OBB HOe layout "Connafeld"

[Georgeconna]

Hi folks 

Started a HOe Layout, freelance with actual Austrian buildings. Will be a bit of the Mariazellerbahm and Ybbstahlbahn. I know next to nothing about these railways so doing wee bit of research. At the moment gathering stock (ain't ceap) and I have the track plan more or less sorted. Dims are 5x4ft but could do with a few extra inches...

Waiting for a few more points and some 6mm ply as the track will be raised up and not flat earth syndrome.

The Station building I am working on is from Igra Models and is of the now closed Ybbsitz Railway Station, A laser cut kit.

 

Lots of good vids on you tube: 

 

Edited October 28 by Georgeconna

[DJ Dangerous]

Looks stunning, @Georgeconna!

[Georgeconna]

I decided not to use the MDF baseboard as it was not long enough and it would be difficult installing point motors under neath so went open plan and the track bed will be raised about 3 inches off the top of the base board frame. I used the legs from the MDF board.

 

Edited October 4 by Georgeconna

[jhb171achill]

I'm following this with very great interest. Until Murphy released the 141s, and SSM did an 800 class kit, I had spent twenty years collecting 009 OBB stuff with the intention of having a quite ambitious Austrian narrow gauge layout. The entire collection was sold some years ago now, in order to switch completely to what is now Dugort Harbour, a 1955-70 rural west Kerry layout.

I travelled extensively on the OBB narrow gauge line sin the 1970s an early 80s, and they were truly fascinating. Sadly, they've gone to rack and ruin now in many cases; otherwise closed, devoid of steam, or with gold coloured Luas-like things on them instead of "proper train". Had a number of cab runs in those 2095s as well as steam on the Waldviertalbahn - great locos,

[Georgeconna]

Quick cobble of the proposed track plan. These stations tended to have loops rather than sidings. The main line being the middle track and people had to cross the track nearest the station to get on the train! The layout is 6x3ft so the extra foot gives the scene a little bit more breathing space and less clustered.

8

48 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I'm following this with very great interest. Until Murphy released the 141s, and SSM did an 800 class kit, I had spent twenty years collecting 009 OBB stuff with the intention of having a quite ambitious Austrian narrow gauge layout. The entire collection was sold some years ago now, in order to switch completely to what is now Dugort Harbour, a 1955-70 rural west Kerry layout.

I travelled extensively on the OBB narrow gauge line sin the 1970s an early 80s, and they were truly fascinating. Sadly, they've gone to rack and ruin now in many cases; otherwise closed, devoid of steam, or with gold coloured Luas-like things on them instead of "proper train". Had a number of cab runs in those 2095s as well as steam on the Waldviertalbahn - great locos,

Only been to Austria once and thT was to see jets. They had some lovely lines for sure some survived until recent times before lifted. The OBB stuff is full of character! Feel free to chip in with ant observations please JHB. Just going off of books and YouTube.

Edited October 4 by Georgeconna

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

Quick cobble of the proposed track plan. These stations tended to have loops rather than sidings. The main line being the middle track and people had to cross the track nearest the station to get on the train! The layout is 6x3ft so the extra foot gives the scene a little bit more breathing space and less clustered.

Only been to Austria once and thT was to see jets. They had some lovely lines for sure some survived until recent times before lifted. The OBB stuff is full of character! Feel free to chip in with ant observations please JHB. Just going off of books and YouTube.

Your track plan is good, George. Most stations on most of those lines had several loops going through and maybe one siding. The building looks great too. Will you be working in modern era or a bit of everything? (Mine was going to be circa 1980, when there were 2091s, 2095, s a mix of old and new liveries, and still a little steam - plus, of course, a few mixed trains, like on the Krimml line!

Edited October 5 by jhb171achill

[Georgeconna]

11 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Your tyrack plan is good, George. Most stations on most of those lines had several loops going through and maybe one siding. The building looks great too. Will you be working in modern era or a bit of everything? (Mine was going to be circa 1980, when there were 2091s, 2095, s a mix of old and new liveries, and still a little steam - plus, of course, a few mixed trains, like on the Krimml line!

