H0e Coaches From Ukraine

Once again the workshop in at Miniland Kyiv has produced a couple of excellent 1/87 scale models and shipped them northwest to Denmark. The coaches are part of a larger order being gradually delivered as the models are finished. So far I have received two bogie platforms and a refrigerator wagon and I'm still expecting the arrival of some tank wagons and two PV40 coaches.

Another addition to my collection of Soviet narrow gauge rolling stock: Miniland built models of Ukrainian Pafawag coaches.

A total of 600 3Aw 750 mm narrow-gauge passenger cars were built between 1957 and 1960. 560 units were officially imported by the USSR. The coaches were almost exclusively known by the name of their manufacturer Pafawag (Państwowa Fabryka Wagonów) in Wroclaw, Poland. The factory opened in 1833 as Linke-Hofmann-Werke, in 1953 the company was renamed Pafawag and is today a part of the Bombardier group.

While most Pafawag coaches were standard passenger cars, the order also included variants used as VIP and dining cars. Most of the coaches, however, were fitted as 'Жесткий' (hard class) with simple, robust wooden slatted benches to maximize capacity and withstand wear from industrial and agricultural commuter traffic. 

The variants of the Pafawag wagons also included post and baggage wagons. Worth noting that this mention of the wagons is also simply naming them 'Pafawag' and not by any more specific type. 

Once the carriages reached the Soviet Union, local railway workshops soon carried out customizations to local needs. Several long-distance narrow-gauge lines in the Soviet Union required overnight accommodation, and workshops added internal bulkheads to convert the open coaches with seats to sleepers with simple, stacked longitudinal wooden berths.

Interior view of a Pafawag 'sleeper'. A sleeping passenger can just be seen lying in one of the upper berths. Most likely an image from the 1990's. The line's rural character is easily betrayed by the abundance of baggage in the top berths.

The 3Aw was the final development in a process that ironed out shortcomings in the original design. Soviet industry had begun to produce the PV40 coach in 1955, but the need for a larger and more technically advanced carriage seems to have prompted the need for assistance from the Polish railway industry. The original design 1Aw suffered from unstable running at higher speeds and the 2Aw sought to improve running and was built in almost 100 examples. The 3Aw was the final and most numerous version with final deliveries in 1960. 

Drawing of a standard 3Aw. Interesting to note that the drawing is printed in Russian, but the Polish company has signed and stamped in Polish. The Pafawags were long (almost 15 m) and became popular due to their better running compared to the shorter and more primitive PV40.

In model form my Pafawag carriages are built by modellers associated with Ukraine's largest model railway 'Miniland' in Kyiv. Some very talented modellers, fast and safe shipping as well as reasonable prices have made me a faithful customer. The wagons are most likely built from kits manufactured by another Ukrainian company Retro Trains Models. The carriages were shipped in a sturdy cardboard box in record time: only five days passed from receiving a notice that the wagons were sent to they were delivered on my doorstep.  Each coach is individually packed in a cardboard box lined with foam. Opening the box and removing a foam lid gives access to the model. I paid ca. 220 € for two coaches and considering the excentric prototype and quality provided I find that most reasonably.

Long and sleek with toilet in one end and a stove in the other. A modern coach by Soviet narrow gauge standards in the late 1950's.

The models have fully detailed interiors. Hard to see from my photos.  

My two 3Aw are finished in different liveries: the original green and blue as currently used by several of the 'childrens' railways' having replaced the old Soviet 'pioneer railways'. Both models are with Ukrainian Railways' lettering. If you wish to display green coaches with Soviet markings, I think you are best advised to reletter yourself by ordering a decal sheet form RTM. The wagons display a full interior, but I haven't yet had the courage to find out if I can gain access to the interior to install passengers.

The 3Aw bogies are remarkably detailed their small size considered. They are difficult to appreciate when seen from usual viewing angles on a layout, but in a close up they look really good. Compare with the image of a prototype bogie below.

A prototype bogie with decorative white painted wheel rims.

The underside of the Pafawag carriages is less detailed than the freight wagons in my collection. As I don't display my models on their sides it really doesn't matter. What can be seen from the side is present.

The steps are etched metal with 'see through effect' and the bogies are equipped for power pick up for internal lighting.

