murphaph

Thanks George. Today I had a series of very tight connections but miraculously made them all and got to travel south to north steam hauled through the mountains. Worth getting up early for. I will add pictures and some video later from home. Back on mainline rail on the way home via Berlin now.

Off to the Harz mountains again today. Currently on board the Regional Express (RE) 10 from Magdeburg to Sangerhausen, where I have a very tight connection to the RE 9 to Nordhausen. I am effectively traveling around the mountains to the east to travel through them from the south to the north. I have resigned myself to not making the steam hauled train I want so if I catch it it's a bonus. Couple of snaps from Magdeburg Hbf: Staßfurt: Abandoned platform with its GDR era lighting at Sandersleben:

Yep, Dave is right. Just cut the speaker that came with the decoder off and fit to the loco and you're done. The square thing is the speaker+enclosure but the factory fitted speaker in the 071 is probably a better solution. Make sure you don't leave a short by cutting the two wires so close to the decoder that copper strands could splay out and touch each other. If you're skilled with a soldering iron you can just desolder the two wires, again being careful not to leave a short. The safest solution if you're not skilled in this stuff is to cut the two wires at different lengths and then put a bit of electrical tape around each end and tuck the wires somewhere where they can't short against each other or the chassis etc.

Looking well Robert!

I was looking forward to these pics . Home turf!

So finally finished weathering and varnishing these. NIR shouldn't have sent them down the N1 on a dirty February morning to Inchicore to collect some urgently required spares. That's how they got so manky:

I'm in the same boat era wise. But I think I'll have to justify at least one pack to represent the stored wagons being moved to Limerick in the 90's. The bonus being they'll need a lot of rust added!

Yeah that's a great job. Really looks the part.

The stock levels and availability are different because Brexit forced IRM to split the inventory up. It was much easier before Brexit when we were all in the same market. Tis no different to comparing amazon.com and amazon.co.uk: Totally different stock levels and availability because the goods are physically located in different places to service their own markets. The only difference is, if you email amazon and ask them to shift stock from one country to another so you can place and order, they will politely tell you to go away.

Hey Brendan, I completely skipped the town this time. To be honest I've been there a few times already in all seasons and I was getting tired and wanted to be on the rails home at that stage! So I just hopped straight off the HSB and into an RE 4 to Halberstadt changing straight onto an RE11 to Magdeburg. I stopped for a quick bite to eat in Magdeburg as I'd never been in the city. I'll go back for a closer look on my €9 ticket. I only saw around the station. I am wondering what other heritage railways I can reach in a reasonable time on the €9 ticket. Interestingly there were several Brits doing exactly the same route as me on the HSB yesterday, making good use of the €9 offer. They were staying the night in Wernigerode. Edit: Here was my plan. I hadn't wanted to actually go to Harzgerode because I was concerned I'd have to stand all the way to Eisfelder Talmühle if I wasn't ready to board. I accidentally boarded the railcar to Harzgerode however but all was fine in the end. Nobody had to stand on any of the trains I took on the HSB yesterday. The weekends are surely a different matter! I may well head back later this summer to cover more sections by steam.

Yeah, can't believe I did about 750kms of trains travel today for €0.

A few pics I'll caption later: Stiege, crossing the modern railcar going the other way on the Selketalbahn (Selke Valley Railway): The Manulla Junction of the Harz Network. There is almost nothing here. There was a closed restaurant in the old station building. No village or town. Disembarked the Selketalbahn and boarded s steam hauled service to Wernigerode on the Trans Harz Railway: Right from whence we came, left towards Wernigerode: Our train arriving out of Wernigerode. The loco will take on water and run around and haul us backwards: On the way through the mountains to Wernigerode: 30 minute break at Drei Annen Hohne. 3 steam hauled trains met here. This is our loco heading to take on water. Our train is in the rear on platform 3: Standard gauge piggybacking on narrow gauge: Arriving into Wenigerode Hbf: Over on the mainline platform for the journey home: Pit stop in Magdeburg with its impressive station facade. Great place to watch freight trains. One every few minutes:

No worries Connolly. I'll throw up the last few pics later/tomorrow. Back on mainline rail now on the trek home via Berlin. More or less the way I came.

