A Review of 2024

As usual when New Year approaches I'm looking back at the year's progress on my model of Nystrup Gravel. 2024 has been a year of steady progress. One of those periods of stability and consolidation that any business needs now and then. As I'm celebrating New Year in Berlin I haven't done much modelling since Christmas. But let's face it: There are other things to life than railway modelling. This review of the year will illustrate that.

A reminder of warmer times: A summer image from Nystrup Gravel with skips resting next to the track leading to the lorry loading ramp.

The year began with the major milestone of getting the Fowler diesel locomotive fitted with a Loco Remote control system and suddenly the number of locos in service on my little layout doubled. The Fowler also received some exterior detailing work and a little paint during 2024 but will still need further detailing to the cab interior. In May a driver for the Fowler was also bought from my usual supplier of detailed 3D printed figures Modelu in United Kingdom. During Christmas the figure was adapted to its position in the cab and painted.

Fitted with Loco Remote, lowered buffers, added exterior details and some spot painting. Interior detailing and working lights still to be fitted. 

For a gravel line to have timber bogie bolsters were quite unusual. That Nystrup Gravel had two sets should not come as a surprise, though. Four logging bogies in 3D print arrived from United Kingdom in almost ready to run condition. Of course I had to add details and make subtle changes to the models before they were accepted for service. A great project that I enjoyed a lot!

The Lister shunting a pair of logging bogies (no. 72 and 79) to the delight of the visiting railway enthusiast in the background.

I sometimes need a break from serious modelling and with Spring approaching I decided to have fun with a car project. Not something that fits Nystrup Gravel, but I needed a car to go with the two sci-fi drones I made in 2022. After a short but enjoyable proces I had a Lada Niva i Ukrainian pixel camouflage as a 'mothership' for the drones. Other than the Niva I almost managed a year without adding road vehicles to my collection. One item is currently on its way to Denmark - hopefully arriving before too long.

The pixel camouflaged Lada Niva parked across the tracks with a drone airborne in the background. 

In the beginning of the year I began a campaign of adding ballast, groundcover and vegetation to the layout. I wanted to have the layout covered before the end of 2024. Progress has been steady through the year and for once in the history of the scale model Nystrup Gravel a deadline was met! This doesn't mean that work with landscaping and adding vegetation or detailing the surface is by any meaning finished. Work will continue. See how the layout has been developing and compare with the image below.

This is how my little 16 mm scale layout looks in the moment. Just a small corner above part of my book collection. Layouts don't have to be large in 1/19 scale to take long to build!

As most readers of the blog will no doubt know I'm also engaged in keeping a vintage narrow gauge railway running in Denmark. This year the 700 mm gauge railway HVB near Roskilde hosted the 32 Internationales Feldbahntreffen. The gathering is an annual event and draws practically minded enthusiasts from most af continental Europe. 110 guests from Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Romania, Ukraine and Poland participated together with 40-50 Danes. Consequently I didn't get to visit a foreign railway for the Feldbahntreffen, but I enjoyed the event anyway! It was the first time we had locomotives from abroad running on the HVB line as four Dutch locomotives had travelled north.

Participants of the Feldbahntreffen in front of the three active steam locos - one of them visiting from the Netherlands.

A Dutch diesel locomotive with skips meeting a passenger train pulled by Danish Da 7 on Sølund Station.

I have also had fun doing a little modelling in 1/87 scale narrow gauge both on 9 and 6.5 mm gauge. Not much has been finished but the small size of the models are perfect for bringing to the summer cottage for some relaxing modelling during vacations. I worked on a Ukrainian resin kit of a TU4 bogie loco and 3D printed mining equipment. Only four skips were actually finished, but I'll slowly work my way through the kits and plan for a small Eastern European diorama of a mining scene.

In November I finished four tiny mine skips in heavily weathered condition. They are excellent 3D printed models from German Micro_Miners.

As usual I have been visiting interesting places to see interesting railways - both in my professional capacity and in my spare time. I've been spending time in Krakow, Berlin, Dresden and the Harz Mountains and I am sitting in Berlin again as I write this.

99 1747-7 in front of the loco shed at Radeburg Station on the 750 mm line Radebeul (Dresden)-Radeburg. The loco was built by Berliner Maschinenbau AG in 1929. 

