Modelling and InnoTrans

The railway exhibition InnoTrans in Berlin attracts more than 100.000 visitors every two years. 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 tracks new rolling stock, locomotives and permanent way equipment stand buffer to buffer. Last exibition was 2018 as 2020 was cancelled due to covid. Nystrup Gravel wasn't present but as my job in a railway contracting company is PR and sales I participated in the design of the company's stand and marketing focus as well as being a part of the team manning the stand. As always my professional life seeks to dimish progress on my small model railway.

As far as the relief building got before I went to InnoTrans 2022. Windows are only loosely fitted in the openings and the roof still needs some work.

The large red relief building has its exterior walls completely clad with boards made from coffee stirrers. Three windows are being prepared for the top floor openings and interior light is in planning. It will be a very simple installation. Work on windows and light as well as roof had to be put on hold due to the four days in Berlin and InnoTrans 2022. The exibition is not without modelling interest as several rolling stock and loco manufacturers use models to illustrate their products. Unfortunately the lighting in the exhibition halls aren't the best for model photography.

A Multi Tasker rail crane from Techne Rail & Mill GmbH. The model is close to 1 m in length. It has probably been professionally built with a mix of 3D-printed and machined parts.

On the outdoor area large machinery and rolling stock was being exhibited. Here a Caterpillar M323F road/rail excavator. It's a type I know well from my own company.

A Windhoff RL60 AEM shunting locomotive was among the more conventional shunting equipment exhibited. A large number of more or less exotic looking road/rail shunting equipment was shown at InnoTrans.

InnoTrans is an important part of many students' way into the field of transport and railways. Here a group of Finnish engineering students wearing their characteristic 'teekkarilakki' caps pose in front of a hydrogen powered locomotive.

The marble table at my fancy hotel room in the embassy district in Berlin. With a free supply of magazines at the exhibition there will be no long winter evenings that I can't chase away with reading. These three were followed by many more.

Besides the magazines what am I taking with me that can be used in my modelling from an exhibition like InnoTrans? Not much but the fact that despite all the technology available for showing off your newest product on screens and with Virtual Reality, models are still used in surprisingly large numbers. The models represent physical presence, a chance to imagine the product in real size and an easy way to quickly view the object from all angles. It may be that old fashioned modelling is giving way to 3D-printing, but models are still sought after in a professional context. 

With that said I better get on with mounting windows in my building! Strictly amateurish and just for fun.

Swedish Inspiration

With narrow gauge railways in scarce supply in Denmark it's an obvious choise to visit the great neighbour Sweden that has a much broader selection of railways in different gauges. As I'm engaged in building a red wooden building I also wanted to study how windows are built into simple industrial type wooden structures. Off I went with a group of enthusiastic friends.

Loco 21 on the 600 mm gauge Östra Södermanlands Järnväg west of Stockholm shunting in front of the workshops. The loco has been regauged from 750 mm and extensively rebuilt since arriving from Ukraine.

The 4 day tour took me to railways with gauges varying from 1435 mm over 1093, 1067, 891 to 600 mm. Most of it pure heritage stuff, but we managed a few visits to standard gauge installations relevant to the professional side of my railway life.

Diesel loco 'Ohsan' visiting the Östra Södermanslands Järnväg from the Ohs Bruk heritage line. Originally built as a steam loco (Motala Verkstad 148/1894) it was rebuilt into a diesel loco by Kalmar Verkstad (36/1937) and stil going strong. Near Hedlandet halt.

A lovely train of four wheel closed vans on Mariefred Station, Östra Södermanlands Järnväg, 600 mm gauge. Didn't I once see a blurry image of two closed vans from Nystrup Gravel? I think so...

White framed window in red wooden building. Just how the windows in my building for Nystrup Gravel will be fitted.

While it was the 600 mm lines we visited that provided the most applicable inspiration, many of the other lines in larger gauges were also full of atmosphere and lovely sights all surrounded by plenty of trees. 

An absolutely gorgeous railcar in shiny black in front of a standard Swedish railbus and trailer on Marielind Station on the 891 mm gauge Uppsala-Faringe heritage line. The line having a respectable length of 33 km. and a very good track standard.

With Sweden being a neighbouring country, with a long shared history with Denmark and a language easy to understand, it's no surprise that it's a country I really like to visit. Danes and Swedes have a lot of things in common, although we (as neighbours tend to) often focus on the differences.

Humor brings together people. Here is a handle on the small motor trolley 'The Comet' on Östra Södermanlands Järnväg. The bottom position says 'Stop' the next up position is 'Running' and the upper position simply 'Panic'!

Having reached Denmark again I'm trying to find time to fit window frames in my relief building, I will probably not get far, as I'm getting ready for a week in Berlin and the railway exhibition InnoTrans 2022 (nothing to do with heritage railways or modelling, but part of my job in a railway construction company).