Pigeon Shed by Joswood

First kit in a while. A racing pigeon shed like those that dotted the Ruhr. The working man's race horses and far from rats with wings. There's a nice video (in German) from the WDR about raising pigeons here. See also some photos here.

The laser-cut card kit is by Joswood. Instructions are clear and materials are first rate. If you want to model northern, industrial, gritty, honest Germany, this is where you want to get your structures. Not an alpine hut in sight.

Will weather a bit before permanently placing on the layout, but I like where it is now.

Let's get started...

Roughly framed in and ready to start adding the exterior trim

Exterior mostly on, now lots of details and more layers

Done except for some weather. Joswood made that easy because the laser cutting left artifacts, and the materials look very natural. Instructions also say to avoid perfect and right angles – make it look ramshackle...

Provisionally placed on the layout

Now to assemble the 1:87 pigeons - separate wings, legs, and beaks! Better have a Pils und n' Korn first to steady the hands.

You didn't seriously think I'd assemble pigeons from kits/scratch, did you?!?!

Weathered and populated. One of the pigeons is not like the others - inspiration from a colleague whose uncle would use a slingshot to get rid of birds not his...

Now, play the video below while looking at images for the full effect... ;-)

Running my classic Märklin again.

Pulled out a bunch of my old classic Märklin to run for a change – back to the basics for a while. 😃

The E03 with the TEE (the classic tinplate) was my childhood pride and joy.

An hour ago the E03 wouldn't run or gears move. For the first time EVER totally took apart motor, cleaned gears and brushes, AND even managed to put it back together...

SIE LÄUFT, DIE E03 mit TEE am Hacken.

My first Märklin train.

Running the switching puzzle. I've taken this to numerous trains shows — the kids love it.

Still more to do, but it's a start and most importantly, I'm having fun and really enjoying it. I've missed that feeling.

My father's childhood SE800 also got put on, but without traction tires (never had them) wasn't going anywhere. I have a version with though, too, so will run in spirit.

Bahnhof Friedrichstraße

Thought I'd share this postcard I just got depicting the lovely P8/BR38 heading out of Berlin's Bahnhof Friedrichstraße.

A sign on the left indicates that this was taken during the renovations and expansion of the station that started in the late teens and went into the twenties.

And here another Berlin BR38 amidst the ruins of Weimar's downfall and the war... A Hamsterfahrt about to head out from Anhalter with Berliners heading out into the countryside to barter for food. Image by Margaret Bourke-White for LIFE magazine.

Cleaning and first time running in a loooooong time

Due to bookish (bookbinding and writing) projects my layouts have languished and Shelob and her offspring have run amok, dust built up, and trains stopped running smoothly. Contributing to this were also ongoing accessibility/mobility issues on my part that made areas unreachable. Thanks to lots of quality time at home (almost 2 weeks) and familial help, Shelob succumbed to "Sting" and trains are now running again. I even enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to more and ongoing modeling projects. At one point I had toyed with "flattening" the layout, metaphorically and in reality to make it easier to reach. That thought was banished when I realized that rebuilding would be much harder than begging more regular "donations" of time for dusting...

While cleaning, took some time to explore areas I detailed but that normally are hidden due to facing the (removable) backdrop. Yes, there was "road work" to be done, in part to help the trolley run smoothly.

Let's run some trains!

E 19 der DB

Decided to put my E 19 / 119 of the DB on the tracks again. Beautiful runner and super smooth.

You can see the prototype in the same green livery at Ulrich Budde's Bundesbahnzeit website here. That picture was taken in Nuremberg in 1966.

Feeding heavy industries in Duisburg

While coal required to power the steelworks was domestic, mined from the depths of the Ruhr Valley, iron ore was often imported and brought to the world's largest inland port of Duisburg by barge.

Family painting showing steelworks along the Rhein in Duisburg ca 1920s/30s

Here a view from above. Of course things have changed...

And below a short documentary about a load ore arriving from Sweden on a barge, the barge being unloaded and then reloaded with Ruhr coal for some other place. Includes a little railroad related activity such as a coal car being unloaded...

Diese Dokumentation gehört zu den seltenen Filmdokumenten, die eine längst zu Ende gegangene Epoche besonders interessant wiedergeben. Der Film zeigt den Duisburger Hafen in den 50er Jahren mit den seinerzeit eingesetzten Schiffen und Verladegeräten. Die Geräte, die vor einer Verschrottung verschont blieben, stehen heute als technische Denkmäler in den Hafenanlagen und können bei einer Rundfahrt durch den größten europäischen Binnenhafen bestaunt werden.