Think the 80's will be the period here. Probably get a steamer at some stage. I hope to do OHLE and run Electrics, Diesel and Steam for interest.

I will have an engine shed but normally the through stations did not have one but hey ho!

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

Think the 80's will be the period here. Probably get a steamer at some stage. I hope to do OHLE and run Electrics, Diesel and Steam for interest.

I will have an engine shed but normally the through stations did not have one but hey ho!

It could be a junction station - several of the lines did have junctions along the way. Also, where they met the standard gauge, if you'd call that a junction of sorts, there would be a shed! (e.g. Garsten, Zell-am-Zee, Gmund, etc...)

[Georgeconna]

Been tipping away over the last few days as minding me Dad for the week which gave me a bit of time to think about the layout.  The  base board was raised 3 inches to enable a bridge to be included and I treated myself to a Blank N Decker  battery Jigsaw. 90 quid so not too cheap ir dear and works very well too.

[Georgeconna]

Built the bridge kit this evening. Noch job. Laser cut. Joy to make. Just hand rails to do.

Edited October 15 by Georgeconna

[Georgeconna]

Cork base down today a day loads of weights on it. Also made a start on the engine shed. Another lovely kit.

[Georgeconna]

A pleasurable few hours in self imposed solitary confinement in the shed, one visit from the missus with a teapot and cup!!.

The station track was determined and track cut to suit. Its typical of an Austrian NG Station from what I have seen. It is Pinned I to place at the moment. Fiddle yard to do tomorrow then holes for the point motors and soldering! Just need my modelling desk delivered!!!.  Engine shed build continues..

Hope it catches the flavour of these lines.JHB will tell of off otherwise!!

One thing hard to find any shots of signals and the OHLE will be a new challenge. Researching that now. Viessmann do OBB Type single arm posts but the 3 lines will mean scratch building the gantrys and by god the network of wires looks difficult.

 

 

 

Engine shed is where the Diesel is.

Enough loop Space for a 4 coach consist in the middle and outer lanes.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16 by Georgeconna

[jhb171achill]

Looks amazing, George, just what I would have been at had it not been for Murphy bringing out 141s, and SSM doing an 800 kit! I sold my entire 009 collection to fund that...... an Dugort Harbour followed.

Your layout shows just how much you can get in a small space with 009 (or N, I suppose). Good to see this developing - the station building is superb and the whole thing looks very realistic. Your carriage liveries have the final days of well-kept and cared for OBB narrow gauge (1990s!) to a T.

Brings back footplate memories of 0.6.2Ts on the Grunberg line in 1979! But the other lines were all diesel or electric then, with Gmund mixed steam and diesel.

Edited October 17 by jhb171achill

[Georgeconna]

12 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Looks amazing, George, just what I would have been at had it not been for Murphy bringing out 141s, and SSM doing an 800 kit! I sold my entire 009 collection to fund that...... an Dugort Harbour followed.

Your layout shows just how much you can get in a small space with 009 (or N, I suppose). Good to see this developing - the station building is superb and the whole thing looks very realistic. Your carriage liveries have the final days of well-kept and cared for OBB narrow gauge (1990s!) to a T.

Brings back footplate memories of 0.6.2Ts on the Grunberg line in 1979! But the other lines were all diesel or electric then, with Gmund mixed steam and diesel.

Thanks JHB,

its only 5x3ft JHB so nice and tidy. TBH the cost of the scenery and the like make the smaller scenes a bit more practical!

Will try to get the Earlier livery Coaches next, They had quite a mix of Brown, Green, Beige etc. Also a Steamer too but they are pretty pricey for what the are.

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

Thanks JHB,

its only 5x3ft JHB so nice and tidy. TBH the cost of the scenery and the like make the smaller scenes a bit more practical!

