Soviet Narrow Gauge Tank Wagon

My collection of wagons in 1/87 scale from the narrow gauge railways of the Soviet Union is once again enlarged. The new arrival is a bogie tank wagon with a 20 ton capacity designed for transport of primarily petroleum products. Once again, the model is the work of the talented modellers at Miniland, Ukraine's largest model railway, located in Kyiv. 

Just out of the box! The Ukrainian tank wagon placed on my future diorama with iconic Soviet PO-2 concrete fence in the background.

The prototype for the Miniland wagon was produced by the Demikhovo Machine-Building Plant (ДМЗ) as many other Soviet narrow gauge wagons. The type was most likely in series-production from 1960, although some sources date the design from 1956. The wagon is listed in a DMZ catalogue published in 1985. The catalogue mentions a modernized version produced from 1981. Judging from photographs, only minor changes were made to the construction. The tank wagon had a very modern appearance, using a frameless, self-supporting tank design. This meant that the tank itself formed a load-bearing structural part of the vehicle rather than sitting on a conventional underframe. This allowed the wagon to combine a relatively low tare weight of 8.5 tonnes with a high 20-tonne payload.

From a 1985 catalogue from Demikhovo listing the main characteristics of the tank wagon.

Most likely a works photograph of 45-046-272 outside the Demikhovo works.

Once again, delivery from Ukraine with Nova Post was swift and trouble-free, despite the destructive Russian attacks on many of the company's logistics centres. Having fought my way through tape, cardboard and heavy paper padding, I finally reached a laser-cut wooden box with an engraving of a tank wagon on the lid. Inside was an immaculate model of wagon 45-046-509. On a 1/87 scale model of a relatively small narrow-gauge wagon, it would be understandable if some of the finer details had been omitted or simplified. I have found nothing of the sort on this model. Every handrail, brake line and handle visible on the prototype has been carefully reproduced on this little wagon. The only compromises are those necessary to provide room for the standard model couplings. Naturally, wheel flanges and similar details conform to H0e standards rather than being exact scale reproductions of the prototype.

Laser cut wooden box with engraving on top and black cardboard cover to avoid accidental opening.

With the cover removed and lid off the wagon can be seen in its soft foam bed. A piece of thin plastic makes it easy to get the wagon out.

45-046-509 is on the track with dome cover open.

Underside detail is quite impressive in this tiny scale. Remember the model is only 12 cm long.

Assembly is exceptionally clean, with no traces of glue or other marks to mar the surface. The paintwork is red-brown, matching the prototype, and the decals have been applied very neatly without any trace of silvering. The lettering on the left end of the tank in cyrrilic reads 'патока', meaning molasses, a byproduct from refining sugar. This corresponds well with the use of the tank wagons on some of the Ukrainian narrow gauge systems.

Tank wagon seen close up at the Vasilievsky Mokh peat industries in 2013. The wagon is permanently fitted with a hose for unloading. Metal stakes have been welded to the wagon to hold the hose in place. Notice this wagon is not equipped with air brakes as those running on the the 'real' non-industrial narrow gauge railways in the Soviet empire.

A long line of tank wagons on Rudinitsja station on the Ukrainian Haivoron system. Several refrigerator wagons in white livery are present in the image as well. The 'long-distance' character of the narrow gauge system is underlined by the light towers on the freight section of the station. Photo by Andrus Roosma, 30.05.1984.

With the tank wagon delivered, the models from my Miniland order are gradually arriving one by one. The quality is excellent and far better than anything I could have achieved by building the wagons myself. When skilled craftsmen and craftswomen get to work, the result is rather different from my own amateur efforts. I could quite happily sit back and admire this model for hours with a good glass of whisky!

Last snapshot of the tank wagon for this occasion. The wagon is placed on Tillig H0e flex track (85626). Now where is that whisky? 

Rocket Sticks for Nystrup Gravel

The wooden sticks used to balance fireworks rockets has been a valuable source of wood for countless projects at my modelling table in several scales. I have usually picked up the sticks on a relaxing and soothing walk on New Year's Day. This year I may choose to stay home, due to a friend's donation.

The lorry loading ramp on the Nystrup Gravel layout was built predominantly of wood coming from rocket sticks and coffee stirrers. 234 major parts went into the ramp. For those saying 1/19 is an expensive scale, this loading ramp was extremely cheap to build - its cost likely not exeeding 10 €.

