In the early 1950's Nystrup Gravel's steam locos were not used regularly. The locos were stored in a long shed at the lorry loading ramp area. The daily traffic was handled by the company's IC locos. But when demand for gravel was at its peak during summer at least one steam loco was usually steamed up.
Steam loco no. 2 pulling a train of empty skips past Banke's Bakelite on its way to the pits
The extra loco provided an added ressource and enabled a more intense traffic to be kept up. Just a few years later the steam locos were sold as scrap. My model of Nystrup Gravel's steam loco no. 2 was built in 2002 on the basis of a Fleischmann 'Magic Train' steam loco in 1:45 scale. Too bad that the 'Magic Train' range is now out of production. I would love to rebuild one more to accompany no. 2.
Nystrup Gravel's first two locomotives on the same photograph. As the old Alpha E 10 is standing in front of the loco shed, several of the newer locos must have been out of service. Otherwise the one cylinder locomotive would have remained in its shed. It was used only when all other options had failed!
Demand for gravel for a wide range of publicly funded construction works meant that Nystrup Gravel in the beginning of the 1930's had to find more effective ways of getting gravel to the customers. One result of the intiatives taken by director Holm was the acquisition of the large Fowler diesel. Another was the sudden appearance of two bogie passenger wagons for the transport of workers to and from the gravel pits.
The comfortable coach being enjoyed by workers on their way to work. Nystrup Gravel's two bogie coaches were unique to Danish industrial railways. No other industrial railway had such luxurious coaches. The state organisation for costal protection had a single bogie coach and a prison railway had a primitive homebuilt coach. Nystrup Gravel certainly was a company with a special railway - no wonder I chose to model it!
I built the two passenger wagons in 2010 from kits made by fellow modeller Daniel Caso fitted with homebuilt frames and bogies from Scale Link. Daniel is one of those modellers that take the extraordinary step to help others fabricating kits or useful pieces.
A coach during construction. The kit body is placed on a test frame made of three pieces of strip wood and half-built bogies.
Apart from the image at the top, I managed to catch the train made up from Fowler-loco and green coach on film as it passed the bridge and the loco shed.
Some railway enthusiasts prefer steam engines and many railway modellers share the passion for steam locomotives. I have a soft spot for the earliest internal combustion engine locos. Some of the pioneers of IC-loco manufacture weren't particularly focused on design, leading to some wonderfully alternative visual expressions. My model of a Danish built Alpha E 10 should prove that.
Not many of the earliest IC locos have survived. They were built in limited numbers, probably too fragile to serve for long and with a technology that still had to mature fully. Very few of these locos exists today and fewer are in operation. Fortunately we can now add one to the list, as the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum in Germany is currently test running Oberursel 6095 from 1913. The loco has a Danish connection as it came to Denmark after World War 1 to a peat company. From there the loco was passed on to a contractor that later donated it to a childrens' play ground. It is doubtful if the loco ever worked much in Denmark, but If the loco had seen limited use until then, it certainly changed as children from Copenhagen could now play the poor thing to pieces (not mentioning the Danish weather's hard treatment). The loco was rescued by the Danish Industrial Railway Society in 1982, moved to safe in door storage in the 1990's and lent to the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum in 2003 becoming their property in 2007. I don't think I ever dared to dream to see the loco in running condition. I think I will be visiting Frankfurt soon!
Due to work, other obligations and a few teenage 'occupations' of our shed, the usual summer running sessions have been somewhat delayed. But now my small modules are set up and the first trains have been making their way across the crooked rails (that may still need some additional cleaning).
So far I have been running the gravel company's oldest locomotive and with some more running in, it will probably be a far more useful loco in1:35 scale than it ever was in reality.
I haven't been modelling much during the summer. Rather I have been doing work on a real narrow gauge railway in company of a great bunch of men and women.
A great team of volunteers photographed on a sunny afternoon at the 40 years celebration at the Hedeland heritage railway.
As autumn is looming on the horizon I will be getting the workbench dusted off and made ready for new projects. But first I'll be enjoying some days of running trains on Nystrup Gravel's short line. Expect a few images here showing some of the trains travelling over the 600 mm track.
