Show & Tell
Modeller IRWIN D. NATHANSON has devised a novel way of satisfying his fondness for US, UK and German railways.
Another selection of YOUR modelling projects.
Some modellers re-write history a little to give a ‘reason’ for their dream layout. I’ve taken that to extremes, and have moved continents and land masses to achieve mine. I’m American and I grew up with North American trains, but I spent a few years living in Ely, in Cambridgeshire. During my time in the UK, I bought a basic Flying Scotsman ‘OO’ gauge train set and became hooked on model trains again. I also developed a fondness for British trains, but since I’ve been to Germany countless times, either with the Navy, on business or simply as a tourist, I am interested in German trains as well. I decided to develop a layout plan for three separate, but inter-connected layouts. None of these would really be prototypical, but they would capture the look and feel of each country as my mind’s eye saw them.
When my wife and I returned to the USA, we settled in the small town of Diamond Point, right near the tourist destination of Lake George. We extended the house, and added a 16ft by 28ft basement for my layouts. Now I was able to fulfill my vision of three layouts in one. ‘Germany’ was self-contained and separated from England by the English Channel. ‘England’ was also self-contained, and separated from the USA by the Atlantic. In my world, however, the Channel Tunnel links Germany and England, and there’s a bridge across the Atlantic linking England and the USA. I’ve called this modified Hornby suspension bridge the ‘Special Relationship Bridge’. I commissioned Fasttraxx from Pennsylvania to design the trackplan, build the baseboards, lay the track and install DCC. Sadly, this organisation is no longer in business. The track is mainly Atlas, but with Code 100 rails to suit my British rolling stock, on which the wheels are 10% larger than ‘HO’ scale. All buildings are prototypical to each
country. German buildings are mainly plastic kits from Faller, Vollmer and Kibri. I really like them because they come moulded in as many as 14 colors, so painting isn’t really necessary, although I have added some of my own effects here and there. In the USA section, buildings are by Walthers, Bachmann Spectrum, Atlas and others. I’ve also used several Woodland Scenics buildings. In the UK, the buildings are a combination of kits from Hornby, ‘ready-to-plant’ resin buildings, also from Hornby, and card kits from Metcalfe. The latter are amazingly strong and realistic. I think many of them would even work on North American layouts. I don’t know why these are not readily available in the US, and for some reason the manufacturer doesn’t ship over here but, luckily, a large Merseyside retailer will!
AVID COLLECTOR
I’ll readily admit that I’m an avid model locomotive collector and have far more than I will ever be able to use. The vast majority of them are sound-fitted. My US locomotives come from Athearn Genesis, Proto 1000, Broadway Limited and MTH, and I’ve focused on four railroads - the Pennsylvania Rail Road, New York Central, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. German locomotives - from Fleischmann, Roco and Lilliput - are all in Deutsche Bahn colours while my British models Bachmann Branchline, Heljan and Hornby - are all in BR colours. I have an extensive collection of both passenger and freight cars (‘coaches’ and ‘wagons’!) and my favourites include Southern Pacific Daylight passenger cars from Broadway Limited, PRR and NYC box cars from MTH, Bachmann’s BR Mk 1s, Hornby’s ‘Pullman’ cars (with working table lamps) and a DB hay wagon, with a bundle of real hay and a tarpaulin made of textured vinyl.