Out With the Old, In With the New...

In a previous post I talked about finally replacing my Marklin V200 which I had to sell many years ago due to a financial crisis.  When I purchased the 'new' Marklin V200 I have to admit that I was a little disappointed.  Although the technology of digital operation and detail level on models has come a long way in the decade or so since I first purchased the V200, I was surprised at how little Marklin had upgraded on the re-release of their V200.  The headlights were the same yellow LEDs as before, the sound functions were only modestly expanded, and the model had changed little in terms of detail.

Well, it turns out that an O-scale manufacturer in Germany has begun 'dabbling' in the King's Gauge.  Modellbahn Werkstatt, or MBW for short (http://mbw-1zu32.de/) released the V200.1 about six months ago.  The price was very reasonable, and a sale on remaining inventory last month encouraged me to place an order.  By selling my Marklin V200 on eBay I had enough money to order the MBW model complete with a Loksound XL 4.0 decoder.  Anyway, enough text.  Here are some pictures of the new model:

I particularly like the design of the V200.1 versus the Marklin prototype because of the 'beefier' nose of the locomotive.  

In the photo above you'll notice the new signal tower, which I will blog about in the upcoming weeks.

The new V200.1 makes a good impression in front of my FD train.  

Overall I'm very happy with the model.  The detail is significantly better, the sounds are more realistic, and the functions and features of its digital operation are a step above the Marklin model.  My only complaints are that the model lacks an engineer in the cab and that from a sound standpoint the bass that the Marklin model had, that throaty rumble that a diesel locomotive should have, is missing on this model.  Perhaps a speaker swap or enclosure design is in the future.

The last big box arrives (for a while, at least)

The new V200 looked rather silly pulling a handful of freight cars around the layout.  Seriously, a proud express locomotive relegated to a local freight?  Not cool.  So last week a big box arrived, the last I will see for a while (lottery win notwithstanding):

Yup, that's an HO scale V100 on top of the box...

One train car I have always loved is the AR4üm-54.  This dining car is more well known by its nickname, the 'Kakadu', so named because of its bright red and blue colors.  Marklin has recently reintroduced it in 1-gauge.

Lucky for me, I can create a prototypical train with my V200 and a Kakadu dining car.  It's called an F-Zug, a precursor to the Intercity train system in Germany and the inspiration for the Trans Europe Express trains.  These exclusively 1st class trains ran with minimum stops and with strong motive power from the 1950's through the 1960's.  The picture on the cover of the book below is the closest thing I could find to the train I want to model, a short F-Zug:

So after waiting nearly a year since ordering them, my F-Zug cars arrived, and yesterday my V200 finally had a train worthy of its status:

 It occurred to me shortly after I ordered the coaches that I had no idea if they could negotiate past another train on the parallel curve.  So, holding my breath, I parked a long freight train on the inside trach and sent the new passenger train around the sharp S-curve:

   I'm pleased to say that the two trains do not touch anywhere as they go around the entire layout.  Although I can't run these long passenger cars on both tracks and not have them touch when passing each other, the combination of one freight train on the inside track and my F-Zug on the outside track avoid any problems.

Whew!

Koenigstein starts coming together...

Hey everyone,

It has been a long time since the Carstenbahn One blog was updated.  I suspect there will be some additional updates in the near future as I step up some other projects, but today's post is about laying the benchwork and the track for the Koenigstein station, the end point on the branch line...

You can see the branch line coming in from the left.  This is the first of the three six-foot-by-three-foot tables supporting Koenigstein.  I spent last night getting all three boards installed.  The main line passes below.  In the shot you can see the KM-1 BR50.  In retrospect I should have moved it before I stared working on the table above it, lest something fall on it!

 here is a view from the 'end' of the station.  In the back of the picture you can see the branch line coming in from the left.  The track at the front right is the 'dead end' of the branch line.

Here is the two-stall steam locomotive shed, located in front of the incoming branch line.  It's the Marklin 1-scale model, 5617.  I repainted much of it.  I'll add a blog entry that talks more about that, but here is a picture of the original for comparison:

Below is what the original looked like in the 1980's.  Obviously neither shed is close to the original, so maybe at some point I'll attempt to scratch-build something, but for now I'll stick to the Marklin model.

Looking in the other direction on the layout you'll find the larger railcar shed and maintenance building for the diesel railcars that run to Koenigstein from Frankfurt.  In the 1980's this was a three-track shed, which has since been expanded to four tracks.  I used a modified version of the Piko locomotive shed and made a two-track version.

Again I'm kitbashing three of the Piko 63003 kits together to create this long shed. When completed it should be able to hold the longest train cars and locomotives I will ever own. I have a little more work to do to get this model finished.

Above is a shot of the current shed.  Again, it's a mch different design than mine, as was the 1970's version.  But sacrifices must be made...

Here is one last shot of the steam locomotive shed at the 'west' end of the station, if you use the orientation of the original.  A freight depot will sit next to the siding on the right.  Stay tuned as more of this comes together!

A new locomotive!

Many years ago a financial crisis in the Ramcke household forced me to sell my Marklin V200.  Last week it was replaced.  Below is a picture of this beauty making its way around Carstenbahn One.  In a month or so I should receive matching D-zug cars.  Woohoo!

