The Grimstad Line

Short attention span

2012-01-27T23:13:00.000+01:00

I have a seriously short attention span when it comes to modeling. I love to start new projects, but have a hard time finishing any of them. So now even though I perhaps should try to complete my harbour project, I've now moved my attention to the left side of the peninsula - the upper part of it. I have yet to name this area, but It will only contain a small house and lots and lots of trees. And I love modeling wooded areas - hence the move of attention.

Here's a picture of the area taken about a year ago :

And here it is now. I'm now working on a small house for the area in the centre of the picture :

Operating session #4

2011-12-29T13:32:00.004+01:00

A three man crew consisting of Jan Petter, Halvor and my self a couple, completed operation session#4 on the GFB a couple of weeks ago. As last time we went through two "days" in one night, running four passenger trains and one freight train in one day. Here are some pictures. Please post a comment if you'd like :)

Halvor running GFB no.2 with today's freight train from Rise to Grimstad.

A new locomotive, GFB no.1, had it's debut today as the Rykene switcher. Here Jan Petter is running it down to Lia spur to spot a T0-car.

Halvor is sorting cars with GFB no.7 at Grimstad. I've removed the background wallpaper here, and I think I will try to paint a background instead.

Jan Petter with a passenger train with a BM87 from Rise. As you can see here, the majority of my layout is quite unfinished.

Jan Petter's passenger train is arriving at Grimstad.

The industrial area at Rykene is pretty empty after the second "day"

A small detailed area at Grimstad.

GFB no.7 is spotting the last couple of cars at the end of the session.

Harbour part III

2011-10-16T23:44:00.000+02:00

Finally something happens with Torskeholmen again. I've started to add the pier fronts, and I am experimenting with cobblestones. The ship is from the dutch company Artitec and the model itself is built by a friend of mine.

One more for the gallery

2011-10-16T23:38:00.000+02:00

A norwegian class Di2 diesellocomotive on it's way to Grimstad with a freight train.

One for the gallery

2011-08-02T22:13:00.000+02:00

Today I stumbled across this picture while "tidying" a bit on my computer. The picture is taken at the 2010 Fremo meet in Zuidbroek, NL. You can barely make out the Grimstad turntable at the back of the little Skd220c locomotive. Further back is another Fremo-module. I think this makes for a cool and unusual background.

Operating session #3

2011-06-23T14:38:00.000+02:00

What? A new operating session already? With only 6 months past since the last one? Things are certainly picking up at GFB! Tonight two of my good friends, Styrkar Braathen and Halvor Sannæs, visited for GFB's third official operating session. I've not worked at the layout for quite some time now so I thought nothing is better for inspiration than a good ol' op session to get the creativity up to scratch again.

We actually ran two sessions in one night, with each session representing a day at the Grimstad Line. During one day we ran three passenger trains, one freight train and a couple of "locals" between Rykene and Lia. Each session lasted about 90 minutes and we had a lot of fun!

Here are some quick shots I took during the sessions. Nothing too fancy or exciting new stuff to show, but here goes:

Passenger train Pt2580 consisting of BM87 motorcar and type Gx baggage car on it's way to Rise between Grimstad and Lia.

Your's truly as the Rise stationmaster. The loco on track 3 is GFB no.8

An action shot of GFB no.2 with freight train Gt5676 from Grimstad.

A short break between sessions. Coffee, icecream and blueberries :)

Halvor and Styrkar trying to figure out what goes where at Rykene.

GFB borrowed this Skd214 for the occation as I needed a switcher for Grimstad.

Styrkar sorting car cards at Grimstad. I need to do something about that hideous background wallpaper...

A small sidestep

2011-06-16T23:39:00.001+02:00

As many of you probably know, we model railroaders tend to have a lot of different plans and dreams. Sometimes these dreams doesn't match with the current projects we are working on. Nevertheless I think following your dreams is important - hence this little building above here.

For some time now I've been really fascinated by the beautiful models in H0n3 by Blackstone Models, so I thought I'd build a little show-layout in H0n3, just for fun. The station above is built from a laser cut wood kit which I painted and weathered with powdered pastels. The figures are Preiser and the bicycle is from Artitec. I completed this kit rather quickly, and it was a lot of fun making something completely different from what I normally do.

