The layout has a long and chequered history, it began life in 2004 as four boards on one side of the workshop, a simple plan based on a well known location, Frauenwald, Thuringia. It was frequently exhibited but difficult to operate without at least two operators, as a result, in 2008, it was sold however that was not the end of Grafenwalde.
Fifteen years later, a few bits of the layout was found in a barn on the Isle of Wight, they were returned and a decision was made to ‘rebuild’ the layout using four sturdy secondhand baseboards that were stripped, sanded flat and cleaned.
The plan differs as the layout, although modular, is not intended to be exhibited, the entire plan was ‘flipped’ horizontally so that now the platform faces the operator, the loco shed moved to the other end of the run around and the FY is 4-road set of sidings. All this was needed to make it ‘user friendly’ by one operator.
The current Grafenwalde
The buildings were all Kibri and were restored as near as possible but they were rather problematic as they were copies of Bad Bischofshiem in Hesse, not really suitable for the supposed location. However, in 2020, Auhagen released ‘Goyatz’ a station that shares a very similar architectural style as Geraberg that is located just a few kilometres from the northern end of the Rennsteig and it has replaced the Kibri station buildings.
The one notable exception is the Kibri loco shed, it is sufficiently ‘neutral’ and such an attractive building, it remains in use as a reminder of the original layout seen here in 2008
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