"There she blows!"

“There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” 
― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Since as long as I can remember, there has been a Marklin 1-scale model that has eluded me.  Sure, I have seen it on occasion on eBay, but I have always been outbid, or the price was simply too high for me to be able to pay.  But I have always been on the lookout for this elusive boxcar, and like Captain Ahab's obsession with Moby Dick, I have chased it across oceans.  I'm happy to report that, finally, after ten years of searching, bidding, hoping and disappointment, the coveted 'Milka' boxcar is mine.

 

The Milka boxcar was only produced in 1989, and as a limited production model.  A good friend of mine in England who regularly attends the 'Wormser Spielzeugauktion' noticed this boxcar, along with two others, in untouched condition in the auction listings in July.  Since he was attending the auction already, I asked him to enter a bid on my behalf.  Sure enough, I won the lot.

Now, perched on the freight siding in the Hoechst station on Carstenbahn One, I finally have my Milka boxcar.

Is that it?  Is my car barn complete?  Can I now be satisfied with my collection of some twenty unique boxcars?  Oh, if only it were so.  For as Herman Melville puts it:

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.” 

- Carsten

Ballasting part 2

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.  In that time there has been significant work on the ballasting.  In fact, the main line is finished:

Right now the ballasted area looks very pristine and even, which is hardly realistic, but once I scrape away some ballast and make some bare spots and paths, add some brush and weeds, and weather the ballast a little it will look less like someone's zen garden and more like a railway right-of-way.

I had carefully taped over the switch mechanisms to avoid getting any ballast stuck in them.  Happily, all the mechanisms work perfectly.  Note the gray color of the Styrofoam above.  Although I still have a bunch of the black paint left, I felt a color that more closely matched the ballast would hide any gaps in coverage better.  It worked very, very well, and was well worth the $12 investment.   Also, in the photo above you can see a few sections where there is no ballast.  On the upper right edge of the photo there will be a train station, so no ballast was needed there, and between the tracks in the upper left of the photo I will be installing a station platform, so again, no ballast needed (or desired).

In the photo above you can see the relative size of the ballast to a 1:32 scale figure.  The scale of the ballast is too big- the rocks are roughly twice the size of what they should be.  However, from a reasonable distance, it's not as obvious that the scale is off.  Plus, the larger stones fill the gaps between the ties nicely, making them look more 'buried' in the ballast.

Finally, here is a picture of the Marklin semaphore signal with the mechanism sunk into the Styrofoam.  The opening will be covered by card stock (I literally will use an index card), which will be painted and flocked / ballasted.  When finished, it will be hard to see that it is there.  Btw that little hint of red across the track from the signal is a feeder wire for the automatic slow-down module that will be bringing my digital locomotives to a realistic stop.  This will be painted gray soon to hide it as well.

I plan ballast the branch line next, and will also hope to start some scenery construction.  Stay tuned!

Ballasting Part 1

To me, the most daunting part of the construction of the layout has been the ballasting.  This week I decided to face my 'Sword of Damocles' and take a stab at ballasting Carstenbahn One.  I initially purchased some paint and painted the styrofoam roadbed.  Fear not, friends, it wasn't nearly as orange as the camera makes it out to be!

 So the plan was to lay the track, add ballast, and then spray the whole thing with matte medium to hold the whole shebang in place.  Well, I decided to try a different method, one I eluded to in an earlier post, and one that served me well in H.O. scale, namely slopping on large amounts of paint, pressing the track into the wet paint, and simply spreading the ballast across everything.  Then, after the paint has dried, vacuuming up the excess ballast and only having ballast between the ties and around the track.

The ballast I used is called poultry grit, or chicken grit.  A 25lb bag can be found at Tractor Supply Company for $9, and I will probably need 3-4 bags for the entire layout.  This is probably the cheapest ballasting material you can find, and look very realistic, too.

I started by making a couple of test cases, both with the brown paint and also a batch of dark gray paint I also had plenty of:

I used the same technique as I have described - press the track into the wet paint, add ballast, wait for the paint to dry, and vacuum away the excess.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but there really is a difference in color based on the base.  Of the 3 people who looked at the samples, all three agreed that the dark paint was the better choice.  So last night, with the help of my mother (bless her for her enthusiasm on this project!), we tackled the first half of the main line...

This is how the roadbed looks when the Styrofoam has been painted, the track has been laid, and ballast has been spread over everything.  In some cases, the track kept pulling up from the paint, and I had to weight the track down to keep it firmly pressed into the paint.  In the future I will have very narrow screws at the ready to screw down any track that tried to pull up.

Here is a picture of the outer-to-inner-track crossover under ballast.  As you can see, I have taped up the switch at the mechanism to avoid getting ballast trapped in the 'throat' of the switch.  I will know soon enough if it worked.  FYI the ballast in the lower picture is still a little damp, which is why it is a darker shade.

I plan to vacuum away the excess ballast in a couple of days and will post about the results, including some better pictures.

One last picture:  Here is the end of the station area, where I have cut out the Styrofoam to sink the signal mechanisms a little,  I believe this will look much better than having the large Marklin solenoids sticking up behind the signals...

Stay tuned for the ballasting finale!!