Train Spotting in Sweden

Getting out in the real world and seeing full scale narrow gauge railways (nowadays mostly preserved) has always been a favourite activity for me. Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend 2 days in Sweden with a handful of good friends from the vintage railway in Denmark where I volunteer. The primary target for the weekend was the 600 mm gauge line between Ohs and Bor.

A forest railway should be enjoyed from a heap of timber. I did just that on the Ohs-Bor line watching Orenstein & Koppel 8338/1917 passing.

I was travelling with a group in two cars and thus we had the possibility to combine train rides with excursions along the line by car. A dense network of narrow gravel roads along the railway makes it quite easy to overtake the train to reach new locations for photographing. I visited the railway during the annual Ohsabanan Days, a weekend when the volunteers at the line run as many trains as possible with a varied stock of locomotives. 

Standing on a tree stump in the forest I caught VEB Lokomotivbau Karl Marx 250572/1974 passing with a passenger train to Bor. 

OBJ loco 14 with the firefighting train. Despite it being rather wet weather, the railway watches the beautiful forests vigilantly to prevent fires.

Sächsische Maschinenfabrik 4183/1919 in dark green with O&K 8338 in black being turned in the background.

The Ohs-Bor railway is a 14.5 km long 600 narrow-gauge railway east of Värnamo in southern Sweden. The track, rolling stock, locomotives and traffic are owned, maintained and run by the Ohs Bruk Järnväg's Museum Association, a non-profit association formed in 1970.

Despite rain in the afternoon the volunteers kept up the good spirit. Steam locomotives in the rain is always something special.

I appreciated the efforts of the volunteers to dress true to the age of the locomotives. The crew on Maschinenbau und Bahnbedarf 13584/1944 had dressed up like a Polish crew from the 1970's at the Ciechanów sugar factory - complete with sideburns!

The Ohs railway was built between 1907 and 1910 to serve a paper mill, connecting it to a standard gauge line in Bor. The first rolling stock was purchased second-hand from the Helsingborg–Råå–Ramlösa Railway (HRRJ). During the 1920's, the fleet of locomotives and carriages was expanded with German built equipment from the Heeresfeldbahnen. Even if the railway was becoming increasingly worn down from mid 1950's the factory retained its railway right up until 1967 when lorries took over. The track was left in place and a few later the volunteers took over preserving the line into the next millenium. It's their investment of time, effort and money that treated me to a memorable day. Lots of inspiration for this winter's modelling!

The line has a range of charming sheds placed next to the track. This weathered red shed begs to be modelled in 1/19 scale!

The OBJ V10C loco is approaching one of the many level crossings.

33. Internationales Feldbahnertreffen

Four days of narrow gauge trainspotting, forest trekking, a guided tour around a closed clay mine and good German beer. That was some of the ingredients in this year's Internationales Feldbahnertreffen at the 600 mm 'Stumpfwaldbahn' in Ramsen, ca. 16 km northeast of Kaiserslautern in Germany.

Henschel 24011/1939 with a pair of timber bogies moving through the forest.

The 'Treffen' is the major annual event for vintage narrow gauge industrial railway enthusiasts in continental Europe. As usual the event had four days filled with networking, presentations, train rides and visits to usually off limits workshops and storage buildings. 

A pair of visiting Hatlapa locomotives pausing in front of the station building at Eiswoog terminus.

American Fairbanks-Morse speeder visiting from France speeding along the line.

A large concrete and steel girder viaduct towers over the Eiswoog Station. Here a view down on a Jenbacher Werke 'Pony' visiting from Romania.

The 'Stumpfwaldbahn' is located in a hilly, forested area and with beautiful autumn weather both resident and visiting locomotives looked their best. The hosts must have been relieved with the weather turning out so nicely!

Gmeinder 1992/1937 with three skips being filled by a 1970´s hydraulic excavator.

The loco shed in Ramsen with Henschel steam loco being readied for service in the foreground.

Two Deutz locomotives in the 4-track shed.

