I wanted to use some DCC Concepts 2-aspect ground signals that I had bought. They came with two DCC Concepts Alpha Mimic LED controllers but at 50 UKP each, and capable of operating 24 LEDs each, they are too expensive to use on Die Keinnamebahn where only a few signals are on each board and […]
This layout, De Graafstroom by Vincent de Bode, was filmed by Ted Polet at the Model Train Expo, Ontraxs! 2019 at the Dutch Railway Museum (Het Spoorwemuseum) Utrecht, 15/16/17 March 2019. Watch the beautiful scene develop as the swan floats down the river and the sailing barge slowly heads up river to pass under the […]
With Narrow Gauge North at Pudsey fast approaching on Saturday 9th March I decided to add some signalling to Die Keinnamebahn. To this end the first light I fitted is to protect the coaling station crossover. I fitted a Viessmann 4011 stop signal and used a Train-Tech SC1 DCC signal light controller to automatically change […]
I recently obtained some lovely 1/87 scale models of French road vehicles. They include these two models of Renault Galion trucks. They are not cheap at but in my opinion are well worth the money for the rarity and quality of these models. They would grace any Continental H0 scale model railway.
I built a turntable for Die Keinnamebahn and electrified it using Peco NB-55 n-gauge turntable kit and a 10rpm geared motor, worm and gear obtained from China, via eBay. I had to build my own gearbox frame from strip brass, no easy task for this amateur metalworker! The installation worked but I wondered if there was […]
I needed to make a relatively large expanse of station yard and road on Valdieu-Lutran. I decided that chinchilla dust, a form of powdered clay, would be a good base. I initially tried to stick the dust to the baseboard using diluted PVA but this was unsuccessful because the clay did not stick well. After […]
I was going to be using the European Station models by Bachman for Valdieu-Lutran but, when I tried them in real life rather than as appearing on the track plan, they appeared far too big for such a narrow baseboard, especially against a train. The goods shed especially was too wide and needed to be […]
Today I started the level crossing for the goods yard for Valdieu-Lutran. The methods is the same as for the embedded track using copper-clad PCB onto which sections of Code 80 track are soldered for the rails and catch-rails. The PCB copper is gapped between the rails and between the tracks using my Dremel and […]
It has been a busy day. I now have a name for my new layout. It will be called Valdieu-Lutran. Valdieu-Lutran is a small town in France near the German and Swiss borders and sits on the Canal du Rhone du Rhin, so allowing me a small quayside and, if it is a heritage railway, […]
A second tree is now under construction utilising the experience of making the first one. I used 6 instead of 4, 150mm x 0.6mm, stainless steel wires to give me more branches and a thicker trunk. DAS modelling clay was again used to thicken the trunk up to the lowermost branches and to form ‘roots’. […]
Die Keinnamebahn has, so far, used plastic trees obtained via eBay, from Hong Kong. Though cheap they are no very realistic and are only about 4 inches tall, a scale height of approximately 28 feet in 1:87 H0 scale and all looking the same with not a very good representation of leaves. I wanted to […]
I was never really happy with the level crossing on Die Keinnamebahn. The plastic roadway was designed to fit HO/00 gauge track and did not fit the Peco mainline narrow gauge track. The original crossing did not have infill in the tracks. The original MKD gates and approach ramps were retained. Today I replaced the […]
A new purchase is this Kitwood Hills motorised model turntable. This is the 90mm diameter version, a 65mm being another option. The kit comes with a presoldered 9mm track section which now uses Code 80 rather than the Code 70 currently stated on their website. The kit is complete with switches for both the turntable […]
