Indholdsfortegnelse for OCTOBER 2015 - 83 i Voie Libre international

The longest local electrified railway network built in France was the Tramways de la Haute-Vienne. A very structured network, this railway featured a star-pattern of four lines radiating around Limoges, and was from the outset designed for electric traction. Remarkably advanced in technical terms, this railway was supplied by high voltage industrial current and operated “American-style” via an operations manager inspired by US dispatching practice. Four branches for a star Planned as early as 1897, the network was declared of public utility in 1909 and conceded to a company managed by Messrs. Giros and Loucheur, engineers who specialized in projects running on electrical power. The railway opened in stages between 1911 and 1913. The network was built along the roadside in a very hilly region. Gradients were as steep as…

Contrary to what one might think, this 60cm gauge wagon isn’t loaded with three barrels. We simply placed three barrels on a wagon, and should the latter run, it would overturn on the very first curve. In 1891, when he had this photo taken, Paul Decauville wanted to prove to prospective customers that his lightweight rolling stock was able to carry loads as heavy as those found on meter or standard gauge lines! In actual fact, loading wagons has always been subject to stringent specifications. The mainline railway companies even published thick rule-books on this topic. Without going that far, we decided to help you improve the appearance and realism of your goods trains. We drew up a list of knacks that will radically improve the looks of your pick-up…

15 May 2007: a loaded train of log carriers seen on the Wassertal valley forestry railway in Romania. (photo B. Junk) I will use the MinitrainS trucks for my logging loads. They are cast in a slightly soft and brilliant plastic. A coat of light grey Modelmates primer, followed by an application of opaque dark rust weathering (MM49306), radically improves their appearance. Prototype logs remain on the trucks thanks to their own weight and hold the trucks together. Not so for scale models. The load must be made to hold the trucks together somehow. I opted to make a frame consisting of two U shaped 2.5mm crossbeams, connected by two lengths of 1mm square rod. The crossbeams fit tightly inside the truck bolsters. The logs selected for the load are…

Tours, in the 1920s, the small Renault FT17 assault tanks travel the 3km separating the barracks district from the shooting range on Péchot flat wagons. A Baldwin locotractor is in charge. (Ch. Menier collection) The basic materials are a bit of a hotchpotch: a Matchbox plastic kit of a Renault tank, or one from RPM in my case. This is a Polish artisan production in injected plastic. The material is brittle, so take care when cutting off the parts. I opted for a tank fitted with a radio aerial rather than cannon. The kit is in 1/72 scale, a tad larger than what it should be. The Péchot flat body is a 3D print bought online from Shapeways, it’s a Rue d’Etropal creation. After having been carefully cleaned, the tank…

What a great way to travel to the mountain pastures! But with a fair risk of seeing a sheep jump off the train! Corsica, Francardo, May 1987. (Photo P. Béjui) 13 April 1965, a major removal operation is under way near Bescano, berween Olot and Gerona in Spain. The Land Rover is held in place by chocks nailed onto the wagon flooboards and a rope lashed round the bonnet. (Photo J-L Rochaix) Cars can indeed be carried! This picture shows the transfer of a road vehicle on the Chemins de fer de Provence. Goods train N° 502 bound for Nice, with Brissonneau et Lotz locomotive N° 62 in charge, was photographed by Albert Nymeyer a little south of Puget-Théniers. The car, almost certainly a Panhard, is loaded on a flat…

1 With power supplied to both stock rails, it reaches the point blades and the frog through contact with one of the stock rails. The mobile part of the blade is held in place by a pivot on the fixed part of the rail. As grime accumulates, the quality of the electrical contact will degrade. There is also the risk of shorting between the open point blade and the wheel, especially for vehicles with coarser wheel profiles. While this problem can be acceptable in 12V DC mode, it is a non-starter in DCC, as the central unit will automatically switch to safety mode in the event of shorting. 2 To solve the shorting problems, the frog must be isolated, and fed for example by the auxiliary contacts of the turnout…

Often, while out hiking, it strikes me that the scenery I am walking through would deserve a fine meter or narrow gauge line! Such is the case of the small village of Argental: whenever I’m there, I dream of a steam locomotive whistling through the town in charge of a mixed train. Well, why wait any longer? Let’s make the dream come true! The natural location The village is built on the mountainside, on a semi-cylindrical outcrop. The former lord’s castle overlooks the scene, while a large textile mill has settled in the valley, next to the river. Between these two points runs a road, on the level. To the right, it joins a larger road, after having avoided a rocky outcrop. To the left, it moves to the other…

