Pottendorf - a journey from here to there

 

The blog is about building a small fictitious terminus based on a location in Oberfranken, it is merely an amalgam of features of existing locations in  Fränkische Schweiz, in short, a plausible fiction. It is presumed that there was a further extension beyond the existing terminus at Behringersmuhle to line known as the Dampfbahn Fränkische Schweiz. 

 

 The map below shows its route.

 

 A short description 

The facts

 The line, also known as the Wiesenttalbahn, was originally built and operated by the Bavarian Royal State Railway. The branch line from Ebermannstadt via Gasseldorf to Heiligenstadt, which opened in 1915, also fell into the state railway era. The continuation from Gasseldorf to Behringersmühle, on the other hand, was already carried out under the direction of the German Reichsbahn in several stages from 1922 to 1930. The slow progress was due to the effects of the global economic crisis. Plans for an extension to Pottenstein or to the main line to Pegnitz were therefore not later realized. At the beginning, both the Wiesenttalbahn and the Aischgrundbahn to Höchstadt had their own track from Forchheim station next to the Nuremberg-Bamberg main line. This was discontinued in 1990 and replaced by the Trubbachbrücke branch from the Nuremberg-Bamberg main line. Since then, the line actually only begins at kilometer 1.077.

Today, the DB line, which extended to Behringersmühle until 1976, ends at a dead-end track in Ebermannstadt station. This is where the heritage railway, operated by the Franconian Switzerland Steam Railway Association, founded on August 9, 1980, begins. Scheduled trips with historical equipment take place here on Sundays and public holidays from April to October. The private route number 9585 was then assigned to this section. The description of the DFS route can be found via the link below.

The history of the Wiesenttal Railway cannot really be told without mentioning the branch line from Ebermannstadt to Heiligenstadt, which was opened in 1915 and closed in 1968. The first extension did not lead further into the Wiesenttal but instead into the Leinleitertal and was even supposed to lead via Hollfeld to Bayreuth. However, the difficult topographical route, the turmoil of the First World War and the subsequent economic decline soon put an end to these plans.

During the DB's steam locomotive era, the following series ran here: 98.8 (Bavarian GtL 4/4), 64, 86. Later: Vt 95.9, V36 and of course the V80. The route belonged to the management area of ​​BD Nurnburg. 

 

Pottendorf thanks to Peco Publications

The plausible fiction

The layout is based on Pottendorf, a fictional train station which is one of those stations in Franconia (and elsewhere) that were built at a time when it was still believed that the railway would continue to make mobility and the development of the area possible in the future.

 

 Apparently the route was extended from Behringersmühle at the instigation of the town of Pottenstein however, the extension was no longer funded by the town when it opened,  consequently it was named Pottendorf. I can't say to what extent this is true, but there were plans of a continuous connection through to Pegnitz. However due to the First World War and the subsequent development of the automobile as an essential mode of transport, all of these ideas were abandoned. However, the station was always a loss-maker throughout its life and was finally shut down and demolished in the late 1960s.

 

Streitberg DFS ELNA Lok4 

Click here for Sekundärbahn Erlangen - Eschenau 1959

 

 

Rivarossi BR89 upgrade

 

 

Rivarossi BR89 

 

Hi, has anyone attempted to improve this rather elderly model? I will try to improve it with new wheels and a coreless motor before fitting a decoder. If I remember correctly, Herr Reitze once offered some better details for this model, hopefully Weinert can supply something BUT it would be nice to find another adventurous person.

The oil lanterns need to be replaced with electric lights and a turbo generator Weinert 8455 added in front of the chimney.

The following was copied from DSO 

I was able to remove the sliding panels on the windows from a cheaply purchased housing.The guide rails were a bit more complicated. I roughly cut them out and then sanded them down from behind until only the guide rail remained. This was done at the top and bottom, but went quicker than I thought. The generator was donated by an old 75 from Gützold. The exhaust pipe on the chimney was previously a handle on the 89 880. The small nub on the chimney also comes from it. The locomotive had a step plate on the front of each of the water tanks, just like the 89 638, this was cut off and moved to the cylinder cover. On the driver's cab, one window was rotated 90 degrees at the front and one at the back. The edge was first colored black with a permanent marker. The plan is to put a couple of shovels or a shovel on the water tank. Not yet visible here, the control supports were painted red, the crosshead and slideways dark silver acrylic paint. The controls work perfectly. I'm actually happy with the wheels. You can hardly see them anyway. They are identical to those of the 89 880. My locomotive is one of the last. It has the flat motor. It didn't run well at all at first. The thing was a total pain, got warm and got slower and slower. A few careful little drops of oil worked wonders. The machine is still very loud and sounds like a mill. But now it can be controlled very smoothly, overcomes problematic frogs where longer locomotives come to a standstill and can crawl at the slowest speed. I will be careful not to replace the motor unless it is necessary.

The plan is to renumber it 89 621, as it was stationed in Leipzig-Engelsdorf until 1966. A few small changes would have to be made for this; at least remove the bell on the driver's cab and fit other air tanks. In the Bavaria Report of the Eisenbahn-Journal, this locomotive is pictured with the driver's side.

https://web.archive.org/web/20181124100106/http://hp-pfeiffer.de/digi_umbau1/dcc/Rivarossi_br89_8-Bay-R3-3/Rivarossi_Br89_8_Bay-R3-3.html

 

Building Pottendorf

In October 2022, the layout was four old boards, too good to throw away, they needed to be cleaned and recycled.

 

 

 By March 2023, the boards had been cleaned, track laid and the electrics updated

 

 After the track was laid, a start was made on the scenery

 

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. 

 

 

Unfortunately the Auhagen lanterns are super fragile, it did not survive an accidental bump but was found and the shaft repaired with a piece of 1mm wire. Not all the bits survived but it'll do for now.

 

September 2024

Finally

Whys and wherefores

  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. 

 

There are no uncouplers, all uncoupling is achieved using a long wooden skewer with a very pointy end, they deftly separate the knuckles of the Kadees.

 

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.

Rendering model buildings

Some of the buildings are rendered with much the same stuff as a real building - plaster. 

The material

Normal Polyfilla is used, simply because it is readily available and is easy to use. It is spread onto model with an artist’s palette knife, not particularly small as it needs to carry up to half a teaspoon of filler.

The method 

If required, use masking tape to protect areas, spread the filler thinly like butter. 

This is an ideal model to learn the process, the Wills SS30 Barn is cheap and easy to find. One consideration is the paint the building before applying the filler, it is easier to remove the wet filler than the paint from the dry filler. 

First photo

Once applied, let the filler harden for at least 24hrs

Second photo

Smooth the filler with rough abrasive paper until the necessary finish is achieved. Please note I had forgotten to paint the building…..

Third photo

Apply a wash of a suitable dilute water colour, I use yellow ochre to replicate lime or sandstone. Weather the entire building with a dusting of off-white poster colour powder, WW Scenics offer Desert Yellow. 

A loco shed

Other than the station, the other major railway building is the locoshed, the first is a simple single road wooden shed from MBZ

 

 

And another half-timbered shed that was rebuilt from a very old Pola kit 

  

 

 

 

The locoshed has a small coaling stage and a water crane.

 

Details such as a water tap outside the locoshed and inside the lean-to

 

 

 

The water crane is a Spitzner type, copied from the examples 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.

 

 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?

 

Adding the Polyfilla render

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 and in the book below. 

 

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