Visitor wise 2024 has been like many previous years with between 3.500-4.500 views pr. month. The only number that has kept rising is the annoying spam in the comments' section of the blog. Clearly written by AI and always flashing some completely unrelated manufacturer's website. I've had to activate the blog's moderation filter to spare you for utterly useless spam comments. My activity on the blog has been moderate to low with 40 posts - a little more than 3 post pr month in average. December (as usual) is the month with most posts - due to holidays, weather, traditional modelling season and of course the 'extra' post of review of the year.

My weathered model of Ferguson TE-20 from Schuco parked near the petrol pump. The tractor's driver has disappeared. Perhaps to get a sip himself?

Looking forward to 2025 I hope to advance Nystrup Gravel's fleet of locos further with a finished Fowler and the Baguley-Drewry loco that Nustrup Gravel took over from the Danish sugar beet lines. On the list is also weathering and detailing of a Lanz tractor and trailer as well as more work on detailing the layout.

Happy New Year - see you in 2025?

A Review of 2023

2023 is fast approaching its end and I'm enjoying a cup of coffee in a comfy reading chair in my library/workshop. I'm looking back on the year's events for the 1/19 scale Nystrup Gravel layout. Definately not a year without progress, but the number of posts has never been lower. With only 34 posts 2023 even underperformed the 'annus horribilis' of 2017 that reached 35 posts. On the other hand the blog could celebrate post number 500 in August with a story about new grass tufts from Spain.

Three underground skips were taken into use at Nystrup Gravel in 2023. They mostly serve ash transport to emptied parts of the gravel pits. Ash was dumped in the old pits, that were also used for a lot of the company's general waste. Normal practice in the early 1950's for many companies.

The year began with work on three of the six 3D printed Hudson underground skips that Nystrup Gravel used for ash and general spoil transport to empty parts of the old gravel pits. The finishing of the three narrow profile underground skips was somewhat delayed as I squashed and broke a finger while building a 1/1 scale platform. That meant a break from modelling, but not more than I could visit a large Danish model railway exhibition.

The most visible progress on the layout has been my continued work with landscaping and vegetation. In april I managed to build the stairs used by the workers to access the loading ramp and finish the ground cover on the ramp module with a mix of used ground coffee, sieved gravel, small stones and twigs. Most of it was soon covered by static grass in several colours. The plank road and gravel covered area at the ramp was also almost finished, now lacking only the final detailing. In the final weeks of 2023 I began working my way through module 1 with ground cover and coarse sisal grass.

The area around the loading ramp was covered in grass of several lengths, colours and coarseness during 2023. 

The most monumental leap forward for Nystrup Gravel was however the beginning of installation of battery and remote control equipment in the Fowler diesel. A project that had been postponed for far too long due to difficulties in acquiring RC-equipment from a supplier. After a long proces I lost patience and bought WiFi-equipment from Loco Remote - no waiting needed for their services! Within 14 days I had two Loco Remote Maxi units on my door step. That even included customs processing and payment as Loco Remote is located in the United Kingdom and Nystrup Gravel in the Kingdom of Denmark, European Union. Expect news about the Fowler in the near future.

Before the work commenced. Most of the main parts laid out around the loco. Cheap Chinese 9 V battery to the right, in bubble wrap above the loco chassis two Loco Remote Maxi units and an assortment of cables.

The first stages in the rebuild of the Fowler was succesfully completed in 2023. The huge battery pack was removed and a new cab floor assembly was built. For a more reliable service with the Nystrup Gravel skips I also lowered the buffers on the loco.

Lowered buffers on the Fowler to fit the layout's fleet of skips. Looking at the photo I'm glad I chose to build the track myself. It looks much more prototypically than standard Peco SM32 track.

2023 was a year where, for the first time in many years, no new road vehicles were added to the collection. The Land Rover Series I bought in 2021 received the usual treatment of decals fitting the Nystrup setting; Danish license plates, detail painting and a light weathering. As a vehicle from the Danish National Forest District 4 the Land Rover is now an active part of the car collection. My work on the Land Rover even prompted a good Danish modelling colleague to work on his Land Rover as well. Check his work on the Sundborg blog out here - in Danish, but with lots of images. 