Die Bahn im Jahre 1958

Die Bahn im Jahre 1958: In großen Zügen - Eine Studie über die arme, reiche Bundesbahn

The DB in 1958: A study in broad strokes about the poor, rich Bundesbahn

Video in German, but well worth watching

Eine Dokumentation über die Deutsche Bundesbahn in den 50er Jahren, kurz nachdem der Trans Europ Express auf die Schiene gebracht wurde. Setzt das Staatsunternehmen wirklich alle technischen Möglichkeiten der zeit ein und kann der Spagat zwischen der Verantwortung und den Beschränkungen des Staatsunternehmens und gleichzeitigem wirtschaftlichem Handeln gelingen?

Deutsche Fernsehgeschichte auf YouTube abonnieren: https://goo.gl/UavXv3

33000 Züge der Bundesbahn verkehren tagtäglich und würde man alle Güterwagons zusammenkoppeln, käme eine Strecke von Hamburg nach Frankfurt zustande. Damit ist die Deutsche Bundesbahn das größte Verkehrsunternehmer der Welt und der Kreislauf der deutschen Wirtschaft. Seit Jahren schreibt dieses Mammutunternehmen rote Zahlen, die einen meinen, es läge an der gemeinwirtschaftlichen Aufgabe, die anderen sehen die Gründe in der behördlichen Struktur des Unternehmens und am zum Teil widersprüchlichen Bundesbahngesetz.

BR44 Coal Train

And here the BR 44 of the DB with a load of coal to power the Wirtschaftswunder...

BR290 on the go

The BR290 on the go with a short freight.

Lots of fun running this afternoon. Been a while.

290 on the rails

After almost 2 years of waiting, got my BR 290 from Brawa. Model is their Digital Basic (no sound) 41507 that I am running in analog operation. Just put it on the switching puzzle, and purrs like a kitten. Can't wait to run it on the big layout.

Märklin in Stamps - For Philatelists Only

For the philatelists among you...
Order at https://www.briefmarken-sieger.de/1-marklin-eisenbahn-kleinbogen-briefmarkenkleinbogen-postfrisch-osterreich.html.

They take PayPal...

Building the SVT137 Fliegender Hamburger

Nice video about the building of the SVT 137 Fliegender Hamburger of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Construction started in 1935, and 33 units were produced.

And on my layout, model by Kato

Switching Puzzle Reboot 2

Frei nach Reinhard Mey, "genug getan für heute, blinder Eifer schadet nur..."

Reconstructed the back of the puzzle, still need to get the new background printed and mounted, as well as re-adhering people, station platform stuff,  cleaning the yard and deciding what to do with the power line towers...

On to other things for a brief while, things like packing prezies...

Switching Puzzle Reboot

This switching puzzle was the first "layout" I created specifically to take to train shows... You can read more about building and showing it here. I was an ETE member back then and the trackplan is the same as created by Peter Barnes. We even wrote an article about taking these kinds of things to shows.

At EuroEast back in 2005

After ages of neglect and procrastination work is underway to replace the background flats, backdrop panels, and in general clean out the cobwebs, refresh scenery, ... Here's what the street scene with flats looked like when first built.

Note street curving to right.

After this switching puzzle, I dove headfirst into building n-scale modules with the ETE Chapter, continuing to show them independently as well. After a lot of reflection, the whole lot of our foray into N found a new hope with friend Tom Lynch and his Bundesbahndirektion Kaiserslautern. Two summers ago we had a flood above that leaked onto our main H0 layout and the puzzle. Damage to the puzzle was compounded by a leaky front step with flakes of rust from the steel I-beam above dropping down... All those have been fixed, but the puzzle is looking the worse for wear.

Still want to go and show, loved interacting with the kiddies, so time for a reboot.

Puzzle backside showing damage from water/rust. I removed the buildings, but those were discolored/distorted by water. The background flates, water tower, and chapel are all paper.

Old panel with proposed new flats taped over...

New backdrop with the flats at right. The yellow line is to the intersection, the green to the end of the street... The gap between the flats on the backdrop will be filled in...

So, off to work to start building flats. I will be layering the facade to recess windows and bring trim forward to increase depth.

BR 65.1 of the DR

Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) Brawa BR 65.1 tank engine pulling a Sachsenmodelle gliederzug. The 65.1 was a new construction built for pulling commuter trains and bringing workers to the factories. A total of 95 units were built between 1954-57. The consist was built starting in 1952 by the VEB Waggonbau Görlitz based on pre-war designs of the LBE. More info can also be found in the Wiki. The basic unit was a 4-car bi-level, designated DB13. The axle configuration was 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 2, total length 73 400 mm, whereby 2 cars shared a 3-axle bogie. Go here for more on the consist.

Random Pictures

Random pictures from the railroad taken over the years...