Let's see how far I get with this project :)

A danish reefer

2011-05-23T22:00:00.000+02:00

This rather nice danish refrigerated wagon turned up at Grimstad at it's last internation outing (Zuidbroek, Netherlands in 2010). It's always exciting to see different types of cars turning up when I attend international FREMO-meetings with Grimstad.

It's all in the details

2011-04-20T00:08:00.000+02:00

This is a small detail I've been wanting to make for some time now. The track that went through the freight shed in Grimstad had a nice buffer stop with a flower box on top of it. The flowers are from Mininatur, the flower box is made from two matches glued together and the buffer stop is a modified kit from a swedish manufacturer I can't remember the name of.

The model

Real life version

New and professional trackplan!

2011-03-13T13:58:00.000+01:00

Here's a new and revised trackplan for my layout. The trackplan is made by Henning Larsen of the magazine "MJ-Bladet". Isn't it nice? :)

Warning - centerfold picture!

2011-01-15T00:54:00.002+01:00

Well, here's the centerfold picture from my before mentioned magazine article. Click on the picture to get a big 1200 pixel version of it.

Railcar BM87.71 on it's way from Rise to Rykene.

G.F.B. on the cover...

2010-12-25T22:09:00.000+01:00

... of the Rollling Stone? Well, not quite. But a week ago I received my copy of the excellent norwegian magazine called; MJ-Bladet and within it a 12-page story about my very own layout! Very exiting stuff, and a big dream-come-true for me. More stuff from this article soon, but first of all: The cover

Operation session #2

2010-12-07T12:54:00.002+01:00

Finally! It's been almost a year since session #1, so it was about time I got to #2. Since the last session I have worked a lot with different technical things that makes the layout better to operate; I have mounted Tortoise-switch machines several places, made the switches short cut proof, mounted more Digitrax connections for the handheld throttles, made a control panel for Rise and made some car card holders for the fascia around the layout. I've also obtained some new cars so I don't have to rely on others to bring theirs to the sessions to have enough. Most of the new cars are standard inexpensive unmodified models, and some of them don't even have norwegian prototypes. These will be replaced in due course by correct, detailed and weathered cars as time and money allows. For this session, I wanted to try out something new; operating the layout with only two crew members. I therefore invited my nephew and good friend Kenneth Bende to have some train fun! It all turned out great and the two of us had a lot of fun, although I think the ideal number of crew members is three.

It's diffcult to find the time to photograph anything during sessions, but here are a few pictures.

Kenneth was the stationmaster at Rise this time, while I took care of both Rykene and Grimstad. We took turns at driving the trains between the stations. Here Kenneth is waiting for the freight train from Arendal (hidden staging behind Kenneths back) to arrive. His train is the Gt5746/47 freight train for Grimstad and his engine today is GFB no.2

GFB no. 2 has picked up cars from the train from Arendal, made some pickups and setouts at Rykene, passed the spur at Lia and is now heading for Grimstad.

The train has now arrived in Grimstad. The loco needs to take coal and water and be turned before the return to Rise with a new string of cars. All the cars arriving in Grimstad will be sorted and set out by a small switcher stationed here.

More switching at Rykene in preparation for the arriving freight train from Grimstad.

Rykene at the end of the session. The whole session took about one hour and fifteen minutes. Next time around I will try to do two sessions in one night.

Please say - Hi!

2010-11-18T21:20:00.000+01:00

I think it's really interesting to hear from people all around the world that follow my blog. Please take a moment to leave a message and say who you are and which country you are from :)

Harbour part II

2010-10-24T14:12:00.000+02:00

The first track is laid out on the new harbour section. The rails are soldered to screws to prevent them from being ripped up during transport and handling.

One large radius curved Peco turnout takes care of the two different tracks on the harbour.

Lots of mess during construction :)

And here are a couple of pictures of Torskeholmen in Zuidbroek Netherland during last weekends Fremo-meet there. The new section added a lot of operating interest to Grimstad, and everything worked flawlessly.

