Soviet Bogie Platform Wagons

In my continued proces of building up a collection of Soviet narrow gauge rolling stock, two platform wagons arrived today by mail. Quite unusual for such rather rare prototypes they are out of the box delivered finished and ready for service (even if I don't have a layout to use them on).

 

Two new platform wagons unpacked and photographed in the garden with a MD-54-2 and a piece of mining machinery as load.

The protoype for the models is a simple steel framed platform wagon with sheet metal floor and cast steel 'american-style' bogies and central couplings. Pockets for stakes to enable transport of wood etc. are placed on the outside frames. Several types of platform wagons were built by Demikhovo Engineering Works (DMZ) with some of them having very low sides and some strengthening beams across the load area - probably for transporting logs. The Demikhovo Engineering Works (Демиховский Машиностроительный Завод, ДМЗ) in Demikhovo near Moscow was founded in the Soviet Union in the 1930's building machines for the peat industry including bogie hoppers by the thousands. Today the company is the Russian Federation's main producer of EMU's. 

Drawing and data sheet of almost identical platform wagon built by DMZ. It's fun that the gauge is stated as being 1520 mm - clearly a mistake!

Works photograph of a platform wagon from Demikhovo.

The wagons are handbuilt in Ukraine by the Ukrainian 'Miniland' model railway organisation that is best known for operating Ukraine's largest 1/87 scale model railway in Kyiv. They are not what I would consider cheap, but the quality/price ratio is well balanced and I already have more models on order. Packaging on arrival from Kyiv is top quality, and once cardboard box and bubblewrap was removed I had a tailor-made lasercut wooden box in my hands. The box will help protect the models from all but the most viscious mishandling.

The contents laser engraved on the lid of the wooden box supplied as a safe home for the models.

With the lid off the wagons can be seen fitting into the foam lining of the box. Thin plastic wrapping makes it easy to extract the models.

The models correspond to available drawings of Demikhovo platform wagons and both are assembled with care, bearing no visible marks from glue, solder or files etc. The wagons are equipped with full underside detail like air tank, pipes and brake rodding. Paint is well applied, probably by air brush, and the lettering is clear and the wagons carry individual numbers and appropriate data.

Platform 1930 in light grey livery.

Braked platform 1262 with brake compartment built from steel sheet and profiles.

Underside detail on platform 1930. The only thing missing is the brake shoes.

As an extremely utilitarian design the Demikhovo platform wagons weren't the kind of rolling stock anyone took a particularly interest in. Consequently most images show prototype wagons heavily weathered and worn. As long as all eight wheels touched the rails and the couplings pointed in the right direction all seems to have been fine. I look forward to add weathering to the models in the future. For the time being they will stay in their nice box.

Platform wagon loaded with two substantial concrete elements. This particular wagon seems to have been light grey in a distant past. Surely an inspiration for my future weathering work on the two models.

More Underground Skips

During my summer vacation I began assembly of the last three 3D printed kits of Hudson underground skips that I had delivered in December 2022. I finished the first three of the skips in May 2023. Having to recover after a bike crash left me with a chance of getting to work on the skips after a period of demanding work.

Six underground skips in the Nystrup Gravel yard. The newest of them closest to the camera with unpainted wheels and no weathering.

The work remaining was mainly related to the wagons´ couplings. Small triangles of 1 mm plasticard with a hole for the coupling link was glued behind the endframes. Next identical  coupling links were made by winding 1 mm NS wire around a piece of 2 mm plasticard with the width matching the inner measurement of the coupling link. A fast method to fabricate links of the same size.

To add weight to the light 3D printed wagons small pieces of led were glued in place on each side the mount for the couplings.With lead weights also glued behind the skips' supports for the tubs have worked on the first three skips work tolerably well, even on my bad track. 

Plasticard triangles for mouting couplings glue behind the buffers. The added lead pieces on each side of the triangles are also visible.

All the stuff needed to make equally sized coupling links in close-up.

The links ready for further work and fitting on the skips.

With the last glue dried I sprayed both tubs and frames with 'Chaos Black' and a little rust coloured paint left in a spray can. The skips are now ready for weathering and I also need to bend up three hooks for the couplings.

The skips are nice and simple kits demanding only simple tools. As such they are an exellent choise when modelling in the cottage. Here photographed on the stub of a newly felled tree.

Most Northerly Tram Line in the World

No three week vacation lasts forever and I had only one day to settle in on the company office before heading to a sister company's office in Trondheim, Norway. I'd been there on two short visits before the vacation, but this time I did a 10 day shift of writing text and organising a bid process. While I like to bring models or kits with me to the cottage, bringing them on a work trip so far north is stretching the enthusiasm a bit. Consequently I have no progress to report from the Nystrup Gravel modelling table.

Tram 95 arriving on Breidablikk Station a rainy July evening. Notice new steel catenary mast. The trams were built by German company Linke-Hofmann-Busch in 1984.

On two of my trips to Trondheim I managed to visit the Gråkall-line twice - and even getting a short ride. The 1000 mm gauged tram line is the world's most northerly tramway system, following the 2004 closure and dismantling of the Arkhangelsk tramway in Russia. The Norwegian Gråkall line is almost nine kilometers long, running from St. Olav's Gate in the city centre gradually climbing up through residential districts to end at Lian Station in the hills south of Trondheim.

Tram 97 rolling gently into Munkvoll station from Lien. Munkvoll is home to the company's workshops and a tram museum open during the summer months

Steel catenary mast in Dronningens Gate (Queen's Street). Currently no trams operate on the line inside Trondheim city due to planned sevage and road works. 

Wooden catenary masts between Breidablikk and Belvedere stations.

On Munkvoll station there is a pizzeria in the line's balloon loop and a restaurant with outdoor second floor seating. I chose the restaurant and could photograph tram 93 starting towards Ila while enjoying a good meal.

The Gråkall line was opened by a private company in 1924 after a troubled and lengthy planning and construction phase having begun in the field back in 1917. The line was lengthened to Ugla in 1925 and to present day terminal Lien in 1933. Trondheim city took over the line in 1966 from the private company and the line was closed in 1988 at the same time as the tramline in Trondheim. Locals took over the Gråkall line in 1990 and a new company is running the line with great success today. Even if the trams are rather old (built in 1984) trams as well as the line are well maintained, with new steel catenary masts gradually replacing the charming wooden ones.

The summer has also been used for volunteering on the 700 mm gauge vintage railway in Denmark and I have been out working on the line as well as participating in the traffic.

8-coupler Da 7 (Henschel 18449/1921) pulling out of Hedehusgård Station passing M 12 with a works train.