Skips loaded with coal was a comparatively rare occurence on Nystrup Gravel, where the vast majority of trains consisted of skips loaded with gravel. Recently a black and white picture of a coal train in the Nystrup yard surfaced and I wanted to explore the story behind the image.
Nystrup Gravel loco 3 with three skips loaded with coal, including some rather large lumps.
The image is quickly exposed as a simple editing of a digital colour photograph from my small 1/19 scale layout. The coal in the skips is Danish coal from a site I visited on my trip to the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Bornholm has its rocky underground exposed in contrast to the more westerly located parts of Denmark and a few sites on the island has been worked to extract coal. I visited one of the sites and quickly filled a bag with small lumps of coal. Back home I filled a few skips with Danish coal to resemble the black and white photo. Quite expectedly I succeeded splendidly!
Skips 12, 3 and 54 filled with coal and pulled by Nystrup Gravel's small Lister R. The coal transport is a striking contrast to today's Denmark that used no coal for the last 3 months straight for the first time since the 1830's.
The coal lumps are quite large and some of them may have to be worked with a hammer to fit on the grate in Nystrup Gravel's central power plant.
Despite being quite large, the coal lumps from Bornholm are flaky with thin layers of sand. It will not be hard work breaking them up.
The coal from the Hasle quarry on Bornholm was brown coal (lignite) of a better quality than the brown coal quarried in Jutland at the same time during the German occupation of Denmark (1940-1945). The coal on Bornholm had a burn value amounting to 2/3 of German coal. Up to 40 m of overburden had to be dug away before the coal could be excavated. The overburden was transported by 900 mm skips to the nearby coast and tipped into to water. Surely an endevour only profitable during wartime with a cronic lack of coal from foreign suppliers. Today the site is called 'kultippen' (the coaltip) despite the fact that it was overburden being disposed of. Walking on the tip it's quite easy to pick up pieces of black coal in the sandy dunes that today is left as a kind of desert. There is even a few skips (collected from elsewhere on Bornholm) displayed at the site. Follow this link and see a short movie about the coal extraction on Bornholm.
The sun setting into the Baltic Sea behind the row of skips displayed at 'Kultippen' near the old coal quarry on the Danish island of Bornholm.
900 mm Jung-loco with skips on the tip. The wooden skips are seen being emptied on the site that can be visited today and that supplied the coal for my small 1/19 scale skips.
Bornholm is also known for its many stone quarries and on a visit to one of them, I had to have a supply of granite for another skip. The granite may be on its way to Ericsson's Stone Masonry that sometimes had stone slabs delivered via removable track panels. Perhaps the skip with smaller pieces of granite was delivered this way too?
Nystrup Gravel skip 2 in almost immaculate condition with small blocks of granite. Probably for the local stone masonry.
'Take care and move slowly, when you get to the masonry's wooden track' chief mechanic Petersen could be telling the driver, before the short train leaves Nystrup.
Spring is well advanced in Denmark and modelling time has been awfully limited. Work and other tasks have taken up too much time. But the first harvest from the garden's rhubarb plants is traditionally carried out with assistance from a 1/19 scale industrial railway on transportable tracks. This year wasn't any different.
This year's rhubarb train was made up from the light and versatile Lister R, two timber bolster bogies and Peco SM32 track panels.
In comparison to the rhubarb train of 2022, this year's train had progressed considerably. Proper wagons for the transport of rhubarb stalks had been finished in 2024. Mostly used for the transport of timber, the timber bogies are 3D printed items from Rail Print detailed and painted. As a further improvement to earlier rhubarb seasons, this year I had managed to paint the track panels a nice rusty colour to blend in better with the surrounding nature. Wet weather and slippery rail heads limited the train length, though. As a consequence only timber bogie 72 and 79 was in use during the rhubarb campaign.
As my little 1/19 scale layout develops towards a semi-finished state I've been looking back on a few old images on the blog. I have enjoyed seeing the difference three to four years of hobby work has made.
While not from the exact same angle the two images below show the same location on my Nystrup Gravel layout.
February 2021. Track building just started. The Lister is posing with two skips. The track still lacks fishplates, but provided me the joy of running trains on track I made myself.
January 2025. Track has been finished for years but ballasting and ground cover only recently added. Some change from the white foam surfaces and cork track bed.