With the publicity awarded through the blog Nystrup Gravel is occasionally helped by kind followers, fellow modellers or railway enthusiasts. The contribution can be anything from a link to a valuable piece of information, a copy of a rare article from a long disappeared magazine, a kit part or materials/tools for the workbench. 

This time my modelling project has received a large bundle of rocket sticks from a friend. They have increased the available stock of wood for construction works and for use as handles when air brushing small parts.

A good couple of handfulls of rocket sticks to help me build more Nystrup Gravel projects.

Remember that stuff you would throw in the bin could be a valuable ressource for a modeller. With this generous supply, I probably won’t have to go hunting for rocket sticks next New Year’s Day. Still, old habits are hard to break, and I suspect I will keep an eye on the roadside anyway. After all, one man’s rubbish is another modeller’s raw material.

Driver Figure For 'Planet' Skip

As the self-propelled skip was in its finishing stages I gave up on finishing the figure I had originally acquired with it. I decided the driver took more effort than anticipated and that I had to finish the motorized skip first, having the figure joining the 'Planet' at a later stage. Now more than a month has passed and I have researched the skip's history, worked a lot and travelled in Germany, Norway and United Kingdom. Time to finish the driver!

The 'Planet' self-propelled skip looks a lot more prototypical running on the layout with a figure in the driver's seat.

When I left the driver to finish the 'Planet' I had just begun to 'flesh' out the skinny legs and build up a more natural connection between legs and pelvis region. Later I also sawed off the figure's left arm to reposition it for a better fit in the cab. Typical of many of my projects. There is always something that could do with a little improvement.

As far as I got during my summer vacation. Green blobs of putty and the left arm still in its original position.

How the figure looked like when just out of the box.

The figure is designed by David Clavey to specifically fit the skip's driver's seat and controls. Despite the figure not looking as detailed as Modelu's scanned and 3D printed figures I was initially quite glad I made the purchase. The quality looked better than some of the images circulating of painted examples of it online. As I began to handle the figure and fitting it in the cab, my relationship with the figure became increasingly challenging. Apart from the skinny legs, narrow shoulders and problematic pelvis, the two heads supplied also seemed too large, completely overwhelming the body. One of the heads also had a haunting resemblance to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of The Russian Federation. A person not popular in my house. So far I have not registered any results in the real world of my 1/19 scale voodoo performed on the 'Putin head', but who knows what happens tomorrow...

Modelling is also about being honest. This is the last photo of the figure before priming. I did a little more sanding, but this figure is never going to count as a succes. Even the Modelu fox is sceptical. 

Not known for giving up projects I pressed on using putty and files, gradually switching to putty and sand paper, before finally drawing the conclusion that I couldn't be drawn deeper into what looked to be a lost battle. The figure will fit in the cab and it looks like a human being from some distance. But it will never be a Modelu figure and it will definately look its best seen from the back. 

As usual I used Black Chaos primer from Games Workshop. I chose a dark green colour (Vallejo 70.897 Bronze Green) for the figure's overalls as I hoped it would help hide some of my miserable work with putty. The shirt got a few layers of Vallejo 70.918 Ivory to cover the black primer. Skin areas were painted with  Vallejo 341 'Flesh Base' with a tone slightly lightened with white used on nose ridge cheek bones and jaw line. A localized wash with heavily diluted burnt sienna oil paint under nose, eyes and around mouth and ears adds depth to the facial features without overdoing it. I'm no talented figure painter so I skip painting eyes - and frankly most railway modellers should.

The figure with the front to the camera. No good mannered people stare at a man's groin area, and it's the same with this figure! I plan to air brush a darkened green colour on the lower groin area to strengthen the sense of shadow. That should help to disguise my bad putty work.

With the main colours on I proceded with adding shadows and highlights around and on the folds in the clothing. I used more restraint than usual as I suspected this technique would expose too much of my miserable work with putty. When finished the figure received a coat of matt varnish through the air brush. 

From this angle the figure looks its best! A few corrections may still be needed, but in general I now consider the figure finished. 