Basic construction is now complete. Now for some scenery! :)

Grimstad Harbour

2010-09-19T00:16:00.003+02:00

The three sections that make up my Grimstad Fremo-module have just become five! I've thought long and hard about making the harbour area called Torskeholmen, and now this project is well on it's way. My good friend Halvor Sannæs has done all the carpentry to make the two new sections, so now the rest is up to me. The goal is to have this area ready functionally for a FREMO-meet in the Netherlands in 4 weeks time. Better get cracking then...

Here is a map of Grimstad from 1920. Inside the red square you'll se the harbour area called Torskeholmen. (translated from norwegian this means cod island). There were two tracks here, and a couple of buildings. The model will have to be somewhat compressed, but I hope it will be a good representation of the area.

I have moved section three of Grimstad to my shed, and here I am test fitting the two new sections to that for the first time.The picture quality is bad because my mobile phone is 200 years old.

The train room

2010-07-18T00:06:00.000+02:00

An overall view of my train room as of now.

In the "crew lounge" I've displayed some old models and railroadiana. The big cars in the display case are early 1930's Lionel cars I've inherited from my grandmother.

At the end of the peninsula I've just started putting in some scenery.

While I'm waiting

2010-06-04T00:05:00.001+02:00

The NSB railcar type BM87 was very common on the Grimstad Line in real life. BM87 was used in all passenger trains in the last years of the line's existance. As you can see from the video I posted here earlier, they were often used together with a small baggage car popularly called the "suitcase". Earlier this year NMJ announced the BM87 in 1:87, so naturally I had to have one. I haven't received it yet, so while I'm waiting, here's a picture of a pre-production prototype. With suitcase and all...

Bm87 at Treungen in 1967. Photo : Ulf Berntsen

Preparations for Op session #2

2010-04-25T12:20:00.000+02:00

For the first operating session, which was sort of a test-session, I used small handwritten freight cards. I've now made 4-cycle freight cards for 28 cars which will be used for op session #2. This isn't nearly enough cars, but the first few sessions will be a learning experince anyway, so the trains will be a little bit on the short side.

Here are all the newly made freight cards. I have 5 different main destinations on my layout and I've colour coded them so it's easier for my operators to block the trains correctly.

The red number in the top right corner indicates which cycle the freight card is in. For the next session I'll arrange all the cards so the red '1' is in the top corner. After four sessions we're back to the beginning.

Here's the back side of the card shown above.

My car cards are of the norwegian FREMO-standard. They are nice and small and fit nicely and the palm of your hand. On the back is a picture of the car...

... and on the front is a small pocket for the freight card.

Just a couple of pictures

2010-04-17T21:18:00.001+02:00

This freight car with wood load has been a small fun project for me for a couple of nights. The car is a plastic model of the norwegian type N2. The wood load is from Duha and the chain is from Weinert. The load is of course easily removable in one piece so it can be removed when needed during operation. The car has been weathered with artist chalks and then sprayed with a coat of Tamiya flat clear.

GFB no.2 picks up the N2 from the harbour spur in Grimstad.

It's important to check that the load is securely fastened!

Another Fremo-meeting!

2010-03-16T21:52:00.001+01:00

I've just got back from a Fremo-meeting hosted by my local club and here are a few pictures. More pictures will be posted soon at our local club site http://arendalmjklubb.blogspot.com

An overview shot from Grimstad with the freight depot to the upper right.

I've started lettering some of my rolling stock for the GFB, and here is no.7 hard at work switching cars. The GFB was actually a branchline of the large layout this time, so I had to letter 4 locos for this. No pictures of no.8 and 6 though.

Peder Figenbaum as station master during op session #4.

Here is a bad picture (the only I could find) of GFB no.2. This trusty loco took care of all GFBs freight traffic.

This guy is trying to remove a large object in the middle of the rails... As soon as he'll remove this, I guess it's possible to start the task of making the real harbour area at Grimstad.

House - Part IV

2010-03-08T01:02:00.001+01:00

I started construction of this house in November 2008 so finishing it is really way overdue. I've worked on it this weekend though, and it's now almost complete. Currently I'm working on the interior (see top left in this picture) and lighting.