Couple of snaps along the way to Alexisbad and then the branch to Harzgerode, which was tackled by railcar. The same railcar will now take me to Eisfelder Talmühle.

Not that I know of although the original DART is German. Arrival at Quedlinburg and transfer to narrow gauge. Had a few minutes to walk through the town:

Quick change in Magdeburg on to the RE11, first non-DB train of the day, being operated by Abellio of the Netherlands. This train will split in Halberstadt with this half continuing to Quedlinburg. Thankfully dual USB sockets available to charge phone and power pack simultaneously. First diesel traction for me today. Double deck Intercity to Cologne: My onward connection:

Berlin Charlottenburg. Train I arrived on terminated here and will return to Nauen a little later, this time being propelled by the loco: My RE1 connection to Magdeburg pulls in: The RE1 stops at Berlin Wannsee and Potsdam. Site of two (in)famous conferences. A little known fact is that the order by Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was given in Potsdam. Potsdam Hbf: Brandenburg Hbf with timed diesel railcar connection of the to Rathenow (county town of Havelland, the county in which I live). I will try to use this service another day:

Thanks guys. For a lark I'll update with sporadic photos during the day. First train I saw today was a freight that passed through shortly before my (unusually) loco hauled RB14 arrived: My train. Normally a Talent 2 EMU. Perhaps due to works on the line it's loco hauled double deck stock today: Spandau. Start of the SBahn along this stretch of line:

My target for tomorrow, Wernigerode Town Hall: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.8332672,10.784358,3a,75y,3.18h,129.8t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPbnPK4_46YV43Bb2GBeYJr212l_yUgJENy7tKU!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPbnPK4_46YV43Bb2GBeYJr212l_yUgJENy7tKU%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya45.563225-ro-0-fo100!7i7296!8i3648 Plan: Mainline regional rail: Depart Brieselang 0540. Arrive Charlottenburg (West Berlin) 0605, depart 0621. Arrive Magdeburg 0751, depart 0807. Arrive Quedlinburg 0923. Normal price for this leg alone would be €43.50! Change at Quedlinburg to Narrow gauge Harz network, mix of mostly steam hauled with some railcar service in between: Depart Quedlinburg on the Selke Valley Railway, steam hauled at 1030. Arrive Alexisbad 1131, depart on railcar at 1237. Arrive Eisfelder Talmühle 1351. Change to Trans-Harz Railway and depart Eisfelder Talmühle at 1411, steam hauled all the way to Wernigerode, with a half an hour break at Drei Annen Hohne. This is where trains cross and it's a summit of the railway I believe. They take on water here in both directions. Trains on the spur to the summit of the Brocken Mountain depart from here but I've been up there a couple of times before so I will be skipping it tomorrow and heading straight to Wernigerode, arriving at 1633. I will then take mainline regional rail back to Brieselang the way I came most likely. Wernigerode is a beautiful half timbered town, with a castle perched above it on a hillside, that was spared destruction in WWII when the German commander of their armed forces, Gustav Petri refused to defend it against the Americans, knowing it would be destroyed, with great loss of life. He was executed for his actions, but Wernigerode survived intact and nobody was killed in its pointless defence. Without the €9 ticket this journey would cost well over €100.

I love TT (if Irish stuff hadn't existed I would have contemplated a TT layout as an alternative) but wouldn't we just end up with another incorrect gauge for 5'3" with this system? If Irish models ever appear RTR in a scale/gauge other than 00 I would hope it would include a true scale gauge of the prototype. But in reality I think 00 with allowance for 21mm wherever practically possible is the limit of what's commercially viable for RTR in the Irish market, given the small size.

Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg has a large Scandinavian section.

Barrack Street was perhaps the only place left at that stage where 121s ran bonnet forward. It wasn't shunting, they actually ran like that down into the yard. I think there was no turntable so they had to run bonnet first one way in single operation. I guess the relatively slow speeds allowed for a deviation from the normal rules.

You must be well pleased George. Looks the absolute business and as an aside, that park looks perfect for the hobby! My nearest lake is a proper lake. Always worried about losing radio contact and the young lad's boat drifting off!

Oh maybe my info is out of date Lev. I'm sure somebody more knowledgeable about the scene will come along soon to help.

Third last coach in the first video seems to have been bricked too.