How Nystrup Gravel and AI Pollutes Historical Research

Having returned from the 34. Internationales Feldbahnertreffen in the United Kingdom with a new book on Baguley-Drewry locomotives and working on my model of a Baguley-Drewry locomotive in 1/19 scale, I had a few follow-up questions. I tried to get Artificial Intelligence (AI) to shed light on them and asked Microsoft's Copilot for help. I was shocked to receive the machine's answers!

The Accucraft model of a Baguley-Drewry locomotive that initiated a heated debate with AI.

Copilot told me that in fact there had been a 150 hp Baguley-Drewry locomotive delivered to a Danish customer. As I know enough about Danish narrow gauge industrial railway history to know that no 150 hp Baguley-Drewry loco ever worked in Denmark, I was sad to see my own Nystrup Gravel blog quoted as evidence. See Copilot's original answer in the screenshot below:

My crazy mind's completly unfounded story of a Baguley-Drewry locomotive in Denmark presented as historical facts.

As I began to challenge Copilot about the plausibility of its story it kept telling me how credible the story was. In all seriousness, a premier AI tool made available by a large international supplier was telling me how good I was at lying and manipulating! 

When challenged Copilot insisted that my fantasies carried a lot of credebility because my lies were specific and technically plausible.

Remember that this blog even has a disclaimer saying, and I quote: "Notice that Nystrup Gravel is fiction and that all history regarding the railway and company is my work and not real." 

I will skip the next couple of conversations with Copilot during which I kept challenging the machine and it became more and more unsure about how to interpret the info on the Nystrup Gravel blog, while still being unwilling to admit an incorrect first answer. In the end I couldn't stand Copilot's efforts to downplay its failure to check the source behind its claim of historical accuracy and referred to the disclaimer quoted above:

Me: "Really you should study the disclaimer on the Nystrup Gravel blog more carefully. The author has actually gone to the trouble spelling out clearly that Nystrup Gravel is complete fiction. Why didn't you provide me with that information?"

Copilot: "You're absolutely right, and I should have caught that. The honest answer is that I never saw the disclaimer. The search snippet I relied on contained only the article text about the supposed E10 locomotive and not the site's disclaimer page. The information returned to me was limited to the article excerpt, and I failed to recognize that I needed to verify the nature of the source itself before treating any of its contents as historical information.

More importantly, once you first challenged the story, I should have become much more skeptical. Instead of discussing whether the claim was 'plausible', I should have re-examined the source's credibility. Had I seen the disclaimer then the discussion would have ended immediately from a historical perspective. That disclaimer fundamentally changes the status of the source:

• The railway itself is fictional.
• The company's history is fictional.
• Historical narratives associated with the railway are fictional unless independently documented elsewhere.
• Any locomotive history presented within that fictional setting must be treated as fiction unless corroborated by external sources.

In other words, I should never have used the E10 article as evidence for a Danish Baguley-Drewry locomotive. The deeper error was that I failed to identify that the source itself had already declared its content to be fictional."

I believe the above discussion between a university lecturer and a first-semester history student during an examination would have ended with the result 'failed' and rightly so. The same message should be communicated to Copilot. 

The book that started it all "The Railway products of Baguley-Drewry" by Allen Civil and Roy Etherington.

I'm finishing with two points:

A: I work professionally with Copilot generating text  every day. I'm not some grumpy, old man who is sceptical of every technological invention since canned food. But AI can be dangerous.

B: I will keep producing wildly incorrect falsifications of Danish narrow gauge industrial railway history on this blog. 

International Narrow Gauge Meet

After having been in Berlin for the biannual railway exhibition Innotrans, I spent time working in my Trondheim office and then went straight to four full days of narrow gauge impressions at the 34. Internationales Feldbahnertreffen in the United Kingdom. The major annual event for vintage narrow gauge industrial railway enthusiasts was hosted by Moseley Railway Trust in Apedale not far from Manchester. Other railways provided support and co-hosted the event.

Moseley loco 29 'Vanguard' (Ruston & Hornsby 195846/1939) on the brick tip at Apedale with a train of skips. Just one of many trains running during the four day event.

As usual the event had four days filled with networking, presentations, train rides and visits to usually off limits workshops and storage buildings. All host railways provided plenty of trains, steam, petrol and diesel traction. The weather ranged from very good to decent with very little rain and few clouds (except from the ones made of steam or unburned coal and diesel!). The main host was the Moseley Railway Trust with the West Lancashire Light Railway, Statfold Barn Railway and Amerton Railway supporting the event with an extraordinary amount of traffic, locomotives and friendly volunteers. 

