Europian Railroads

I have a large S Guage layout and small HO switching layout. I recently became interested in Europian railroads after a trip to Paris. I have purchased a couple Fleischman locomotives and some rail cars and I  am in the process of building a 6ft by 15" switching layout based on the Gumstump and Shoe RR from MR magazine many years ago. It is enlightening to do a little different modeling.                                              John L Robertson

I would say I have a passing interest in European Trains

I do follow a few YouTube authors that model English and German railroads. I enjoy seeing the differences and similarities between their model layouts and mine. I doubt if I'd ever model a European railroad, but do find the history of European railroads interesting.

Fred, Do you have a European themed layout? Do you have a web page of video of the layout?  

YES!!

I have made several rail trips in Europe. I've ridden the ICE, Thalys and TGV. I've taken an overnight train from Prague to Amsterdam and recently took a train from Sofia to Bucharest. I also model Russian railways which has elements of European and US railroading styles. I have plans for some other Free-mo modules to represent some European locations. 

What I don't like are oversize flanges and truck mounted couplers on the 1:87 scale models. It's something I need to correct on my rolling stock.

Exposure

I personally don't have an interest in European model railroading for the same reasons I don't have an interest in certain eras and types of American model railroading.   Basically it comes down to what I was and am exposed to both consciously and probably at the subconscious level. 

I was born in 1970 and grew up in an area where the only passenger train was Amtrak's Texas Eagle which ran late night or morning before the sun rose.  So, my interest gravitates towards freight railroads of the early modern to modern era.  (My current layout is a Missouri Pacific switching layout set in the early to mid 1980s.  Missouri Pacific was the main railroad in the area I grew up)

Interestingly, when I got into the hobby of American Civil War Living History, I found myself becoming interested in railroading of the Civil War era.  So again, comes down to what I have been exposed to.

I am taking my first trip to Europe soon so like John who posted earlier, may come back with a sudden interest in European railroads and model railroading!

Joe

Continental only or Britain included?

British, yes. European, no.

German theme modeler

I model the DB in the '50s. I was drawn to German modeling because my father and grandfather were German railway modelers. I chose the 50's because it lends itself to a small shelf layout better than modern railroading even if I've been to Germany twice (at age 8 and 15). So all my exposure was through my family modeling.

I do not like the oversize flanges, but they are needed for the tight radii in my layout (36 cm). As for the couplers I think they are OK since a working chain and buffer coupler in H0 would be impossible to use properly.

What I like the most is the quality and detail from the Faller and Vollmer structure kits, as well as Herpa and Wiking cars. My rolling stock is a mixed bag of old and new, from lots of different manufacturers. Most of the old ones are not very convincing, some even have raised lettering molded in the body. Most of the modern ones are much better, and surprisingly nothing beats my grandfather's old lilliput coaches (fine model series)

Regards,

Daniel Kramer

Am British, so ...

... so there is some interest from me towards British modeling. Naturally the magazines I can pick up and the people I meet most easily will be doing Brit prototypes. I am in Manchester where some of the earliest railway was built so there is a lot of interest around me.  

I keep thinking about doing a small Brit switching layout but keep finding it would be a distraction from my main project (N-scale NKP coal stuff and some kind of NYC thing when I get round to it). Have had to re-think, chop up and re-start the current project several times already which has a bearing on this, makes me inclined to focus more on one thing as proper planning prevents poor performance. Also me and my wallet want to avoid the urge to collect nice things just because they exist. And with Bachmann and Dapol coming on to the market alongside Hornby the traditional giant, and making new interesting models, there are a lot of nice things that money could be spent on if I released my vice-like grip on the purse strings. 

There are many eras of railway history here, all with their own interesting features for modelers. Small as the country may be compared to the states there is still a ton of regional variation. 

In terms of ready to run models you're okay from the 1930s onwards, if modeling before then more scratch building is required. 

Controversially, I think (well, I feel, it's totally subjective) that from the period of the first-generation diesels onward, the aesthetics of British locomotives lag behind their American cousins. An RS3, GP or PA etc has bags of character, not so much our fairly plain diesels and electrics. If I end up doing a brit layout it will be steam-era, probably based on some local prototype so I can go and look at what remains of it. Switching puzzle as I'm never going to have room to run an Evening Star around, sadly: 

    

But then there's nothing wrong with this, either: 

For the time being though, the possibilities of running trains through wide open wilderness or through New York keeps me attached to the US project. I probably have a very idealised view of such things but I guess my postage costs help keep the industry alive in a small way  

YES

I WAS ASSIGNED TO Stuttgart in the last half of the seventies.  Love the German trains and catenary.  Also flew over the narrow guage line on the north side of Ulm.  I thought the E-94s in helper service between Stuttgart and Gopinggen was the cats meow.

