, 31 Jan 2006, 19:17

I mentioned before that I was in the middle of a major renovation in my basement. One aspect of the improvement is that I plan to move my study from one end of the basement to the recreation room, half of which is already occupied by my train layout. In retrospect, this seems like a pretty obvious arrangement. But before I can make the change, a lot of work has to be done first, such as pulling out four tonnes of stone and concrete (done), ripping out 40 square meters of parquet flooring (done), putting in new windows (done), as well as a new wall and floor.

The new arrangement will offer some additional advantages other than having all my stuff in one room. For instance, I'll also be able to increase the size of my H0 layout somewhat. The one thing my layout currently lacks is a decent setup yard. My plan is to run a spur track off the mainline to a new four-track setup yard positioned above my computer desk. This way, I'll have some space to park trains when not in use.

Roadbed for new spur track.

The above photo shows some of the work already in progress. I cut a section of track out of the mainline where I'll add a Peco large radius Y turnout. I really didn't want to put the mainline on the curved side of a turnout, but it was really the only good alternative. Besides, the large radius Y has gentle curves on both branches. And when viewed from the middle of the layout, the curve will be barely noticable.

I cut out a section of the landscape and added a length of 11mm plywood. The photo shows the cork roadbed already in place, but no track yet. That track will be laid after the turnout is glued into place and after the new scenery is installed. The details of the landscape beside the spur aren't important since it will be largely hidden from normal view, but it will represent a shallow cut through the hill.

Hans

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2006 New Items - Fleischmann, Roco

Category: Trains
Fri, 27 Jan 2006, 19:49

The new items flyer from Fleischmann has been released. Ever since I started seriously into model railroading, I've been a fan of Fleischmann models, which make up most of my rolling stock. But as an Era I fan, I'm limited to their annual limited edition series'. Generally, I need to read their Neuheiten flyer and put in my order early in the year.

This year, they have two limited edition sets covering Era I. As expected, one is a commuter train pulled by a T10. The train, in K.P.u.G.H.St.E. colors, includes a three-axle baggage van, a three-axle 2nd/3rd class compartment coach, and a three-axle 4th class compartment coach. An additional 4th class coach will also be offered to extend the train. The other set commemorates the 90th anniversary of MITROPA, a company famous for its restaurant and sleeper coaches. The train consists of a T18 in P.St.E.V. markings, a bogie baggage wagon, a six-axle bogie restaurant wagon, and two bogie sleeper coaches. An additional sleeper coach will be available separately.

Elsewhere in the flyer, you can read about a new version of the BR17 locomotive, in DRG markings. Based on the past, most people will expect that next year's Fleischmann limited edition set will feature a Prussian S10.1 pulling an express passenger train.

What will I order from Fleischmann this year? Nothing, unfortunately. First, I'll pass on the T10 commuter train since Hessen is a bit too far south for my layout. Secondly, although I think the T18 was one of the most attractive of the Prussian locomotives, the P.St.E.V. is somewhat outside of my layout's time frame. Besides, I still don't need any new passenger trains! And why isn't Fleischmann offering any Era I freight wagons this year?

And what about Roco? I haven't seen their new items flyer yet, but I did find a price list at one on-line retailer. As usual, they don't have much in the way of Era I offerings. I see three green three-axle compartment coaches and a green three-axle post van with KPEV markings. I'll pass on these too, since I prefer the more colorful Prussian paint schemes. But that price list also includes a two-axle Rungenwagen from the MFFE! As someone whose paternal ancesters came from Mecklenburg, this is the one item I'll absolutely have to have.

Hans

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2006 New Items - Piko, Trix, Märklin

Category: Trains
Fri, 20 Jan 2006, 13:01

As is eagerly expected by most modellers of the German railroads, we're starting to see the 2006 new product flyers roll out. This week, we saw the release of flyers from Piko, Trix, and Märklin. Fans of Era I (1835-1920) have much smaller selections to choose from than other modellers, and so the new product flyers are very useful resources that help us plan our purchases for the year.

