Modelling Prussian railways in H0

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Hi All,
Progress on my layout, "Irgendwo in Prussia" (somewhere in Prussia!) has been glacial I'm afraid.
Mum-in-law being terminally ill, dad-in-law not much better, business steady and helping out with my club - all contribute and take their toll.
However, I'm finally making progress on rolling stock, may I introduce certain items on here?

I've recently completed a large amount of horse trading with an old friend that sees me acquire much of his Prussian stock in exchange for my Bavarian stock, not to mention some reading matter. Here is my 'new' Trix T3 along with some Fleischmann coaches;

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CC my very good friend Doug and seen on his layout, "Alte Rinkham".
Apparently, the T3 originated between 1881 and 1910 and on the Prussian railways, they numbered some 1345 examples in total. This particular version (431 examples) was built between 1895 and 1905, the Fleischmann version (which I also have!) only numbered 52 copies. There are only some quite minor differences between the two types, mainly around the water tank.
This loco should be capable of hauling a good 36 axles on the flat, this one may need some attention as it seemed distressed at pulling more than 10 axles and very little up Dougies 3% slopes! It squealed at trying such a grade so was hurriedly assigned to a flat route.
Despite that, I am very pleased with it although I have read that it's rigid chassis (for which, I have a cunning plan) causes hesitation, it ran smoothly enough, only baulking at occasional dirty spots which were soon rectified.
Hopefully, I can show more items as time goes on?
Cheers,
John.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
As some further inspiration I also had an original (Austria) Liliput DRG T9 which was detailed with Weinert parts. The van is a detailed Fleischmann G10 and the Ju52 was a Herpa 1:500 plastic model. This was photographed on a small shunting layout I built in an electric guitar case and for fun titled the photograph Flug und Zug.

Flug und Zug 1.jpg
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Brilliant!
Thanks Dave, that's very 'Preußen'! Please feel free to tell more about detailing the T9 (my most numerous lok with 3 examples!) and also the G10 van. Must check my fleet, I doubt I have enough.
Cheers,
John.
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
I'm no great shakes as a cameraman but here is a little video I made recently.

I must add, this is on my good friends layout, Alte Rincham now sadly demolished due to moving house.
Cheers,
John.
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Hi All,
Now that summer is finally over, I hope to start making some progress with this, along with other projects to come.
I have done very little with this layout since my last post but a couple of important things have happened.
I have managed to clear all the junk from on top of the layout that had imperceptibly built up over time. It is amazing how one just places something with the intention of sorting it later, then something else and before you know it, the layout is invisible and it has become merely a storage shelf, well no more!
A bit more messing with the track layout and I shall start glueing.
Also, I realised that "Irgendwo" (somewhere) is rather too common a name for me, I wanted something different. This fact was hammered home at the recent(ish) ERA show at Edgbaston where there were at least two other 'Irgendwo's.
So! What to call this layout?
Trawls of the internet proved inconclusive and studies of online maps became brain numbing, then it dawned on me. A colleague had suggested that I place a statue outside my station of Fieldmarshall Blucher as he was instrumental in helping to defeat the French at Waterloo. Reading up on him, what a fascinating character he was. I've still not located a suitable figure of him to be my statue but I could pay tribute in another way.
Therefore, my new name for the layout is Leberecht!
As in Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
I think it sounds promising, how about you guys?
Cheers,
John.
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Thank you so much, Dave.
He is now ordered and on his way to me!
I make calculate that a 25mm figure in H0 scale would be just over 7' tall, that plus the horse makes a great statue.
Perfect!
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Here are two of my all-time favourite locos;

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Weinert T9.3

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Weinert T13

Both pictured rather incongruously on my American layout, in lieu of Leberecht being very unphotogenic.