The Minichamps Land Rover parked in the wrong side of the road. Both passenger and driver has left the vehicle. Perhaps to study rare flowers in the ditch?

During 2023 I began a series of small scale experiments. Of course it is a distraction from my main modelling effort, but small scale modelling is fun and a different challenge. It also allows me to explore an Eastern European theme that I have always wanted to try.  In march some 3D printed kits arrived from Kyiv and occasional work on them saw a PD-1 draisine on a small diorama finish in November. I hope to take the Eastern European H0e adventure a bit further and have bought track and some mining equipment to slowly start a small scene.

With the fields and forest near Baranyvka in the background draisine no. 2 of type PD-1 poses on its small diorama.

During the year I have been trainspotting abroad on a few occasions. Mostly in neighbouring Sweden where I went both in my professional capacity for a Danish railway contracting company and for fun with a team of mates from my vintage railway. The 31. Internationales Feldbahntreffen in Germany was also paid a visit. Two German societies had teamed up for the event and consequently I checked in at both Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum and Feld- und Grubenbahnmuseum Fortuna. Some great days was spent enjoying narrow gauge and networking with enthusiasts preserving our industrial heritage. In 2024 the 32. Internationales Feldbahntreffen will be hosted by the Hedeland vintage railway in Denmark.

Loco 3 (O&K 6625/1913) pulling a train of skips through a wooded section on the short circular line at the Feld- und Grubenbahnmuseum Fortuna. The gauge is 600 mm and the train was manned by a brakewoman.

During 2023 I got all the blog posts with content in 1/35 scale clearly marked with the appropriate scale in the title. That should help readers distinguish between my previous 1/35 scale and current 1/19 scale. With my main focus on modelling in 1/19 scale it is interesting that the most popular 1/19 scale post of the year is only the fourth most viewed post on the blog. Two posts about 1/35 modelling and one with 1/87 lead the race for most popular post of the year in 2023. It shows that years of modelling Nystrup Gravel in 1/35 scale still appeals to modellers out there and the blog is still searched for.  

Top 5 of the most viewed posts on the Nystrup Gravel blog in 2023.

The number of views is slowly increasing and passed 56.000 views in 2023. I hope visitors take something with them from their visits no matter what scale they model in. I visit several blogs in different scales that inspire and provide me with new methods. 

As usual I have spent the majority of my spare time not modelling, but helping run a full scale vintage 700 mm narrow gauge railway. On one of the last days of 2023 we had to dispose of some excavated material. It was taken away in skips and while it's fun to run skip trains in 1/19 scale it's even more fun in 1/1.

Next year I hope to cover the layout completely with vegetation. I have shopped some artificial plants that I will test for providing different textures to my layout. I also hope to finally getting the Fowler running and detailed to my usual standard. Lights and wooden poles with power cables are also on the schedule for 2024 as well as detailing a pair of road vehicles. Perhaps I can even begin working on the Baguley-Drewry?

Happy New Year to readers wherever you may be located. I wish you health and fortune, particularly if you've had a less than happy 2023.

2022 in Review

Once again the calender signals that a year has almost passed and a new one is waiting at the doorstep. Many people use these days to review the passed year's events and set new targets for the coming one. It's been a rather eventful year for Nystrup Gravel and I think it's fair to say that 2022 has seen my little layout develop so far that I can begin to contemplate it actually being finished some day.

Even without ballast or grass my little layout is beginning to resemble a model of the real Nystrup Gravel. The basic ground cover of kitchen rags and paint helps a long way to disguise the fact that the layout is only half finished.

One of the most important achievements of 2022 has been the progress made on buildings and structures on the layout. The lorry loading ramp was finished after the area underneath it had been fitted with static grass. I would have liked the ramp to be just a tiny bit longer, but in 1/19 scale everything is built under tight space restrictions. Finishing the ramp made it possible for me to complete the track on the layout, too. The final spike was pushed down without any ceremony in a typical practical industrial railway fashion - the next task was waiting. 

Lorry loading ramp finished and fitted with photo backdrop.

With a 1/19 scale layout in a small room I planned to add structures at each end to make the layout appear as a credible section of a much larger scene. For that purpose I added a wooden low relief building at the layout's left end and a low wooden fence at the right end. Both structures are supposed to act as view blockers diminishing a spectator's impression of the small layout abruptly coming to an end. In addition the wooden building represents a small part of the Nystrup Gravel sorting and gravel handling facilities and adds an important vertical aspect to the layout.   