The cab detailing on the Fowler has been hit by the reality of my work life. Not much progress on the small plastic parts to be hidden away in the cab. I have had more succes with adding some vegetation and ballast. Somehow I find it much easier to spend five minutes pouring out a little ballast one evening and then adding glue a few days later.
It's friday and the last train of the day has arrived in the Nystrup Gravel Yard. The Fowler locomotive is shunted by the little Lister. Probably for an evening check of a mechanical issue before the first train saturday.
The locos having departed through the building complex a few skips are now checked for oil in the bearings. Even though vegetation and ballast are now in place there is still detailing and weathering to add.
So despite a busy work schedule there's progress on the little Nystrup Gravel layout. I have begun to think it's realistic to have the entire layout fitted with ground cover before year's end. That is an accomplishment as my modelling speed can best be called moderate. I continue having high hopes of greater speeds, but I have to be realistic, as 1/19 scale Nystrup Gravel is only one of my railway endeavours.
The different railway activities may sometimes limit each other, but mostly they actually add value to one another. And while some readers may wonder if there is a serious fault in the time continuum in Denmark the image below shows that Nystrup Gravel director Erik Holm is actually attending the world's largest railway exhibition Innotrans in Berlin later in september. I'm attending as well, and I have a few questions to ask if I bump into Mr. Holm.
Trade visitor pass to Innotrans for Nystrup managing director Holm.
The warm and quiet late afternoon had a good light and I took the chance to make a short film. Besides the sound of birds there isn't much sound on the film. I like the movement of the track panels where they cross some of the unevenness in the porch. It looks exactly how real track panels move in reality.
While I love to model and build stuff it's quite nice now and the to just sit and watch a simple train move back and forth on a length of track.
The archives from Nystrup Gravel have been mostly preserved by a local historical archive and are kept accessible to the public. Last winter I found a nice photograph from the early 1950's showing the Lister loco with two timber bolster bogies loaded with a large log.
Loco no. 3 picking up a pair of loaded bogies for transport to the yard where a lorry will bring the log to the railway station in Skovby for transport to Sundborg.
Of particular interest is the writing on the log end faintly visible in the photograph. The letters 'SU' marks the log as one destined to go to the Sundborg Sawmill. The sawmill in Sundborg is currently being recreated in 1/87 scale by a Danish modeller and the plans and progress can be followed on the Sundborg Blog. The blog is in Danish only, but the pictures will tell most of the story.
With a working industrial railway the equipment needs some maintenance. My Lister R had lost one of the bolts in the bar keeping the axles in place. The bolt had torn off every layer of paint down to the bare white metal. Something had to be done and there was another problem that needed attention, too.
The left bolt below the driver had fallen off and the bare white metal spot stood out like a sore thumb.
I replaced the missing bolt with a slice of hexagonal plastic strip glued on with AC-glue. The repaired area was painted with a mix of Vallejo paints to appear as in red primer after an urgent repair. I gave the area a quick wash of heavily diluted black oil paint to blend in with the rest of the loco. Having done that, I began tackling the other problem: the frames of skips being 'caught' under the Lister's buffers particularly when being pushed. This has led to some very prototypical derailments that I'd nevertheless would rather avoid. The steel buffers are simply placed too high on the kit. To prevent the skip frames being caught under them, I added a wooden beam under each of the steel buffers to get a level buffing surface.
The white plastic bolt head is glued in place and the wooden beams fitted with plastic details.
The beams themselves were dyed grey after being treated with junior hack saw and knife. Steel fixtures of plasticard and strip were fitted with AC-glue and the beams glued to the loco's ballast weights under the buffers.
Nystrup loco no 3 with bolt repair and new extra wooden buffers.
The steel bolts were painted in the same primer red paint as the bolt repair.
Initial testing with one skip showed that the problem couldn't be recreated during three test runs up the gradient to the loading ramp. So far so good. Further running will show if the solution works in daily service, cutting down on derailments.
Up the gradient with the new wooden beam mounted under the steel buffers.
Crop of the image above show how high the steel buffers sit in relation to the skip frame. The wooden beam helps create a continous buffing surface.