Operating session #1

2010-01-01T19:11:00.001+01:00

After completing all of the trackwork (temporarily), I invited some of my friends for a test-session on the Grimstad Line.We put the layout and the rolling stock through it's paces and discovered that I still have a lot of work - ehh sorry - fun stuff left to do before everything works smoothly. Although things were a tad chaotic at first, we had a lot of fun! I will try to host bi-monthly sessions in the future.

Halvor was the stationmaster at Rise. To the left of this picture, a staging yard was added to represent Nelaug and "the rest of the world". To the right of Halvor's shoulder, the two-track staging yard that represents Arendal station is barely visible. Rise was a busy place during tonight's session.

Frode took care of all the switching duties at Rykene. Rykene can be a challenge but maybe had too little traffic this time.

At Grimstad things were a bit quiet. Here Jan Petter is switching some empties from "Grimstad Skipsophungnings co." into the harbor spur.

Steinar and Halvor with some refreshments in my little crew lounge. My goal is to have my operating sessions laid back enough so that one can sit down once in a while with a cup of coffee while others perform switching duties.

Scenery work at SjB

2009-11-28T16:51:00.005+01:00

Last week I helped one of my good modeling friends, Steinar Jeppestøl, with some scenery work at his layout; Sjuskogbanen (SjB). All of his trackwork is now complete, and he has basic scenery in place. I'm lucky enough to be able to work at this wonderful layout from time to time, and I have "free hands" and can do what I like scenerywise. Here is the result of the scenery work we did this time.

Operation ahead!

2009-11-17T23:14:00.007+01:00

My main goal with building the Grimstad Line layout is to be able to invite some of my good model railroading friends and host nice and challenging operation sessions. I guess this is a result of reading too much Model Railroader from an early age, or maybe the influence from attending several Fremo-meets where prototypical operation is the most important aspect. I feel that prototypical operation really makes a layout come alive. A recent "Trains of tought" article of Tony Koester in MR spurred me on to make my layout operational as soon as possible. His idea is that the layout itself doesn't have to be ready or anything near perfect before the first operation session. As a matter of fact, it's better to just lay down the track you need, wire it all up, and then as soon as possible host the first op session. In that way I'll probably receive a lot of comments from my fellow operators, and I'll be able to more easily change stuff that doesn't work as intended before I spend too much time ballasting the track for instance. As a result of this idea, I now lay down track rather hastily witouht worrying about the tortoise switch machines at this stage, and without worrying too much about the track plan at Rykene (which has been a headache for me).

Tonight I finished the temporary trackwork at Rykene. I'm not sure if this'll be the final version, but maybe the first session will shed some light on this. I hope that Rykene will be a challenging place to operate. I'm thinking of it almost as a small time-saver of sorts where an operator will have plenty of switching tasks to perform. There are severeal spurs in opposite facing direction, and that will lead to some switch around moves which has to happen on the main line. Should be interesting...

The trackwork at Rykene will be of a lesser quality than the mainline, so on one of the spurs I've experimented with spacing the ties further apart, and with a double tie for every 14 cms (12 meters in real life) where the rails are joined. I think this looks good so I will eventually do this on all the industrial spurs at Rykene before I glue them down. I will also lay the main line some millimeters above the rest of the tracks here.

New scenery shots from Grimstad

2009-10-19T22:40:00.007+02:00

This Morris Minor has to be brand new as it's extremely clean, and for some reason it has no numberplates!

A Cmdeo 10 from NSB is handling today's passenger service between Grimstad and Rise.

It seems the owner of this rowing boat don't care about it's appearance anymore.

No news is good news?

2009-10-15T14:23:00.003+02:00

Well I guess in this case this saying is not entirely true. But I have at least started the indoor season now, so updates will be more frequent from now on. Not much to show for so far, but the modules will receive a scenery upgrade. the picture shows a little experiment with weeds from Polak Model.

The find of a lifetime - old footage from Grimstad!

2009-05-26T23:23:00.007+02:00

Forget Zapruder's film of the Kennedy assasination, forget the footage from the lunar landing - this little clip beats them all! It's a small film from the very last train leaving from Grimstad in 1961. This answers a lot of questions I've had about Grimstad station; the station building itself, colours and lots of other small small details that doesn't appear in any of the photos I have.