As usual the assembly of the wagons has been done with excellent workmanship, and the painting is of no less quality. The company logo of Ukrainian Railways and lettering looks painted through a stencil resembling the style used on the real carriages perfectly.

A good representation of the usual stencilled lettering between the central pair of windows.

The length of a Pafawag is clearly visible when coupled to a TU4 locomotive.

Both Pafawags are packed safely away in their boxes again. The summer of 2026 is dedicated to 1/19 scale modelling.

Citroen HY In Service on Nystrup Gravel

Bought back in august 2022 the Solido Citroen HY van is now in service on Nystrup Gravel. This is the second van on the layout with a French background and a real icon. The van needed a few tweaks and weathering before it was ready for display on my layout.

It's summer and much of my modelling at this time of year happens outside. Photographing a finished model, too.

With the investment pattern of Nystrup Gravel there is always something stored on the shelves to bring to the worktable. If lack of fortune should ever leave the little company poor there are projects for several years in storage, only needing paint and materials. The Citroen HY van is now out of storage. Not because the financial situation for Nystrup Gravel is worsening - I simply missed working on a car model!

As usual I begin with disassembling the model. It separated to a greater extent than planned! I hope the repair will be manageable. I worked outdoor as Denmark (as most of Europe) has had quite high temperatures (34 C in late June).

Before I disassembled the model I had made a list of things I wanted to add or change on the van. Nothing major, but just to make the Citroen a little more realistic and fit in on the Nystrup Gravel layout. Because let's face it: this is not a fine scale model, but a diecast car with added plastic detal that is often quite simple.

• Paint headlights. Moulded in plastic and obviously so.
• Rear axle. Bent and needs adjusting.
• Interior details. Add coulour and details. Remove benches in cargo area and repaint.
• License plates. Add Danish 1950's license plates.
• Weathering. Slight dusting and basic weathering. 

Seats frames were painted gloss black and the cushions leather brown. The bare metal floor under the seats were painted grey, as it was only the area in front of and between the seats that was covered in black matting. The prototype cab is very spartan and there really isn't much to add to the model. Having removed the seats in the cargo compartment and repaired the damage from the disassembly process, I air brushed the model's all black interior grey using thinned 991 'Dark Sea Grey' from Vallejo. I then weathered the floor very lightly. I skipped any further weathering and detailing as only the top rear door opens and the view of the interior is very limited. The glass in the rear door opening was missing on my model and I added a new one from a piece of clear plastic.

There aren't too many HY's in original condition. Most have been rebuilt into food trucks, mobile homes or restored almost beyond recognition. Here's a nice original one from the UK. The rear window is a different shape than on my model. This HY has weathered nicely!

The bent rear axle that made the left rear wheel sit off-angle was fixed by adding a 4 mm thick scrap of plastic behind the wheel. This holds the wheel in it's right position. I tried to straighten the axle but without success as I was afraid of ruining the wheel attachment completely. Painted black the rectangular piece of plastic isn't very noticable. While this really isn't a proper solution the trick works.

It was a quick job cutting and sanding a pair of license plates from 1 mm plasticard. With a few quick passes of a brush with gloss yellow paint they were soon ready to receive the decals from 'Skilteskoven'. The front plate was fitted under the radiator and the rear plate over the rear door. To make the rear plate fit properly I had to remove a small metal casting with a grinder attachment in my Dremel. 

The license plates are fixed to a wooden stick during painting. Danish license plates during the 1950's were stamped metal plates with round edges. Using 1 mm plasticcard allows me to round the edges and obtain a good likeness to the prototype.

Decals added and the first weathering applied to the van.

The head lights were painted 991 'Dark Sea Grey' from Vallejo which is a decent match for the van's colour scheme despite not being metallic. Before I added the license plates I weathered the model with an intial air brushing of matt varnish on the lower third of the van. Once dry I added another layer of matt varnish, now with a touch of sand coloured paint added. I air brushed this on the lower quarter of the van giving the impression of a car that has travelled on dusty country roads. A wash of heavily thinned black oil paint was added around roof edges, handles and around the lid of the petrol tank. Very limited traces of rust were added. Not much as the van was a relatively new car in the Nystrup Gravel-period.