Will try to get the Earlier livery Coaches next, They had quite a mix of Brown, Green, Beige etc. Also a Steamer too but they are pretty pricey for what the are.

The plain green lasted a lot longer on secondary main line stock and all narrow gauge stock than on the main system. On visits I made between 1978 and 1985, almost all narrow gauge stock was still green, though there were at least 2 or 3 geranium & cream on the Pinzgau line. But the Gmund system still had all-green coaches. All locos in that period were plain geranium red. There were still quite a few four-wheelers in traffic on some lines - the Gmund system and the Grunberg line, as far as I recall. On the Pinzgau line, all wagons that I saw in use were bogies. I travelled in the cab of a mixed from Krimml to Zell, and he had three bogie coaches on (green), and a bogie van. He stopped at Mittersill and added at least 3 more bogie vans. Good bit of shunting....

The brown livery came later and seems to have been confined to touristy lines, like the electric one.

 

[Georgeconna]

Spotted JHB  Saturday AM for a fleeting minute then you were not seen again!!

West side of the Station area is completed. Cobalt Digital running the ops and switching. Using Z21 for DCC control. 

Ran a test train and the a sample of what hopefully will be running once the layout is done.

 

 

[Georgeconna]

Cleaned off the board. Need to replace the Y point to the Engine shed site as it is giving jip. The scenic part is almost done. Spray the track next.  

I ordered an OBB Ohle Mast but me thinks it's more suited to the Ho locos rather than the smaller NG stuff.

 

 

 

[Georgeconna]

1st fiddle yard loop done. Entrance points are Roco ones and are lightly sprung and a train can easily push the blades when ran against them so no need for point motors there. Wasted a bit of time when I put the power wires into the wrong holes in the cobalt. Trying to diagnose the issue was puzzling for a while. Dann eyesight! Little vid of double departure.

[Georgeconna]

Completed the track now snd all point motored up. Next is track weathering.

[Georgeconna]

Interesting thing came up last night. Bro in law came in a snipped off a bit of the throw arm as it was catching the bogies.

Afterwards when I switched the point it shorted. Strange as it was running fine previously.

Turned out the point motor was not really set right and the blades were not in the middle of the point when installed. As a result it did not have time to clear the stock rail before the polarity changed causing a short.

Certainly a head scratching moment Anyhow re aligned the motor and it now works fine. OO gauge is a lot more forgiving as more space to play with!

Just for anyone that might come across the same problem.

 

Edited November 1 by Georgeconna

[Georgeconna]

Bit or track weathering over the weekend..

[Georgeconna]

Had the last week off but got zero done due to a near fatal dose of Man flu but before that took over I laid the platforms down using air dry clay and a bit of pollyfilla. Small bit of ballasting too which I thought looked crap but look fine now when the pollyfilla was laid up next to it.  Couple of test runs through those are OK but I will need to reduce the height a tad.

[Georgeconna]

Off for the week and a sunny day so wood cutting was the order of the day in between entertaining the mutt. Land scaping next.

Edited December 2 by Georgeconna

[Georgeconna]

Tipping away on the scenery. Using some foam Iinsulatipn boards and plaster bandages that I got from Cork Art Supplies Web page. Good price too. Ballasting has Been moving along too but taking ages to dry.  Need to think about the OHLE now and the tunnels as I need to work out the madt spacings and sum form of guide to bring the pantos down to the right height when leaving the fiddle yard. I dint fancy having OHLE in the fiddle yard.  The final large building, a hostel is in progress also.  Keeping it to less is more thinking.

[jhb171achill]

As a big fan of Austrian narrow gauge, I'm watching this one with great interest!

[Georgeconna]

Bit of a play at lunchtime to make sure all is in order after some bsllasting. Also realised the diesel has 29 functions. I had only set up 5!!

[DJ Dangerous]

Just catching up on this one now, @Georgeconna. One word for the whole lot: "Wow".