2015 In Review (1/35)

Usually when New Year is approaching we tend to evaluate the old year - did we accomplish what we had planned? I do that too - and not only in my professional life. Nystrup Gravel also gets its share of New Year's reflections. For a start one major factor has been influencing Nystrup Gravel in 2015: a change in location. While Nystrup is still situated in a semi-fictional spot in south-western Zealand some 80 km. from Copenhagen, my 1:35 model of the gravel company moved to a new wooden house in December 2014. As everything began to settle it turned out that the new house provided a bit more room and useful facilities for modelling. Consequently I now have a new module under construction and another in the planning.

Ah! The joy of modelling outside on the porch in summer! One of the new possibilities taken advantage of in 2015.

As usual I couldn't resist the temptation to add to my collection of road vehicles. I built a Tamiya Citröen 'Traction Avant' and added a gas generator from a Blitz Model's resin kit. A lorry kit with a resin cab from Brazil provided me with some challenges, but turned out a nice model after all.

Haulage contractor Hansen's Ford double cab manoeuvring in front of Nystrup Gravel's loco shed to deliver a load of brown coal. Photographed outside with some of the garden's shrubbery in the background.

In 2014 I had very little time for researching Nystrup Gravel's past. This year I managed to dig up interesting facts (though some historians will probably dispute my findings) about Nystrup's first diesel locomotive and two events along the gravel line during the German occupation of Denmark 1940-1945. I found evidence that at least two German steel pill boxes were transported on Nystrup Gravel's stone wagons to their destination. As the exact type of pill box was available in kit form, I just had to build a model of them.

I know of two Danish modellers with a narrow gauge industrial railway built in 1:35 or 1:32 scale (I'm one of them!). Possibly two others have models or layout in planning. That means most of my fellow modellers with an interest in industrial narrow gauge in 1:35 are from the rest of the world. The statistics of my blog points the fact our quite clearly: visits from Denmark makes up less than 20 % of the total number of page views. In July I had a visit from an Australian narrow gauge modeller. Four Nystrup Gravel modules were erected in my garden shed in advance of his visit. A few hours passes surprisingly fast when you meet someone with good knowledge of modelling, fellow modellers, interesting techniques and new ideas.

My four modules erected in the garden shed. Not a large model railway, but mine!

As I write these lines a new 1:35 scale model for Nystrup Gravel is on its way to Denmark from Australia. Several models stored in boxes await building and a lot of work still has to be done on the new module - not to mention the one still being planned. Consequently this blog will continue to report from rural Nystrup with news of both small and significant occurrences.

Diesel loco no. 8 crossing the bridge with a train of empty skips. Just a normal summer's day of hard work for the little railway.