Untergroeningen: A Case for Segment One

This afternoon I turned a sheet of 1/8" hardboard into a case for Untergroeningen segment one. Now I can store it with the other modules in the storage rack in the garage, instead of having it take up space in the train room. 

You can never have too many clamps. I'd like to protect the underside better, but this will do.

All packed away.

Untergroeningen: Locomotive Shed (8)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 7 ]

While the ballast dries, I'm working on the floor of the locomotive shed. The idea here is that the floor will be permanently mounted to the module, while the locomotive shed will remain removable, at least for the time being.

The floor will get a concrete look with the rails embedded in the (styrene) concrete. The flangeways need to be quite wide to conform with NEM 340. The single Code 40 rail will provide power to the locomotive. I'm hoping it will be less obstrusive when the floor is painted.

[ part 9 ]

Untergroeningen: Trackwork (4)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 3 ]

In the early 1970's Untergröningen station was more or less covered in ballast and small gravel, which is the look that I'm trying to replicate here. After laying the track, I was quite concerned that I'd have trouble representing the prototype.

However, after I started to sprinkle Arizona Rock & Minerals ballast #1332 around the tracks the concern turned into excitement. The tracks are slightly raised above the base with just a little bit of shoulder. The real rock provides some color variation which helps the overall scene.

This afternoon I finished ballasting the segment and applied Matte Medium to glue everything down. Unfortunately, the alcohol and Matte Medium washed some of the rock dust off the ties and rails. I might come back later with weathering powders to compensate.

For now I need to wait again and ... don't touch until the glue is dry!

[ part 5 ]

Untergroeningen: Trackwork (3)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 2 ]

When I planned segment three, I flipped the direction of the crossover compared to the prototype because I figured it would be helpful to have a passing siding on the way to Slim Staging. Let's just say that wasn't such a great idea. It makes switching the ramp cumbersome. Remember, the prototype is (almost) always right. Change the track arrangement only if you really thought it through. Over the last couple weeks, I slowly reworked the crossover, reusing one of the turnouts.

  Here's the segment on the workbench. I'm remounting the Tortoise turnout motors.

Aligning the track on the segment so that I get maximum length and width of the ramp, while not diverging too much from the existing arrangement took a little bit experimentation. Now I just need to fit the curve to the Welztalbahn connector.

For curves I prefer to install the puko-strips the old fashioned way using brass screws in the roadbed on the centerline and soldering the puko-strip to them.

The surrounding tracks rest on a thin strip of cork. I glue the strips to the roadbed to get the same track elevation.

After some fiddling with the track piece, a few swear words, and some patient convincing the curve is properly aligned on the puko-strip, and spiked down.

[ part 4 ]

Untergroeningen: Platform (3)

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

[ part 2 ]

Taking a break from rebuilding the tracks on Segment Three I decided tonight to paint the platform on Segment Two. I'm using Woodland Scenics Asphalt Top Coat, which is easy to use and has a very pleasing asphalt color. I find it fascinating how a little bit color can change the scene.

A source of frustration in this area was Track One. At the station building the track is embedded in asphalt. Building track embedded in pavement is always a challenge on Maerklin layouts because the center studs get in the way. I've tried various approaches for this in the past (e.g. the railroad crossing in Emsingen). Here I filled the gaps between the ties with very fine sand, leveled it to the top of the ties, and glued it down like ballast. The Puko-Strip from WeichenWalter sticks up slightly above the ties. I was concerned that the difference in texture would be jarring, and that I couldn't get the top of the center studs properly cleaned after painting. However, cleanup was easy and here's Koef III creeping slowly over the track embedded in asphalt. The texture difference is not as bad as I feared and the center studs are barely visible.

Untergroeningen: Station building research

[ Untergroeningen posts ]

Untergroeningen station buildings in 2004

This photo from Wikipedia nicely illustrates the building arrangement in Untergroeningen. The locomotive shed is on the left in the rear. Across the tracks is a large storage shed / barn-like structure. Track 1 is partially embedded in asphalt before the station building. There's a small outbuilding with restrooms between the station building and the shed. The station building has an integrated storage / warehouse area and loading ramp facing track 1. The challenge is what did this look like 30 years earlier?

