The construction of this layout came about mainly for the following two reasons. Firstly, a collection of HOe stock which I had gathered over the last four or five years, and secondly two requests by exhibition managers (Peter Kirkby for Narrow Gauge North and Tony Walsh of the Pennine (Huddersfield) club) to bring something European rather than American to their next shows.
Location
As the stock was from several countries, and the locos included both steam and diesel types, the setting was going to be the classic 'somewhere in Europe', but I decided to make it eastern Germany during the 1960s on the pretence of the railway acquiring lots of second-hand items over the years.
The track plan would be designed for shunting, and include a limestone quarry and loader. The final design was one I had doodled for an On30 layout which did not come to fruition. Despite rumours to the contrary, not all my track plans start life on a beer mat!
Baseboard
Usually my baseboards are constructed of 2" x 1" timber in L-girder style with a plywood top, but as I was given some 6mm MDF offcuts measuring 5' x 8" by Mark Murray of the Normanton & Pontefract club, I used a 4" deep frame with corner pieces of 2" x 1" pinned and glued. The 5' length determined the size of the layout which is 5' x 18" on a single board. The baseboard top is also 6mm MDF, surfaced with cork tiles.
Track
I decided to use Peco code 80 N gauge track and medium radius live frog points which were left from a previous project (Moosejaw, CM December 2002). Rails are painted dark brown and sleepers earth colour, then dry brushed with white prior to ballasting. Points are worked with brass rod in plastic tubing set into the cork tile base. Ballasting is done in the time-honoured way of spraying with water including some washing-up liquid then a 50/50 glue/water mix dribbled on.
Scenery
As the setting was going to be rural forested countryside, I made provision to have two different scenes separated by a bridge which spanned a river and waterfall. The original track plan included two waterfalls, which Axel Klozenbücher told me translated into German as something like 'Zweiwasserfälle'': I gave this some thought as a name, but because I like to letter my own pelmets, I decided to settle for the easier title of Bierdorf.
Hills and rock faces are cut from white polystyrene foam, coated with neat white glue and paper towels brushed on the level areas. Where rock faces were required, the polystyrene was carved with a hacksaw then covered with damp tissue paper. When dry, white glue was brushed on carefully and allowed to dry. When fully set, flat areas and hills were painted with green emulsion then flocked with a mixture of Woodland Scenics and Green Scenes foam. Rock faces are coloured with a thin wash of dark grey water-based paint.
The river bed is thin MDF painted a green-black. Small stones were sprinkled on, and held down with white glue/water mix. When dry it was coated with several layers of gloss varnish. The waterfall is teased-out material used by my grandchildren for decorating at Christmas.
Trees are from NOCH and Bachmann, sprayed with cheap hairspray and coated with a slightly lighter green foam to create some depth. While polystyrene foam is messy when forming hills, etc., it does have the benefit of holding tree trunks easily when fixed with white glue.
The sand used for ballast and ground cover is various shades obtained from coastal resorts, mainly in the southwest. Actual powdered limestone is used to represent the area around the quarry loader.
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