First things first, the newest additions for this month :-)


It's still a few weeks to Valentine, but I already got a nice present from Christel :-)
24 moulds from Spoerle, which allow me to pour 61 different elements !
(and as a bonus, I got 20 kilograms of plaster :-)
So, what you see on the picture, are the casts of every mould ...


Aah, a mobile station 2 ! I had a Mobile station 1, but I traded it with
someone who needed a MS1, to connect to his CS1. (it seems like the MS2 only fits on the CS2)


4 cars, ready for my own digital version of the Faller Car System.
The top-most is bought, completely with motor and steering. for the other 3, I bought
steering mechanisms, motors, gears and wormwheels, and converted them myself.
On the left, you also see 10 meters of magnetic wire.


For our new module, we bought this Roco streetcar (tram).


And some flexrails and 6 turnouts (2 left, 2 rights and 2 Y) for this streetcar :-)


4 new roco coaches, those coaches did come with marklin axles :-)


I bought the Marklin 4MFor set with 1 coach, 3 tanks and a pantser-car,
the other 2 tanks came from a 3-rail forum-member ...


Roco BR10 002 (I already own a Rivarossi BR10 001)


"Glassner-Zug", this is a roco model with Esu Lokpilot 4 and interior lighting.


I already owned a set of these (Marklin 45093), but due to some "mistakes",
I now have 2 of these sets :-)

Just before I started my treathment for HHC, I managed to finish building the cabinets and lighting,
in our second modelrailroad room. I still need to clean up a lot of mess and dust, paint everything,
connect lots and lots of (electricity) wires, paint all cabinets and lay down some nice laminated floor :-)


This is what you see, when you enter the train-room. (keep in mind that I still need to paint and cleanup)


Long module on the right (about 4 meters), small cabinets and "entrance" to the "big layout" on the left ...


Module 1 on the right ...


Module 2 on the left ...


Viewed from "the other side", there is some room foreseen on the long bench
at the end, to place a lathe(mill) and a laser-based CNC machine.

First of all, the past few months have been very quiet.
This is mainly due to illness. At january 12th, 2012, I need to start with a new therapy for my HHC.
You can compare this with chemo, I will loose all my hair, and I will be ill for at least 6 weeks !

So, first of all, due to our new car (which is to big to fit in our garage), we decided to look forward to buy another
extra garage. So, our old garage now becomes a part of the modelrailroad layout :-)
I'm extending my layout with 2 modules of each 55 cm (about 21,65 inch) wide and 1m45 (57 inch) long.
These modules will be transportable by care, to take them with me to the modelrailroadclub from time to time.
(They fit nicely in the trunk of my car)
Furthermore, I also need to build another extra (fixed) module, which is about 3m30 (130 inch) long.


The new trackplan - notice the 3 new modules at the bottom of this plan.


Picture of the right module. (don't mind the mess)


Picture of the left module. (don't mind the mess)

Because the extra-long module is situated on the opposite wall, and there is a "walk-way" between the other 2 modules and this long module,
I decided to create 2 bridges, which are controlled electronically. (they both have a motor)
Here are some detail-pictures, a small movie will follow later on :-)


Upper part of the bridge, with the motor ...


Upper front, with the pulleys and levers ...


Pulleys and levers on the bridge itself ...

For the long (3m30) module, I bought the Marklin limited edition of the original Marklin factory set 72150.
This building is 1m15 (45,5 inch) long and 29 cm (11,4 inch) high, when finished.
Because this building will become a real eye-catcher (visitors only stand about 30 cm (11,5 inch) from the building, and it will be set at "eye-height".
This is why I decided to put a full interior into this building ...


Marklin set 72150


First facade almost complete.


Detail of side-facade. Notice the high level of details !


Interior: left stairway hall.


Interior: middle stairway hall, with reception desk.


Interior: lower workfloor 1. (there will be 2 workfloors, one left and one right)


Lower workfloor 1: notice the lathes, workbenches and drillpresses.


Lower workfloor 1: another detail shot.

There are already 97 little people into the building. (mostly workers)
When the building is finished (with toilets, cafetaria, office-space, meeting-rooms etc ...),
I estimate the total number of "little people" to be between 300 and 500 !

Next step:
- install the lower workfloor 2, and put lighting into these parts.
- install the office-space, toilets, cafetaria, meeting-rooms etc ... onto the upper floors.
- finish lighting and create some electronics for it ...

Furthermore, while thinking ahead, I bought some extra Z-rails on Ebay.
I need these for one of my modules. I own a mining-train (in scale H0, but those are running on scale Z tracks),
and the included Z-tracks with this train, are not enough tracks for what I have in mind :-)


Z-scale track extension - those turnouts are already motorized !

One last thing I "bargained" on Ebay, it this beautiful ET85-set from Roco.
It was already converted for 3-rail digital.


Isn't this a beauty ? :-)

On Saturday, we did go to Euromodelbouw in Genk.
We bought a Schienenbus (our second) with 'Doornkaat' publicity on the side.
This model does have an MFX decoder, soft-sinus motor, and sound !
Furthermore, I bought 2 decoupling rails and a Porsche 356B :-)


All new things on one picture :-)

Due to a long holiday, We didn't update our website for a long time.
During our holidays, we visited several public modelrailroad layouts, and also some real railroad
related items. (mostly steamtrains, like the Harzer Smallspur Bahn)
Furthermore, we also visited Marklin and the IMA (International Modelrailroad exhibition)

We couldn't resist on buying lots and lots of things.
Christel even decided to start with an LGB railroad in the garden, so at the IMA, we bought
an LGB startset from Piko, a few extra railcars, and lots of tracks and turnouts at the Marklin store.


First of all, a cap, Tshirt and a cosy warm hoody from the HSB. (Harzer Smallspur Bahn)


Next, 2 marklin caps, 4 marklin keyhangers and 2 marklin Tshirts.


"Dampfbier" (steam-beer), large bottle of 5 liters, brewn for the Marklin days.


a big official HSB steamtrain sign.
(you see them everywhere in Wernigerode where the steamtrains do cross the roads.)


2 DVDs from the modellbundesbahn, with lots of building and scenery tips.


Plants for Christels' farm project (including garden shed) - desks and other interior and tree-folliage.


12 cars in period III - scale 1/87 ofcourse.


Another 11 vehicles, including a RollsRoyce, the Marklin VW bus and a horse/carriage.


A mining startset. (with Z-scale rails, but this set is scale 1/87 !)


The "Noch 100 years" car, and the 2011 Marklin IMA car.


Kof III with digital telex couplings and 2 cars. (marklin 26340)


Class C Wurtemberg loc (full sound) with 6 cars. (marklin 26556)


Christels' LGB (scale G) startset with a BR86 and 2 coaling cars.


Extra LGB tracks and turnouts.


And to finish, 2 extra LGB cars.

Status update:
- All background pictures are plotted and mounted on the walls.
- 5 TFT screen re-located.
- Started with the wiring !
- 66 pictures taken from my locs, and resized to 230 x 80 pixels, to be used in RocRail.


Picture behind the Damtor station. (Löwe Ecke)


This is how the water/harbor connects to the background.


The 5 screens, moved from below the modelrailroad, to above ...
(I need to extra screen, for my pan/tilt security cameras, so a total of 7 screens will be used)


Another view, left screen will be used for MrDirect, the other 4, for RocRail.