I have been contemplating how to model this ensemble. The locomotive shed with its distinctive water tower and attached tool shop in the rear needs to be represented, and I already made a partial paper mock-up for use with Auhagen parts. The shed and toilet building are pretty straightforward. I really like the tree between the two buildings.

However, I've been going back and forth on the station building. It's rather unattractive, and I have not been able to find any photos showing the street side of the station building that would be very visible on my module. The photo above shows the building with a brown siding that wraps around the side, too. All photos I found on the Internet (e.g. here with some shots from 1983) show the building with this ugly brown siding that I really don't like.

So I thought about alternatives. We are in Wuerttemberg. I could use one of the standardized Wuerttemberg station buildings. Faller makes a very nice model of the three-story Gueglingen station, which is type IIIa. So I ordered that and have it on the shelf. While at it, I also noticed that the station included in the Faller "Haltingen" set, which I got as a present a few years ago, is a bastardized version of the Gueglingen kit with the second story and waiting hall removed. It kind of looks similar to the type I plan.  What bugged me about this approach is that the weg was a private railway, and they didn't use the standardized plans in any of their buildings.

Next idea: Transplant one of the prettier weg buildings to Untergroeningen. E.g. Sulzbach has a nice half-timbered station building that still stands today and is now occupied by a restaurant.

Next I took another look at the photos of Untergroeningen in Hermann Buernheim's book "Wuerttembergische Eisenbahngesellschaft: Die Geschichte einer bedeutenden Privatbahn". Low and behold on page 139 is a photo from 1973 (yay!) showing the Untergroeningen station building with a wood siding on only one side of the warehouse side of the building (YAY!)  While the rest of the building is rather bland, that can be modeled. ... There is no tree between the outhouse and the shed and the platform is very low just barely above the rails.

After the success on Google Maps with Sulzbach, I double-checked if can get any additional information out of Google Maps. Sure enough: While the service facilities and all tracks are gone and have been replaced with industry, the station building itself is still standing. The satellite view gives a good idea about the roof structure of the building.

The paved area to the right of the station building leads to the former loading ramp at the end of track 1. The large shed was to the left of the loading ramp.

Update March 17, 2020:
To my delight I did find a street side view of the station building and the restroom building (with attached garage!) on Vergessene Bahnen.

Untergroeningen Underground

I wired the Tortoise turnout motors to the local controls for Untergroeningen segments 2 and 3. General wiring was also cleaned up.

And here's a shot of the adapter to the Welztalbahn.  This is not often seen by itself, since usually there's segment 3 in the way.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn (6)

This weekend I ran most active locomotives on the Welztalbahn over the complete Untergroeningen module with some freight cars and switched at least a few cars on each run in some sensible pattern to exercise tracks and turnouts.

I placed the Raiffeisen warehouse on the spur in Untergroeningen to get a sense of scale for this arrangement. I think I can make the storage tower an inch taller. This spur and business are a freelanced addition to Untergroeningen to allow for more diverse traffic on this branch line.

While I was testing, in many cases I found some bugs and as a side-effect also identified additional rolling stock that is finicky on the converted Peco turnouts, like DB 216 428, an older Maerklin model of a Glmmhs 57 box car, which turns out to be a good test case for how far to file the turnout guard rails.

The to-do list for the next couple weeks:

• Tune remaining Peco turnouts
• Build shadow box for each Untergroeningen segment and install LED lighting
• Add power to turnouts

That should wrap up the basics of Phase 1 of the Welztalbahn-Extension.

