Nystrup's Timber Bogie Bolsters

Several of Nystrup Gravel's pits were located in wooded areas and before removing the overburden over the gravel deposits, trees had to be cleared away. For transporting felled trees from the pits Nystrup Gravel used a pair of bogie bolster units. I have now aquired 4 bogies and will in no time have them up and running on the layout.

Four timber bogies fresh from the producer in the UK. Chief mechanic Petersen inspecting the new equipment.

The bogie bolsters are from the British producer Rail Print and 3D printed in resin in differing colours. The print quality is from fine to moderately fine. On some spots the prints will benefit from sanding. As usual for 3D printed models in the scale an assortment of bolts and rivets are missing, particularly on the buffer planks. I note that brake shoes and rods are also missing on the braked bogie. As they are not particularly visible I haven't yet decided if I will fit them myself.

Braked bogie with plank deck for the brake man. Railing and brake handle is supplied in the kit ready to fit in the corner brackets.

My timber bogies as delivered. While they basically only need a single part fitted and paint to finish, I will be working a bit more on them adding details.

A pair of bogies seen from above.

On the real Nystrup Gravel felled tree trunks were pulled to the 600 mm narrow gauge line with horses and after WWII with a huge Soviet made crawler tractor. The timber was then loaded on a pair of bogie bolster units and taken to Nystrup by rail where they were sold to a local timber merchant selling them on to a saw mill in the other end of the country in the town of Sundborg. Must have been some rather good timber to warrant such long transport!

Bogie bolsters were seldom seen on Danish industrial narrow gauge railways and Nystrup's 4 bogies are thus quite unique. Most likely they were brought to Denmark by the German authorities during the occupation of Denmark 1940-1945 for work at the airfield at Mellemåen (Middle Stream) not far from Nystrup. A selection of locos, track and wagons was aquired from the airfield by Nystrup Gravel after the war. Read more about the airfield and Nystrup Gravel's relationship here.

German timber bolster bogies at the 600 mm gauge Waldeisenbahn Muskau. 2012.

Two unbraked bogies coupled. Notice the dangerously narrow spacing between the bogies leaving very little room for the worker doing the coupling. Photographed at Waldeisenbahn Muskau in 2003

The Rail Print bogies are a good and reasonably priced way of getting some charateristic timber bolsters on my little 1/19 scale layout. For me the task of removing some of the traces from the printing proces and adding a little extra detail doesn't detract from their quality. I like to work on any model regardless of quality to make it my own personal interpretation of the prototype. For the modeller needing a a pair of bolsters in 32 mm gauge with no need for extra detail, all that has to be done is fix the railing and apply a coat of paint. Ready to roll! And speaking of rolling, the 3D printed wheels worked fine on my short test run. I expect them to perform quite well in traffic. Time will tell.  

The 3D printed part for the brake platform. Detail isn't super sharp, but nothing that I can't fix.

Image of 4 bogies printed (or painted?) in black with loads. With a load of tree trunks they are looking really good. 

With loads of new stuff having now arrived I better get the worktable geared up for some modelling!