Both fiddleyards/shadow stations, will be shown on RocRail screen 1.


Harbor and lowest doubletrack of the other side, will be shown on RocRail screen 2.


Both stations and loc maintenance/roundhouse/turntable/coaling will be shown on RocRail screen 3.
RocRail screen 4 will be used for the railspirals, but I still need to draw that screen.


All electronics, which needs to be mounted under the modelrailroad.
Selfmade electronics on the right (most pieces), and standard electronics to the left.


"Me", installing the first wires :-)

A list of pictures from my first 66 digital locs:

I couldn't resist to plot some extra background parts for the modelrailroad.
So, after plotting them, we did put them on the walls, and made some day/night pictures.
We are almost done, still to go: the big wall behind "Lowe Ecke" (big city behind Dammtor station,
and the wall-part which connects the upper 4 harbour tracks to the Bietschtal viaduct ...


Me, cutting out the background parts ...


This corner will get a small mountain, where Christel can put her Schwarzwald farm project.


The backgrounds of Trevithick, in "daylight".


The backgrounds of Trevithick, at "night".


From another angle, nicely fitting the "rounded" corner behind the rail spiral.


The same picture, "at night".


While "playing" with the camera and the day/night lights, I did take another picture ...


The harbor background by night ...

It's only a few days ago, since I posted our new additions, but today is another day :-)
Today I visited the modelrailroad expo in "Houten" (The Netherlands), together with some members of MAG.
As usual, I couln't resist on buying some new additions :-)


Some vegtables and some other garden material for Christels' farm project.


The population of Trevithick and Löwe Ecke, did grow with a few extra people.
Also, a track turnout decoder from Albert-Jan. (I already have 15 of them, I needed one extra).


But the "star of the day", is the Gt 2 x 4/4 BR96 ! limited edition - 8 axles - MFX decoder - Marklin item 37969.


A few years ago, I bought 12 roco freight cars, but I still did not change the couplers !
Today I bought 25 Marklin couplers, if you look closely, you can see them sitting between the cars :-)

Yesterday I noticed that I completely forgot to take pictures of new additions which are
modelrailroad related. So, today, I did take the liberty to digg up most of the new stuff of the last 2 months,
and I did take some pictures of it. (I surely forgot some small parts, but who cares)
So here is the list with pictures for the past 2 months :-)


3 LUX railcars - from right to left:
1. puko/middle-pieces rail cleaner - 2. Rail- en catenary cleaner - 3. vacuum cleaner.


Rivarossi BR10 - digital.


4 VW busses on flat cars.


Piko BR84 - analog 2-rail - I got this loc with my Eisenbahn Journal subscription.
In the meanwhile I did digitize it with a Lokpilot V4, and dit put a smoke generator and Krois coupling on it.


Marklin BR53 - digitized with Lokpilot V4 and a neodesium magnet. (I bought this loc from another MAG member)


Marklin set 45093 - cars with BMW airplane/wings/motor in a box.


Marklin set 45101 - freight cars.


Marklin set 46091 - wood and coal transport.


3x the same Faller box - for lenghtening my Dammtor boarding and underneath vehicle passes.


A few Vollmer and Faller kits - I bought these specific, I already have a place for them :-)


A few other Vollmer and Kibri kits - bought with the same toughts :-)

On Sunday, I digged up my Busch and Jowi CDRoms with nature/buildings/industrial/harbor/mountains/landscapes pictures on it.
I decided it was time to create the first background, for the harbour line.
I created graphical file with Gimp (free photoshop alike), at 300 dpi, which will be 3 meters and 70 centimeters long,
and about 75 centimeters wide after printing. It did take me more then 42 layers to complete this "masterpiece" :-)
Yesterday evening, I corrected the last "mistakes", and did take a "jump" to plot it on our HP plotter.
Today, we decided to put the picture up, behind the 4 upper tracks of the harbor environment.
Next, you can see 2 pictures of the final result.
(don't mind the "non finished" part at the right, with only clouds, there will be a mountain in front of it)


Picture taken from within the other garage.


Picture taken from within the modelrailroad room itself.

Yesterday, I did drill the last whole in the other wall. I also constructed the connection between the bridge
and this hole in the wall. Furthermore I did cut out the plates for the upper deck of the left side of the modelrailroad.
Today I did spend a few hours on installing this plates to the correct height. The result is that I can now drive around :-)
I only need to layout the double track between last hole in the wall and the track spiral, and after that, all woodwork
and track laying is done !
All this within a timespan of less then 2 weeks ! (ooh well, within these 2 weeks, I did take a week free from work :-)
None the less, I still find this an incredible "pace" :-)


The bridge, this will be motorized to go "up" when the modelrailroad is not in use.


The left wall, note the "Löwe Ecke" on the clock-plate. (name of my big village)


Another view of the left part, note the round locshed :-)


View from within the modelrailroad room, with the turntable before the locshed.


right side of the left part. I still need to install the coaling/sanding/inspection pits etc


Note the "Trevithick" on the clock-plate. (name of my second village)


3 station-tracks. Station will be build "higher", and city behind it, even higher ... (up-hill)

Yesterday, I made a small movie (4 minutes), to give you an impression of the status of my modelrailroad construction.
I'm 2/3th done !
I use a BigBoy and a Kof to test my layout:
- The Bigboy => If the bigboy can pass, anything can pass :-)
- The Kof (with 5 cars) => If the Kof can climb the high-differences, anything can climb it :-)
In the movie, you will see the BigBoy, together with 16 coal cars, running on the layed-out tracks.



Today I didn't have much time (about 2 hours or so), so I didn't do a lot ...
I did make another hole in the wall, and constructed the upper tracks, which will pass the Bietschtal viaduct.
Also, I made some foot-pieces, to put the bridge on, so it is "level" and at the correct height.


Up to the other side :-)

Aah, I finally found some time to lay out some tracks on the new modelrailroad !


On the first day, we builded the track spiral (max. 2,8% climbing percentage). Also the first hidden fiddleyard is done.
I have 9 tracks in this fiddleyard, all about 2 meters and 40 centimeters long. (about 94,4 inches)


Next to the fiddleyard, I have a turning loop, with some turnouts, and 2 additional tracks, which leads to the harbor.


Behind the loop, you can see the 2 additional tracks, which needs to go trough the wall.


So, after a week of building, this is a global overview of the current construction stage.


Another view of the track spiral, connected to the damtor station.


Other side of the station, and view on the harbor environment, with its 2 bridges.


The right side of the harbor. Notice that the 2 lower tracks are already "trough the wall".


The Other side of the wall. The lower tracks are connected to the harbor tracks.


The other part, still empty, to give you an idea how "big" this layout is.


So, here I will build a locshed and maintenance depot, together with another station and village.

I hope to get all tracks layed out before the end of august, but at this "speed", it will probably done be the half of july :-)

Because it may be difficult to follow the tracks, and to understand the trackplan, based on the pictures, I also want to show you
my complete trackplan, designed in Wintrack.


Bottom layer (all hidden tracks), top=fiddleyard one - left=fiddleyard two - topleft=track spiral - bottomright = turning loop.


Light tracks are hidden tracks - right and top darkgreen = harbor environment - green on the left = straight presentation tracks.


Light tracks are hidden tracks - this layer is a connection layer between different layers.