From my stash of old newspaper clippings and documents from the Nystrup Gravel archive I have dug out a photo completly detached from any information. It has been cut from a newspaper or a document printed on the same kind of low quality paper. The picture is stained (with coffee?) in the lower half and has a tear in the upper right corner. This kind of image is often a major challenge to identify and locate - in geography as well as in time. This one was easy, however!
Even without original caption or any other information it is easy for me to locate this image as being from the Nystrup Gravel loading ramp at the company's facilities in Nystrup. The Lister loco was a rare bird (in fact the only one) on Danish rails and the loading ramp is a dead give away with its flimsy walkway. The image is most likely from the beginning of the 1950's.
The Lister was a chance investment at a time when it was extremely difficult to obtain new locomotives in Denmark due to import restrictions and a general post-world war disruption of normal production and trade. The loco was never intended to be used for hauling gravel trains, but rather for light shunting and small permanent way trains. That left the more powerful locomotives, like the Fowler, to do what they did best.
The first test train has carefully negotiated the track on the loading ramp! A remarkably fast proces got the track down in no time. Still some minor works remains to be done: fishplates have to be soldered in place and the rails need painting.
Loco no. 3 and a single skip are slowly moving along the new track. There is still no stop installed at the end of the track. Consequently the speed was kept to a minimum.
Apart from the remaining tasks on the track, the ramp is now being fitted with a walkway for the workers. It will be of all wood construction reusing planks from a demolished shed from one of the gravel pits. No need for unnecessary expenses.
Spring has arrived in Denmark. The first harvest of rhubarb from the garden has already been converted to a delicious dessert. A response from one of my railway modelling friends on Facebook challenged me to use my railway for bringing in the next harvest. Always keen to meet the challenges set for me, I quickly set out to construct a short, temporary line to transport rhubarb from field to kitchen.
Temporary Peco track panels laid out on the lawn for transport of rhubarb. Only short items fit in the GVT-wagon, so longer items had to be shortened on site before transport.
The most recent modelling sessions have been spent on applying static grass to the area under the loading ramp. Consequently I'm more or less ready to construct the final work on the loading ramp. With that done track laying can be finished.
In a workshop outside EU-borders work is also progressing on the next Nystrup Gravel locomotive. It will provide a much needed strengthening of the railway's performance.
A new image of Nystrup Gravel's Lister R has surfaced. Writing on the back of the image says '1952'. The image is from the gravel works in Nystrup. With the naked ground it must be autumn as the trees still carry their leaves.
Nystrup Gravel loco no 3 on the way down from the loading ramp in Nystrup. The driver must have been quite skillful to propel 3 loaded skips up the ramp with the Lister. No 3 was usually only used for light shunting in Nystrup or the occasional light permanent way train.
I know of only two other original photographs of the Lister railtractor in service at Nystrup Gravel. I showed one of the images on the blog last year. The new image shows the Lister in basically the same condition as the 1950 photo. It's apparently even the same driver driving?
The prototype photographs available from Nystrup Gravel makes a good source of inspiration for my modelling and I find it very satisfying to recreate some of the original scenes on my small 16 mm layout.
It has been almost a full month since I last posted here. Not much have happened modelling wise and I have been working and helping out keeping the 1:1 scale narrow gauge vintage railway running. Having an unfinished project on the shelf for too long, isn't the best recipe for my appetite for new progress, so I settled for a quick process for finishing the four wheel coach.
The Nystrup Gravel coach no. 3 pushed by loco no. 3. With a vigilant lookout on the front platform, the short train has travelled the light track safely and is now ready for a photo session before moving on.
Not much work remained when I last left the coach and the buffers had arrived. While figured out how to mount the buffers I prepared the large platform ends. The wooden end pieces were left soaking in water for 1½ hour to make them workable. I fitted them in a homemade jig and held them down with clamps for a day. While they didn't come out fitting precisely, they certainly are acceptable for a well used coach on a small industrial railway. The end plates were fitted with hand rails, primed and the plates painted black and the hand rails red. With the buffers painted black, all that missed was a number on the coach's sides. I found an etched metal stencil and positioned it roughly central on the coach's side and stippeled red paint over the stencil. I removed it before the paint dried (which would have 'glued' the stencil to the coach).
The lookout has gone (he remembered to close the sliding door) and the Lister is ready to pull away to allow the coach to be photographed on its own.