Then I found other trains in other places.

Rio Grande in New Mexico

La Luz, NM

Roger Bodwell

Amendments to my Statements

The Russian prototype uses the SA-3 Coupler which outwardly resembles the US knuckle coupler so the body mount NEM couplers bother me on Russian prototype models. As for quality of older models a little while back I managed to score some vintage Vero structure kits. These were produced in East Germany a few decades ago. The tooling and pad printing blew me away! 

.Briefly I was conflicted as to whether or not to construct them as they are still in original (and early) Vero packaging. But then I found that Auhagen has the molds and produces all of the old Vero structures now. So any I want I can get new and leave these pieces of history (some have Cyrallic store tags) intact. 

My Primary Interest...

...Has always been the PRR but I have had modeling experience with British and European as well.

Being from Australia there are a lot of Europeans and Brits and a lot of them tend to model the "Old Country" so at our club the Australian Model Railway Association when we run TT sessions we run a different prototype for each session, such as:- Austrian, German, British, Australian and US.

These sessions are also broken down into eras such as Victorian Railways 1960's or Western USA 1990's or British pre Grouping, German Era 3, etc. Consequently I have seen and enjoyed lots of different prototypes.

Personally I have had 2 periods of modeling European as a side hobby. I have always had a fascination for the Suisse Meter Gauge railways and had a large collection of BEMO, STL, etc. and was involved in the European Model Railway Association which had a modular meter gauge exhibition layout.

When Fleischmann released their Oe Austrian prototype models a friend John Gilmour who was an HO OBB modeler and I built a 10' x 12' layout called Die Oberdrautalbahn which we exhibited for several years around Victoria.

Unfortunately due to my moving to the USA I had to sell off all my European equipment and concentrate on my primary interest the PRR.

Absolutely!

I'm an Australian temporarily living in the US, with family in Canada, friends in Germany.  Having visited Germany and experienced the wonderful DB Museum in Nuremberg I'm very enamoured of DB steam locomotives and really love the amazing German model train shops. 

So I have Australian, US, Canadian and German locomotives and rolling stock that will take turns on a slowly built Canadian mountain layout.

Cheers

Stephen

Hi little boys, I 've sold

Hi little boys,

I 've sold all my european material a few years ago...when i've discovered American model railroad.

There are less rules with a private short line...it cant be in Europe. It's more strict.

In Belgium, a heavy train get 5000 t...like a small train in the USA.

Prices are also different here. New items cost minimum 300 euro (375 $)...Märklin, Trix or Fleishmann cost

499 euro...799 euro ...It's really ridiculous. 

Price is a real issue

As trainchief pointed out, prices are a real factor. Most german locomotives cost 3-4 times an athearn genesis, and if you want something very nice (like ESU's V-90) you are in Blackstone's price range...

Regards

Daniel Kramer

Absolutely!

I'm a bit late to this thread. But, yeah, I'm interested. Interested enough to have an N scale layout depicting a portion of southern Bavaria (Oberbayern). I have a section of mainline between München and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, plus a branchline from Murnau to Oberammergau - all in a space of about 10'x14'. 

http://www.kbs963.net

In the last 6-8 months, I've been able to get active again, after letting the layout sit dormant for the better part of 8 years!

KBS963

I have interest in WWII era

I have interest in WWII era steam. Mostly  UK and France. I dont own any locos but thought it might be cool some day to model a typical goods train. If you have ever seen the movie "The Train" I would like to model that some day.

Back in the 70's as a kid, we

Back in the 70's as a kid, we visited the Czech republic a bit as my folks were friends with a railway family there. My dad was a train driver for the Dutch railways and they met on an exchange program.

I bought some Piko stuff in Prague and Ustec, looked terrible, ran even worse but I loved it. Since then I have a soft spot for German steam and diesel and the austere looking east Euro equipment.

I live in the UK and UK railways, old or new don't do it for me. There is a restored steam line 10 miles from here with 6 engines, some proper road engines. I hardly ever go and see it....