Another aspect of presenting the layout better is the photographic background that I'm currently testing. Having previously had a white wall as a background a large printed photograph with a size of 90 x 270 cm was set up behind the layout in July. A few months later I ordered another print and combined they now act as complete backdrop to my developing layout. I'm not sure if the backdrop is the final solution as I originally aimed for something a bit more agricultural rather than the meadow now in place. Sometimes an easy 90 %  goal achivement is preferably to a difficult 100 % achievement. 

With an investment in two flood lights for photography on the developing layout I should be able to present better images. Results that readers of the blog should be able to see once I get used to using the lamps combined with the correct camera settings. Back in February I also finished my small group of railway enthusiasts with cameras. I had a group of train spotters in my old scale of 1/35 and was happy to see Modelu produce some nice photographers in 1/19 scale. I selected two figures and after a bit of work, they can now roam the layout in search of photo opportunities - in good lighting conditions. 

My two Modelu-photographers getting a rear shot of a Nystrup locomotive pulling empty skips towards the pits.

Two new locomotive arrived during the year. Unfortunately the little Lister is still the only operating loco on the layout. Something that will soon become an utter embarassment for management and staff. The Fowler F 30 from Essel Engineering was greeted with much celebration as it arrived. It is a good looking loco that will no doubt provide valuable traction power for the gravel company in the future. It is questionable if the other new loco will be as usefull - it's a toy Ruston from Triang. While I didn't keep my promise of expanding the stock of servicable locos on Nystrup Gravel, I at least managed to expand the number of locos!

The Essel Engineering Fowler F 30 arrived in June and provided my 1/19 scale version of Nystrup Gravel with a Fowler like the one its 1:1 prototype received in 1934.

Like in 2021 only one finished car arrived on Nystrup Gravel during the year: a Ford A towing vehicle underwent repair, rebuilding, painting as well as weathering and was fitted out with tools, oil canisters etc. I aquired a Citroen HY van that still needs to undergo the usual modifications. It's good to have projects available for a rainy day!

The Ford A lorry with crane was finished in early April 2022 and was quick to show support of a troubled country attacked by a much larger neighbour.

The characteristic shape of the Citroen HY shouldn't be missed on my layout. Here the model has just arrived from France and placed on my photo plank.

2022 saw the Nystrup Gravel-blog celebrate its 10 years of existence in April. On that occasion a post went through some of the blog's themes and my modelling adventures during the period. In 2022 the blog again contained a mix of modelling, archive studies and a few posts mentioning other aspects of how railways is a major component of my life. This year's activity on the blog has been rather high and the number of posts (45) has reached the level from the blog's first years. A sign of a year of active modelling, but also that I have been working to tell more about all the small things going on at Nystrup Gravel, like fitting a point lever or reporting a UFO incident. That is what modelling is for me: a lot of small activities adding up over time. 

It's no secret that I'm volunteering at the Hedeland Vintage Railway and this year the Hedeland area was visited by 32.000 scouts as well as huge number of visiting families. Our little railway passed right through the scouts' impressive camp and traffic was heavy with both scouts and visitors using the railway for transportation. For 9 days straight no less than 150 departures with steam and diesel provided faultless service to the camp. Not bad considering that some of our stock is more than 100 years old. 

700 mm gauge Da 7 departing Brandhøj Station located close to one part of the huge scouts' camp in Hedeland. A small train made even smaller by the sheer size of the camp! Da 7 is Henschel 18449/1921 and in service on HVB since 1994 (fitted with a new boiler in 2002).

After two years with very little travelling due to Covid-19 this year turned out to be very different. I have been trainspotting in France, Sweden, Germany, Spain and Norway. Some of the trips were dedicated railway tours while others allowed at least some time to be devoted to watching trains. No matter what, it was nice to explore railways with gauges varying from 600 mm to 1668 mm!

Ohs Bruk Järnväg no. 1 (Kalmar verkstad AB 36/1937) at Hedlandet Halt on the Östra Södermanlands Järnväg. The loco was rebuilt from the steam loco NAJ 2 (Motala 148/1894). My first visit to the 600 mm gauged ÖSlJ in 30 years.

