Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

I love the diminutive locomotives of the Leistungsklasse II (known as Koef II). Recently I came across an offer on a Maerklin set "Rangierdienst" which came with a Koef II including sound and DCC. That's quite a step up from my 30+ year old  converted Brawa 0458 . I'm not sure what happened to the box on the way here. The Hbis came apart when I tried to take it out of the box. Even the springs for the close coupling mechanism were detached. It was easy to reassemble, but I have never seen something like that before in a new box from a dealer. The locomotive comes with the "new" Telex couplers, which work very nicely with the Maerklin short couplings, and not at all with the Relex-style couplers that are the standard couplings on the Welztalbahn. With my Koef III I solved that problem by replacing the Telex coupler with a regular pair of couplers. I haven't decided yet what I'll do in this case. Due to the short wheelbase the Koef II is also great fo...

[ Untergroeningen posts ] Moving on to basic scenery in Untergröningen. I started with making asphalt for the road and the Raiffeisen lot.  I cut templates from newspaper and transferred the shapes to styrene sheet. I used textured spray paint on the styrene sheet to create slightly irregular surface, and spray painted in grey. Weathering the asphalt will come later. Then it was time for the transformation. I love this step when brown paint is replaced by scenery texture. I made a time lapse video for the fun of it. Here are some photos taken when I was done. [ part 2 ]

A quick ride up the hill to balance out sitting on the couch all day long.

[ Kurve posts ]

[ Untergroeningen posts ] Today I built the legs for Untergroeningen and set up the module with Kurve in the living room. Temporarily, of course! This was the only place in the house that allows for a 12 ft straight run with room to spare. For the legs I'm using the same technique as with Slim Staging . Here's Untergroeningen segment 2 on its new legs. I'm planning to work on laying out scenery and buildings in Untergroeningen, and start with basic scenery on segments one and two. This next perspective won't be possible when shadow box and lighting are installed. Viewers and operator aisle are on the other side of the module.

I'm considering taking the modules I'm building to the Eurowest show this summer as a stand-alone layout. Of course, this assumes that the Coronavirus pandemic is under control by the end of July, so that the show will actually happen. It also assumes that the modules are sufficiently presentable that I'd be willing to show them to a broad audience. I still have work to do on that front. It will be a small setup, only 3 modules: Slim Staging , Kurve , and Untergroeningen . Slim Staging and Untergroeningen are made up from multiple segments, so six segments in total. The arrangement will be in an L-shape with both legs about 12 feet long (3.5 meters).  Untergroeningen will be the focal point of the arrangement, with a shadow box and built-in lighting that extends all the way over to Kurve. The hill and cut I built a few weeks ago will hide the transition to staging. The Untergroeningen operator needs to run trains from the visitor side of the layout, because all turnout co...