The right side of the van showing sliding door and slight traces of beginning rust where upper body elements join.

A short stop for a cup of coffee from the thermos.

Not every story has a happy ending! Here is a humiliating end for a long wheel base Citroen van. Butchered into a trailer for horse transports.

The end of my Citroen HY is much better. New tasks ahead so off it goes.

Steel Pot Wagon

The updates from my railway modelling are currently few. With work in Norway and the 1:1 scale narrow gauge railway in demand of work, I haven't much time. Last week a new model arrived, though. A steel pot wagon used for the transport of fluid steel in steel works. It's a H0 wagon destined for my small 1/87 scale diorama that I am currently working on (not working, actually!). In my main scale of 1/19 I'm ready to install the Loco Remote unit in the Baguley-Drewry.

The wagon is a 1/87 scale version of a heavy frame special wagon for carrying a vessel, pot or ladle for the transport of molten metal. Wagons of this type were usually employed in steel works that had several production sites and needed to move fluid metal from a central smelter. In service the pot would be filled, carried by rail and at the destination an overhead gantry crane would lift the pot to it's final destination. 

The model is the Trix 23598 labelled as 'Roheisenwagen Mannesmann' made with a heavy cast metal frame, metal bogies and an injected plastic pot. It's quite a simple model without many details - pretty much how the prototype looked. I haven't checked the model against drawings to find out if it's true to scale as this is meant to be a model to help place my little diorama in a steel producing location in southeastern Ukraine, not a wagon meant to shine in itself.

Straight from the cardboard box the model has landed in Denmark. Original boxing with a scratched lid.

With the lid off the model looks much better. It doesn't look like the model has seen much use. The box is worn far more than the wagon itself.

I bought the model on eBay from a Dutch seller for a resonably price. The model now goes into storage awaiting progress on the diorama. The wagon will be slightly altered and will be having a repaint and weathering to make it look like a real steel works wagon.

My new wagon resting on the broad gauge track embankment in the sun.

Rhubarb Logistics 2026

As usual the rhubarb harvesting in my garden utilizes the 1/19 scale railway for logistical support. This year's first harvest was brought in without help from the industrial railway as I was away on work in Norway. The second harvest, however, used the complete narrow gauge ressources available.

The rhubarb harvest is loaded on the train and ready to depart to the processing facility. In the background chopped off top leaves from the plants can be seen.

One of the recently finished coupling bars and the long coupling pole was used to safely connect all 4 timber bogies and propelled by Nystrup Gravel loco 8 there was no wheel slipping this year. Last year wet rails and the tiny Lister RT only allowed one set of bogies to be used. Peco SM32 track panels, suitably rust painted, supplied the temporary infrastructure needed for the transports.

Unloaded wagons being pushed forward to the harvesting area. 

A loaded train is pulling away from the rhubarb felling site. Shortly the train will curve sharply to the right to reach the gradient toward the washing and processing area.

I ran my first rhubarb train in 2022 and it has become a tradition that I get out the track panels and haul in at least one of the 2-3 harvests of rhubarb that our garden supply us with. I'm not planning a garden line, but if I did, it certainly had to have a siding for rhubarb transports. 

Timber Bogies - Coupling Bars and Pole

When I finished the 4 timber bolster bogies in april 2024, I hadn't the stamina to build coupling bars for use between two bogies to avoid them being dragged apart when carrying timber. Until now I have used the two resin coupling bars that came with the bogies, but they are flimsy and not very safe in daily use. After having not been at the work table for a long time, the coupling bars seemed a good and easy task to get into the modelling fun again. 

New metal coupling bars for my two sets of Rail Print timber bogies. Necessary for safe and reliable running.

I cut pieces of 3.5 cm lengths of Peco IL-7 FB Code 143 rail left over from my track building on the Nystrup layout. I soldered nickle silver scraps with a 2 mm hole drilled in them to each end of the rail. With a heavy pin connecting coupling bar and bogie bracket the complete coupling set-up should keep the bogies safely coupled and able to navigate curves and unevenness in the track. In total the coupling bars are 4.5 cm long and provide the long sought after reliable running loaded with logs.

Running without a coupling bar between the timber bogies carries the risk of them separating. Here a derailment caused by bogie separation.