Station and maintenance/coaling/locshed on the bottomleft - tracks over gap at the bottom = Bietschtal viaduct.


Damtor station at the top, and some other connection tracks to the right. (straight presentation tracks)


Total overview of only the visible rails. The different platforms/hights, are in different colors.
The station and village on the rightbottom, will be higher than the actual tracks, to create a nice "view of depth".

For those interested, you can download the Wintrack file here ...

A follow-up on the traffic light controller from last month ...
I started building some traffic lights !


A handfull of milled parts, from left to right:
frontplate - a flat piece with bending marks - a bended piece (box) to go behind the frontplate.


A finished traffic light, I used shrink tubing for the light hoods.


The pipe is sanded of a few millimeters, so the "box" is soldered "inside" the standing pipe,
to "camouflage" the depth of this "box" a bit.


A regular and extended traffic light, showing "green".


A regular and extended traffic light, showing "yellow".


A regular and extended traffic light, showing "red".

To be continued ...
I still need to at the traffic lights for the pedestrians !

A modelrailroad friend of mine, asked me for a solution to control his modelrailroad traffic lights.
Because I also need some traffic lights at my new layout, I started building a configurable traffic light controller.
We can not only control the main trafficlights for a whole crossroad, but also the lights for the pedestrians :-)
Everything is configurable to the milli-second, for every possible imaginable traffic-light logic.


Top view of the controller.


Bottom view of the controller.

Some notes:
- This device does NOT work on 230V, it only uses 5V. (There is a mini USB 230V to 5V converter in the white plug)
- the switch on the right side, is screwed into the screw leads, normally it would be wired to a panel.
- With the switch, you can switch between "regular control" and "blinking yellow" ...
- One would connect traffic lights from the modelrailroad road with wires to the screw connectors.

Recently, we also visited Rail 2011 in The Netherlands. We bought some nice things :-)
Furthermore, I also won some auctions on Ebay, this is the result of the past few weeks:


Wurttemberg Class C loc, digitized with a Lokpilot V4.


Spanish Brottli + extension cars, Adler-a-like :-)


Locshed personel, interior, machinery and train personel.


BR74 - Digital.


BR24 - still analog, I will convert this to digital ASAP.

At Ontraxs, we already bought some CD-roms from Jowi, with half-reliëf houses/buildings on it.
Because we wanted a "tailor-made" background picture for our modelrailroad layout,
we decided to "create" and "print" it ourself :-)

So, we bought some CD-roms from Busch (item numbers 2867, 2868 and 2870 (double CD-Rom) with literally
hundreds of backgrounds/foregrounds/clouds/houses/buildings/trees etc ... on it, all in H0 scale.
Furthermore, we also bought a HP Designjet plotter, to "print" the background ourself :-)
This HP plotter can print at 1200 dpi, at a maximum width of 91,4 cm, and a maximum length of 50 meters !


The Busch CD-Roms.


Our plotter.


First printout, in lowest quality, on the included test-paper-roll. (only 61 centimeters width)


The synoptic panel for the AGFA modelrailroad club, since we now have this device, we can do those things :-)

Last weekend, we visited Ontraxs 2011. This is actually not at market, but an exposition.
But, we managed to buy some small things :-)


We bought the "spoorwegmuseum" car, and also 2 "Eisenbahn Romantik" cars (signed by Hagen Von Ortlof).


Detail of the "Eisenbahn Romantik" car, with the whole crew behind the windows.


Left, the Hagen Von Ortlof filmcrew, next a farmer and pigs, a couple getting married and some bicyles.


3 CDs from "Jowi" with half-relief houses to print. (CD 1, 3 & 4)

I also bought some VW beatles in scale 1/87 on Ebay, those arrived today.
I'm still waiting for some VW busses to arrive :-)


The VW beatles, onto the transport cars.

Furthermore, an early birthday-present arrived.
I already have a huge amount of C-Rails (and K-rails), which I ordered from Lacasa Germany, almost 2 years ago.
(click here for the news-item from Friday - december, 19th - 2008 for more info ...)
However, for my new layout, I needed "a few more" rails (hundreds of rails, and about 50 extra turnouts),
because the layout is bigger and more complex.

So, last week, Christel ordered those extra C-rails/K-rails from Lacasa Germany, for my birthday, beginning of april.
Lacasa does not only have incredible low prices, but also a perfect and fast service.
This resulted in my birthday-present, arriving a few weeks to early :-)
I can strongly advise Lacasa for all modelrailroad related items ! Check out the Lacasa website here !


The box, with the remaining part of rails, needed for my new modelrailroad layout.


Overview of all rails, packed out of the box and sorted by item-number :-)

Last week, my other 2 ships (Valentine present from Christel for me) arrived,
And yesterday I have been to a modelrailroad market in Houten (The Netherlands), together
with some other members of MAG. (Thank you Johan, for taking is with you in you car).
Today, We (I and Christel), went to a (small) modelrailroad market in Merksem. (Belgium - near Antwerp).

So, here is a list of the new items we "scored" at these "events" :-)


The 2 extra ships fro Artitec.


"washing day" items for Christels' farm project.


18 chickens and 18 sheeps, also for Christels' farm project.


A loading template, for my cargo dock.


A second sanding tower and bunker, for my loc depot & maintenance area.


I bought this beautiful marklin set (4789) in Houten.


We bought Marklin item 43982 in Merksem. (with working interior lighting and closing lights)


Detail picture of one of the coaches.


Notice the beautiful closing lights :-)

Here is a list of pictures, of our newest modelrailroad additions :-)


Marklin 45097 - airplane transport. (blue BR10 is already in our collection since 2010)


Kibri 38808 - typical South-German farmershouse. (Schwarzwald)


Noch 15711 - pigs/chickens/gooses and a trailer for our green tractor.


Extra baseplate for out Marklin 76510 coaling installation.


Faller 389 - Cuckoos house - real working clock. (We visited the original in 2010)


Brawa mountain lift + base/top-station and extra pillar


2 ships from Artitec (still 3 underway, this is my Valentines present from Christel)

Since finishing the first rails in august, I didn't do a lot in the modelrail hobbyroom.
The reason of this, is that I started building my own electronic modules to control my modelrailroad.
With the help of "the internet", I did found some schematics and sourcecode, which I modified to fit my needs.
This resulted in:
- decoders with 8 relais (this module uses a double address, and can be controlled with the Motorola or DCC protocol)
- servo decoders with 4 servos (this module only "speaks" DCC, but because I use a multiprotocol command station, this is not a problem for me)
- a laser-based crossing detector
- a multiprotocol command station, based on MDRRC from Robert Evers. (see his webpage at http://members.home.nl/robert.evers/)


Topview of the decoder with 8 relais. Simply connect the bottomleft connector to your tracks.
You can power the relais with the connector on the right, or put the jumper next to the connector to power the relais from the tracks.


Bottomview of this decoder, note that this print is etched, not CNC'ed !


Topview of the Servo decoder. connect the green connector to the tracks. The 4 pin headers are for one servo each.


Bottomview of this decoder, note that this print is etched, not CNC'ed !


