The why and wherefore

The Wiesenttalbahn

Forchheim–Behringersmühle railway line

Alfred Trabert DFS

Finding a back story can be problematic, the profile must be a very small station in Oberfranken, preferably on the edge of Fränkische Schweiz, an area bounded by Nürnberg, Bamberg und Bayreuth. The region is known for its exposed rocks, pretty villages and scenery, add numerous venues for refreshment.

There are a number of branchlines, although many have been long closed, the line from Ebermannstadt to Behringersmühle is open as a museum railway, the DFS. 

Only part of the Wisenttalbahn remains open, the line to Behringersmühle, which was at one time considered for a connection to the mainline at Pegnitz. Pottendorf attempts to replicate the station near Pottenstein that would have been the terminus of the abandoned extension to Pegnitz. It takes the presumption a tad further, Pottendorf was re-opened by the DFS, they used the once closed loco shed as their centre for engineering, it was home to their Kof and KLV12.

Whilst looking for a plausible alternative and likely scenario for a short lived secondary line that could be used as inspiration, this trackplan was of interest.

 

Veilbronn Halte

Buildings

The station is an old Pola kit,  although the style may look odd at first but Bavarian railways favoured a rather plain style of station called an Agenturgebäude.

The building was part of previous version of the layout which appeared at Warley and later at Intermodellbau exhibitions. 

  

This is the replacement goods shed also from Pola, again suitably plain.

The only other major railway structure is the old loco shed and its watercrane, also Pola

The locoshed awaits a repair, it was used by the DFS for their KOF and KLV12.

Memories

Veilbronn Oberfranken 

 

Amongst the photo collection this series of images has a special significance, the location was Veilbronn, a halt just one stop onward from the ‘hiring’ in Unterleinleiter, that was a temporary home to the Hale tribe. The Leinleitertalbahn to Heilingenstadt from Ebermannstadt was completed in 1915 before the line to Behringersmuhle, it closed in 1965. The mother and boy are essential for Pottendorf, though I would have preferred not to wear a cardigan.

The farm & cottage

The small farm comprises of a low house and a small yard separated by a railway line.

The farm buildings include a Wills SS30 barn kit that has been improved with a layer of Polyfilla fine surface render.

 

 

Just a couple of scenes in the farmyard, the farm is a tiny dairy unit, just three working buildings around a courtyard.

 

  

The 'futtersilo' a must-have on any farm from Epoch 2 onwards but this is the actual reason why there is a silo

 

Hunting for Frogs

The earth cellar. 

Whilst looking around an old farm we found an odd feature found beside the farmhouse, it was a small stone hut built into the side of the hill. It was the entrance to a cold store or 'Erdkeller' for the 18th century farm, although farmhouse had a basement it also had a separate earth cellar. 

In terms of room height and shape, it penetrates far less deeply into the ground, only two steps lead down to the brick entrance. The quarry stone vault of the cellar is also completely covered with soil and potatoes are stored here over the winter - dark, cool, but frost-free.

There were a couple of other similar garden cellars in the village, one was not built into the side of a hill, instead merely cut into the farm garden and covered with the displaced soil. 

 

A small Franconian farm labourers' home

The Faller farm labourer's cottage is a bit too small, although it bears a distant resemblance to the Häcker family home in Ergersheim, which is preserved as building 12 in the Franconian Open Air Museum in Bad Windsheim. However, a new homemade version is urgently needed.

 

Perhaps it would be possible to create a model that is 25 mm longer; these archive images show the original building and its proportions.

The building is a half-timbered structure with a stucco façade, built around 1706.

Click here for a link to the museum description.

Please note that I am very grateful to the Bad Windsheim Museum for providing the images, without which it would have been almost impossible to start this project.

Updating a Faller kit

 

It began with Faller 130222, the upper floor was masked

 

 

The lower floor was covered with acrylic daub

 

 

 

 

And carefuly reassembled

 

The cottage garden has a couple of fruit trees, vegetable garden and chicken coop.

I remember that in my childhood, chickens (and other domestic birds) were bustling around in every village. The owners of the poultry seemed to have no concern for their safety at all. A constant image was the birds taking carelessly walks along the road running through the village buildings. And this sometimes ended in a tragic accident under the wheels of a car.

Local images

Local images of Oberfranken - Peter König, Aue

The Seekuh 

The Erlangen–Eschenau railway line was a secondary railway in Bavaria . It ran from Erlangen via Neunkirchen am Brand to Eschenau . Originally, it continued to Gräfenberg . The Eschenau–Gräfenberg section is now operated as part of the Gräfenberg Railway ; the rest of the line is closed and dismantled.

The nickname used by the local population for the railway ( Seku or Sea Cow ) is explained by the following anecdote: The painter who was supposed to put up the sign "Restauration zur Sekundärbahn" (Restaurant at the Secondary Railway) on the station restaurant didn't quite finish in the evening, so for a weekend the sign on the building read "Restauration zur Seku…" (Restaurant at the Seku…). Passing students made fun of the fragment and ensured the rapid spread of the nickname.

The unique feature of this line lay in its route, which, unlike typical mainline railways, did not run on its own right -of-way but on or directly alongside the road. The tracks ran right through the city of Erlangen and through some very narrow village streets. Only in Neunkirchen am Brand was this not possible due to the densely built old town center with its fortifications.

The Seekuh

Details

Timber traffic

The goods traffic is largely logs that were loaded in the yard, 50 years ago loading was achieved with ingenuity and man power as the only methods. 

The unloading area is large hardstanding for local timber and general traffic. There is a raised level platform for the passengers and a small wooden lockup for luggage, parcels etc. 

 The rules

• Only one locomotive in use at any time
• Only four trains
• Magnetic auto-couplings 
• Electric turnouts

Hands free (mostly - although I find the free running rolling stock has magnetic axles - which I must address) operation should mean this isn't a problem. In addition, a tiny 'off stage' area is sufficient to swap out vehicles and store two wagons 'off the track' when not in use. 

Other details - The ladies