The polished windows are a marked contrast to the otherwise rather worn coach. This section of the Nystrup Gravel line used very light rail.
As usual for all my models the coach was weathered with a mix of oil and acrylic paint, pastel chalk and physical effects with wire brush and knife blade. While the coach is now labelled as finished and ready for service, I am planning to replace the couplings. Readers of the blog have already been advising me on alternatives that may work, even if not in 1:19 scale.
End view showing some of the interior which is kept more tidy than the outside.
With nice weather and high temperatures during Easter I took the opportunity to establish a short temporary outdoor line in my garden. Located on the outskirts of a lawn recently cleaned from moss, the line provided me a possibility to take Nystrup Gravel's No. 3 for a run with a few skips.
Skips 27, 4 and 58 behind loco no. 3 on the temporary garden line. Despite it's length there was a pronounced dip in the line giving the Lister with only one driven axle a little challenge.
The temporary garden line is not the beginning of a garden railway. It's a chance to run trains outdoors, enjoying the sun and find out what
viewing angles are the most beneficial in the garden. Consisting of only 4 Peco SM32 track panels it's a very short line, but with a scale length of 74 m nevertheless longer than at least two Danish prototype narrow gauge industrial railways.
As many garden railway modellers, I have found it quite difficult to simultaneously operate a lcoomotive and follow it with a camera, particularly on a short line. A few test shots clearly documented the need for a tripod. Still, even with the camera on a tripod, there is a long way to a perfect result.
Lister with skips passing a few of the garden's tulips.
My first 16 mm scale wagon pulled by my first (and so far) only locomotive in that scale.
Some years ago I watched a German modeller experiment with a battery powered loco in 1:45 scale running on primitive track completely made from wood. I was rather taken by the concept and recently Rod Hutchinson from Australia built an exhibition layout named 'The Points' with battery powered RC-locos running on wooden rails. Near Nystrup the small company Ericsson's Masonry close to the Nystrup Gravel line used wooden track panels to connect its workshop to the Nystrup track when having stone delivered.
Wooden track made from scrap wood. The sharpest curve I could get the Lister 'round' without binding. The track is built on a scrap piece of foam board - this is really cheap large scale railway modelling!
Having a particular interest in track and rails I'm now experimenting with wooden rails for Nystrup Gravel. Not that I have any immediate plan for installing track with wooden rails on my future module. Still, it's nice to find out if I can manage building wooden track that works.
Below is a short sequence showing how the Lister
performs on the wooden test track. With a gentler 'curve' and a little more
widening of the gauge, the loco will need less speed to overcome the binding at
the kink. The Lister is an excellent slow runner and will be a good match for a
short length of wooden track.
My next test track will involve a longer and less sharp 'curve' to allow me to test run the Lister coupled with a wagon. More on that later, as I have just received a package with track parts of a more conventional kind from Germany. Can't wait to unpack!
Always on the search for information about Nystrup Gravel's history I have finally managed to get hold of an image of the company's little Lister locomotive. I found the picture in a newly donated box of pictures at the Skovby local historical archive. I'm in regular contact with the archive and in 2019 they have even begun to contact me if info on the gravel company shows up.
A slightly blurred black and white photograph from Nystrup Gravel's main yard in Nystrup. Pencil writing on the back of the image says: "Nystrup, 1950. Where Poul worked 1947-1951."
A copy of the image has been in my possession since August. The image shows the Lister at the petrol pump near the wooden loco shed in Nystrup. There is a clear view over a field to farm buildings in the background. Nystrup town is just out of sight behind the brick shed to the right. It seems to be autumn or very early spring judging from the leafless trees.
The new picture was what prompted me to build the brick shed and to buy a model of a petrol pump from the 1920's. The brick shed is finished and the petrol pump is on my workbench being modified at the moment.
In a recent post I mentioned that I had found a letter with info on Nystrup Gravel's Lister locomotive. From the letter it seems Nystrup Gravel was searching for a locomotive in the 4-5 t. range, but had to contend with a Lister. The steel and machine trading company P. C. Petersen informs the shop manager at Nystrup Gravel, Torleif Petersen that they have two locomotives on their site, but advise Thorleif not to buy them due to their deplorable condition. Instead P. C. Petersen's salesman suggests acquiring the Lister.