As usual the event provided a good view into another organisation's way of doing things and several observations was noted that may be useful on the vintage railway where I volunteer myself. As a modeller inspiration was picked up and as usual the details on several types of steel skips made me think about the next project.

The viaduct above Eiswoog Station is an impressive structure.

Henschel 24011/21939 taking water from a small stream.

The sign from the event's bar is passed on from this year's hosts to next year's from Apedale in the United Kingdom.

Visiting Railways in Sweden and Germany

I have lived through some pretty modelling deprived weeks lately. Work and travelling has prevented progress at worktable and layout. Fortunately some of the travelling has been to railway locations in Sweden and Germany. 

One of the locations in Sweden was particularly interesting as it clearly illustrated why narrow gauge industrial railways were once popular. On a privately owned estate a 600 mm railway with light rails provided transport for timber to a small saw, processing the timber into boards. Short of using a horse to pull out the felled trees, a railway was the only method in an area either hilly or very wet. As trees were cut individually and not 'area harvested' no modern forest machine could navigate the area without destroying neighbouring trees or nature. See the website of the Örkaggans Järnväg here. 

The railway's loco 4 'Edvin' (Simplex 9335/1948). Today running with a 10 hp Hatz engine. Here seen pulling no less than 3 timber wagons up a considerable gradient.

The railway's owner pouring sand from old oil cans like there was no tomorrow! Wet weather and a healthy growth of moss didn't exactly help traction.

With my own plans of making simple trackwork and my experiments with wooden rails the simple, homemade turnouts on Örkaggans Järnväg obviously caught my attention. The points have no frog and only a single tongue rail present. Simple points very similar have been used on industrial railways in Denmark too, and it was interesting to study working examples in detail.

The trip to Sweden saw me and my mates visiting several other railways. A small selection of images can be viewed on my Flickr site. Captions should enable you to get a resonable idea of what we saw.

A week after my visit to Sweden I was off again exploring railways at the 31. Internationales Feldbahntreffen hosted by Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum and Feld- und Grubenbahnmuseum Fortuna. With well over 120 participants it's a good to see clubs teaming up for the task. The event took place at Frankfurt for 2 days and then moved on to Grube Fortuna for the last 2 days. Both locations with 600 mm gauge , comparatively short lines, but with many and very friendly volunteers. The amount of well restored and operational locos and rolling stock was equally impressing! More images from the Feldbahntreffen can be viewed at another of my Flickr-folders.

A selection of steam locos in front of 'Lokhalle 1' at Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum.

Lok 1 (Henschel 23170/1936) from Grube Fortuna visiting Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum. Here with a lovely train of skips crossing the huge lawn of the Rebstock Park.

Frankfurter lok D 7 (Ruhrthaler 3347/1955) with standard DIN-skips.

In the forest near Grube Fortuna: loco 28 (Deutz 5464/1927) type MLH228 with a short train of underground skips.

Hand-over of the traditional bar sign from the German hosts to next year's hosts from the Hedeland vintage railway, Denmark. The ceremony took place in front of O&K 9244/1921.

With eight days of narrow gauge trainspotting in 3 weeks what passes for normality has set in again. I'm having one of the H0e Soviet PD-1 draisines set up ready for air brushing before I will be devoting more time for my main 1/19 scale effort. 

Old Machinery in Action

On the TimeWinder vintage rally in Northern Zealand 60 km from Copenhagen I had the chance to refresh my motivation to build models of all sorts of old machinery. As if I needed more...

What's not to like? A 700 mm gauge industrial railway locomotive passing an old Ford A car at TimeWinder 2018. Why isn't any of the kit companies bringing out a Ford A in 1:35?

TimeWinder 2018 was the second time this new vintage rally was held. It is a 'break out' event from the well established Græsted vintage rally. Sometimes vintage rally organisers (like everybody else)  have their differences and in this case they decided to split up. That means we now have two vintage rallies in the same weekend only some 15 km apart. Which can't be good for any of the rallies' business.