2009-05-09T23:05:00.004+02:00

I managed to take this picture of a NSB Skd214 while it was busy doing some swithcing in Grimstad. Normally all the freight trains and switching is taken care of by GFB, so what this norwegian state railway engine is doing down here I haven't been able to find out.

Springtime

2009-04-23T12:13:00.003+02:00

It's spring, and it's that time of the year again. The time that I delve into the depths of our garage to make this thing here ready for this seasons racing. First race of the season this coming Sunday. Hence no model railroading updates lately :)

Grimstad on the road!

2009-04-03T14:07:00.003+02:00

My local model railroad club was invited to participate with some of our Fremo-modules at a hobby-fair in Neumünster Germany in the end of February. We brought along several of our modules, and my Grimstad-modules had its first outing with scenery! More pictures of all the other modules can be seen at www.amjk.no

An overview of the layout.

Roar Børte is preparing for the first operating session.

Grimstad ready for action!

The fair was attended by over 10000 visitors during the weekend!

A freight train in Grimstad with a class 18c steamer in front.

Unloading of firewood.

The freight depot is nearing completion. It's still missing some details out- and inside.

It's an early afternoon in Grimstad and the 13.30 train from Rise has just arrived 5 minutes ago.

Water - the making of..

2009-03-09T15:42:00.002+01:00

Now for something really scary - water! I'm venturing out into unfamiliar territory here, but I'll give it a shot. Grimstad is a coastal town, so I wanted to add a lot of the water to place the modules geographically. First I smoothed the surface as much as possible, and painted it all black.

Then I added embankments made of styrofoam and some rock castings to the left.

After the embankment and the rock castings were painted, I glued some small rocks and weeds in place.

The fun begins: The first coat of dark blue paint (Lifecolor UA047) was applied with a brush over the whole area.

Close to the shoreline I painted with a light brown color while the blue paint still was wet, and without cleaning the brush. It was suprisingly easy to blend the colors into each other this way.

I used the same technique at the edge of the section, only this time with black colour to simulate deeper water.

To represent the water, I used artists acrylic "Heavy Gel Medium". This stuff can be bought at most art supply stores and dries completely clear and glossy.

The waves was by "dipping" the brush in the gel in this fashion.

This is how it looked after drying overnight.

And this is how it looks with a little norwegian morning sun shining on it. The "waves" look much better with some direct light shining at them, so I'll point one of my layout's spotlights directly at it.

I like "before and after" shots :) Compare this picture with the first in this post to discover what I did over the last 5-6 weeks. This last picture is shot at a hobby fair in Neumunster, Germany. More pics from this event soon.

More gardening

2009-02-23T23:42:00.002+01:00

I've planted some trees today.

Three more days now, and I'm leaving for Germany with my local model railroad club; Amjk where we are going to show some of our modules. This'll be Grimstad's first outing with scenery.

Gardening

2009-02-23T09:09:00.002+01:00

I feel like a gardener these days. Now it's the area open area on the middle section of Grimstad that has received some basic greenery. I need some good looking trees here, and some weeds in the road, and it'll be complete.

2009-02-18T12:24:00.002+01:00

A railfan is photographing a T3 in front of the freight shed. But what's up with that hovering fence to the right???

Section three is more or less complete now.

More ballast

2009-02-17T23:44:00.005+01:00

I'm done with ballasting all three sections of my Grimstad-modules! That's a good feeling. Next job is weeds and grass, water, seashore, telegraph poles, details and more details.

Ballast

2009-02-16T00:46:00.003+01:00

In Norway in the 60's, the norwegian state railways used mostly sand for ballast. I've tried to replicate this the last couple of days, and now 2 of the 3 sections that make up Grimstad are completely ballasted. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it will do for now. I will later weather the track and ballast, and that'll hopefully lead to the look i'm after.

To the left in this picture you can see the recess i've made for the water, which will make up a nice harbour scene eventually.

Scenery, details, buildings

2009-02-03T12:01:00.004+01:00

I'm steadily working towards the completion of the area around the station building in Grimstad. The latest projects include building and painting the freight depot seen here (not done yet), the fence by the road, and scenery and trees in the background here.