I must admit - these are both ready to run items, not built by me but by the factory! I dearly wish I could claim that I have built them but no, I am not that good a modeller!
The T13 I won on German ebay after I had been selling off my American 0 scale brass(!), which was how I could afford it. Now, I did do some modelling with this one as when I got hold of it, it was seized up having been presumably sat in a display case for several years. I stripped it down, cleaned and degreased it and re-lubricated it and when it was working well, I digitized it - it is still a little noisy but runs very well.
The T9.3 I won at an actual auction for a fair price, it also came with a 'free' Weinert V65! This runs well enough but still needs digitising and as a mate said, could do with its lights making working.
Funnily enough, I also have two Fleischmann T9.3's and one Trix T13 - these will be for exhibition use as no way would I take the Weinerts to a show.
So, I am a bit of a chequebook modeller but only when it suits me - the Trix T13, in particular, is a far cry from the Weinert one.
Cheers,
John.
 

Ian@StEnochs

Western Thunderer
Hi John,

Both very nice locos with nicely modelled rods and motion. I don’t know the maker but I gather from your description that they were expensive. Unfortunately the tyres on the wheels spoil the illusion, are they plated? Can you blacken them? Even just a bit of black paint on the rims would improve them no end.

Ian.
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
John,
Nice stuff, I love the Weinert models and kits! At least the Weinert T13 is likely to run once you've got it set up; I've heard some horror stories with the Trix version.

Ian,
On the Weinert r-t-r the tyres are usually stainless steel as is normal with stuff produced in the Far East. I believe these locos come out of the same factory as the Trix 'Fine Arts' series, so they're exceptional quality. I do agree with you about the wheel tyres though, that's why I went P87. Weinert produce some lovely wheels in their kits now, which as RP25/88 run well on scale track.

Steph
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Guys!
Ian, the maker is Weinert, a German producer of fine quality kits, detailing parts, limited RTR and in conjunction with Peco, "Mine Gleis" (my track!). Good point about the tyres, I shall have to experiment with some blackening fluid.
Steph, I shall watch out for how my Trix T13 behaves! I received one in a deal a while back but not done anything with it yet.
Cheers,
John.
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Brian.
Useful advice, I didn't know that!
Actually, I guess what I really need to do is paint just the tyres the same colour as the rest of the wheel?
Cheers,
John.
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Some progress, at last?
After building my baseboards, painting them and glueing on the initial underlay, modifying and fitting the turntable, I had come to a grinding halt. Family crises aside, such a delay can only be described as running out of steam!
Suddenly, my motivation and enthusiasm came back and I was able to contemplate the next job which is track laying.
I laid out some track, very loosely and pretty much according to my plans and I liked how it looked.
TRACK PICS
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Next, I marked alongside the track for where the roadbed needs to go.
SKETCH PIC
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Then, wouldn’t you know it? Late in the day, I discovered that my last bottle of ‘Copydex’ had dried up! So next day, off to the shops and resupplies purchased, in smaller bottles this time.
A couple of days work and the roadbed was more or less finished and I can start laying actual track.
ROADBED PIC.
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I realised that it was pretty important to work out how to get power to traverser before laying any track so I set to and gave it some thought. The answer came to me in a flash of inspiration when I realised that I need two wires and I had two metal runners.
So, I soon made up some wires and connected it all together, a test run proved the concept worked although I don’t know if it will last well but I made a lot of connections to be as sure as possible.
TRAVERSER PICS
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The traverser fully prepared for track.
Until next time,
 

allegheny1600

Western Thunderer
Here is the traverser with all tracks glued down and electrical connections made,
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With a train on and almost ready to go,
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I had to reduce the track height at the entrance to the traverser very slightly so used some thin copper-clad sleepers and while I was at it, I added a re-railer section, I have tested it and it does work. This is only needed while I have not yet built a locking mechanism to keep each traverser track in perfect alignment with the exit track.
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I don’t know if you can really see from this picture but the baseboard adjacent to the traverser, had suffered a slight distortion. It was simply too much up and down movement for my little trains to cope with so I cut out the entire foam roadbed out and inserted a finely sanded down piece of curved plywood in place, then re-laid the roadbed, it’s not absolutely level but much better now.
Serves me right for not using the very best plywood available.
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As you can see from here, I still had to glue some thin strips of card under the track.
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I believe that it is bad practice to cross baseboard joins on a curve?
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Sadly, it was unavoidable here, I have used soldered copper-clad sleepers again to reinforce the crossing, I really hope that will be sufficient. At the moment, these are not cut through but they will have to be when the time comes to split the boards.
Cheers for now,
John.
 
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