I had been thinking about how to control the turnouts on my layout, given that I wanted a system that not only followed the operational practice of having cards for the wagons, but also the manual element of setting the path for the train before it is allowed to move.

Playing with trains is all well and good, just as long as the benchwork is satisfactory. What I had used from a previous layout was 40mm (1 3/4") foam with a topping of lightly made fibreboard. It worked well enough, but it became clear that the roadbed was not what I required with the thinking of the time - where the turnouts (points) would be operated from underneath.

One of the fascinations for me in Berlin was the raised railway, especially the part which runs along the river Spree (which at the time I first knew it was still 'East Berlin'). It was partly the higher level that interested me as it would allow my shunting operations to have something of a background. The Gasworks will be surrounded by the return curve at one end and the far end (closest to my bed) will have a foundry and rolling mill in its compass. Between the two are the four tracks of the fast and slow lines, which run in both directions.

I’ve not been very good at keeping you guys updated about this project. I keep taking piccies and I just can’t get around to doing the blogging bit. I should be more of an exhibitionist, I’m not built that way. In the intervening time since my last post, I’ve played around with it, sorted one or two things out, and finally sorted out what the benchwork is going to look like.

I've been in bed for a couple of weeks, and am only just coming round, so apologies for not having posted for a while. A few things have been happening, and I am keeping a photo record for the point at which it's worth sharing.

What I did want was a corner house for the Bülowstrasse buildings and the stadtbahn that passes through them. This is how it looked in 1905; the photo is from Wikipedia (German).

The Ontrax exhibition is held at the Dutch National Railway Museum in Utrecht and as you can see, there are models everywhere - and real trains, too! It is a very special atmosphere for a model railway event.

Hello, this weekend past saw the Ontraxs exhibition at the National Railway Museum in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Since I live down the road (actually, three stations on the railway line) I popped by. This is the view of the museum as you approach it from the city centre of Utrecht.

Good evening.

Apols for not posting for a while, I was involved in several areas of the model, none of which have come to a conclusion as yet. I also tried the track for the dogbone part of the layout, the elevated Stadtbahn. Unfortunately the tight curve at the end derailed some of my carriages as the dynamic couplings (kinematic Kurzkupplungen) were not installed properly and this led to the buffers locking.

I made an attempt at this a few years ago, and had it anchored to my ceiling with the intention that it should be raised and lowered as needed. The result was that if it was lowered it stayed down, and if raised, was forgotten.