Topview of the laser-based crossing detector. At the top you see the small square sensor, and underneath it, is the laser-diode.
The sensor can be taken of the print, and placed elsewhere, also the laser-diode can be placed elsewhere.
When using everything on the PCB itself, a small mirror can be placed accross, to reflect the laser-beam to the sensor.
The green connector expects 9-12V on 2 pins, and the 3th pin returns a logic 0/1 at TLL-level, when the beam is broken/not-broken


Bottomview of the laser-based crossing detector, note that this print is CNC'ed :-)


And finally, the command station.

- The command-station is multiprotocol (it "speaks" motorola and DCC)
- At the top, there is a 2x16 chars LCD.
- At the left, under the LCD, you find a rotary/push switch, to go trough the menu, or to program CV values.
- At the right, on the same height, there is a start/stop button (actually, emergency button)
- Next to this button, there is a connector for external emergency buttons (you can connect as many pushbuttons as you want to this connector)
- The black connector at the left, is to connect 2 wired controllers or an external keyboard for standalone operation (without a PC)
- The shiny connector at the right, is an RS232 connector, for communication with the PC
- The 6-pins green connector at the left, is to connect the tracks, a programming track, and the signal comming from the booster.
- When programming (CV values), power from the main track is cut automatically, and power to the programming track is provided automatically.
- The black 6-pin connector at the right, is a standard S88 connector, you can connect up to 31 standard 16-ports S88 modules.
- the 4-pins connector at the bottomleft, is the connector to provide signals from the command station to the boosters.
- And finally, at the bottomright, you find a power-switch and a power-jack (you can connect 9-12V AC/DC)

Still to do:
- build the wired and wireless controllers (schematic, PCB & code for the microprocessor are already done)
- build the keyboard interface (schematic, PCB & code for the microprocessor are already done)
- build the wireless extension to put onto the command station (schematic & PCB design are already done)
- build a housing for the command station (this shouldn't be to difficult with my own CNC machine

To be continued ...

At the end of october, "Modelspoormagazine" organised its 2-yearly modelrailroad event in the expo hallen in Mechelen.
Ofcourse we also visited this exhibition, and we bought 2 items :-)


some farmers, to accompany our cows and tractor we bought during our holidays


The BigBoy loc, 47 centimeters long (I wanted this loc for a long time)

In september, during our yearly holidays, we visited different (model)railroad-related places. Here, I will only show what souvenirs we bought, the actual pictures of the visits, can be found in the "Photo Albums" section.

At the end of our holidays, we visited the Marklin factory in Goppingen, at our way back home :-)
We joined the factory with the first group, entering about 10 AM, and the tour did take until 2 PM to finish !
Unfortunately, taking pictures was prohibited :-(
But, We did get some nice souvenirs (they were handed-out while they manufacture them)


The souvenirs ...


Some loc wheels, gears, bell of the BigBoy loc, 2 lanterns, some couplings ...


That small thing in the middle, is a few millimeters, and is a bell for a BigBoy loc


At the end of the tour, we bought this wagon, which was only available to visitors of the factory, at that specifi day !

After the visit to the Factory, we also visited the Marklin Erlebenis Welt (a few kilometers from the factory).
We couldn't resist in buying 2 beatiful locomotives :-)





The day before visiting Marklin, we went to the Modelbahn in Merklingen (about 30 kilometers from the Marklin factory).
Also, at that location, we bought some souvenirs :-)


2 cars with trailer, a VW bus, a John Deer tractor and a "Merklingen modelbahn" baseball cap ...

Halfway our holidays, we visited the Faller factory in Goppingen, which does also have a nice shop attached to it.
Ofcourse, we also bought some nice things at Faller :-)


2 packs of cows, 2 packs of railroad workers, 2 sets of neon lights, a faller cutter, and 2 tubes of glue ...


The Bietschtal viaduct, a storage shed and a signal house (which we also visited for real in Blumberg)

In Blumberg, we made a (historical) trip with a real steamlocomotive. We bought a cap, and a wagon ...


The cap and the wagon ...

And at first, we also visited the Schwarzwald modelbahn, where we bought a DVD about this beautiful piece of artwork.


The DVD, accompanied by a magazine

The last month, we have been very busy with the "renovation" of the 2 garages.
As this is almost finished, I did find some time today to lay out the first rails of the bottom hidden station.
Because of the renovation, I also include some other pictures here :-)

First of all, my new workbench :-)
Because this garage is also used to put our car in, I needed a workbench which could be changed in height.
(80 cm from the ground, for working at the desk, and 120 cm from the ground, when the car is in the garage)
I solved this, by using 4 linear actuators (18 inch - 45 cm) and some home-brewn electronics.


Here you see the desk lowered, waiting for some work to be done.


Desk in upper position, with the car inside the garage.

Some notes about this desk:
- Yes, that is RGB flexible LED strip that is used (I still had 10 meters laying around)
- There is also a T5 light (1m50) on top of the workbench, to have some good lighting while soldering.(and also on the ceiling of the garage are about 6 T5 lights)
- On the left panel, I have some MCU programmers installed, to program PIC & AVR IC's
- On the desk itself, you can see a lab powersupply (0-50V / 0-5A), with a digital soldering station on top of it.
- Next to that, with the duscover on it, is a USB microscope (images of the microscope are displayed on computerscreen when in use)
- There is also a magnifying glass with built-in light, a desk-clock, a phone, a PDA (windows mobile), a webcam and a 34-port logic analyzer sitting at this desk.
- Mounted on the right front, is a 8" TFT, that can be used to watch satellite-TV :-)
- The 2 20" widescreen monitors are connected to one PC. (you see 2 PC's on the picture, but only one is connected, the other one is a spare computer.
- I used some PVC piping to put some wiring roles on it.


If you are thinking "wat is all that clutter on the desk", well, I'm currently busy with building 8 pan/tilt mechanisms for my 8 camera's that will be placed in hidden parts of my modelrailroad.

At the layout itself, I also "automated" some "moving parts". My controlcenter consists of 5 17" TFT screens.
Because this desk is only "necessary" when running the layout, and would otherwise take up to much space/sit in the way,
I created a system to lift those screens and controlpanel ...


Screens in lowered position.


Sideview of screens in lowered position, you can see that they are about 10 centimeters behind the side of the framework.


Screens in "operating" position, I still need to build the toppanel for the keyboard and touchPC.


Sideview of screens in "operating" position.

The left and right screen will be used to show the images comming from the camera's. (e.g. 4 camera's are displayed on one screen)
Also MrDirect, or the wireless traincam or satellite TV can be viewed on those monitors.
The 3 screens in the middle, will be used to control RocRail.
A small touchpanel PC (running Ubuntu Linux) with self-written software, will be used to pan/tilt the camera's, to switch videosources, to higher/lower my bridge,
to view the outside security camera's around our house, to switch the modelroom lighting to automatic/manual control etc ...


Screenshot of the software that will be running on the tabletPC.

Next, we started laying out the bottom hidden station ...


My wife couldn't resist to take this picture of my "happy face" :-) (finally, after sitting in boxes for about a year, I could unpack my C-rails again)
(Don't mind my wounded hand, on friday, august 13th, I drilled trough my hand with a 6 mm wood-drill)


On the left, that circle will become the rail-spiral to the upper levels. (don't mind the unpainted corner-plate, I just fixed it to the wall with TEC-7)


8 tracks to put 8 trains on "standby" :-)

Still to do:
- paint the corner-plate
- wire-up the PC's, screen and other electronics.
- Put the final software in the "room controller/automation".
- paint the floor in the garage where the car is parked.
- fill-up the visible screw-holes in the frame, with MDF filler (and sand them).
- Paint the visible part of the frame.
- put some (black ?) curtains under the frame.
- cut-out the countours of the hidden station, so rails can be reached from beneath.
- start building the rail-spiral.