In the letter posted Friday June 18 1948 (obviously sent in a hurry as it remained unsigned) the salesman writes that the Lister has been taken as partial payment in a recent exchange of goods with another customer and that Nystrup Gravel can have it for a price of 637 Danish kroner. The salesman writes: "...we need immediate response from you as the rail tractor is the object of much attention from other potential buyers".
The salesman describes the Lister as "... built on a frame of steel profiles with a one cylinder engine under a light bonnet. The driver's position is open and the tractor is equipped with ballast weights and buffers and couplings both front and rear". The letter confirms old workers' reports that the Lister was a mid-thirties model bought second hand after 1945. The Lister was mostly used for light shunting duties at the gravel works in Nystrup and the occasional light permanent way train.
With a servicable Lister available I only had to perform a mild weathering job on the loco before I could call my first loco project in 16 mm scale complete. As I had decided not to fit a canvas to block the view from the back of the bonnet, I began by painting the electrical equipment and wires matt black. If they can be seen by anyone, they will now appear more like parts of the engine. To the untrained eye at least! The battery sides were also covered with matt black.
Nystrup Gravel no. 3 on a solo trip on a section of the line with light rail.
The little locomotive then received a rather standard light weathering with scratches applied with a very fine brush, oil washings, acrylic paints and graphite powder covered with a layer of matt varnish. Dust was then added with air brush and chalk powders, a bit more oil wash and a final light covering with matt varnish. Wet oil spots were lightly represented with gloss varnish.
Apart from finishing the Lister model I found a letter from the company that Nystrup Gravel bought the Lister from. I will scan the letter as it is interesting and shows that Nystrup Gravel was quite lucky in acquiring locos and rolling stock.
I added home made coupling chains both front and rear. Standard chain with lengths of equal size just doesn't look like prototype coupling chain.
A rear view shows how little of the electrical equipment and wires is visible under the bonnet.
Lister coupled to a short train of skips ready to a trip to the gravel pits. Perhaps an urgent order for foundry sand needs to be filled. Usually the Lister didn't pull regular gravel trains as it wasn't strong enough.
With no electricity to pick up from the rails my new loco in 16 mm scale relies on battery power. As I'm still a novice regarding battery power and eager to get the loco rolling, I have equipped my Lister with a single cell standard camera type battery. Battery technology and the associated circuits is a new game for me, so to cut down on mistakes, loss of hard earned money and avoid getting myself too challenged I chose a type of battery I'm used to handle.
Lister on its side. From left to right: Battery under rear foot plate, wires for receiver in seat/figure, motor and transmission (big word for such a simple thing!) charging socket and two pole switch mounted under/in bonnet.
The battery is a Li-ion Japcell JC123R 3.7 V 650 mAh. It may not be cutting edge technology, but the battery has turned out to be able to provide power through my helplessly executed circuit to the Lister's motor and actually make the loco move. I consider that a success.
While I was shopping batteries I bought a BC-4123 charger as well. Battery and charger set me back 35 €. Not much for starting a gentle learning curve and should I continue using JC123Rs or other 16340 type batteries, the charger will see plenty of use.
'But if you have installed the battery permanently under your loco, how do you fit it in the charger' the attentive reader may ask. The battery is permanently fixed and it will not fit in the charger. To be able to charge the battery in the loco a socket is installed under the bonnet. A matching socket's two leads were soldered to a pair of crocodile clips. On one of the four stations in the charger I soldered small brass tabs on the contacts. I can now easily attach the crocodile clips to the tabs on the charger and charge the battery via the socket under the bonnet. May sound very old fashioned but it does really work.
Soldered tabs from scrap brass on one of the charger's four stations.
Crocodile clips are now easily attached. Charging can begin.
With a fully charged battery all I have to do is to flip the 2 pole switch next to the charging socket from charge mode to work mode, switch on the Tx-22 controller, select loco no. 3 (my only one so far), turn the speed knob and the loco moves. And I don't have to clean rail heads or wheel treads!
When modelling I often try to personalize a kit. If I don't rebuild or change the kit I like to at least add some other special feature to it. I like the manufacturers' support, but if we all build the same kits the same way we may end up with very little variety. Adding a bucket, a bracket with extra coupling chains or fitting a spare can for petrol avoids models that look the same, even if they are otherwise built right out of the box and painted the same colour.