It was my first visit to TimeWinder and it was a very plesant experience. In comparison with the old location in Græsted the TimeWinder benefits from the beautiful grounds around the old manor of Grønnessegaard. An added attraction is the manor's landing strip for small airplanes and the view over the fjord. The airstrip was base for number of old airplanes during the rally.

One of a number of very old tractors present at the rally. As a possible consequence of the split of the old rally organisation the number of tractors was considerable smaller at TimeWinder in comparison with Græsted before 2017.

Two old steam engines pausing for a brief moment. The Foden steam lorry is a charming vehicle and I will research the relevant archives for the unlikely possibility that a vehicle like it was in service around Nystrup.

 

The most charming views could be experienced around the rally grounds.

In the years to come I will have tough decision to make wether to visit TimeWinder or Græsted in the hunt for close encounters with old machinery. TimeWinder's best cards must be the great surroundings allowing for a land, sea and air experience, the many foreign exhibitors and the fact that they even have their own 700 mm gauge railway. Perhaps I have to visit both rallys next year?

The 700 mm. loco had a remarkably local link being built in Hundested only a few kilometers away from the rally grounds. Almost like coming home!

Summer puts a hold on modelling

Summer (combined with a lorry model that is fighting every effort I make at constructing a barely acceptable model) has put a short halt to my modelling activities. Lots of garden and house chores is being performed, though. I have been lucky enough to spend a few days on railway work in 1:1 scale. I have taken part in the running of passenger trains and the usual manual labour to keep the track in good order. Fortunately I really enjoy working with real narrow gauge railways and I pick up a lot of inspiration every time I volunteer on HVB. Just check out the film below - who wouldn't want to recreate such a nice train in model?

Modelling will be taken up again soon. No doubt the Danish weather will swiftly change and provide plenty of time for indoor activities. Plans for defeating the uncooperative lorry model have been drawn up and a supply of brick wall segments cast in plaster awaits being combined into a wall for my factory module. My summer vacation is also in sight and will as usual contain some modelling - more on that later.

The loco shunting skips in the film above is Deutz 10204 from 1931. Originally equipped with a petroleum engine it is now fitted with a Ruston & Hornsby diesel engine. As the British engine runs in the opposite direction of the original you have to put the loco in reverse to go forward. Be sure to think twice before you take off! Here the driver carefully position skips in the shed at Brandhoj station - the 700 mm. main line can be seen to the left.

Fuglsø Moor Revisited

There are not many narrow gauge industrial railways in service in Denmark today. Many were dismantled in the 1960’s and 1970’s while most of those that remained were gone by 1990. A few has temporarily sprung up during building of metro lines in Copenhagen and minor tunnels here and there.

The most charming of those few remaining today surely must be the 600 mm. peat railway at Fuglsø Mose. Last week I had the chance to revisit the moor at Fuglsø and its little railway. I was glad to see, that the railway was still working and in better condition than when I last paid a visit. Three locos work the 4 km. line from the peat extraction areas in the moor to the lorry loading facility.

From left to right: Peat plough, '257' built by Danish Pedershaab in the 1940's, '305' Schöma 3405/1972 newly overhauled with new cab and last is '304' Schöma 3336/1971.

The moor has previously been supplying a peat briquette factory in Stenvad with peat and during the second world war the moor also held several smaller production sites for peat with a very motley collection of locos and wagons.

The old loco shed - now without track connection and out of use.  

The loco shed while it still housed locos. Here '305' is climbing up from the loco shed to much admiration from the surrounding enthusiasts. Photo from my first visit to the railway in 1985 with an excursion by the Danish Industrial Railway Society. 

You can see images from the 1990’s on the Industrial Narrow Gauge Railway-website and more from my latest visit to the moor on Flickr.

Much inspiration from visits like this one is useful on one's little model railway. I have always liked the loco shed built from a variety of materials on a slope with doors in both ends, each originally serving different gauges. Even the workers at Fulgsø Mose must have some interest in the building, since it has not yet been demolished. The shed doesn't seem to serve any purpose today and heavy machinery for a quick 'clean up' is in great supply at the lorry loading facility.

