A beautiful day in Finse, Norway with lots of people milling about and mountain bikers coming and going...
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
West End Trains
An hour along the tracks in East Syracuse watching trains... Came through slower than usual and seemed to be backed up... Saw a manifest freight, an endless ethanol train, and some others... Very relaxing on a hot and hazy afternoon...
Friday, June 24, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Baltimore Streetcar Museum
Visited my hometown of Baltimore, MD again this past weekend and took the opportunity to drive by the Baltimore Streetcar Museum to see what there was. The last time I was there as about 30+ years ago so really had no memories of the place. Was a lot of fun to see the stock out in their yard and some of the other trackside structures. The trackage is on the old Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way, and the roundhouse and a freightshed still exist. See their website for more information about individual pieces of traction stock.
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Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Roundhouse. Now used for City of Baltimore road salt storage... |
Citroen 2CV van on Roland Avenue. A nice bonus to see this iconic car in such beautiful restored condition. |
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Christmas in June!
Received my package of laser cut kits from Joswood and Moebo that I mentioned in Posten 210 - My first lasercut kit. First up the stellwerk "Baruth" and a Kiosk. You can never have enough of those for a proper German Ruhrpott layout.
Danke Dirk und Jörg für die Schmuckstücke. Freue mich aufs zusammen bauen und weiteren Modellen.
Danke Dirk und Jörg für die Schmuckstücke. Freue mich aufs zusammen bauen und weiteren Modellen.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
(Almost) Land of the Midnight Sun
Finse on June 8 at 11 pm Norwegian time... Almost midnight sun.
And here this one on June 10 at 1:30 am Norwegian time.
And here this one on June 10 at 1:30 am Norwegian time.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Posten 210 - My first lasercut kit
Received my first lasercut kit as a gift from a friend of mine in Germany recently... It's a small utilitarian streckenposten that stood alongside a grade level crossing at kilometer post 210 on Westmünsterlandbahn between Rheine and Emden, Germany. The structure stood in Rheine.
The kit is manufactured by Joswood and was a great introduction to building these kinds of kits. I've done a lot of scratchbuilding in card using photographic images, but this was quite different. The detail is amazing, especially the railings. Assembly was also quite straightforward. Definitely ready for more of these and look forward to a larger order of kits from Joswood and Moebo.
From Drehscheibe Online - Image from 1972 by Harald Pfeiler |
From Drehscheibe Online - Image from 2000 by Wilhelm aus dem Münsterland |
More pictures when I have it weathered, done, and placed on the layout.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
BR 221 at Bw Oberhausen Osterfeld Süd
Was surfing through the Revier (Ruhr region of Germany) thanks to Google Maps and saw that the image of the Bw Oberhausen Osterfeld Süd had been updated. What did I find but a BR 221 amid all the 232s, 21xs, 29xs, and 36xs and whatever else was parked around there. Most likely 221 116 (V200 116) of the Dampflok-Tradition Oberhausen. More pictures of 221 116 (V200 116) here. Fun.
And here via Bing. If you follow this link and search around the yard some (image can be rotated for bird's eye from other side) you might even spot a BR 103 in Cream/Burgundy...
And here via Bing. If you follow this link and search around the yard some (image can be rotated for bird's eye from other side) you might even spot a BR 103 in Cream/Burgundy...
Friday, May 27, 2011
Bergwerk Hugo II in Gelsenkirchen
Tour around Bergwerk Hugo II in Gelsenkirchen, the town I called home for two years (1985-1987). Nice descriptive narration in typical Ruhrpott dialect -Wonderful!
And here's what's left now via Google Maps. A whole lot of nothing...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Trainspotting Finse, Norway
The web is great for trainspotting, making accessible unusual venues all over the world. One I discovered and got hooked on during the fall of 2010 is the Finse small station on the Bergensbanen in Norway.
From Wiki, the Bergenbanen was a major engineering feat of the last century linking the capitol Oslo with Bergen on the North Sea coast in the west. The Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen), also called the Bergen Railway, is a 371 kilometres (231 mi) standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway.[1] The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, where the passenger trains go, a distance of 496 kilometres (308 mi).[7] It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe,[8] crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 metres (4,058 ft) above sea level.[6].
Despite its remoteness, Finse is easily accessible and enjoyable from the comfort of ones home via the webcam that provides 24/7 real time video of good quality. The webcam can be accessed by clicking on the screengrab below. Lots of people watching too given the high traffic due to this area being a cross-country skiing mecca. An article in the Telegraph provides a lot more information about the region from a tourist standpoint. LOTS going on there including conferences....[Edit: Apparently the Hoth scenes in the 2nd Star Wars flick, the real ones not the computerized ones, were filmed in the area. Makes sense...]
