Module Ideas – N Scale Notes

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

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…

October 22, 2019

Zwijndrecht & Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Following on from my post about a bridge over the Savannah River in Georgia, USA, this week I thought I’d take a look at the area another bridge; this time the giant lift-bridge between the towns of Zwijndrecht and Dordrecht in the Netherlands.

“Grote Kerk Dordrecht” by bertknot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

In case you haven’t guessed, it’s that white, futuristic looking structure towards the rear of the picture 🙂

I’ve probably said this already in previous posts but I’m not entirely sure I’m a fan of modern Netherlands architecture, however… it’s definitely a bridge that makes a statement, it’d be a very interesting scratchbuilding project and it’s shear size means it would make it an eye-catching model on an exhibition layout.

So let’s find out a bit more about the Zwijndrecht, Dordrecht and the bridge itself…

September 24, 2019

Bridge Over The Savannah River (Savannah, Georgia)

I first spotted this interesting bridge a few years back when Google Map exploring the railroads and industrial spurs around Savannah, Georgia.

Something about the control tower and massive counter-weight structure appealed to me and I have always thought it would make an excellent North American river crossing module and scratchbuilding project.

I’ve also wanted to do a post about it for ages…

September 18, 2019September 19, 2019

Grain Silos & Feed Mills In Mount Joy, Pennsylvania

The town of Mount Joy in Pennsylvania, USA has been on my must research list ever since I found this photograph of the Wenger Feed Mill:

Wenger Feed Mill by Jim Epler – Own work, CC BY 2.0, View Image

You might think that’s strange because a closer look at the picture reveals there isn’t actually any track in the picture. While that observation is true, it’s still a very interesting and attractive jumble of buildings which would make a very nice scratch-building or kit-bashing project.

I don’t have a photo to show it but the facility is still rail served, it’s just that railcars are currently loaded/unloaded on the other (north) side of the facility. However there’s no reason why we couldn’t apply a little modellers license, add some track and create the option to model tracks on both sides of the facility.

There’s also something else not visible in the photo above that makes this location somewhat rare and interesting, at least in terms of US operations…