Interesting Ideas For A Module

April 12, 2022April 12, 2022

Modelable Intermodal Terminals #7: Vlaardingen Terminals, The Netherlands

While browsing through the Tank Car Trains album on Flickr I was intrigued by a picture of a Captrain locomotive pulling a string of tank cars through an industrial area in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands. After a bit of searching in Google Streetview I was able to figure out roughly where the photo was taken:

I can’t include the original image as it’s copyright but if you click the link above and take a look you’ll see the similarities. If we stand on the street called Vulcaanweg; the buildings on the left match the original photograph, the only difference is that the photographer must have been standing on the grassy bank between the two sets of tracks on the right.

Now this view wasn’t the most intriguing part. If you turn 180 degrees and ‘travel’ down Vulcaanweg a short distance things get even more interesting.

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020

The Gonō Line, Japan

Following on from my recent post about the Kato HB-E300 (“Resort Shirakami”) train, I thought I’d take a look at a part of the usual route of that train, the Gonō Line in northern Japan.

Gonō Line Todoroki Station and Kiha 40 DMU by 掬茶 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, View Image

December 8, 2020October 22, 2021

Useful Website: Flickr Group (Short Trains With Up To 5 Wagons/Korte Goederentreinen)

With the decline of wagonload freight in present-day Europe, it’s sometimes difficult to find prototype trains to recreate that won’t look out of place on a small layout and won’t cost an absolute fortune to buy or scratchbuild in miniature.

If you model US railroads, there is still a fair amount of wagonload freight running, but the trains are often marshalled into incredibly long formations, especially on the Class 1 railroad lines.

If only there was a gallery of photographs of short freight trains for inspiration…

November 24, 2020November 9, 2020

Rail Served Industries In Europe #4: Nestlé Suisse, Orbe, Switzerland

This building has been on my radar for a while after I stumbled across it while writing about the Terminal Combiné Chavornay SA back in 2019. What’s the connection?

The Nestlé Suisse facility in Orbe is just up the railway tracks from the town of Chavornay.

Here’s a Streetview of the modern loading facilities at Nestlé in Orbe:

I’d not seen a loading bay with exterior weather shielding like this before and I thought it might be an interesting feature to recreate in miniature…

November 17, 2020November 7, 2020

Rail Served Industries In Europe #3: Aurubis, Hamburg, Germany

Here’s an interesting real-World track layout for you…

View Larger Map

It’s in the grounds of the massive Aurubis copper production and recycling facility in east Hamburg. It’s a sprawling site but this section of track in particular caught my eye because it’s similar to the track plan of a significant number of model railways…

November 10, 2020November 5, 2021

Rail Served Industries In Europe #2: A Ghost In Hamburg, Germany

This will be a quick post because I can’t find out much about this building, for the simple reason it’s not there any more:

However this is an almost perfect ‘ready-made’ cameo or micro shunting-module.

And yes, there are tracks there, honest…

November 5, 2020November 7, 2020

Rail Served Industries In Europe #1: Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel, Hamburg, Germany

I was taking a virtual tour around the railways in Hamburg via Google Maps today and spotted this interesting looking building at the end of a seemingly abandoned line in an industrial area:

From what I can glean web searching and Google translating, this is part of the Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel facility that manufactures and sells a range of steel products, some of which, despite the state of the track in places, still appear to arrive or depart by train. A potential shelf layout here I think…

November 2, 2020April 12, 2022

Modelable Intermodal Facilities #5: Schwedenkai, Kiel, Germany

After a long break from posting anything on this website I thought I’d get back into the swing of things by taking a look at an interesting little intermodal facility in the German port-city of Kiel called Schwedenkai.

Hafen Kiel/Ostsee by BAW_Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau – Own work, CC BY 2.0, View Image

Schwedenkai is one of eight terminals that are part of the wider Port of Kiel. As you many have guessed from the name, Schwedenkai is the terminal for passengers and freight heading for Sweden. In the picture above, it’s the area between the water and the tree lined road from the bridge at the bottom, up to and including the flat areas around the Stena Line ship in the centre of the picture.

The compact nature of the rail-freight handling facilities at Schwedenkai means they could be built as a stand-alone module/cameo, as a small shelf-layout or even as part of a larger German-themed static layout. Read on to find out more…

May 17, 2020May 15, 2020

Useful Website: Pinterest

Pinterest?

Yes Pinterest.

Not the kind of site I usually feature on this blog but I’ve got to be honest, despite being dubious at first, I’m well and truly hooked now. I’m finding it’s actually a bit of a treasure trove of inspirational modelling and interesting prototype pictures.

If you want to take a look you can find my Pinterest profile here:

November 5, 2019November 6, 2019

Terminal Combiné Chavornay SA, Switzerland

It’s been a while since I wrote a post about a modelable European intermodal yard so today I thought we could take a look at the Terminal Combiné Chavornay SA (TERCO) intermodal yard in Chavornay, Switzerland.

In lieu of any photos of the complex, here’s a satellite image of the yard and its immediate surroundings:

So far so ordinary perhaps, but this yard caught my eye because it’s indirectly connected to the Swiss national railway system by an intriguing little Swiss short-line called the Orbe-Chavornay railway.

Read on to find out more…