The line is electrified and features a nice variety of modern stock, including the futuristic Class 73 emus.Also seen are various MOW trains, including plows, although the trains themselves seem to be doing most of the work and trains are seldom late, even in the worst weather. Below some images of the variety.
Below the location in Google Maps.
From Wiki, the Bergenbanen was a major engineering feat of the last century linking the capitol Oslo with Bergen on the North Sea coast in the west. The Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen), also called the Bergen Railway, is a 371 kilometres (231 mi) standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway.[1] The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, where the passenger trains go, a distance of 496 kilometres (308 mi).[7] It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe,[8] crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 metres (4,058 ft) above sea level.[6].
Despite its remoteness, Finse is easily accessible and enjoyable from the comfort of ones home via the webcam that provides 24/7 real time video of good quality. The webcam can be accessed by clicking on the screengrab below. Lots of people watching too given the high traffic due to this area being a cross-country skiing mecca. An article in the Telegraph provides a lot more information about the region from a tourist standpoint. LOTS going on there including conferences....[Edit: Apparently the Hoth scenes in the 2nd Star Wars flick, the real ones not the computerized ones, were filmed in the area. Makes sense...]
The line is electrified and features a nice variety of modern stock, including the futuristic Class 73 emus.Also seen are various MOW trains, including plows, although the trains themselves seem to be doing most of the work and trains are seldom late, even in the worst weather. Below some images of the variety.
Class El 18 of the NSB on a dreary winter's day and heading towards Bergen. |
Class El 18 of the NSB on a beautiful winter's day and heading towards Oslo. |
Class 73 EMU, run as 4-car and 2x 4-car consists. |
Flashes from the catenary of the night train to Oslo during a blinding blizzard. The train was on time... |
CargoNet El 17 |
Class CE 119 of CargoNet, the Bombardier TRAXX (DB Class 185...) |
Unloading the weekly supply train. There are no roads to this area... |
Various MOW trains.
JBV (JernBaneVerket, the Norwegian National Rail Administration) Di3a NoHAB diesel |
Can't wait until the longer days of spring and summer,
nevermind some nicer weather.
Enjoy!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Rheingold, THE TEE (DB Class 103)
Nice footage of the Rheingold pulled by a BR 103 between Emmerich on the Dutch/German border down to Karlsruhe.
Info zum Film hier.
Here a film about the E 03s/103s construction
and another with lots of great shots.
Here a film about the E 03s/103s construction
and another with lots of great shots.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Far From Home – Canadian Pacific in Syracuse
Happened by the tracks at the West end of the East Syracuse Yard and noticed this Canadian Pacific (CP) powered manifest freight. Pulled into the lot and snapped a few shots on my cell. Lead unit is GE ES44AC number 8856. After a minute or two the engines revved up and the train pulled out. Fun to see something more exotic here. The last time I saw CP was when a colleague and I headed down to Binghamton, NY where CP and Norfolk Southern are plentiful. Pictures of that trip are here.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Bundesbahn in 1979/80
Replaced my broken scanner over the break, got one that can also do slides and negatives, and am now having fun (re)discovering people, places, and things I saw in my youth. Among them some railroad pics. First some black and white ones, very grainy and borderline terrible, and thus (almost) verging on artsy. Venues for the first set are between Cologne and Bonn, Germany.
Near Köln Deutz. |
Class 110 448 coming into Köln Hbf. |
Passenger and railway employee (conductor) at Köln Hbf. |
SNCB multi-system Class 18 (here 1801, the first in the series of 60) in Köln Hbf. |
Heading past the passenger car yard. Coaches on the right are DR stock, note also the pointy-roofed Type-Y. |
More passenger coaches with the Dom in the background. |
The E-lok Bw of Köln. Nicely visible the Class 103 on the left and 110s on the right. Looks like the 103 is still there based on the picture at Google Maps. |
Somewhere between Köln and Bonn. |
Plattenbau, Wessi-style south of Cologne in Meschenich-Kölnberg. Also called a Trabantenstadt, these high-rises were stamped out of the fields... |
Typical trackside Shrebergärten/Grabeland - garden plots for the masses, often tucked between tracks... |
Love birds in Bonn. |
BR 103-147 with TEE in Bonn Hbf. |
BR 110 heading west from Konstanz to Radolfzell at Allensbach on the B odensee, summer 1979. |
BR 403 EMU being run as coupled multiple units along the Rheintal, June 1981. |
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