Bahnhofsensemble: work in progress

 I pressed on yesterday and worked on the station platform and freight shed area. All in the pictures is work in progress intended to give an impression of the platform area.

Track weathering

 Actually this is not really worth a post.. but it's my first activity in months: sleepers painting and weathering in Elmslohe station. I coatted the sleepers of the H0 Tillig Elite rails in a mixture of Humbrol 33 black and 98 chocolate brown to get rid of the shiny appearance. After a night drying time, I drybrushed white over the sleepers giving them a weathered finish.

Engine shed with inspection pit

Late night views into the engine shed, now in its position on the layout above the inspection pit.

Engine shed roof, lighting and interiors

The roof of the engine shed that I have recently moved to the other side of the station was already totally warped when I took it out of the Auhagen kit box. No bending effort was successful and I also did not want to glue it solidly to the building - as I wanted to keep it removable because of the interior design and lighting. So I built my own roof out of an Evergreen sheet (Metal Roofing No. 4524) which has a similar structure as the roofs of the station building and freight shed.

Two led's were installed to provide the lighting and I moved the interiors that I have shown in a previous post to the other wall (as the shed got turned in its new position). The roof ridge was done from a strip of very fine sanding paper.

The roof still needs painting, it's currently only primed (Tamiya primer). Then also the chimneys and rain pipes can be glued down in position. And I want to add a figure or two to the interior, as well as some posters as wall decoration.

Moving the engine shed (part 2)

The idea of moving the engine shed looked immediately convincing on the first test. It's a much more balanced layout now that offers more possibilities and looks less crammed despite it's short length. So I waited no longer and added the new switch, added the new loco shed rail and added some centimeters to the freight shed track.

Overview of the two station modules in situ. Not shown to the left is the platform and station building area. A fascia will certainly further integrate the layout in the furniture.

First test drive in the living room with my traditional test loco, the Austrian Rh 2045. Note that the layout is shown here from the backdrop end.

Railroad modelling in the sun. The rougher work of cutting out the inspection pit in the shed was done in the garden.

Moving the engine shed...

The advantages of not starting with weathering the rails and ballasting are that I could run a few trains for fun and experience the layout in "operation mode". The VT 98 DMU arrived and departed with commuters, sometimes taking a freight car with it and spotting it at the freight shed. The daily freight service brought cars in and picked up others. I experimented with mixed passenger and freight services. All great fun and in general prove that the track plan works.

Still some things kept nagging me.. Like the situation at the end of the layout where everything seems a bit too crammed. I had thought that the engine shed at the end of the line was a good idea, something special. There are a couple of prototype examples, and showing such a special situation on my layout seemed a nice change to ordinary terminus plans. Also, it would help block the view to the short end of the layout.

The "old" situation with the engine shed at the end of the line.The platform in front of the station building long enough for a 2-car DMU. Not uninteresting, but overall too crammed for my taste. The freight shed by the way is a placeholder only. As described in a previous I have already built a smaller version of it.

I simply do not have enough length in my layout room. The platform became too short and required an awkward extension over the run-around switches. Even with my plan to only run DMU's in passenger service and a 2 car VT 98 fitting just, it looked too crammed.

So yesterday evening - after having freed my mind at the Karate training - I picked up the engine shed, lifting it from its current position and putting it down at the other end, the station entrance. This will require the addition of a switch for a new engine shed track between the raised platform and the main line.

In its new position, the engine shed provides nice backdrop to incoming trains. Views to the long loading platform are still possible. I even like the fact that it is a bit hidden. I took a few snapshots which I show here. Though they do in no way justice to the look & feel which is in reality much better.

The passenger platform on the other end is now long enough (ca. 65 cm) for a short line station. Another benefit is that I can extend the track of the freight shed to hold 2 cars. This makes it also look less crammed and adds another position for cars to be spotted to.

There is now more room in front of the station building. Mind the gap!: the two parts of the station building are not connected yet, therefore the ugly gap..

The middle section of the station. The BR 333 is pulling in a string of cars in the sugar beet season.

The new freight shed. The track will be extended to hold two cars instead of one.

The new area at the entrance of the station. The track into the shed with a nice, wide curve leading into the building.

Overview of the far end of the station. Imagine tall trees framing the buildings and a busy team track in front of the nearest track.

A loading gauge for Elmslohe

A while ago I assembled a weigh bridge for my new Elmslohe station, a kit from Auhagen (No. 11404). The Auhagen kit also comes with a loading gauge. However, I was never too fond of it as the gauges look rather massive. I finally took the box out again to have another small project to do. I put a new blade in my knife holder and with some cutting and sanding I got the gauges to something that is usable in my view. It is surely still not of a Weinert quality, but considering the price-quality-ratio it is more than acceptable.