Scenery around Grimstad

2009-01-16T17:15:00.004+01:00

I've just started getting some "green stuff" around Grimstad. This is the work I really love to do. I'm using a mix of mainly Woodland Scenics and Heki materials with some Silflor thrown in here and there.

I really look forward to when this whole section is complete. It'll be the centerpiece of my layout.

House - part III

2009-01-14T12:55:00.006+01:00

The roof on the house is now in place, and I've started adding some details. It still needs a lot of work until it's completely done. Here it is trying out it's place at Grimstad.

More trackwork at Rise

2008-12-29T23:24:00.003+01:00

The track on the north side of Rise is now in place and all wired up. The freight car to the left is a christmas gift from my girlfriend. It sure beats ties and socks! :)

The first train to Rise has arrived!

2008-12-17T23:05:00.002+01:00

It was a big moment when the first train arrived at Rise. This isn't actually the first train, but it gives a good impression about how things are going to look like eventually. I'm not sure about the track plan, so all the tracks and turnouts will not be fastened until the first operating session has been held. Then it'll be easier to make changes if that's needed. The turnouts will be operated manually until this.

In this area the turntable and engine shed will be. The track to Grimstad is to the right in this picture, and the track for Arendal (hidden staging) is directly above it.

Trackwork

2008-12-17T00:31:00.004+01:00

The track has now reached the left side of the peninsula and is nearing Rise fast. The switch in the middle of the picture will be for a small spur for loading timber.

Fascia at Rise

2008-12-14T19:42:00.001+01:00

I completed the fascia at Rise today. Everything looks much more finished with this in place. I've also test-fitted some curtains underneith. This will hide shelves with tools and materials.

Rise station

2008-12-14T00:51:00.003+01:00

The base for Rise station is now complete. It's only 32 cm. wide, but that'll be enough for 3 tracks and a relief of the station building. That leaves a comfortable 62 cms of isle space. Some of my operators might need that ;)

The track around the peninsula has been connected to Rise, so now I need to head down to my shop to pick up some track!

More benchwork

2008-12-08T22:56:00.005+01:00

Today me and Halvor started on the last remaining benchwork for my layout. The station, Rise, will be the link with the Grimstad Line to the line that goes south to Arendal, and north to Nelaug and the rest of the norwegian rail network. Nelaug will be a unscenicked staging yard used only for operating sessions and will be mounted to the left in this picture. The line to Arendal will be represented by a stub track to the right that'll be hidden behind a background or scenic divider.

House - part II

2008-11-28T09:10:00.005+01:00

I'm still honing my scratchbuilding skills in preparation for the station building. The house's three walls are now complete. The back will be up against the layout end - hence only three walls.

The little house

2008-11-18T00:49:00.002+01:00

The little house I'm building is coming along nicely.

Concentration

2008-11-14T01:26:00.009+01:00

I've managed to stay focused since my last post, and have worked at the same section of Grimstad. I'm currently scratchbuilding a small and very typical southern-Norway wooden house. Some grass and flowers have also started to appear.

Making scenery is pretty messy...

This house still exists in Grimstad today, so I've started building this with the help from a few pictures I took the other day.

Grimstad station area

2008-10-27T23:21:00.005+01:00

I'm jumping from project to project, and I now have a ridicolus amount of half-finished stuff. But I guess that's the way most of us modelers work. At least that's the way I've come to accept things are. So onto the next project then. The main focal point on my Grimstad Line layout/modules will be the area around the station building, and the station building itself. I've contacted the norwegian railway museum, and I'm hoping they can provide me with pictures of this lovely building.

Overview shot of the area. The track has been spraypainted with Tamiya TS1 Red Brown.

The track in front of the station building ends in a stone wall. There will be a old wooden tie on here to protect the wall from the buffers. The wall has been painted with LifeColor paints.

A T3 wagon visiting :) Next task is is ballasting and painting of the areas around here.

T3 wagon

2008-09-25T15:05:00.002+02:00

Every railroad needs a lot of rolling stock. The typical norwegian railroad cars used in the 50's and 60's has to be built from brass kits so it will be a lot of work (read: fun) to get a decent amount of them on the Grimstad Line. Here is the first one I've built. It's a type T3 from Scandinavian Miniatures. Now it's complete with decals and weathering. I'm just waiting for some flat clear paint to arrive. The chains are Weinert 9318.