Two broad gauge RENFE 319.3 class locos in front of the Al Andalus luxury train with 14 carriages at the station in Ronda. Note to readers: I wasn't travelling on the train. The minimum ticket price of 8.000 € seemed a bit pricey.

The year ended with work on lamps and poles for the track and loading ramp areas as well as some premilinary work on new narrow profile underground skips. Most of the work on those two projects will last into 2023 that will probably also see the complete layout being landscaped and beginning to look finished. I also hope to finally get more locomotives in operation on Nystrup Gravel. The Lister really isn't fit for heavier work on the line! 

One of six 3D printed underground skips that arrived in December being examined by Nystrup Gravel's chief mechanic. As usual he looks a bit sceptical with green enamel coffee cup in hand.

First version of homemade lamp being tested in total darkness. The lamp provides surprisingly much light. It will no doubt improve safety when shunting on dark winter afternoons.

2021 in Review

It's time again for the annual review from the little railway at Nystrup Gravel. As previous years I've complained in several posts over too little time for modelling and too little progress on my tiny layout. But when I give it a little more thought here at the year's end, I realize I would be hard pressed to devote more time for it. I have a real daytime job (sometimes even stretching beyond daytime hours), a family and I volunteer on a vintage railway that takes priority over my 'toy train' at home. 

A train of empty skips rolling gently down the ramp. Comparing with images after the rails have been painted I think it is obvious how much rail painting improves the overall impression of a model railway.

Despite all my complaining about too little time for modelling I managed to have the track on the small layout almost finished by year's end. Only the track on the loading ramp is still unfinished as the work with landscaping and vegetation has to be carried out before I'm confident that I can finish the ramp without hindering work under it. Traffic and shunting on the layout is now possible and can be conducted without reduced speed other than those that are prototypically implied by the nature of a primitive narrow gauge industrial railway. It's been fun building track in 1/19 scale and when mixing track building with other tasks I have escaped the frustration of routine that have overwhelmed many railway modellers building their own track. My layout is very small and track lengths limited which have surely helped too. No matter how short the tracks are, my homebuilt track counts as the most significant achievement in 2021.

Home built track with the first layer of rust paint added. I'm really glad I chose to build my own track rather than rely on out-of-the-box PECO SM32-track.

Building track in 1:1 scale takes more effort and help from good mates than track building in 1/19 scale. Full scale track building makes you much more fit than model building, though! Photo: KHA.

There is a lot of positive mutual spill-over effects between my full scale volunteering and Nystrup Gravel. Building full scale track makes me much more aware of what to replicate in miniature. While it's only natural that most inspiration flows from the 'real' world to my model railway, sometimes Nystrup Gravel shows up in the real world too.

A married couple celebrated their 25. wedding anniversary with a train ride on HVB and a professional photograper's memorial photo of them and their daughters.  An old original wooden box from Nystrup Gravel is serving in the scene. Photo: Per Dyrby.

Landscaping the Nystrup Gravel layout (I really hesitate calling the areas next to the track on my layout 'landscape' as it's such a diminutive area) gradually progressed during 2021 and basic ground cover was provided by disposable kitchen rags soaked in white glue with a layer of earth coloured paint. It's extremely basic, but avoids the layout looking too unfinished until I get to grips with ballasting and more comprehensive ground detailing. As a start I managed to place a few stones used as infill at the loading ramp sticking out of the ground. The stones are bedded into the ground and surrounded by gravel spillings from the ramp above and the beginning of coarse vegetation. My Christmas gift for myself was an RTS Grassmaster 55 kV stratic grass applicator that I look forward to employ on grassing duties in the coming months.

The complete Nystrup Gravel layout being given some fresh air in the garden. In June almost the entire surface was covered by kitchen rags and light brown paint.

There is a pressing need for more traction power at Nystrup Gravel and reinforcements are coming. 2 locos are on my own workbench and one is being built abroad. All 3 projects seems to be suffering from hesistant builders, global supply chain difficulties combined with covid-19 side effects. It is perfectly clear though, that something has to happen on the traction front in 2022 - the Lister cannot continue being the only locomotive on Nystrup Gravel. While my Pedershaab-model has been test run nothing has really happened on it in 2021, except for the design and delivery af 3D-printed axle boxes. On the large Baguley-Drewry I removed the current collecting parts and test ran the loco on the layout powered by a 9 V battery. It worked quite well and the loco navigated all track on the layout without problems. Perhaps I will simply be using a rechargable 9 V battery to power the loco?

