Midland Irish Peat feldbahn in H0f

[Sean]

Having barely finished the last layout, I have decided to start planning another one, and I fancied a bit of narrow gauge this time around!

On my researchings, I started to lean more and more towards 2 foot gauge than 3 and when i seen some h0f models I was sold on the idea. The feldbahn or field railway is the european version of a small industrial railway, so to speak, but there were also some large systems build around factories etc!

 

There are a couple of different locations I would like to model in this scale however midland irish peat stands out for me for its quirkiness of being more of a "feldbahn" than a fully fledged railway, there is also surprisingly a lot of variation in scenery in the small runs between different bogs.

There was a small yard full of wagons which was utilised to move the harvested peat into lorries for processing at the plant further away and even a locomotive works with a small run of track not connected to the main system for testing locomotives.

 

I am aiming to build on a 1 foot wide base board however the length is yet to be decided and the track plan will be utilitarian just like it was in real life. being able to build into such a compact footprint was a big driving force in chosing the scale over something more conventional like 009.

 

The rolling stock situation is pretty straight forward, everything seemed to be built onto very generic looking 4 wheel trolleys, these are available from busch in 2 different styles, both of which i have seen evidence of at MIP and it should be enjoyable to scratch build all the little bodies onto these.there is also a 3d printable version of these generic 4 wagons available.

there were some cool looking PW and fuel trains running also!

 

There seemed to be upto around 10 locomotives on site of varying makes and models and the history of most are traceable from the factory and have now made it into preservation in the UK and Europe. I should be able to recreate at least a few of them to a reasonable standard!

 

I have ordered a starter set along with a couple of wagons and a static locomotive to get me going with the first peat train!

 

one VITAL area in which I have struggled is trackwork, Z gauge track will work but unsurprisingly looks all wrong  and should really be confined to fiddle yards. Busch set track is very expensive,  and technomodell flextrack can only be found in stock at one seller but its overpriced and so is the shipping so I would be looking at 70 euro delivered for 2 lenghts of flexitrack!

 

some heroes online have uploaded STL files for 3d printing of flexible h0f track and I have been learning how to modify these to accept code 75 rail and am exploring ways to print them. tomorrow we visit the library!

[David Holman]

I think Roy Link used to produce etched track fittings for temporary railways like this, but it may have been 7mm scale.

[DJ Dangerous]

Another inteteresting and challenging one, @Sean!

Think that @LNERW1 is also working on a peat bog style railway. You could butt heads for some brain-storming.

[Galteemore]

Great project to dig into, and am sure you won’t get bogged down by it  

[LNERW1]

17 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Another inteteresting and challenging one, @Sean!

Think that @LNERW1 is also working on a peat bog style railway. You could butt heads for some brain-storming.

Ah yeah I’ve some interest in BnM from living near a bog railway and volunteering at Stradbally with loads of BnM stuff. I’ve to get a new railway room sorted but when thats done I’ll probably be starting on a model of Coolnamona main line transfer sidings. I also have a baseboard I’ve wanted to use for a BnM project but that’s very much long term.

Anyway thats not particularly relevant to this thread specifically. I’ll be watching this with interest. If you want to have a look at some BnM stuff up close at the SWR, drop me a PM. The running season starts up again in Easter.

[Sean]

did not expect to update so soon, but there has been a development!

Sent 3d files off to my library at around 10 am and was told it would be a 2-3 day wait for the bits to come back. I was pleasantly surprised to get an email to come and pick them up at half 4!

 

The schwellenband design did not work well at all for me, the enlarged rail chairs were too flimsy and broke off in my pocket as i was walking around.

the tim1mw however was a different story.

 

the tim1mw however was a different story.

half of the sleepers were not attatched and this will have to be fixed in the next revisions, I only got track panel that was 3 sleepers long!

 

I was under the impression that code 75 meant code 75 and scale would play no part in the rail profile. I was wrong about this and all of the H0/00 code 75 that I do have is actually way too big.

so I picked up a random piece of straight n gauge track, removed the rails, offered it up and fit snugly into the chairs!

 

perhaps this was a measurement fluke, but it has proven to me that this track system works and will be workable going forward, which is great because there are 3d. printable points as well  

since i cant use the code 75 rail I have now I will order the proper z scale rail which is designed to work with this system and other h0f systems for interconnect ability.

600mm x 6 comes to a grand total of 15 euro which beats any other option by multiples!

[Sean]

 

Whilst this is not Ireland it seems to capture the atmosphere of the "torfbahn" very well and you will see a lot of the same quirky operating practices such as drivers jumping off the train to do somthing as its going along or even long double headed trains that are being controlled by a single driver who is continually jumping from cab to cab to adjust throttles in order to  keep the locos pulling together!

 

When railway operations ceased at rathowen 3 out of the 5 remaining locos were made by diema who feature very heavily in my plans!