I primed the loading gauge with Tamyia light grey primer, and liked the look of it, no need for a further paint coat. I just weathered the model lightly with thinned black Tamiya paint.

The earlier built weighbridge.

On the right the original Auhagen piece, on the left the thinner version after cutting with a sharp blade.

The model in situ on the station module. I really want to get going with painting the rails and ballasting..

Bundeswehr MB 1017

I progressed slowly, but steadily with the pair of Bundeswehr MB 1017's. As written in my previous post these will provide me with an additional transportation opportunity on my Elmslohe layout. After painting (3 coats of Humbrol 42 to represent the Bundeswehr olivgelb for period IV) and assembly of the cabin, I added details and painted head and backlights, reflectors, mirrors, etc. Finally, I applied the number plates. Still to be done are the rear fenders that I don't like from the Kibri kit, so I will need to make them myself.

Mercedes Benz Type 1017 trucks for the Elmslohe Bundeswehr barracks

I am not a military modeller. But I like freight and switching operations on my small layouts and therefore grab every excuse for a new source of traffic: the small town of Elmslohe is home to barracks (a "Kaserne") of the "Bundeswehr" and some of their transport is carried out via the railroad. Recently two Mercedes Benz 1017 trucks could be spotted at Elmslohe station.

The trucks are brand new as they first came into service in the mid 1970s, perfect for period IV operations (I want to build Elmslohe so that it can be operated alternatively in period III and IV).

The MB 1017's are from a Kibri kit (No. 18051) that I bought at the latest event I participated in with my Dutch layout Valkenveld. Amongst others I used the images featured here for the paint job. I used Revell 42 olive-yellow representing the 1970s Bundeswehr base colour, applied in three coats.

I also went through the typical stages of a modeller's roller-coaster of feelings. I enjoyed this little project a lot, especially after working on stuff like the lighting and cabling of the new layout. As I am no Bundeswehr truck expert, I searched the internet for images of details, colours, etc. Then you discover many flaws in the model kit (like the weird fenders on the rear-axle, etc.), questioning yourself whether to fix or leave it, and ultimately losing lots of the original enjoyment of a simple build - until you put it into perspective and move on. As for the fenders: I didn't mount them as of yet and will build my own version of it. Unless the next project tempts me even more...

Immediate next steps in this little project: assembly of the cabin, applying decals, final touches of paint and top layer of matt varnish.

The model as advertised by Kibri (art. No. 18051)

After the third layer of paint and before final assembly. I am happy how the Bundeswehr colour has turned out.

MB 1017 prototype inspiration for the colouring and details. Source: tankograd

Light in the "Aquarium"

I installed two LED panels above the Elmslohe station modules. It's an amazing effect to stand in a dark room and see the layout brightly illuminated. There LED light distribution is such that you don't see any shadows on the layout or background. As Elmslohe is sandwiched in-between cupboards below and above, the lit layout has a sort of "aquarium" feel to it.

I still need to mount a front fascia, ca. 12-15 cm high. Also, I need to store the cables properly and out of sight.

Once the fascia is installed, I want to properly judge the light. Depending on how much light I also get on the sides of cars, buildings, etc. I might install some LED spots in addition to light the layout from the front. So far, I don't think this will be really necessary. But as always, the proof is in the pudding..

The panels are from Ledlichtstunter:

- 2 panels of 120 x 30 cm each
- 36W
- 4000K

It is impossible to capture the effect with the mobile camera. Unsurprisingly with the high dark-light differences. The below images therefore only give a very rough representation of my new "layout aquarium".

Stellprobe

I positioned the station buildings on the layout to see how everything works together. Ignore the bad, way-to-yellow lighting etc. I am keen to get started with ballasting and the scenery, but I am afraid that first the backdrop and lighting of the layout has priority. I have LED panels that I want to install above the layout and also want to frame it properly so that everything is integrated within the furniture.

The white styrene strip marks the platform position.

Bathed in morning sunlight the VT98 is ready for departure.

My inspiration for the station surroundings and the simple platform comes from Wakendorf-Götzberg on the former EBOE (Elmshorn-Barmstedt-Bad Oldeslohe Eisenbahn) in Schleswig-Hostein. Stately trees shall surround the brickstone buildings, thereby neatly covering the corners.

You might have noticed that the track plan of Elmslohe features a very special situation: the locomotive shed is located at the end of the main track. This was the case on a number of German short lines. The picture shows Neuenkirchen (Niedersachsen) at the Soltau-Neuenkirchen line. Another example is Arneburg in Sachsen-Anhalt. Franz Rittig has described some in his Eisenbahn Journal publication "Lokstationen".