Grimstad's second outing

2008-09-24T00:58:00.009+02:00

Some of my regular blog-readers might already have realized that the Grimstad Line layout consist of both a fixed part and a sectioned part, the station area in Grimstad, with FREMO-module standard. That meens that I can take these sections with me to various FREMO-meets both in- and out of the country. This is very interesting as the station here sees action it normally doesn't see at home, and I get to test it thoroughly before laying down ballast. It's also very rewarding to experience other modelers "playing" with my modules, and to see high levels of traffic on them.

A couple of weeks ago, a large FREMO-meeting was held in the neighbouring town of Kristiansand. It was a modern era meet, so modern rolling stock could be seen at Grimstad for a change. Everything went smoothely so now I really need to get going on the ballasting and painting of tracks. I will soon post more pictures from the meet on our local club website : arendalmjklubb.blogspot.com

The short line down to Grimstad was in an adjacent room to the main part of the layout. Here a NSB Di5 with a local freight is waiting for the express to pass.

Grimstad in the distance. That's me lurking around on the left, and Truls Slevigen as station master on the right.

The only scenicked part of Grimstad is acutally outside the station itself. It's a small module I've made with a signal that's controlled from Grimstad.

Not much scenery yet, but one can already get a feel for how the overall look will be.

Time for scenery again

2008-08-26T00:27:00.007+02:00

There's nothing like a little pressure to get things going. With a Fremo-meet coming up in Kristiansand I thought I'd at least try to make my Grimstad modules look like something more than plywood painted green.

Here the basic landscape contours are in place, and the platforms are beginning to take shape.

Crew Lounge - part 2

2008-08-12T21:45:00.003+02:00

And here my lounge area is finshed. Not the biggest or fanciest I guess, but it should make a nice area to retreat to for the crew after a strenous work-day at the Grimstad Line :)

Crew lounge - part one

2008-07-25T11:26:00.005+02:00

My main goal with my layout is to be able to invite good friends around for realistic operating sessions. As the Grimstad line is a small and quiet short line not all of the crew members will be active all the time. Therefore I've thought about a way to create a nice place for crew members and visitors to sit down, and a place to put magazines and coffee cups. We've all seen pictures in Model Railroader of large "crew lounges" with comfortable couches and a large table with magazines and such. I have no room for this in my room, but I intend to use the space I have. Here are some pictures from the construction of a small fold-down table I've constructed.

We've had 25-26 degrees the last few days, so it's a good idea to take the messy work outside. An old table top I had lying around is cut apart.

And here the table is in place. Because of the door behind me I had to make it foldable...

... so it can hang down out of the way when it is not in use. Next project is to paint this table, the doors and hang up some nice pictures and railroad related signs :)

Freight depot

2008-06-30T23:27:00.004+02:00

I've decided to start working at the area around the station in Grimstad. After all this will be the area of most importance, and a signature scene on my layout, so I'd better get it going now :) A couple of days ago I received a freight depot from the dutch company Artitec (the yellowish building in the center of the picture). This is one of two buildings for the Grimstad Line I don't have to scratchbuild, the other being Rise station. It all looks a bit "toy-like" in this state, but it helps to visualize the whole scene before anything is glued down. Even the track is still not glued down so if I need to make any changes - this is the time.

Changes in concept... and a new loco

2008-06-20T12:44:00.006+02:00

The real Grimstad Line was closed down in 1961, but already in 1959/60 there were talks with private interest to take over the line from the Norwegian State railways (NSB). Sadly this never happened. But in my world everything is possible, so I've fast-forwarded my model clock a little bit, and now it's suddenly 1965 in my loft, and the railway is now on private hands as it was in the start from 1907-1912. And it's yet again called Grimstad-Frolandsbanen (GFB). This opens up a lot of possibilities for me with regards to rolling stock, so until I get enough correct pre 1961 NSB equipment, this will be the story.

This opens for use of this lovely steamer from HobbyTrade, which was owned by the Danish State Railways (DSB). Pure coincidence this loco was in real life taken out of service in Denmark in 1965. So the story goes that it was sold to GFB where it found good use.