The last weeks, I have been very busy in the modelrailroad room.
Some extra closets where build, the frame is done for 65%, and some electronics and wiring are already installed.


Surround system (5 speakers and 1 woofer) are also installed, here you see 3 of the 5 speakers.


Main electronic cabinet, with "doors" open (I still need to install some extra modules and the 2 sliding glass windows)


The same cabinet, with "doors" closed


Closeup of the left part, mainly with electronics to control the whole room.


Closeup of the right part, with 6x 60VA marklin power supplies and boosters.

Next steps:
- some more wiring and installing ...

The last weeks, I did spend some time on watching "Lost" (all 6 seasons), and soldering some Velleman kits.
I do have a CNC machine (Elektor Profiler), and normally I would like to create schematics and PCB myself,
but since I'm still in the process of finishing the modelrailroad room, the first garage is full of boxes,
and also the Profiler is "packed", so I'm not able to mill some PCB's for at least another 2 months.
Because I was in need of electronic modules, to finish the automation of the modelrailroad room,
I decided to buy some Velleman kits, and solder them together ...

First, I also needed some sort of panel/cabinet, to put all electronics in, I had some room reserved for this.
Yesterday, after work, I started working on this panel/cabinet.
The idea is to have a large panel in the middle, surrounded by cabinets, where I can hide some electric wiring in.


Right-side view of the electronic cabinet, with closed doors.


Right-side view of the electronic cabinet, with open doors.


Right-side view of the electronic cabinet, with closed doors.


Right-side view of the electronic cabinet, with open doors.


I have about 3 different circuits with halogen spots, mounted in the ceiling, so I soldered together
4 of these Velleman K8003 kits. These dimmers dim 0-230VAC, and are "steered" by 0-10VDC.
(So, I have one spare dimmer for the moment, let's see what the future brings for this extra dimmer)


Because I have quiet some "things" to turn on/off, I decided to build a touchpanel with 8 independent buttons.
So, this is where the Velleman K8046 came in handy :-)
The 8 buttons can be set to momentary or on/off switches (even radio-button style, but I don't need this).
So, 1 input is set as a momentary switch (to open/close the electric garagedoor), the other 7 are configured as on/off buttons.


This is how the final assembled product looks like. The 8 numbers can be modified to something else.
You can design your own layout for the touchscreen, and print it on transparant foil.
The red LEDs do indicate if an output is on or off.


This is how my button-layout will look like.From left to right, top to bottom, you can see:
- garagedoor - open/close
- workbench light - on/off
- external lighting - on/off
- ceiling lighting garage 1 - on/off
- complete modelrailroad room & PC's - on/off
- lighting at tools storage - on/off
- electronic cabinet lighting - on/off
- ceiling lighting garage 2 (modelrailroadroom) - on/off


Because 4 inputs are for the first garage, and are only needed to switch 230V lines, I decided to solder a Velleman K2633,
this is a quad relais card, which can be driven by the K8046 touchpanel, and is able to switch 230VAC.
(for the second garage, I have another solution)


I also bought an MP3orator. (this kit comes already assembled, so no soldering required)
This is a small MP3 device, with an SD slot and line-out connection. You can control it via a serial connection,
but also via a matrix of 4 rows and 4 columns, you can select upto 16 different MP3s to play/stop.
I will use this device to activate a startup/shutdown sound for the complete modelrailroad automation.
Also other sounds for other events will be used ...


Also, a Velleman K8001 is used (these kits are hard to get, because they are not so popular).
This will be the "heart" of the system. A real microcontroller runs some sort of assembly code.
This assembly code is written on the PC, and is programmed into the microcontroller trough a parallel port.
This little fellow will bring all the automation-magic to live :-)


Without this Velleman K8000, the K8001 is useless ...
This board connect via 5 wires to the K8001, and is the actual interface to the real world.
It comes with 16 I/O ports, individually configurable as input or output, (to read switches or other "logic" inputs,
or to control triacs or relais as output), 8 Digital-To-Analog Converters 0-10V
(to control the K8003 dimmers and also to control the dimmable TL ballasts) and 4 Analog-to-Digital Converters
(to read potentiometers for example, or light sensors, temperature sensors etc ...)


Because 16 I/O ports is not enough, I also soldered a second K8000, which acts as a slave to the first K8000.
(this is why not all components are soldered onto the board, because They are not needed onto a slave board)
You can connect upto 1 master & 3 slaves to 1 K8001, giving you a total of 64 I/O ports, 32 DACs and 15 ADCs


Because I need to be able to switch 230VAC devices, I also soldered this Velleman K2614 board, which contains
about 16 relais outputs. This kit will be driven by the I/O outputs of the K8000.

Next steps:
- finishing the electronic cabinet
- installing the electronic modules into the cabinet
- wiring, programming and testing these electronic modules

After some illness (again), I finally start to feel better now.
So, this weekend, I started working again in the new modelrailroad room.
I did make the first "closets on wheels" (I did 6 out of the 10),
and I also started working on the frame where the modelrailroad will be built on ...


This is the layout of the frame, the lines in red are already done ...


As you can see, the structure is "optimized" to reach for the hidden railroad tracks,
which are "overlayed" in the above image.


An impression of the left part, Underneath the framework you can see the closets on wheels.
(don't mind the mess)


And the right part :-)


Aah, and the clock is also mounted ...

Next step will be to make the enclosure for the electronics ...

Aah, I finally made some progress in the new modelrailroad room.
If you look a bit further on this page, you will find some pictures on how it once was :-)


We removed the old radiator, and replaced it with a brand new :-)


Also, the blue lights for night simulation are installed.
You can also see some "piping" installed on a wooden rail. This is where all the wires will go into.


Next, I did some tests with the white/daylight lighting. They will be put onto the piping.


General view of the right side of the room, the "backpanel" will be used to put all electronics on it.


Left side of the room, airco still needs to be installed.
On the left, you can also see part of the wall that has been taken out, this is where I will put my stationclock.

Next week, I have a week off, so I can do some work on the new modelrailroad room.
The "door-gap" for this room, is more then 2 meter width, so I bought a clock to hang on one side of this door-gap.


An English railwaystation clock

Because my layout is completely German-based, I created my own faceplates for this clock.
My 2 villages on the modelrailroad layout will be named "Löwe Ecke" and "Trevithick".
Löwe Ecke is German for "Leeuwenhoek", Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723) is the guy who invented the microscope.
(which made me think about, when looking at my tiny little modelrailroad people :-)
Trevithick refers to Richard Trevithick (1771 - 1833), who made the first steam-powered vehicle, named "Puffing Devil".
(I did came up with this name, because I really like steam-powered locomotives.

So, as said, I modified both faceplates of this clock.
(Deutschland refers to the country I like to use as an example for my modelrailroad, and 1958 will be the year I try to re-create ...


Löwe Ecke on one side ...


Trevithik on the other side ...

