What do you do, when the real estate you can dedicate to your layout amounts only to a little over 2´by 4´? Well, you take a look into those smaller scales, N scale or even Z scale. But what do you do when your eyes need to be armored with bifocals and your hands are getting shaky? Forget N or Z scale and take a look into those bigger (much bigger!) scales. Now that seems to be contradictory, but it isn´t at all.
After meanderings into various scales in the recent past, I have finally come to terms with G scale. Yes, this scale requires a lot of space, which I don´t have, and a lot of money, which I don´t have either. Yet there is a way to model in this big scale and the answer is modeling a 2 foot narrow gauge industrial line. The German company Regner offers kits for little Diesel critters and plenty of scratch building materials for rolling stock. The size is big enough for my bad eyes and trembling hands, and also suits my budget.
1. The Story
Schietwedderooge ("Schiet" meaning bad, "wedder" meaning weather and "ooge" meaning island in the lingo of the German Northsea coast folks), is a small fictional island set on the North sea coast in Germany. The island is populated by a hearty bunch of folks, who made their living being pirates. Later in history, the entered the whaling business. When that was gone, tourism took over - another form of piracy. The islanders became wealthy people, investing their money in proud buildings and, at around 1900, a small light railway line, which served the island before the advent of the automobile. The early 1960´s saw quite a lot of road improvement work on the island, and a ferry terminal was built to shuttle the islanders to the mainland and the tourists to the island. The railway line was no longer needed and most of it was dismantled by the end of 1969. Only a small and nearly negligible rest remained, as part of the local fish(or North sea crab) processing plant Jenssen & Jenssen.
2. The Plan
The layout is just a little over 2´by 4´ and sports two detachable "wings" serving as fiddle yards or staging.The track plan includes only one switch, but a sector plate, hidden in the factory building. Operation is fairly simple. The crabs are unloaded from a fishing boat into a car, which will be moved to the factory. Within the factory, it is unloaded and the finished products, cans containing crab meat is loaded into the car, which then is moved to the warehouse.. Those cans designated for export, will later be moved to the loading dock, where they are being loaded into a boat taking them to the mainland.
For those who are interested - the above plan was drawn with WinRail, aka RTS.
The layout will be built like a box, so I can transport it easily, as I intend to display it at train shows at a later stage.
3. The Challenge
None of the structures are available commercially, all of them have to be scratchbuilt. I plan to use as much "original" materials as possible, i.e. wood will be made from wood, brickwork will be made by miniature bricks, the windows will have real glass window panes, the roof tiles will be miniature ceramic tiles and the cobble stones will be real miniature granite cobble stones. All of the track will be hand laid on wooden ties, using miniature spikes. I know it´ll be a tedious job, but I want this layout to be my masterpiece - my last layout. I also intend it to be a homage to the late Carl Arendt.
Another challenge will be lighting, sounds and smells(!) I know there are little sound recording devices available, so you will be able to hear the sound of waves banging to the quay and an occasional "keeyah" of seagulls , but how to stimulate the olfactory senses? You know this certain small of salt water and dead fish ...
4. Next steps
My piggy bank will have to die. It should contain the funds necessary to buy all what I need to get started on the layout. I will start with ordering the kit for that little Diesel critter.
(Photo coutesy of Dirk Becker)
Stay tuned for more to come!
Your scenario sounds like it is loosely based on Rugen Island's railroad.
cacole Your scenario sounds like it is loosely based on Rugen Island's railroad.
Actually, RüKB or Rugen Island Railway, was a large Network covering Germany´s largest island in the Baltic Sea. The entire network had a length of over 55 miles, out of which only 16 miles remain until today. Steam trains are operated daily as part of the island´s public transport system.
The North sea islands of Wangerooge and Borkum still have railways - much to the pleasure of hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting those islands each year.
Ulrich,
Sounds ambitious but do-able. It's nice to see a micro represented here and it sounds like you're taking the concept to a wonderful state. I love the idea of smells and sounds. Don't forget to keep the train room no warmer than 10 degrees C. and make sure a stiff wind is always blowing. Strong, hot drinks are recommended. You know, Carl would have loved this.
Lou
Just curious which "G scale" you're going to use - 1:32, 1:24, 1:22.5, or 1:20.3??
Lou - Carl Arendt was certainly like a foster parent to me. Although little known to the "mainstream" model railroader, he certainly deserves a place in the model railroading hall of fame.
There are many folks in the world dearly missing him!
wjstix Just curious which "G scale" you're going to use - 1:32, 1:24, 1:22.5, or 1:20.3??
It´ll be 1:22.5 or, in terms of gauge, II k.
Well, here I am again - with bad news! Regner, the manufacturer of the critter I intended to go for, has given up making the kits, so the option is either to scratchbuild my own or find a different way of solving the issue.
I am fine with scratchbuilding structure, but a loco? Honestly, I don´t dare to. My dexterity suffices for kit building, as you don´t need sophisticated machine tools for that. Change of gauge? Why, yes - Gn15 may be an answer. There are a number of kits on the market, employing inexpensive HO scale chassis - that´s to my liking.
So I reworked the plan to adapt it to Gn15 gauge and added some more features, like a traverser and a turntable.
Garden Railways magazine December issue has an announcement that Herr Manfred Regner passed away on July 21st, so that is probably the end of the Regner product line.
cacole Garden Railways magazine December issue has an announcement that Herr Manfred Regner passed away on July 21st, so that is probably the end of the Regner product line.
According to my information, Manfred Regner´s family will continue to produce fine live steam models, but the future of the "Feldbahn" line of products is insecure.
It is sad to see it go, but it was a very small niche market, probably not worth the trouble to keep it going.
Have fun with your trains
The loco kit I intended to buy is no longer available
Means I have to go different ways, i.e. scratchbuilding everything, including the loco and the rolling stock. There is a gauge IIf (26,7 mm) chassis I can use as a starting point for the loco, so I revisited the plan to minimize it (or should I say maximize) again.
Latest idea:
The turntable will be made out of an old CD ROM and a flat CD case...