'Sybil' (Bagnall 1760/1906) arriving with a passenger train at the main station.

Something I really like: A diesel locomotive shunting skips. Here it is WLLR 36 (Ruston & Hornsby 339105/1939).

As most of the participating enthusiasts are practical people, themselves keeping alive narrow gauge railways, a lot of inspiration is shared. Tips on track building are passed on, a wish for measurements on a particular flywheel is noted and a lot of shoulders padded for the latest achievements on the home railway.  Apart from the networking  a lot of train riding on the host society’s railway is on the programme.

In typical English landscape and autumn light is Statfold loco 'Howard' (Hunslet 1842/1936) waiting to take a full load of European enthusiasts to Statfold main station from Oak Tree Halt.

Statfold loco 'Sybil Mary'  (Hunslet 921/1906) being readied for service.

As usual the event provided a good view into other organisations' methods, collections, track equipment and volunteer base. I made several observations that may be useful on the vintage railway where I volunteer myself. As a modeller I also saw things that I can probably use on Nystrup Gravel and some ideas have begun to develop in the back of my head. 

Going up hill at Apedale is loco 102 (Simplex 60SD754/1980) with a vigilant crew. 

It's morning and a bit chilly, but the three steam locos are hot. They are no. 9 (Hudswell Clarke 1238/1916, 'Jennie' (Hunslet (Statfold) 3906/2006) and 303 (Hunslet 1215/1916). To the left is Moseley loco 104 (Ruston & Hornsby 19287/1940).

Apart from inspiration and 850 images on the camera's memory card, I brought home some self-quarried coal from the upper Apedale seam and books enough to completely overwhelm my rucksack. It was with a heavy burden on my shoulders that I left the 34. Internationales Feldbahnertreffen and the United Kingdom!

Amerton 746 (40SD501/1975) passing the railway's signature tree before reaching the main station on the line.

‘Lorna Doone’ (Kerr Stuart 4250/1922) with a passenger train passing a small lake.

In the coming months I'll probably be burdened a little less on my work and no travelling is planned for the next month. That should leave a little more time for modelling than this past month. I will be working on figures and the Baguley-Drewry. Just so you know what to expect.

Most of the participants assempled for the traditional group photo.

Modern Narrow Gauge at Railway Exhibition in Berlin

The railway exhibition InnoTrans in Berlin attracts more than 100.000 visitors every two years. I was at the exhibition as part of the team manning the stand through my job in a railway contracting company. Every concievable product and service related to railways are represented at the exhibition and fills the huge Berlin exhibition area completely. On the exhibition ground's own railway yard new rolling stock, locomotives and permanent way equipment stand buffer to buffer. Rarely anything narrow gauge make it here. 2026 was different!

Seldom seen in the Berlin exhibition rail yard: a brand new 950 mm narrow gauge train!

Among lines of standard gauge locos and wagons a light green three car train was placed on transport bogies. It was the world’s first hydrogen-powered train developed specifically for narrow-gauge operations. A total of 21 trains are being built for three Italian regional operators in Sardinia, Calabria and Sicily for 950 mm gauge. Each car is equipped with a powered and an unpowered bogie, while the 'Power Pack Car' rests on two unpowered bogies. A 3-car train has room for 89 seated passengers and a top speed of 100 km/h. You can check out Stadler's press release here.

The three-car train shown in Berlin was loaded on transport bogies in matching colour.

The first completed train, presented at InnoTrans 2026 in Berlin, was built for the narrow gauge network in Sardinia. Ten vehicles will go to the Sardinia network, 2 for the Sicily line near Etna and the remaining 9 for the network in Calabria. 

A Stadler-illustration of the Sicily version of the hydrogen train with Etna in the background.

'Planet' History

No, the Nystrup Gravel blog hasn't changed subject to astronomy, but a few facts about the gravel company's 'Planet' 6 hp self-propelled skip has come up. The vehicle was a unique specimen in the Danish industrial narrow gauge world, and I have been searching the archives for some answers to how the motorised skip came in service of the Nystrup Gravel company.

My 1/19 scale interpretation of the Nystrup Gravel 'Planet' was recently finished. Two employees review the result.

