Railway Enthusiasts Visiting Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

With all the images from my little gravel railway you'd sure expect it to have been visited by photographing railway enthusiasts. Although the workshop manager Thorleif Petersen was a very active photographer, many images and film sequenses from Nystrup Gravel were shot by some of the first Danish railway enthusiasts. I wanted to have a few of the pioneer trainspotters on my 1:35 railway.

Before painting. I still need to go over both figures with sand paper and file once more before I prime them.

My two trainspotters began as a US military cameraman from Plus Models and a MK35 man in long jacket (figure F176). The cameraman had his trousers carved into a pair of plus fours Tintin style and fitted with a head from a MK35 figure. I removed all military insignias and made some subtle changes on the beret. The figure's arms were positioned to operate the camera. As the camera tripod is quite a flimsy construction in 1:35 scale I placed it on a piece on thin brass sheet together with the figure. After painting camera and figure I will cover the brass sheet with ground cover and a few grass tufts.

A Plus Model's image of a painted cameraman assembled straight from the box.

I'm looking forward to see these guys chase the trains on Nystrup Gravel.

The enthusiast in the long coat took much less work. All I did was to build a simple model of a 1950's Rolleiflex 2.8A. I used a piece of plastic stock and detailed it with a few slices of plastic tube and some spare etched metal. The camera's sling was cut from copper foil.

Before I sat down at the worktable, I cleared the shed from my layouts. It takes only 10 minutes to dismantle the layouts. So while I'm certainly not anywhere near being a good woodworker, I have nevertheless made something that actually works.

The intermediate backdrop (a roll of heavy paper) has been removed and the modules ready for dismantling.

Last module standing. A moment later all four parts of the Nystrup universe were moved out of the garden shed and back on the shelves in my study.

Railway Exhibition and Back Home to Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

Last week saw me attend a railway exhibition in the Swedish town of Jönköbing. Not a model railway exhibition, but Nordic Rail, the largest railway exhibition in Scandinavia. As part of my responsibilities in the Danish railway contracting company where I work, I took part in the exhibition to present all the good things the company is capable of doing.

New equipment on Hydrema's stand at Nordic Rail.

On my way back home to Copenhagen and a looming deadline I managed to visit the little town of Ohs, where a 600 mm. heritage railway is situated. The railway is a long time favourite of mine and I have visited it several times. This Wedensday morning two volunteers were busy working and I had time to help them a little, chat and watch them do some shunting. Visit the Ohs Bruk railway here.

With a heritage worthy Volvo BM front loader two volunteers from OBJ are getting ready to place a frame on a pair of bogies.



It's half past nine and the Deutz locomotive idles quietly among the tank wagons in Ohs.

OBJ loco 30 (Deutz 57095/1961) shunting in Ohs. The loco worked at the Halmstad steel works before being retired to OBJ.

Back home I have now started dismantling my module set up in the shed and getting the modules back on their shelves in my little study. A major cleaning of my cluttered work table is needed before I can get back to modelling.


Ferguson parked next to the tractor repair shop in Nystrup. Judged the nice condition this tractor is probably waiting to be picked up by its owner after an overhaul. I built the tractor from a White metal kit from The Model Tractor Company.

Autumn Is Here (1/35)

In Nystrup autumn has arrived. The weather is getting colder and before long the trees will loose their leaves. Some of the last trains with steam traction are now running. Soon loco no. 2 is once again put back into storage as the demand for gravel is back to normal.

Steam loco no. 2 pulling a train of empty skips. On the road in the background you can see a Danish army Scammel recovery vehicle pausing while a soldier watches Nystrup Gravel's little train pass under the viaduct.

A sure sign that autumn is coming are the military manouvers taking place around Nystrup and Skovby. When the farmers had their crops safely harvested from their fields, the army took the opportunity of roaming the Danish countryside at will during an annual exercise. Around Nystrup that meant large numbers of army vehicles on the narrow roads, lorries parked everywhere, squaddies in barns and foxholes and officers checking maps and battle plans.

The recovery lorry have found a place to park. It is one of a few Scammel Pioneer SV/2S lorries that the Danish army acquired from the British after the 2. World War. They served the army into the fifties. My model is built from a 1:35 Accurate Armour resin kit.