Last weekend I also started with the "light boxes around the room.
about 40 centimers off the wall, I did put vertical MDF plates of about 28 centimeters.
Behind these plates, I will put TL-lights (white and blue, to simulate day/night),
and in the middle, I will put a lowered ceiling, with 10 "warm" spots in it ...


The left part of the room, with the "lightbox" mounted ...


The right part of the room, the white bricks is where the garage-door was in a previous life :-)
The wall was 20 centimeters thick, and I intentionally used 15 centimers width Ytong bricks, so I have 5 centimeters "to spare".
The idea behind this, is to put Gyproc plates in front of these Ytong brick, with a hollow space between them.
I will put my monitors on the wall, and I can run all the cables "down", in this hollow space between the Ytong and the Gyproc.

Aah, "it" finally arrived, my brand new sawing-tool :-)
I already own several sawing tools, but none with a laser, and table-mounted.
I bought this tool, especially for the modelrailroad room. I will need to "shorten" a lot of timber with this ...



So, now that this tool has arrived, I will start with the new ceiling this weekend.
I'm going to put 8 daylight TL-tubes, 4 blue TL-tubes and 10 halogen spots into (a lowered) ceiling.
So, more pictures to come, within the next few days and weeks, of the progress of the new modelrailroad room.

Due to some administrative paperwork, it did take until the end of february 2010, to "switch real-estate" with our neighbour.
so, last week we had a few days of, and started the "conversion" of the extra garage.
We did take out a large piece of the wall between our 2 garages, and we "closed" the main entrance of this extra garage.


The wall, still intact, and temporary supporting pilars already placed in our second garage.


Me, putting on some "protection", before starting the big job. (gloves/dustmask and safetyglasses)


Me, busy with the cutting-disc, to make sure we have a "clean" border between the parts that stay and the one that needs to be removed.


Hole almost "done", which results in "lots of debry".


I can finally walk/look from one garage to the other, without going "outside".


From left to right: me, Ludo & Frank, ready to place the (more then 200 KG) supporting I-beam. (which you already see on the left of me)


Me, building a "wall" where the main entrance of the second garage is/was.


Almost done, water-resistive layer already placed, some tropic wood placed on top of it, and finished with plastic panels.


Completely done (on the outside at least), on the left our "real" garage, on the right the "closed garage/modelrailroad room".

In May, we have a few days of, so then I will start to put in the new ceiling, with the day/night-lights, put a radiator in it, new electricity,
painting walls, and laying a new floor ...

Due to some recent changes in buying "real-estate", I now have the opportunity to create a larger/better modelrailroad layout.
It will take some time before I can start with the new layout, because we still need to "finish" the new hobby-room.
(e.g. putting a RGB spots in it, painting walls, putting a door and window in the room, forsee electricity and heating etc)
But the plans for the new layout are ready ! The outer-measurements of this layout are about 5 x 4 meters !


This image shows only the visible rails on this multi-layered layout.
At the top is the damtor station, along with a city. The brown pieces are "harbor", (with a canal in blue)
The light-brown/orange pieces, is an "in-between" layer, with lots of trees and rocks.
They grey area at the bottom-left, is my bonn-station, along with a loc-depot, round loc-shed, maintenance yard, coaling bunker ...


This is an overview of the bottom layer, with the hidden fiddle yard, with room for 13 trains,
and a rail-spiral on the left, to get the different layers connected.
This layer is about 20 centimeters lower then the harbor tracks, and are about 90 centimeters above ground level. (for easy access)


Above this, is another hidden piece of track, which makes the connection to the right piece of the harbor-tracks.


The top darkgrey piece is a track for a small/old piece of harbor (as a reminder to epoche I/II), with a simple crane.
At the right, is the "newer" piece of harbor (epoche III), with a larger crane on tracks, and maybe a little factory.
The dark tracks on the left/bottom, are what is called a "parade" track. (e.g. to "show" the trains on a straight track, while running by.


Those green tracks, are about 10 centimeters higher then the harbor-tracks, at the top and the bottom, those tracks are on bridges.


Another 10 centimeters higher, you will find a parade track on the right side, and a town with a station and complete loc maintenance yard.


And finally, completely at the top, you will find the damtor station. The station itself lays about 10 centimeters higher then the previous track-layer,
but the tracks itself, are about 20 centimeters higher then the previous tracks.

For those of you with wintrack, you can download the wintrack file here

During our holidays, we also visited "miniaturwelt Oberhausen".
I couldn't resist in buying 2 faller sets :-)


Faller set 130915 and 130925, and 2 tubes of faller glue

I did found out today, that I had some additions in my closet, that are not yet posted on my website.
So, I did take some pictures of them, and here they are :-)


Marklin glaskasten


Marklin 221107-6


Marklin 5 short green coaches with 3 axles


3 extra CFL coaches (which brings the number of these type of coaches to 7)


2 extra TAMS boosters (un-assembled kit) ... This brings my number of boosters to 6 !

Aah, you probably all think that I won the lotery, because I keep on buying new things ...
Ooh well, think what you want, but these are all real bargains :-)


I already had the coaling installation on the right, but recently I bought the "extension" for it. (coaling bunker to the left)


With the previous additions, I already showed my new roco crane. This is the gripper that belongs to this crane.


2 small darkgreen coaches ...


Another BR-23 loc, this is one without the silver rings.


E-loc: E69 02


4 long CFL coaches (the 3 extra coaches are still on the way to Belgium)


Aah, those coaches look realy nice ! (they are actually "Epoche I", but hey, I can still use them in Epoche III)


Another look on those fine coaches. (I ordered a "glaskasten" loc for these coaches, which is still on his way to Belgium)

Because I soon have a brand new room, exclusively for my modelrailroad, I'm already planning a new layout.
The new room can be fully used up, 4m70 x 3m30, with a door in the middle of the 3m30 wall.
I also can use a piece of the room next to the modelrailroad, for hiding a piece of the "upper part".
(soon more, when I publish the final layout)

Today, I decided to build-up the right part of the layout, in the livingroom, on the floor.
After taking some pictures, I cleaned everything up again :-)

P.S. there is a track missing between the turntable and the outer track, this is a special rail, I currently only have 3 of them !


The turntable, and the loc repair shed, with the watertowser. Next to the round loc-shed, there is some room left for some cleaning facilities.


Coaling and sanding installation in the middle, and a Diesel facility behind it. Still some room left for watering cranes and inspection pits.


"Preiser"-view, as seen from the railway station. (building and 3 tracks on the most right part of the picture)


1. View of the tracks in the station.
2. As you can see, the station is laying next to the loc maintenance part.
3. View from behind the round loc-sheld.

Due to a long period of illness, I was not able to update the website for a long time.
In the meanwhile, I bought a few new additions for my collection.
Here is an overview, enjoy ...


Marklin coaling installation 76510 (I received this for my birthday from my wife in april !)


Roco crane (can be digitally controlled or with a joystick), a gripper for this is still on it's way to Belgium.