Timber bogie, resin coupling bar and parts for my new metal coupling bars.

Wooden coupling pole with metal coupling gear and coupling pins. The coupling pole's wooden part is wrapped in masking tape awaiting painting af the metal parts.

Having made the two coupling bars fitting the short logs I have cut for the bogies, I remembered to make a long wooden coupling pole for when running with longer loads (that could be rhubarb from the garden). The pole is a piece of round wooden stock fitted with metal coupling gear at the ends. The type of pole is seen on Waldeisenbahn Muskau in a far longer version.

Metal parts were given a spray of 'Chaos Black' primer from the can and spot painted Vallejo 'Dark Grey' with brush. When dry the black grey parts were washed with heavily diluted rust oil paint in turpentine. Later I will add further weathering with dust and worn metal areas. The wooden pole was distressed with knife and files and the given a wash with dark grey wood stain fluid in addition to a little drybrushing with grey and dark grey. 

One set of timber bogies loaded with birch timber coupled with a metal coupling bar.

The long wooden coupling pole fitted to bogies 72 and 79. Workshop manager Petersen looks happy (as happy as he is able to).

I have one more task to accomplish, as I need to make special coupling chains for the bogies. The tight chains can cause derailments as well. That will have to wait for another time, though.

1/87 Diorama Progressing

In March I started a small diorama in 1/87 scale planned as an expanded 'photo plank' to show off my growing collection of Soviet narrow-gauge models. Measuring 85x35 cm it has now had the main terrain features added. After an almost total modellingless April I'm now getting back into productive modelling! 

The diorama's main terrain feature - a low railway embankment - built from foam material and covered in disposable kitchen rags. 

On top of the plywood base I added a low embankment from foam material at the rear. This will carry a broad gauge track elevated above the narrow gauge tracks in front of it. The track will be glued to a 4 mm thick foamboard strip profiled to provide a representation of the subballast formation. I plan to fit the embankment with concrete sleepered track to represent a single track unelectrified broad gauge main line.

Lovely Spring weather has seen me working outside. Here I'm gluing foamboard as foundation for H0f and H0e track. The bricks with the mark of The Royal Danish Post and Telegraph Service were saved years ago from a demolished post office. They now serve to keep everything in position as the glue dries.

I have also begun covering the lower narrow gauge track area in 5 mm foambord. This will enable me to add drainage ditches between tracks where relevant. I've not quite decided the final track layout and placement of building elements, so I will be covering the majority of the area with foamboard.

A typical Soviet style prefabricated concrete fence of PO-2 type separates the embankment from the narrow gauge area and I cut foundations from scrap parts of plasticard for the placing of the fence. The fence is 'one-sided' and is made to be viewed from the narrow gauge area only, and consequently its rear side will be covered with a varied growth of shrubbery. The fence is glued in place and to strengthen the connection small foamboard columns support the fence from its backside, helping to make a strong bond.

The position of main broad gauge line and the main track of the 750 mm narrow gauge line is more or less decided. Between the fence and 750 mm track I plan to fit a 600 mm track with dilapidated rolling stock. In the front area I hope to fit in another 750 mm track with a few turnouts to a siding and a work shop building.

I'm now playing with track segments, turnouts and cardboard mock-ups to find out how best to place them on the diorama. 

1/87 Scale Diorama

The headline may promise more that this post deliver. But this week saw me finally getting the foundation for my 1/87 scale diorama started. The base plate from plywood had been cut in January and it is now reinforced by a wooden frame to keep it straight and level. 

My Soviet diorama looks flat and uninteresting in comparison with the huge model of Østerport Station in H0 in the background. The model is on temporary storage during the relocation of the Aarsleff Rail Copenhagen office where it usually resides. We don't quite trust movers...

The diorama is an ambitious project as it will be my first attempt at showing three gauges in such a small setting - and the first ever, to be honest. There will be a broad-gauge track running on an embankment in the background and 600 and 750 mm track on the main level in the foreground. 

The diorama is planned to be an expanded 'photo plank' to show off my growing collection of Soviet narrow-gauge models. It measures 85x35 cm. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze in an industrial building or two, a concrete plated road area and the characteristic concrete fence and overhead steam pipes so well-known from the Soviet Union.