Necessary supplies • Roco truck (ref. 34602, available from www.train-modelisme.com) • Peco N gauge axles with spoked wheels (ref. NR-101, available from www.train-modelisme.com) • 15x18 wooden cask (ref. 819-033 1518, available from www.micro-modele.fr) • Evergreen strips (ref. 167, 294) • X-Acto knife, cyano adhesive, sandpaper (grain 60 and 150) • Humbrol paint (n° 11, 62), Lefranc et Bourgeois acrylic (n° 127 – Umber earth, n° 265 - Black) • “Black” and “rust brown” pastels If you are about to venture into scratchbuilding rolling stock and want to be reasonably sure of success, it’s advisable to start with a very simple model. Such is the case of this small H09 cask wagon, which can be used to carry all kinds of fluids: weed killer, water, alcohol… Let’s proceed step-by-step, or rather, photo by photo!…

Sugar beet used to be one of the most common loads on narrow or meter gauge railways throughout a good third of Northern France (Photo Bernard Bary). This first stage is suitable for modelling large quantities of bulk materials. Rather than fill the wagon completely, I cut out a block of styrene foam to fit inside the open wagon body. I spread a generous coat of air-drying clay over the top. Then, using a painter’s knife and a stiff brush, I gave a rough shape to the surface To model sugar beet in 0 scale, I’m personally in favour of modelling the roots one by one. I make mine out of the same air-drying clay used to coat the styrene block. The roots are simply put into place and coated…

Necessary supplies • 8 or 10mm diameter round balsa rod • 0.5 to 1mm diameter twigs from the great outdoors • Liquid weathering medium or brown ink • Tools: wood rasp, wire brush, bit and pinvice, paintbrush, scalpel, wood glue, fine grain sandpaper Marchenoir forest (Vintage postcard, B. Junk collection) I cut 12 to 15cm long segments in the 8 or 10mm diameter round balsa rods. They are coarsely thinned down first with the scalpel, then with the wood rasp. The veins of the trunk are marked with the wire brush, the trunk in the foreground has been treated, not the one in the background. Any wood barbs or threads are removed with the fine sandpaper. With a wash of weathering medium or brown ink, I stain the trunks. The rather dark wash is…

On 3rd September 1952, François Collardeau photographed this train on the Colomp viaduct, near Annot (Nice-Digne line of the Chemins de fer de Provence). Four open wagons are loaded to capacity with straw, and covered with tarpaulins. (Photo F. Collardeau) A block of polystyrene cut to fit inside the open wagon as well as to inside the loading gauge is painted beige. With the same beige shade, I paint a 10cm square of paper tissue. The polystyrene block, generously coated with white wood glue, receives an application of 10mm long pieces of plumber’s hemp. Once the adhesive has set, the hemp is trimmed back to fit inside the loading gauge. The tarpaulin is put in place over the hay, I leave a little of the load visible between the wagon…

On 8 April 1962, Jean-Louis Rochaix photographed at Vizille depot meter gauge locomotive nº 13, which had come to collect standard gauge locomotive nº 12 loaded on a carrier truck. (Photo J.-L. Rochaix) The Bemo trolleys, ref: 2210600 in H012 and 2010600 in H09, are more difficult to load: prongs hold the axle of the standard gauge wagon. These trolleys have to be used with coupling beams. The Liliput carrier truck ref: L291905, for H09, consists of two 6-wheeler bogies and of a truck chassis comprising two cross-braced girders. The couplings are fitted to the ends of the truck. The chocks used to hold the wheels in place are clipped to the outside girders, and can be adjusted to the wheelbase of the standard gauge wagon carried. The Roco H09…

A decade ago, I decided to build an H09 layout on which I could run my Egger-Bahn and Jouef-Egger-Bahn collection of stock in period scenery. I created the baseboard on the “town” side, laid the track and bought the Jouef buildings. Everything was then tidied away before being pulled out a year ago to complete the project. The aim was to build the layout as it would have been in 1970, using only scenic elements available at that time or earlier. But which could also have been produced later, provided the models remained identical to the original ones. This was easy, as most items used still appear in current catalogues; when a model is well designed, it remains on the market for a long time, despite changing fashions! Baby-Train, Egger-Bahn,…