Marklin brown crocodile with number 14301


Marklin green crocodile with number 194 081-5


Marklin E-loc with number 152 034-5


Marklin E-loc with number 141 005-9


Marklin BR50 082-7 steamloc


Marklin dark-green steamloc 231 981


Marklin Rheingold steamloc 18 434


Marklin 3 green coaches (I already have 2 blue and one red coach, which forms now a complete train with 6 coaches)


Marklin 2 turkoise/beige coaches (I already have 3 turkoise/beige coaches, which forms now a complete train with 5 coaches)


Marklin diesel loc V36 235


Marklin Kof RTC 55263


Marklin Kof SudSucker (Eurotrain)


Marklin Kof DSB

Today I finally found some time to take pictures of the newest additions from the past month (march) ...
(all locs are digital, and the steamlocs do have a working smoke-generator)
Some coaches already have lighting installed, some don't ... (so, still some work to be done !)
So, look your eyes out, and enjoy :-)


BR23 105 steam loc (A roco model)


Another BR03 steam loc, this time a streamlined version, numbered 03 1051.


BR01 097 steam loc ...


BR003160-9 steam loc (Did you notice that I Enjoy BR03 locs ? lol)


BR41 001 steam loc


Another BR41 steam loc, this time numbers 41334


BR216 025-7 diesel loc


BR221 118-3 diesel loc


GKM Nr.3 - This is NOT a steam loc, it's an air-pressure loc !


A Marklin Zeppelin :-)


V36 110 diesel loc (fits nicely with my 'Deutsche post' coaches


BR 103 113-7 (Which guides my TEE red/beige coaches)


BR 141 001-8 (A perfect companion for my TEE turkoise/beige coaches)


5 silberling coaches


3 'Deutsche Post' coaches, which fits nicely behind the V36 110 diesel loc


3 tukoise/beige TEE coaches (I have 3 locs from which I can choose for these coaches)


5 red/beige TEE coaches, including a panorama-coach :-)

As you can see, a lot of new additions for the past month, this is mainly caused by the fact that I did spend to much time on Ebay.
(I was to ill to work on my modelrailroad, so the only thing left to do for me, was surfing the web (and Ebay))
I hope I can restart the work on my modelrailroad next weekend :-)

Look what the Easter-bunny brought for me !



Actually, today I drove about 312 kilometers to get my Easter-present :-) (156 KM in one direction)
A trip from Ekeren, to somewhere above Utrecht, (with a bag full of money), resulted in this beauty !
I still need to take pictures of the "new things" that arrived in March, but I couldn't resist to already put this online.
This location is 'temporary', cause I'm going to build a dedicated "cabinet" for it, to give this baby the attention it deserves.
(I even need to flip a wall for it, lol, please don't call me "nuts")

Finally, all cabinets are up at the wall. The only thing left, is to put protective acrylic sheets in it !
Take a look in the tutorials section for more pictures and info.

Due to the fact that last week was the Microsoft TechDay$ event, I didn't had time to work on the closed-shelf cabinets.
This weekend, I finished another of these cabinets, and I did mount them on the wall ...

So, enjoy some pictures :-)


View of our desks, with the first 2 cabinets mounted on the wall.
I still need to make the 2 cabinets for the left side. (the projection-clock will be gone !)


sideview closeup ...


This cabinet provide enough light to work at the computer at night :-)


Front closeup ...

Because I now own a lot of trains (I already had some trains, and I bought some extra on ebay the last months, due to illness),
I'm in need of a closed shelf-system to show-off my trains in the livingroom.
(Also because I can't run them all at once on my modelrailroad, and because I need the "out" of the hobby-room, to prevent damage,
when I'm continuing on the building of the modelrailroad)

So, I decided to make my own shelf-system. Unit 1 is allmost completed. (besides hanging it on the wall, and putting plexi glass in it)
The outer-measurements are 54 centimeters in height and 208 centimeter in width. I have 5 shelfs in one unit, with a possible train-length of 202 cm.
I have 20 LEDs above each shelf, each separated 10 centimeters apart. (Which makes a total of 100 LEDs for one unit)
I'm building a total of 4 of these units ! (So, I have about 20 shelfs to fill, after completion)

Enough talking, on to some pictures !


Right-side view, so you get an idea on how big one unit is ...


Detail of lower part (this is my "schienenbus".


BR-216 ...


BR41 ...


BR03 (in "photographic" grey colors) ...

Due to illness and the fact that I had a very busy month at work, I didn't do much on the modelrailroad this month.
But I did spend a lot of time (and money) on Ebay ...
So, here they are, the new items from this month !


5 long passenger coaches (with 4-axles), green and blue ...(those aren't Marklin but Roco)


Yet another Diesel locomotive. A 216 188-3, turqoise and creamy-white. This one already had a decoder in it, when I bought it.


5 long bordeaux passenger coaches (4-axles), originally English, but they will be "converted" to German models.


My first BR03 loc, in 'photograpic grey', with number BR03 124. (equiped with a digital decoder and smoke generator)


Another BR03 loc (black/dark blue) with number BR03 1022. (equiped with a digital decoder and smoke generator)


Another BR03 loc, a red stream-lined version, with number BR03 1055. Orginally an analog loc, but I succesfully converted it to digital.


This one is huge ! A dark-grey BR53 loc with number BR03 0002. (equiped with a digital decoder and 2 smoke generators !)


Some faller kits:
* 120137 - 2 water cranes * 120157 - fuel tanks and loc filling installation * 120130 - Loc boiler cleaning equipment and compressor house *


6 short green coaches (2-axles): 5 passenger coaches and 1 freight coach.


5 long green coaches (4-axles): 4 passenger coaches and 1 freight coach.


Yet an extra Kof. This time it's a green 'Trostberg' edition.


Last month I already bought this schienenbus, this month the 3 car arrived :-)


We already had 6 of these shell tankcars, so I bought 8 extra, which makes a total of 14 pieces.

Because the right side of the modelrailroad layout is allmost finished, I started a "final check" on the trackplans for the left side.
Because I'm still ill, I didn't do anything on the modelrailroad layout this weekend.
I watched movies whole weekend long, and made some "enhancements" on the trackplans for the left side.
This also means that I needed to order a few extra tracks. (for about 30 euro, and they are already on the way !)
The enhancements are in a hidden piece of track, and implied the removal of some "odd curves", and lengthening the track-length of that
particular part of the layout. (a longer track also means a less steaper curve for my locomotives to "climb" ...


This is the "old" situation, and the "shortest way" between level 0 and 1 ...


The "new" situation, a much smoother curve, and a bit "longer", so a smaller ascending percentage !

The problems with my stomach are still not over. (and I still suffer a lot of pain).
Due to this, I didn't spend much time building the modelrailroad, but I did bid on some auctions on Ebay !
So, today, I did take some pictures of all the new things that arrived during the past few weeks.
(and a few things still must arrive, so expect a few more pictures during the next week !)


Because I'm planning on getting the Marklin 76510 coaling installation for my birthday in april,
I needed a coal-grabber for my other crane, Marklin 76500 (which I already have)
So, thanks to a member of the Dutch 3-rail forum , I was able to buy this grabber ! (Thanks Willem-Jan)


Aah, 2 identical BR80-locs on the left, and a V200 027 on the right.
Alldough the V200 is a Marklin 3021 loc, it did have a high-efficiency motor and decoder built-in.
(the 2 BR80-locs are offcourse also equiped with a decoder, nog analog locs for me !)


A "Fliegende Hamburger" (no, it's not a writing mistake !), silver edition ;-)


A darkgreen BR81 loc, with 6 shell cars. (I already had 2 cars, so only 4 of them are new)


First I bought 4 Pullman coaches (alldough they are "Hornby" material, they are highly detailled !)
After that, I desided to buy a gray T18 loc, to put in front of these coaches ;-)


And offcourse, a Schienenbus (Roco) ! Normally they exists out of 3 coaches, but one coach is still on his way to Belgium.