The Baguley-Drewry on its way down the ramp. A challenging curve for such a large loco.

Quite unusual only one car entered service in the Nystrup universe during the year. A Best of Show  Volvo Duett showed up with Danish license plates and slight weathering in May. While not yet detailed and weathered for service a Series 1 Land Rover also joined the collection of 1950's cars. I managed to buy a comparatively cheap example of the detailed Minichamps model on Ebay. It will most likely be fitted with markings from the local state forrest commission.

The Volvo Duett and another new arrival: the figure of Nystrup Gravel's chief mechanic Thorleif Petersen with green enamel cup in hand.

2 new figures came to Nystrup Gravel in 2021. One of them is a figure of the legendary Nystrup Gravel chief mechanic Thorleif Petersen. The other is a so far unknown nameless worker carrying an oil can finished after I was tested positive for covid-19 on the 24. December. The test sent me into selfisolation for the following 7 days according to the Danish authorities' rules. As I have not had any symptoms at all, it has so far been a relatively cozy experience. Being isolated in my hobby room/railway library and served delicious food and drinks sounds good, doesn't it? What's even better is that I have not infected the rest of the family. Until now I have enjoyed painting 2 figures and I hope to get to do even more modelling while in isolation.

Worker with oil can outside the fuel and lubrication shed. Despite being only a temporary solution the painted kitchen rags give a nicely grainy surface texture.

Regarding the blog statistics I must confess that I didn't study them too closely in 2021. When I, here at year's end take a look at the numbers, it's pretty much the same picture as the last few years. The blog has in average obtained 2-3.000 page views a month and some 35.000 page views in total for 2021. The most viewed post in 2021 was the 'New Locomotive'-post about my new Baguley-Drewry locomotive from March with a little over 300 views. After my change from 1/35 scale to 1/19 in 2018/2019 there is still no 1/19 scale post in top 10 of the blog's all time views. The many years of 1/35 scale modelling keep 'haunting' the blog and the old top posts with 8-6.000 views are difficult to challenge as they still attract quite alot of traffic from interested readers around the planet. And speaking of the planet, the predominant part of the blog's readers are living outside of my homeland Denmark. This year Danish readers have been frequently visiting Nystrup Gravel bringing Denmark to a 3 place on the list of visitors ranked by country/state with Sweden and USA coming in on 1 and 2 place. Close in the heels of Danish readers are enthusiasts from the United Kingdom and Germany with Australians and New Zealanders next in the race.

The blog's readers have been able to follow my experiments with track building, ballasting and vegetation in the track.

Let me finish the review of 2021 with the best wishes for every reader's 2022. I'll keep reporting from the little large scale layout and the more or less steady progress of the line. Happy New Year!

2020 in Review

As usual when New Year approaches I'm looking back at the year's progress on my model of Nystrup Gravel. 2020 has been quite a different year due to the corona virus with its huge implications to most countries around the world. In Nystrup the cosy little rural 600 mm gravel line in 1/19 scale hasn't suffered much, although a lot of work has been dimishing available time for modelling.  

2020 began with at start on a new loco project - a Danish built diesel engined locomotive from Pedershaab. I got the bare plasticcard frames motorized and running on battery power and then the project stalled. In December I dusted my drawings off and got started again. I have sent measurements, sketches and images to a manufacturer that have helped me with projects before. The plan is to have axle boxes and springs 3D-printed. I also had new electronic gadgets delivered to help remote control the locomotive.

Parts from a full size Pedershaab locomotive ready for measuring to enable scale items to be 3D-printed for my model. Often it is a great help to modelling being engaged in full scale railway preservation.

Finding track supplies and designing my model track took some time in the beginning of 2020. In the process I got sidetracked by experiments with wooden track. My work with track planning has progressed so far that I am finally ready to build the first track in 2021. Sleepers has been cut and stained, rail and spikes bought, track gauges made and a small section of cork track bed glued in place.