Piko offers a modest selection of affordable models. These days, their products tend towards Era III DR. When they venture into Era I, they lean heavily towards the Sachsen railroad. Their 2006 new product flyer shows a few items from the KSStEB. The first is a locomotive of class VT (BR 89). However, this locomotive has been offered before in Sachsen colors. As in the past few years, there are no Era I freight wagons, but they do offer a pair of 1st/2nd class compartment coaches from the Sachsen railroad, one with brake cab, the other without.

Trix and Märklin, as expected, have similar offerings. They usually have some token Era I offerings, with Trix covering the Bavarian railway and Märklin the Württemberg railway. This year, Trix will offer a new version of the Bavarian PtL 2/2 (Glaskasten), as well as two sets. The first is a Bavarian freight train pulled by a D XII locomotive in brown paint. The three freight cars include a private owner beer van, a tanker, and a wine transport. (Märklin will offer its own version of this train.) The other set includes a Prussian Glaskasten (class T2) and two freight cars: a beer van of the Görlitzer Aktien-Brauerei and a bogie flat car carrying two vehicles from the Hamburg fire department.

Am I tempted by any of these offerings so far? The Prussian Glaskasten train, with the two Hamburg fire trucks, is very tempting. But I'd be getting it only for the fire trucks, since I bought a Roco T2 two years ago. Apart from that, nothing else would really fit on my Prussian layout.

Over the next few weeks, we'll see what Roco and Fleischmann have to say. From Fleischmann, I'm still hoping for an all freight KPEV set, but I'm guessing it will be a Prussian commuter train pulled by a T10.

Hans

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2005 - Year in Review

Category: Trains
Sun, 01 Jan 2006, 16:35

For those of us with a permanent train layout, there are a couple of things that we dread. The biggest fear is having to move. Following close behind is having to renovate the train room. That latter applied to me this past year.

Last winter more than ever, I felt how cold the basement was, and I finally decided to do something about it. The basement floors were poorly insulated with vinyl tile, wood parquet, or a thin carpet laid directly on the concrete floor. I decided to add a Dricore subfloor, starting in the train room. Just two complications: First, there's the train layout permanently attached to two walls. Second, there was a curious fake fireplace in the middle of one wall, with decorative stone along the rest of that wall. I figured the train layout would be easy to deal with when laying down the new floor. When approaching a leg, I would add a scaffold support, cut about 10cm off the end of the leg, install the new flooring underneath, and finally insert a new footing for the leg. The stonework would be much more work.

Sometimes I think I wouldn't embark on certain projects if I knew in advance how much work it would be, and removing the stonework was be one of those cases. Pounding away at the stone, it took a couple of months working about 10 hours a week to get the stone out of the basement. The following photos show what the wall looked like before I started building my layout, and the wall half-way through the stone removal.

Oh yeah, one additional complication: Part of my train layout was blocking access to about three meters of wall. Fortunately, that section was not attached to the stonework and was fully supported on four legs. I was able to cut that section out and move it aside.

By June, I'd gotten practically all the stone and concrete out. I estimated that I'd hauled about four tonnes out. Unfortunately, my doctor found a 10mm by 5mm kidney stone, and I was taken out of action for a couple of weeks. When that was all taken care of, it took a couple months more to get back to the renovation. We decided to hire someone to upgrade the windows and put up the new wall, but I still wanted to lay with the new floor myself.

Below, the photo at left shows the first two rows of subflooring in place. Dricore is easy to install. The panels interlock and simply float on top of the concrete floor without the need for nails or screws. The right photo shows the new footer for one leg of the layout, with a temporary piece of laminate flooring in place.

I agonized a while over the choice of finished flooring. In order to keep costs down, I first wanted 12" vinyl tile. But after working out all the costs involved, I later decided on laminate flooring. Vinyl tile is fairly inexpensive, but requires an additional layer of plywood on top of the Dricore subfloor. The lowest cost laminate plus underpad is more expensive, but not by much. Laminate is also much easier to install.

The left photo above shows where I'm currently at with the renovation. I still have a week left of my Christmas vacation, and I fully expect to be done with the subfloor during this time. The laminate can wait until after the windows and wall are done, hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Another plus to this project is that I'll be able to add an additional 25cm of length to my layout, as well as a new setup yard. Hopefully, by Spring I'll be able to run trains around my layout again. Our daughter already misses seeing the trains run.

Hans

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