Besides all this, I also bought a few extra C-rails. (7x 24172,3x 24188,6x 24207) Because of a trackplan change.

I still have serious problems with my stomach, but I managed to take some pictures which shows the current status of the right-side ;-)
Within a few weeks, the right side will be completed, so I can start with the left-side after that ...

Here are some pictures, and a few words of explanation.


An overview from within the doorsteps.
The layout did reach it's highest point now. (well, for the tracks, because buildings will still become a bit higher)


The bottom layer, and allmost the complete 1st level (except for the 2 long straight tracks in the front, where the shell-train is), will become invisible.
Also the complete rail-spiral will be "covered" with rocks, trees and buildings. (I'm planning a city on top of the rail-spiral)


View from the other side. The coaltrain is riding op the uppermost level, which will consists mostly out of arched bridges.
Where the gray Senator-train is standing, is actually 3 straight tracks of the railway-station I'm planning here.
The "gap" between the station and the viaduct, will be filled with a removable plate, with scenery on top of it. (station, roads, trees etc ...)


The turnout at the right of the station-tracks, will "connect" to the round loc-shed and coaling-installation,
Which I still need to build. Also that part with the loc-maintenance, will be placed on a removable plate.

Due to problems with my stomach, I'm unable to work on the modelrailroad.
So, the only thing I can do right now, is sit behind my computer, and lay down in my bed :-(
I took this "opportunity" to make some minor changes on the trackplan and to do some biddings on Ebay.
As soon as my Ebay items arrive, I will take pictures, and put them on our website ;-)
(Among them, 4 pullman coaches, a "Flying Hamburger" (Silver edition), a V160027 diesel loc, a roco Schienenbus and a gray T18 steamloc)
I'm also thinking of implementing the Marklin 76510 coaling installation on my layout, and by reading about this item, I found out that my current layout
was not completely suited for it. I had to make some adjustments on the tracks that go to the turntable.
The tracks needed to be closer to each other, and a personal tought was also to add an extra track to put the coaling wagons on !

So, here it is, the *final* layout of my modelrailroad ;-)


The bottom layer
This is still my hidden yard, where I can store up to 9 train-sets of about allmost 2 meters !
I removed a few tracks on the right side, because otherwise I was going to have height-issues with the rail-spiral.
The right side of this layer, forms a rail-spiral, that goes up to the next level, and runs counterclockwise up.


Level 1
The straight tracks for "showing off" my train-sets, got a bit shorter, and the turning-loop behind the harbour is removed.
The tracks behind the harbour go up one level (this is hidden), and are connected to the level above.
The tracks in the bottom-left corner, go down by about 6 centimeters, So the harbour is only a few centimeters higher then the hidden yard.


Level 2
The tracks in the bottom-left corner, also go down about 6 centimeters, so those tracks will have the same height-distance between them on the
upper section, like the hidden yard and level 1.
Also note the turnouts in the top-middle, this is where the hidden rails from behind the harbour, connect to this level.
You can also see that the 3 tracks that connect to the turntable, are closer together, compaired to the previous version.
This is mainly because I want to implement the Marklin 76510 coaling installation.
There is also a new "death-end" track, besides those 3 tracks. This is where an incomming coaling-train will be stored, to retrieve the coals.


Level 3
Actually, nothing changed on the upper-level. The tracks in the bottom-left go up a few centimeters, so that on the top-module,
the distance between layer 2 & 3, will be allmost 2 levels !

A brand new year, and already an update in this section ;-)
Today I finished "level 1" and the "rail spiral" !

Here are some pictures ...

The end of the year is comming closer !
A few hours left, so I guess this is the last update for this year.
Yesterday and today, I had 2 days off, so I worked a bit on the modelrailroad.
The first level is allmost completed (still a 1/2th of a circle to go)

Here are some pictures ...

Because I had a day off today, I did start building the rail-spiral this afternoon.
The first level is completed, and has a maximum of 2.9% slope for descending, and 2.4% slope for ascending !
I did various tests with locs, complete rail-sets etc ... And everything does run up and done very smooth. (even at the lowest speed !)

Here are some pictures ...

A shadow-station is a place where you can store your trains, out of sight.
This is usefull for creating the illusion that trains are comming from somewhere and going somewhere,
so they can be out of sight for a longer time, and also allowing other trains riding on the layout. You get some very varied train-traffic, using this method.
So, the bottom layer of the layout, is my shadow station. I already started building it, here are some picture ...


A first view of the shadow-station, note that it is already filled with trains ...


A closeup of the shadowstation ... (This will be fully computer-controlled)


The first steps for the rail-spiral, to reach other "levels" ...

The idea is to complete the rail-spiral first, and the start with cabling, occupancy-sensors and turnout-tracks automatisation.
After that, I will start with the first level, automate that, then the next level etc ...
Cabling and automation will take up a lot of time (also, because I still need to mill the PCB's to control the turnout tracks),
so it will probably take some time, until I can have my trains make there first full run ;-)

After working for SGS (I needed to do a database-cleanup during this weekend), I still found some time to solder a few things.
First of all, I created a prototype of the track-turnout decoder I'm planning to use.
I created the PCB in Eagle (so everything is ready for CnC), but before milling 20 PCB's, I decided to test the whole "concept" on a prototype-pcb.
It uses an ATTiny2313, and is based on a design by Robert Evers. (see his webpage at http://members.home.nl/robert.evers/)
And guess what ? It works ;-)


You can control upto 4 track turnouts with coils, or 8 other "consumers" ...

Next, I soldered 2 Tams Booster (kits), also these did work at first try.
I need one additional one (which I will order in the near future), and after this, I can divide my final layout into 3 sections,
and I will be able to consume upto 3A per section !


I can simply connect them together to the PC with MrDirect, so no need of an expensive digital central unit anymore !

And finally, I also assembled 10 full S88 units (kits), So I now have 160 occupancy detectors.
(I hope this will be enough, otherwise I need to order a few more of these kits.)
The reason I have chosen for these kits, is that I can't order the components for less then the complete kit !


It's incredible that they can offer these kits for less then the price of the different components.

I buy things on Ebay, on a regular base, but I normally don't bid, I allways use the "buy now" option.
Until recently, I came across this beauty, a Marklin Kof, (36804, one-time-model from 2002)
So, I placed a bid, I waited, and I won ;-)
The loc does have changeable head/tail-lights, which switches automatically when changing the driving direction.
I'm also planning on putting a krois-coupler on the front and on the back, because I'm going to use this loc in my fiddle yard.


I won this loc on ebay, isn't she a beauty ?

A few weeks ago, I placed an order at http://www.lacasa-net.de, which included all my C-rails and K-rails I need to complete my whole trackplan.
I asked several online shops in Belgium, The Netherlands & Germany, to make me a proposition with pricings, and Lacasa
seems to be 35% cheaper then most of the other shops !
Allmost a week ago, the rails did arrive, but due to illness, I was not able to put this news on our website.


This is the box that arrived, and Christel, opening it !


Decently packaged, with lots and lots of "free chips" ...


The final result ! Lots and lots of rails !