A 1:35 scale Billard T 75 fitted with a detailed jack. I had two Billards and adding small differences to them made it a lot more fun having to identical locos on the layout. The two Billards have been sold to a modeller in Luxembourg.
With the Lister running and painted I looked around for a small addition that would set my Lister apart from others and make a realistic impression. On eBay I found a few manufacturers selling detail parts for car modellers in 1/18 scale. Many of them useful for my purpose.
Detailing parts to be fitted to my version of the I. P. Engineering Lister. The jack may be slightly oversized for the Lister?
My white metal parts came from Dioramaparts in Germany through eBay. Their range of parts is large and one could easily spend a considerable sum of money on parts from their selection. The jack is a very fine casting and I only removed the cast on handle with a file. No mould lines were present and an extra, extended handle was supplied. I added both lower and upper handle on the jack from brass wire. The oil can had some mould lines which I removed with a few strokes of file and sand paper.
Nystrup Gravel probably bought the jack on an auction over German military equipment left on a nearby air base after the war. The gravel company didn't bother covering the late war German standard paint for armoured vehicles, but took the jack into use immediately. I painted the jack a 40/60 mix of Vallejo Air 71.078 Gold Yellow and 71.028 Sand Yellow. Once dry I washed the jack in heavily thinned brown oil paint and added scratches in the yellow paint with a fine brush and dark grey oil paint. The oil can was painted gun metal. It had been my intetntion to fit a canvas cover on the open rear end of the bonnet, but it really isn't easy to view under the bonnet and see the electric components fitted there, so I decided to spare me the trouble fitting the canvas cover.
Well, the jack is definately oversize for the Lister. I'll have to build another locomotive for the jack.
Having decided what to fit and what to leave out, the Lister is now ready for weathering. In addition I will have to design a charging method via the socket mounted under the bonnet. I have an idea utilizing a cheap battery charger.
One year after I started my first 16 mm scale kit I could celebrate taking my first loco in that scale in service. In 30 degrees C I laid a few track panels in a shady spot in the garden. With a single Hudson skip my I P Engineering Lister R made its first trip. Everything worked and the speed was easily controlled with the Tx22 controller.
Nystrup Gravel loco no. 3, a Lister R, pulling a single skip on a short provisionally laid garden line.
To celebrate the event I made a short film of the train traversing the 3 m of track. A short distance for the train but a giant leap for me. 16 mm scale, remote control and outside running, all new aspects in my modelling. See the short film below:
With almost every part attached to the loco I could no longer avoid getting the RC-equipment assembled and tested. With the instructions from RC Trains and the invaluable information available on the Peckforton Light Railway blog the proces proceeded without any trouble. With the cicuit finished I followed the instruction on how to bind the receiver to transmitter. Binding was easily achieved and with the transmitter on I could drive the motor and wheel assembly back and forth on the worktable.
The RC installation test assembled on the worktable. The RCT-Rx65c receiver can be seen fixed to the assembly in the lower left of the image.
With the electronic and mechanical matters functioning I was ready to prime and paint the loco and glue it to the motor unit. I used my favourite Chaos Black primer as I have found it to provide a good grip on most types of surfaces and to make a good foundation for the covering paints. The major colour is Vallejo Air's 71.285 'Imperial Japanese Army Dark Green'. It covered well on the primed parts and required only two light passes with the air brush.
Two images of the loco shortly before priming. During the building process I have added a number of home made parts far in excess of the number of kit parts I have used. Most are small details but seat box and floor plates are sizable items that are modelled on a Dutch Lister in the collection of the Decauville Smalspoor Museum in the Netherlands.
Detail painting was limited to the lids on petrol and oil tank and some decorative red on brake wheel and the gear lever.
After painting, battery and RC-equipment was fitted. It took some wrestling with wires and components, but in the end everything was fitted. Remaining work is now to finish painting the figure, adding weathering and a fixing a canvas cover for the open rear end of the bonnet. A few white metal parts for detailng is in the mail from Germany and I guess they will help to make my first 16 mm loco a good looking model once it is completely finished. Until then I will keeping enjoying running the loco on my provisional outdoor version of Nystrup Gravel. Fortunately the weather will stay hot and dry the next few days.
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