In June I got to the point where I began actually building my small layout. The small L-shaped layout will be my interpretation of part of the gravel handling and sorting facility in Nystrup. In 16 mm scale there isn't room for a lot, so careful selection of scenes is definately needed. Framework and basic surface features are almost ready. 2021 will begin with finishing the basic landscape and preparing it for track building. I look forward to try landscape and track building in 1/19. I am a beginner in this scale and I proceed carefully to not rush anything. I hope not to make too many mistakes.

A new 4 wheeled coach set wheels on the Nystrup rails. The coach was modelled on the basis of a real Nystrup Gravel prototype - as yet undocumented and based on anecdotal evidence only. The theory of a 4 wheeled coach at Nystrup Gravel is however, well founded on archive research involving postcards sent by the gravel company manager Holm. My model is from a sligthly rebuilt and detailed kit from The Line Side Hut and primarily built during my summer holiday.

Test running the new coach. Nystrup loco no. 3 carefully pushing coach no. 3 along the line. A worker has been posted as a lookout on the front platform.

Several road vehicles arrived in my collection during 2020, but only a Citroen Traction Avant and a Ferguson TEA-20 tractor were detailed and weathered to enable them to be displayed on my future layout. Decals for the newly aquired vehicles were designed and have arrived from my decal supplier, assuring me that 2021 can include the usual work on non-railway vehicles. 

The Ferguson was the tractor which kick started the mechanization of Danish farming. Here my version of the Schucho 1/18 scale model with added details and weathering.

During spring and early summer I painted six DIN skips in different coatings of dark greys and weathering. Some of them got a rather harsh treatment with both hammer and a heavy layer of rust. I used Vallejo chipping fluid for the first time with mixed result, while I liked using a hammer to physically weather the skips. In April I even used a combination of beer and rock music to assist the weathering process. Surely a sensible way to chase away the frustrations of corona lock-down and working from home. 

Three newly painted skips in the spring sunshine.

 

My research of Nystrup Gravel's history continued, despite corona restrictions making visits to archives difficult. Several images from the company's industrial railway was found, and a series of old post cards sent by the company's manging director also surfaced, quickly leading to building of a 4 wheeled coach. Currently I have resumed contact with the granddaughter of Thorleif Petersen, the Nystrup Gravel workshop manager for many years. I hope that will provide new insight into the history of Nystrup Gravel.

While my railway modelling hasn't been affected too much by the corona-related restrictions, other aspects of my railway interest has suffered somewhat more. Fortunately my paid job in the railway business hasn't been affected, with infrastructure projects continuing almost as planned. The closing of borders and restrictions on travel put a full stop to my usual trips abroad to study railways of one kind or another. Also my involvement with a heritage line has seen plenty of corona challenges to be met. Restrictions forced us to postpone the traffic season and to run trains with reduced capacity to comply with the rules of social distancing. All in all a lot of extra work and less income to spend on future projects. 

Despite the corona pandemic HVB kept the trains running, although with reduced capacity. Here a train with dieselelectric M 25 from 1959 meets a train pulled by Da 7 from 1921.

Pre-corona railway fun with mates. No distancing, masks or travel restrictions, but smiles all around! Besucherbergwerk 'Voller Rose' near Ilmenau, autumn 2019.

 

For the Nystrup Gravel blog 2020 was a pretty active year with a steady stream of posts averaging 4 posts pr month. The statistics says visits to the blog are in the range of 2.500-3.000 page views pr month as they have been for several years. There has been a slight decline in visitors during the last three months. Perhaps because I haven't described a 'real' railway project since I finished the coach in September? As the blog is a reflection of my modelling, not the other way round, there isn't a great deal I'm going to do about it. I don't choose modelling projects to have something interesting to write about on the blog. And after all, modelling a Danish narrow gauge industrial railway in 1/19 scale isn't exactly mainstream railway modelling. 

I hope you enjoyed some of the stories from Nystrup Gravel during the year or had the chance to catch up in this review of 2020. I wish you a happy New Year and hope to see you again in 2021 for more modelling, fictional history and prototype information.

2019 in Review

2019 is drawing to a close. Nystrup Gravel employees have been enjoying the Christmas and a few days of vacation. They are now back working as the warm weather this winter allows gravel extraction. Usually frost puts a stop to the production of gravel at this time of year.