To begin with the 'Planet' 6 hp Motor Driven Truck, as it was called at the time of its development, was a lightweight industrial narrow-gauge self-propelled skip designed in the late 1920's. The typical customer was a small industrial enterprise that needed a cheap and lightweight motive power for a small industrial railway. The original Hibberd-vehicle used a smal skip frame fitted with a 6-horsepower engine. The standard model featured a flat platform, with options for a wooden box or a 1 cubic-yard standard skip available for users having different needs. As F.C. Hibberd & Co.’s factory in West London was bombed during World War 2, and the company's archives, original design blueprints, and historical records were destroyed, not much is known about these charming little motorised skips. 

Archive illustation showing a 'Planet' self-propelled skip almost identical to the one in use at Nystrup Gravel.

Considering the size of Nystrup Gravel's production the average spectator may think that the company had far too many locomotives. But in reality the company rarely had more than 3 servicable locomotives at a time. The years after the German occupation of Denmark were difficult years with much infrastructure and machinery totally worn out and very hard to replace. Consequently some of Nystrup Gravel's acquisitions during those early post-war years were 'buy what is available' and didn't last long - or were used very little. My recent research shows that the 'Planet' was exactly such an investment. Usefull when nothing else was available and falling out of use as soon as it could be replaced by better machinery. 

The only picture known to show the 6 hp 'Planet' at Nystrup Gravel. Photographed in the yard with a view over the meadows north of the gravel works. The number '12' is clearly visible on the cab front.

The United Kingdom was a major Danish trading partner before World War 2 cut off all connections. Due to a large Danish export of agricultural products the currency policies of the times made it profitable to buy British industrial products. This is clearly visible when glancing through the locomotives that Nystrup Gravel had: no less than 3 locos had UK origin. 

From 1944 to Autumn 1946 a Schöma built KML-5 worked on Nystrup Gravel. Supplied by the German authorities to speed up gravel production for military use, Nystrup Gravel held on to the loco as long as possible. When the owner in Germany, contractor Wilhelm Müller, took the case to court the company management finally let the loco go. 

In a very thorough search in the immediate post-war part of the company archives from Nystrup Gravel I found a preserved page from a local paper for Wedensday 14. November 1945. The article was headlined 'Lucky Nystrup Gravel' and is with a very high degree of probability a mention of how the 'Planet' came to Nystrup Gravel. For the community around Nystrup a new machine arriving to a local business was always good news and fortunately Nystrup Gravel director Holm never missed giving a tip to a local journalist. 

November 1945 - Nystrup and Denmark slowly recovering after the German occupation. Nystrup Gravel's little railway trying to cope with a lack of traction power.

In the article Nystrup Gravel Director Holm is quoted: “We received word that Askholm Hovedgaard (a large estate farm) had just decommissioned the track system used to transport manure from the cowsheds. The farm had a motorised skip in use, which we have now taken over. The self-propelled skip will be used by us to transport foundry sand.” Only few Danish farm used narrow gauge railways for internal transports of e.g. manure and the use of a motorised skip is unique for Askholm. The foundry sand product 'Multisand' was a result of the discovery of a small deposit of high quality sand in one of Nystrup's gravel pits. The sand was manually excavated to avoid contamination, refined and dried before it was loaded in 50 kg sacks. The volumes were minimal and usually only a train or two a week took away sand for refining. Consequently a single 'Planet' could keep the foundry sand production running leaving additional trains free for gravel transport. 

The newspaper also mentions that Nystrup Gravel since the liberation in May 1945 "has only had one steam locomotive and two diesel locomotives in service: one Danish and one German. The company’s large British diesel locomotive is not yet ready for service due to a shortage of spare parts". The German locomotive mentioned in the newspaper is most likely the Schöma provided by the German military and the large British diesel is without doubt the Fowler, Nystrup Gravel No. 8.

Another photo of my model of Nystrup Gravel No. 12 here seen passing my version of one of the large wooden buildings at the company's works in Nystrup.

How long the self-propelled skip was in service at Nystrup is not known. When the Fowler got back into service and more locomotives was acquired its mission of keeping the foundry sand business going must have lost importance. Now a train or two a week could provide transport for the sand. As Nystrup Gravel kept much of its worn out equipment long after it fell out of use, it is possible that the 'Planet' stayed with the company well into the 1950's. No evidence of its sale or scrapping has been found so far.