A journey from here to there

 A personal philosophy 

In order to be a modeller of railways there needs to be a model railway. It doesn't matter if it is a loft or an Ikea box, there has to be a railway, otherwise we are mere collectors of things in boxes.

Occasionally, a thought begins to become a concern, why build a model railway and why choose a particular subject? My obsession, for it is an obsession, is to create something naturalistic that pleases the eye and restores old memories of quiet rural railways of Southern Germany. 

I greatly admire those individuals who devout a lifetime to build a perfect representation of a actual location, set at a specific time/date. Their dedication is admirable but there are constraints, as they can utilise space and have access to information, neither of which I enjoy. By contrast, my world is one of limited to just 5m x 1m and limited information from both the internet and the few books that feature my chosen subject.

My project is based upon a notion that a modest rural line in Oberfranken  had been extended a few more kilometres before funding was finally exhausted and the planned wayside station became a terminus for the remainder of its short life.

The generic trackplan is simple, the only extravagance is a tiny wooden loco shed with fuel+water and the style of the station buildings is typical of the builder. 

Various features (LDEs) from around the location are recycled, all chosen for their similarity to other local features. Colours are carefully chosen from a palette used in the location, mostly natural, a mix of greens + earth, subtle rather than brash. 

The stock was carefully selected with help from local experts, there are no 'special' visitors as everything must have been used on rural lines within 25kms during the timeframe 1950-68. 

The wherefore of operation on Pottendorf

 

The layout in the shed is small, only about 3,4m of scenic area with four storage roads, this means that it is a shunting puzzle rather than ‘parade’ style layout. Four is the magic number as there were just four trains per day on a typical branch in the mid ‘50s. 

 

The stocklist reflects the purpose of the layout, just a few wagons and coaches plus a railbus are the four trains that shuffle backwards and forwards. The wagons form two trains, the coaches another with the railbus as the simple shuttle that does not shunt at all. 

 

Each of the four scenic roads has at least one uncoupler, the platform has two so that after uncoupling from the head of the train, the loco can pick off vehicles from the train and set them into sidings. 

 

Running through all four trains should take about 25-30 minutes of intense concentration, enough to keep me happy.

I hope that this explains the approach.

Weathering stuff

Weathering using salt

About ten or so years ago I was online looking at military modeling websites and came across an article that described a weathering technique called salt weathering. Since then I’ve tried it on a few models and the results are remarkable.

The lead image illustrates the salt weathering technique to simulate paint peeling off the galvanised metal roof of the lean-to.

Here’s a close-up of the roof and lean-to at the start

So…what is salt weathering? It is a method used to simulate paint chipping using table salt. I’ll demonstrate the steps below using the roof.

Step 1 – First, paint the roof with an underlying rust or galvanized color that you want to show through. I call this the base layer. The base layer was a dusting of red oxide to simulate rust. I used that same mix on the roof shown in the photo above.

Step 2 – Allow the base coat to dry completely. Meanwhile, gather table salt, household rubbing alcohol, a sprayer, and a container for your project because salt weathering is messy. For my project I used two kinds of salt—fine table salt and coarse sea salt. The container once held ice cream. 

Step 3 – Spray the roof casting with the rubbing alcohol. Many modelers use water for this step, but I strongly recommend using rubbing alcohol. It is amazingly effective in breaking surface tension, which allows better coverage for the salt.

 

 

 
Step 4 – While the alcohol is wet, sprinkle on the salt. Don’t completely cover the roof with salt—just sprinkle it on. The photo above shows how the roof looked after the salt was applied.

Step 5 – Now let the whole mess dry for a day.

Step 6 – Once the roof and salt are dry, carefully airbrush the roof—with the salt still applied—with the correct roof colour, such as grey. Carefully handle the roof while painting as the salt can flake off with the slightest breath or touch.

Step 7 – Here’s the fun part. After the paint is completely dry, carefully rub off the salt. The color underneath—the base colour applied in Step 1—will appear when the salt is removed. The photo above shows how the roof looked after the salt was removed.

Step 8 – Next, go back over the running boards and roof seam caps with the original car color. Running boards and seam caps were made of different material that the rest of the roof, so they weathered differently. Touching up the running boards and seam caps with the car color provides a contrast with the weathered roof.

Step 9 – The splotchy uneven finish gives the appearance of peeling paint. Using the homemade galvanized color mix, I went back over a few places to blend the colors a little more. I used the little yellow brush seen a couple photos back for the job. I also added a little AIM Weathering Powders Soot Black, applied with a small brush, to darken the roof in a few places to represent soot and cinders. To finish the job, I sealed the roof with a shot of Testors Dullcote.

Salt Weathering is easy but I recommend you practice on a few models first. The first time I tried salt weathering I finished three roofs: One turned out good, and the other two were “fails”. However, I learned how much salt to add and where to add it, and that was really helpful for later attempts.

The next level of salt weathering is looking at actual prototype weathering and applying the salt in specific places to simulate specific weathering patterns. Let prototype photos be your guide.

What else can you use salt weathering on? Oil tanks, bridges, and anything made of steel or metal on or along the railroad. I think it could be used with excellent results on storage tanks used by small town oil dealers.

I hope you find the salt weathering technique useful!