Playing With Track Panels

This weekend I got to play with track panels. Not the 1:32 track panels I bought from James Coldicott, but 1:1 scale track panels with 7 kg/m rail in the gauges of 700 and 600 mm. On the heritage railway where I work as a volunteer, we are currently laying track in a large shed to house all the locos and rolling stock that isn't yet servicable. To maximise use of the building we lay the tracks close, and as the tracks isn't subject to much stress, we chose to use some old track panels.

Three weeks ago we picked out a number of track panels from storage. Itself not an easy task as trees and shrubbery during the years had shot up among the panels.

Loading track panels from the HVB storage facility at km. 1,5. After having chopped down a few trees the excavator could get to the 700 mm. panels having been in storage for more than 20 years.

Laying of track panels is easy and if our panels hadn't been old, a bit croocked and in need of a new sleeper or two, the work would have been no match for our experienced team.

One track is finished, one track is being adjusted while the third track is being assmbled. All with a gauge of 700 mm. Great to work indoor as it was raining cats and dogs outside!

Two tracks are finished. Gravel is poured in the third while the first 600 mm panel is already laid. To the right the laser we use to make sure the tracks are level and to the right height. In the background the excavator is loading a skip with gravel. Just because we like old technology we shouldn't avoid modern blessings that can help us.

3 tracks with 700 mm. gauge and one with 600 mm. gauge in place in the shed. In front is the traverser giving access to the depot tracks. Two more tracks will fill the empty foreground and provide more room for the railway's rolling stock. 

Among our supplies of 600 mm. gauge track panels we found these. They look quite different from what we are used to see in our stacks. From a search through my books and materials, I think they bear a strong resemblance to the French army standard track panel from World War 1. It just seems very unlikely that track from French army stocks should come to Denmark and would be so well preserved 100 years later? Please leave a comment if you recognise the type of track.

750 mm Gauge in Southern Germany

Once a year I usually travel to the 'Feldbahntreff' (last year at the Muskauer Waldeisenbahn) to meet other enthusiasts that keep alive narrow gauge railways – almost all of them with an industrial connection. The mostly continental, German speaking enthusiasts keep each other updated with their latest challenges and accomplishments. This year I chose not to attend and teamed up with some friends for a trip to the 750 mm. railways in Saxony in southeastern Germany.

While not particularly 'industrial' the railways we visited gave us much inspiration. To see how others have developed heritage railways is always interesting and regarding work shop facilities the visits set new goals for us Danes.

99 1741-0 in the work shop at Oberwiesentahl on the Fichtelbergbahn. Notice the well laid out work shop, removable floor panels and over head crane. 99 1741-0 was built in Chemnitz in 1929 and still going strong between shop visits.

The hilly and wooded area gave great views from the trains and one day on the Pressnitztalbahn was devoted to nothing but goods trains. A great day in the woods watching trains.

99 715 with a train of standard gauge wagons on transporters. The train is working uphill towards Jöhstadt.

99 568 and 99 542 ready to double head a long train from Schmalzgrube.

On our way home to Denmark we managed a visit to 'Ferropolis' and the five huge machines once used to quarry brown coal. They are marvelous creations of steel weighing from 700 t. to almost 2.000 t. Not as huge as the F60 Förderbrücke I visited last, year but impressing anyhow.

Bucket and chain excavator type Es 1120 built in 1962 by the VEB Förderanlagen Köthen. The machine weighs 1250 t. Notice the standard German car passing.

Back home I have been getting the etched parts for the David Provan bogie wagons unpacked and ready for bending. While the kits have half etched rivets to be pressed into rivets I have chosen to fit rivets with my trusty method of gluing one plastic rivet head after the other. More on the subject in a future post.

Monorail in Mosel

Well, not really within the normal realms of this blog, where I (with a certain off topic drift now and then...) usually keep focus on a narrow gauge railway in 1:35 scale. During my vacation I visited the Mosel area in south-western Germany and was surprised to seee a large number of small monorail systems.