Early on in the trip, at Livraçao, he will encounter the first meter gauge branch: the Tâmega line. Jean-Louis Rochaix, who is sitting on a seat next to Sr. Suarez, provides a running commentary illustrated with photographs taken during his travels. The Tâmega line, the very last Portuguese meter gauge line Following the opening of the broad gauge Douro valley line in 1878/79, the town of Amarante was keen to be connected to the national railway network. Technical obstacles prevented this wish from becoming reality. It wasn’t until 1904 that planning begand for a line known as the "Tâmega line" (named after the river it would follow). The junction would be at Livração and the line would reach Amarante, with an extension to Arco de Baúlhe. The line was built…

Imagine two black boxes, what we usually call “show cases”, arranged back to back, and connected by two semi-circles of track, with one of them forming a large fiddleyard. Imagine varied operations: mixed trains, pick-up goods trains or heavily loaded bulk trains. Imagine that the overcast sky generates a slightly blinding white light. Imagine the heat and humidity so typical of the Pô valley. Open your eyes, listen to Enrico and Massimo Boniforti, and let’s take a trip through northern Italy. François Fontana: The layout doesn’t evoke a specific location, but rather an entire region? Enrico Boniforti: In Italy, there used to be miles and miles of narrow gauge railways, as was the case in most countries; they were eliminated by road transport. But they contributed significantly to the economic…

Both models • Manufacturer: MinitrainS • Scale: 009/H09/H0n30 • Gauge: 9mm • Driving mechanism: can motor, flywheel, worm gear and straight gear tower • Lights: working with light yellow LEDs • Price: 139.90€ • Forney: black and brown ref. 1031. With F&C Ry markings: ref. 1032. • Porter: ref. 1011 Two new references is good news, but two new locomotives is even better! Especially when these two locomotives have different chassis, one with two driving axles, and the other with three. The choice of the prototypes Clearly, the two locomotives, a Forney 0-4-4 T and a Porter 0-6-0 saddle tank, although inspired by plantation prototypes, are imaginary. Their tiny size and small driving wheel diameter places them squarely in the category of their Egger-Bahn or Joe Works ancestors. They are strikingly similar to earlier brass kit references from the…

According to a principle close to Paul Decauville’s heart, skips are used to carry enormous volumes of materials, by splitting the load into as many parts are there are skips. Realism therefore implies making as many identical small loads. The first stage is actually performed out of doors… I selected a lump of tertiary chalk, somewhat light in colour and with a fine grain, to fill my skips. On a hard concrete surface, I carefully crushed it with a hammer until the pieces were the right size. Shards fly and dust is generated! Given the size of the skips, care must be taken with the appearance of the load. Here again, cling wrap makes the load removable. So, after a first coat of filler which provides volume to the load,…

In the dawn of the XXth century, packaging methods hadn’t evolved very much when compared to what they were several hundred years earlier. True, the amphora was no longer in use, but natural materials (wood, straw…) remained dominant. In this picture, baskets are piled high on a 60cm gauge wagon. Making a series of packing crates in 0 scale won’t take you longer than a couple of afternoons’ work. Start by engraving planks, of various widths, in a large square sheet of 0.5mm thick plastic. Cut out 10mm long strips out of which you will then cut 16mm lengths (the sides) and 12mm lengths (the ends of the crates). You will also need angle reinforcements (1mm square rod) and crossbeams (0.5 x 1mm flat strips). Work must be done in…

When it comes to bulk loads, the German firm Juweela (www.juweela.de) is unquestionably the leader, given the high degree of realism of its products. Agricultural and military modellers have known this for a long time. In 0, 00 and H0 scales, you can get bricks of various colours, as well as coal and of course sugar beets. Sold between 6 and 10 euros, a box is enough to load a full train of narrow gauge wagons. In H0, the brand new artisan firm bcf-modèles (see What’s New elsewhere in this issue and the website www.bcf-modeles.fr) has already included casks and chests in its catalogue. Unlike most industrial products, these are accurate scale models of existing items. The pressed steel chest will bring back camping memories to many of us. And…

When I started design work on the Tramway de l’Île Grande layout, my aim was to make the utmost of the possibilities offered by H09/009 stock in general and of the MinitrainS range in particular. I therefore took advantage of the small size of the rolling stock items to operate trains of three or four bogie wagons over a fairly short length of track. The reliability of the locomotives now available on the market meant that fine shunting sessions could take place, provided the trackplan was suitable. In Voie Libre 81, I described a two-tier layout, with a concealed balloon loop, a triangular station and two dead-end sidings. This meant that both line running and shunting could be performed. All this takes place in analogue mode, with significant complications in…