A brief pause while unloading overburden along a road. The relatively warm weather is reflected in the light clothing worn by the men.

2019 was characterized by being my first full year as a modeller in 16 mm scale (or 1/19.05). I'm slowly getting used to the scale and learning to handle the larger objects now on my work table. 2019 has been a relatively productive modelling year and I like to think I have built a solid base of experience for Nystrup Gravel's coming expansion.

In 2019 I managed to add no less than 8 skips to my collection and triple the skip fleet of Nystrup Gravel. I can now run trains of skips with a decent length and combined the skips will make up a train a full meter in length. During the summer I added two Hudson Rugga skips complete with weathering and prototypical coupling chains to the two already in service. The Hudson skips are made from kits brought out many years ago by Binnie Engineering.

4 Hudson skips parked on the Nystrup Gravel main line. All the skips have had minor alternations and extra detail built into them. Decals supplied by one of the small businesses (in this case Skilteskoven) that cares for modellers with special needs.

As skips are what makes the little railway at Nystrup Gravel earn its living, I knew I had to have more than 4 Hudsons. Quite satisfied with both the look and running of the Binnie Engineering Hudson skips, the type was however, never in widespread use in Denmark. Consequently I couldn't bring myself to buy more of them. Fortunately I was able to aquire 6 skips of a standard German type in the autumn bringing my skip fleet to a total of 10. The 6 new skips will have to be painted, numbered and weathered. A task for 2020.

2019 also saw me finish the first Nystrup Gravel locomotive in 16 mm scale. A somewhat rebuilt I. P. Engineering Lister R was taken into service during the late summer and has turned out a very reliable machine. Just what scale the kit is actually made to is an open question though, as the proportions doesn't fit any of the drawings I have had access to. I tried to improve a few things here and there and cut off no less than 7 mm in width to almost match my scale drawings. No matter what it's a great little locomotive.

Lister close up from above. The oil can seems to have leaked a bit.

I have been testing if my library and workshop room could house a small 16 mm scale indoor module. After some reorganizing it turned out that it is possible to cram in a few meters of track and structures on some shelves. It will not be a large layout, but I think I might just squeeze in two points, a small engine shed and perhaps even the legendary flimsy lorry loading ramp over which surprisingly huge amounts of gravel slided down into waiting lorries. At the moment I'm playing around with Peco points and track panels. While it's convenient to be able to aquire track from a quality manufacturer the look of the track isn't particularly to my taste. In 2020 I will have to decide if I will use the Peco track, rebuild it or make my own track from scratch.

In addition to modelling 600 mm gauge industrial railway equipment I enjoy building and modifying road vehicles that fit my modelling theme and period. In 2019 I finished several road vehicles. I managed no less than 4 cars and one steam tractor. In contrast to my old scale 1/35, road vehicles in 16 mm scale are almost exclusively available as diecast models. I have only seen a few 3D-printed vehicles available for 16 mm scale. Consequently I have been modifying, detailing and weathering die cast cars rather than building full kits as before.

A Tempo Hanseat lorry showed up near Nystrup during 2019. Banke's Bakelite was a small company employing several lorries for transporting raw materials and finished products.

As usual I visited several narrow gauge railways and museums with industrial heritage content. Visits like those are an important inspiration. In 2019 I joined friends from my heritage railway for a trip to the Internationaler Feldbahnertreffen in Ilmenau, Germany.

An O&K Montania loco passing the remains of an ore loading facility near the 'Voller Rose' flour spar mine at Ilmenau.

2019 wasn't the most active year in the Nystrup Gravel blog's existence with two full months without any postings at all mainly due to work obligations. I must have been making up for the missing modelling in other months and followed up with posts as the year's 'production' of blog posts managed to reach a respectable 40. The statistics says the visits are again averaging 2.500-3.000 page views pr month after having taken a dip in the beginning of the year. As me, the readers might have taken some time for adjusting to the new scale.

A new scale takes some time to get adjusted to. Here's a photo to show the size of two 16 mm scale models in comparison with a well known and standardized object to the right.

I hope you enjoyed the stories from Nystrup Gravel in 2019. I wish you a happy New Year and hope to see you again in 2020 for more modelling, fictional history and prototype information.