malletman
Alcohaulic
I am in the process of building an HO scale layout based on the ore train operations of the DB railway out of Emden, Germany. Emden was the northern terminus where unit trains(Langer Heinrich or Long Henry) was loaded from ocean going ships. Ore was then hauled south to the industrial region in Germany. During the steam area, the 2-10-0 decapods of several classes handled most of this traffic till diesels then electricification took over. The king of these steamers was the class Br44 "Jumbo", a 3 cylindered beast. Most trains had doubled headed decapods. My layout space is quite small and this is where the Marklin engineering shines with the older "spur gear" driven decapods being able to go around very tight curves. The seaport will be just a back drop that gives a visual break at one side of the layout. The "tunnel" behind the back drop will be hidden by buildings and such to block the view of the entrance/exit of it. The other side of the layout will be a dense conifer tree area that simulates the wooded area of northern Germany before the terrain opens up to the more industrialized area that I lack the space to model. The layout is 8 foot across and 4 foot deep on each side, the middle is much more narrow to allow access to both the wall shelves and the layout itself. The layout will be digitally controlled using the Uhlenbrock Intelibox IB with infrared wireless remote control and the IBswitch control box to handle turnout and signal control(also digital). Each turnout has its own decoder and turnout motor hidden in the roadbed. Track is from Marklin's C track line, which is similar to Kato Unitrack but with the center stud contacts for the "3 rail" Marklin systems. So far I have bought the Langer Heinrich train set from a local shop in Zionsville, Indiana, along with some of the needed C track. Benchwork is up, digital system set up on its own shelf.
Base benchwork going up
Digital control set up before being removed to paint benchwork
Benchwork stained and painted
Track plan as designed by a friend
Ore train on a test loop
Base benchwork going up
Digital control set up before being removed to paint benchwork
Benchwork stained and painted
Track plan as designed by a friend
Ore train on a test loop