The next step will be temporary staging tracks behind Untergroeningen, and build up a new schedule and paperwork that integrates the extension and the upcoming Gaildorf/West module with the existing Welztalbahn. I'm aiming to have the basics of that worked out over the next couple months and start operating in a group regularly.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn (5)

Franziska helped me set up the modules tonight. They don't have proper feet yet, so for now I just clamped two boards to the side of the modules. However, this represents the first time that Untergroeningen is complete and connected with power to the Welztalbahn. Over the next couple days I will test various rolling stock with the new tracks. Once that is done, I'm planning to disassemble this setup and finish backdrop, turnout control, and segment lighting for Untergroeningen.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn (4)

I've started testing the track work in Untergroeningen with rolling stock that I know is sensitive to non-ideal track, and borderline with regard to norms. Switching different kinds of cars helped with finding and partially resolving dead spots and shorts. The older Maerklin stock is really good at finding pukos that I put too close to the edge of the rail.

Untergroeningen: Shadow Box

Untergroeningen will be located in the garage, at least for the time being. So I need a dust cover that is reasonably tight, easy to remove, reasonably stable, and easy to store. While thinking about this I realized I could just build a shadow box for the layout and close up the front, when it is not in use.

The plan above shows the fairly standard design. It was important to me to make the box easy to disassemble, so just like with the modules I use bolts and wing nuts. No tools needed. In addition, the support structure cannot protrude more than 1 inch in the rear because of clearance issues behind the modules.

Segment 1 became the prototype.

I need a bigger workbench, the modules don't fit... Or maybe store less crap on the top of the workbench. Installing the backdrop.

Test fit all the pieces before glueing.

With the table saw I made 45 degree angle pieces from 3/4" plywood.

That's where the LED strips go.

Testing in the garage.

I need two rows of LEDs to get sufficient brightness. Warm-white by itself feels too much like sunset, cool-white by itself is too harsh, but the combination of one each is just right.

Untergroeningen: Turnout Control

Untergroeningen only has hand-thrown turnouts. I was considering to replicate this in my rendition and use turnout levels like the small ones from Caboose Industries. Feasible, but turnout motors are more convenient, so I installed Tortoise motors in all three segments of the station. No computer control is planned for this module, so the turnout motors are controlled with regular DPDT-switches, thus at least somewhat replicating the local control theme. The switches need to be installed in the module side, and can't stick out of the side of the module. This is where 3/4" sides come in handy, too. What I didn't quite settle on was how much space to leave around the switch, so I made a test with a scrap piece of plywood, and quickly settled on the 1 1/2" diameter hole. The family agreed.

After carefully measuring the center points, drilling the holes freehand is fun and goes quickly.

Next I glued scrap pieces of hardboard behind the holes and fixed up the paint. Once that dried, drill holes, install the switches, and a couple hours later everything is wired up. 

Segment 1 done. Two more to go, but first I need to prototype something else.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn (3)

Tonight the first train ran under its own power from the Welztalbahn train room to Untergroeningen on the modular extension. I added a 4th power district and moved the existing PSXs to a larger mounting board.

Of course I took a short video to celebrate the occasion of the first train entering the module under its own power.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn (2)

Success!
Here is the first car to travel through the wall from the Welztalbahn to Untergroeningen.

Untergroeningen: Connecting to the Welztalbahn

While the Untergroeningen module is designed for the future Murrbahn project, I have made plans to use it in phase 1 of the Welztalbahn layout extension project as a through station, just like the prototype station was originally designed.

The first step is to go through the wall to the layout room to connect with the new turnout I installed in April.

I used some flextrack to check alignment and get an idea about clearances. Just as planned, the track barely misses the storage cabinet on the right.

Here's the view from inside the layout room.

I used cardboard to create a template for cutting the track base board. I paid extra attention to align the edge that needs to be perfectly square and straight with the pre-cut edge of the plywood board and cut the rest with a jig saw.

I fiddled for quite a while with the base board to get a good fit both inside the wall and with the Untergroeningen module.

It took a few attempts to get things to line up, while avoiding a tight radius curve. Once I was happy I marked the curve and glued down some Homabed.

So far, so good. Next up is final leveling of the module, aligned with the Welztalbahn, and installation of the connecting track, followed by wiring Untergroeningen to the Welztalbahn.