Construction has begun!

The Grimstad Line has so far only consisted in model of the three modules that make up the Grimstad station. Now the construction of the peninsula in the middle of the layoutroom has begun! I hope to be able to finish this soon so I can attach it to my previous modules and begin to lay some track :)

A new locomotive on the Grimstad Line!

After World War II one of these locomotives was left in Norway. It was named Skd211 by the NSB, but is more commonly known as Köf. It will be used for shunting work in Grimstad and small local freights to Rykene and Rise.

Grimstad on tour!

Two weeks ago me and my Grimstad modules attended Fremo's 25th birthday celebrations in Alsfeld Germany. It is very nice to see my modules play their part in a huge operating session together with 117(!) other stations on the layout. There were a lot of freight and passengers in and out of Grimstad every session. For instance; fish was sent to a big station on the Chech part of the layout. And the local newspaper in Grimstad got a lot of paper from a Dutch paperplant on the opposite side of the layout. It took several hours of transportation real-time until these shipments reached their destinations on this huge layout which had almost a kilometer of mainline track. Unfortunately this is the only picture of Grimstad I've got from the meeting. Next time I'll remember to bring my camera...

New locomotive on the Grimstad Line

Due to shortage of motive power on the Grimstad Line, the management has turned it's head to other railroads for help. An agreement has been reached with SjB (Sjuskogbanen) which have kindly rented out one of their reserve locos. The loco is SjB no.9 which is a tank engine of NSB type 20b. The picture shows no.9 in Grimstad for the first time shortly after arriving with freight train Gt 5675.

Overview of Grimstad

Work continues slowly on the new and revised area around Grimstad station. I have also added a black "skirt" under Grimstad which enhances the overall look nicely. Here is a picture of how the three sections look when you enter my layout room.

Backdrop experimentation

I need a backdrop all along the wall in my layout room, so I bought some blue skyes and clouds from Vollmer :). Behind Grimstad station, which is a removeable Fremo-module that consists of three sections, I will make three removeable backdrops that can be clamped on the modules for use on Fremo meets or shows. I'm not 100% pleased with the color of the sky, as I think it is too blue. Also, the clouds are too low on the "horizon" so I'll probably look for something else. But these will have to do for now.

Finally - a track plan!

After a couple of long nights working with the computer I finally have something I can call a trackplan for my layout. I used the demo version of a german program called Wintrack 7.0 which has a cool feature; 3D! It's fun seeing my plans in 3D although it all looks like a picture from the Faller catalogue :) You can find the normal version by clicking "Trackplan" in the menu.

The Grimstad modules test their new home

Some years ago I started construction of Grimstad station using the FREMO-module standard. These three sections have been to many shows both in Norway and in Germany, and now they are going to serve as the main focal point on my new Grimstad Line layout. They don't look very good at the moment,as they are currently being renovated with new ground cover, more buildings and some modification to the tracks, but that will hopefully change soon!. A new turntable is also going to be installed. The layoutroom is not finished yet, but I couldn't resist to try out the modules in their new home.