Beside the road in Bayern

The location of the layout is Oberfranken, Bayern. There are many features that are common to the region and throughout Bayern, these include artefacts related to the catholic faith of Bayern.

Wayside crosses and wayside shrines bear witness to the piety of the people. For hundreds of years, these small religious monuments made of wood, stone and masonry have mostly been erected and maintained by the wayside, some decorated with flowers and candles.

Pottendorf has two such features.

A loco shed

Other than the station, the other major railway building is the locoshed, it is a simple single road wooden shed that was rebuilt from a very old Pola kit 

 

 

 

 

The locoshed has a small coaling stage and corrugated iron flammable store.

 

 

 

The corrugated iron flammable store will be replaced with a better HO version.

 

 

Details such as a water tap outside the locoshed

 

The water crane is a Spitzner type, copied from the example that once stood at Kempten, Bad Neustadt and similar to the one at Miltenberg

Grey Primer

 

98 812 receives water in the morning at Bad Neustadt station to be prepared for the next (return) trip to Königshofen, on 01.07.1968.

 

Older style, unknown location, possibly Endorf
 

 Some inspiration was gatherered from the old loco shed at Kößlarn as that branchline shared many features with other Bayerische nebenbahnen. The loco shed was at the opposite end of the station yard and was surrounded on three sides by long grass, it still survives despite being abandoned by the DB.

 

The cottage

On the latest version of Pottendorf there is a small cottage for the farmworker, it has a couple of fruit trees, vegetable garden and chicken coop.

 

The Faller cottage has a vague similarity to the Häcker family house from Ergersheim preserved as building 12 at the Fränkische Freilandmuseum in Bad Windsheim. Rather scratchbuilding maybe just the removal of the lower level of fachwerke?

 

These archive images show the original building and its original proportions.

The building is a timberframe built around 1706 and an external stucco finish on the lower section of the walls .

Link to the museum's description click here

 

The cottage, below is a new kit that was reworked. There really wasn’t too much scope the lengthen the building as the sub-base of the scene is finished but it has lost the fachwerk (timber framing) below the top of the ground floor windows. It has been carefully stipled with AK Interactive Terrains acrylic, a texture normally used for roads etc.

I am fine with its actual size although it is about 30% too short compared to the Häcker family house but all other dimensions are 1:87 moreover buildings of this size were once common until the '70s when living in a two down one up became unacceptable. 

 

Although unfinished, the result will be acceptable

 

 

 At the bottom of the cottage garden, there are some chickens

 

Tim

Building the layout

The blog is about building a small fictitious terminus vaguely based on other small stations in Oberfranken, instead it is merely an amalgam of features of existing locations in the area, a plausible fiction.

Oct 2022 

It began with four old baseboards that were cleaned and prepared for new track

 

Mar 2023 Track laid and fully wired

 

February 2024 

The platform receives a coat of Acrylmasse textured light grey paint and the roads and station yard have been repainted with limestone paint and layer of Acrylmasse.

 

 

 All the track has been ballasted, ready for testing. 

 

April 2024 

The backscene is finally in place

May 2024

The edge along the backscene is mostly complete, it is patchy were the PVA failed to 'grab' the static grass, the rest of the grass was secured with MattMedium.

Finally, the front edge nears completion, just a few untouched patches to be covered, tomorrow, trains will be running.

Perhaps worth mentioning that 'Pottendorf' represents a station during a rather wet ‘60s late summer and it is in its final months of existence, lack of maintenance has resulted in a general unkempt appearance.

June 2024
Starting to plant the trees, ten in total

 

At the end of the track

 

 

 

 

 

It is a lantern from Auhagen 41618, not easy to assemble nor easy to install. A shallow slot had to made in the trackbed and it is held in place by the white PVA glue. There are six on Pottendorf. 

September 2024

Finally complete

Goods for Pottendorf

The goods traffic is based on a small terminus in Oberfranken, logs were loaded in the yard. 

 The goods shed

 

This is a lock-up storage for small items carried by rail, it has entrances front and rear.

 

Timber 

 
The sidings would have been used for shifting other actual local products, timber but 50 years ago loading was achieved wiith ingenuity and man power as the only methods. 

A few choice images:-

Scenery

Fränkische Schweiz, the hills and the valleys 

Pottenstein Castle

Around the region

 

Trees  

 

 

Trees make all the difference to a layout, they add height, interest and structure. There are over ten trees available to Pottendorf, most made by MBR. They will be 'planted' in groups of three (one large, two small) with the last single tree behind the barns and hiding the exit.

Two of the smaller trees in the farmyard

 

 

Rocks 

 Fränkische Schweiz is famous for its rocky outcrops such as Pottenstein at the top of the page or little rocks at the side of a field.

 

This is my rock, just after it was given a base coat of matt white

 

The same rock after a simple treatment

 

It has received a thin wash of Yellow Ochre watercolour mixed with some matt medium and water.

 

 

 

The thin wash of W&N Yellow Ochre is migratory and settles nicely in almost every crevice, exactly the same process used on the old station building (above) and the other buildings on P'dorf.

 

For comparison, these were the rocks on the previous version of P'dorf

 

 

And these are the rocks on the new P'dorf, please note that they are not yet secured in place and need a great deal more work. There is total of 100cm of rocks available to use and they certainly add a feature that defines the location as Fränkische Schweiz.