Being monorail you can't talk about gauge and not having two rails I don't know if they really count as railways. The vineyards of the Mosel valley are located on steep hill sides and to transport the harvested grapes, tools, fertilizers etc. the farmers use small monorail systems. The vineyards of the Model valley are quite small and owned by many different farmers. Each have a monorail of their own, so both sides of the valley are lined with monorail systems. From Cochem and 10 km. south I guess I passed more than 30 monorail lines. You can learn more of the monorail system and their 'trains' from the website of a manufacturer of these systems: Clemens in Germany.

Interspersed between the monorails a few more normal two-rail lines reach the few hundred meters from valley road to the top of the field. These spurs are operated as inclines. Without measuring the gauge seems to be in the 40-50 cm. range and the rails are L-profiles rather than usual rail profile.

A standard 'train' on a Mosel valley wine monorail. On the western side of the valley between Ernst and Ellenz more than 7 such monorails can be seen clinging to the steep fields.



On another monorail line the steep gradient is obvious.

During a little outing from the Mosel I got to see a bit of the Maginot Line in France. Unfortunately I was 30 minutes late for the daily guided tour of the fortress of Hackenberg. Too bad, as there is only one tour a day. I had to contend with an outside view of the entrance and a Pechot-wagon and two skips parked outside. As much as I love skips and Pechot-wagons it didn't really seemed worth the long drive...


The Pechot-wagon outside Ouvrage du Hackenberg. As most of the Maginot Line rolling stock it was fitted with Willison automatic couplings instead of the original WWI-coupling. Two locomotives from the Maginot Line came to Nystrup Gravel via German ownership. I have built a number of Pechot wagons in 1:35.

22. Internationales Feldbahntreffen

In the past few days I have been enjoying myself thoroughly in the eastern part of Germany exploring narrow as well as standard gauge railways and part of the German brown coal industry.

Each year enthusiasts that keep alive narrow gauge railways – almost all of them with an industrial connection – meet for the ‘Feldbahntreff’. A gathering of mostly continental, German speaking enthusiasts keep each other updated with their latest challenges and accomplishments. Apart from the networking and exchange of tips and tricks, a lot of train riding on the host society’s railway is on the programme.

The host this year was Waldeisenbahn Muskau. One of my favourite German railways with an immensely interesting history and three great lines radiating from it’s central hub at the town of Weisswasser. All in a beautiful wooded landscape. The volunteers and employees at Waldeisenbahn Muskau had put together a great programme and were perfect hosts. With WEM's gauge of 600 mm it is hard not to bring home some inspiration to one's own little railway. But gauge isn't all. WEM was built for much larger volumes of traffic and you won't see a Brigade-Lok on Nystrup Gravel. But perhaps an old Austro-Daimler?

99 3312-8 at the station in Weisswasser. A good example of the high standard of work at WEM.

The volunteers at WEM will not need to sit idle, awaiting their next task. They have plenty more wagons to work at - not mentioning maintaining a railway almost 20 km. long.

More images from the Feldbahntreff can be seen here.

Apart from the time devoted to the Feldbahntreff, a few of my fellow travellers from the Danish Industrial Railway Society and I decided to explore some of the remaining brown coal operations.  Not only to watch the standard gauge railways involved in the coal transport but also to gaze in awe over the colossal machines employed in the mining process and the extent to which the open cast mining is changing geography! In fact the Waldeisenbahn is having one of it’s lines amputated by the huge Nochten open cast mine. WEM plan to relay the line into areas not currently planned for mining.

A tracked 'Absetzer', conveyor belt for overburden and three seemingly very small bulldozers. They are not small, though, and the Absetzer isn't the largest machine in the open cast mine at Nochten.

Read more about the Geman brown coal industry and it's machines at Ostkohle.de and visit some of them at Ferropolis or Besucherbergwerk F60.

Back home I was welcomed by family and a new issue of 'Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review' fresh from the print shop in Wales. And my vacation still lasts for almost a week. How lucky is one allowed to be?