I will modify the loco so it looks more norwegian with a different lighting arrangement, and with black paint on the smoke stack. It will also get it's own GFB number.

Trees, trees and more trees

2008-06-07T12:28:00.004+02:00

I've started planting some trees now. I think correctly coloured trees in great quantities can really make a layout stand out. So I'm hoping to be able to add hundreds and hundreds.

More scenery III

2008-06-06T00:49:00.005+02:00

Whoops! How did this happen? Wasn't the hill only brown two days ago? Well... I got a little inspired. And this is just a very small area that's complete. Let's recap tonights events.

I started out coloring all the rock castings using Woodland Scenics pigment colors. They are great for making good looking rock faces, and it's very easy to get a good result.

I then added som basic greenery by using Woodland Fine Turf in two different shades; blended green and burnt grass.

Then I added some low bushes, tufts and static grass. Starting to look ok now...

And this picture, and the one on the top shows how it looked in the end. Still I haven't added the trees and all the twigs and branches on the ground that comes with the trees.

More scenery II

2008-06-04T11:31:00.003+02:00

Now it's about time I get some color on this layout! I started to paint everything a light brownish color, but made sure I avoided the rock castings. It's easy to get tempted to paint the areas where there's gonna be grass eventually a green base color, but a brown color makes it easier to achieve the right look in the end. And after all, the stuff under the grass in real life is not green...

While the paint was wet, I sprinkled on sand I collected from a pile of sand outside my house. Where there are big holes in the foam I put small stones which I picked up from my backyard. At this stage of the scenery construction, there are a lot of useful scenery products to be found right outside your door. And it's free too!

The hillside on the end of the peninsula as it looks now. The next task is to color the rocks with Woodland Scenics pigments, and then multiple layers of greenery.

More scenery work

2008-05-20T10:01:00.003+02:00

I've shaped the construction foam and added several rock castings from Woodland Scenics and some home made ones. It wont be long now until I actually can start adding color to this area of the layout.

My main goal as of now is to more or less finish the scenery at the end of the peninsula seen here, so it'll look nice and "tidy" when you enter the layout room. The room is in the center of my loft with bedrooms at either end which means I can't close the door to the layout room to hide all the clutter. Therefore it's important to make the layout as nice as possible so it'll play a part as a "furniture" in this room.

Prototype scenery

2008-05-18T10:34:00.002+02:00

I took this picture early this morning of a norwegian class 69 railcar set on it's way from Arendal to Rise on the Arendal line. The picture was taken just some hundred meters from the station Rise where the Grimstad Line ended, and it shows the kind of scenery I will try to replicate on my layout.

More mountain work

2008-05-14T23:33:00.003+02:00

After the foam had dried thoroughly over night, it was very easy (and fun) to start making the basic shape of the hill.

Then I added more foam to the top of the hill.

And for fun, I had to test fit one of the two wonderful small signals for Rykene. They are scratchbuilt for me by modeling friend Jon Einar Vistad.

A foam mountain

2008-05-14T00:02:00.002+02:00

For my basic scenery I'm trying out a new technique with styrofoam covered with insulation foam. This stuff expands to 3 times it's initial size when it's dry. After it's dry I'll cut away the excess and add rock castings.

Scenery test

2008-04-17T23:37:00.003+02:00

I've laid out some styrofoam sheets to get an idea how things will look when entering the layout room. I have to try to figure out a way to visually seperate the two lines going very close to eachother here to avoid it feeling like the same place. It doesn't look right like the way it is now I think...

A water spout for Grimstad

2008-04-10T00:12:00.006+02:00

Today I've built a water spout for Grimstad. It's from a kit I sell in my model railroad shop; www.togbutikken.no. Well actually it's not really available yet, but it'll be ready very soon.

Grimstad didn't have a water tower, so this water spout is the only means to refill water for the steam locomotives. The prototype picture is from another station in Norway; Hønefoss. As you see there are still a few details missing, and I also need to get the correct decals for the signs on the top of the thing. The chain is from Weinert.

Finally some scenery!

2008-04-07T23:34:00.004+02:00

After scrapping the old Grimstad modules, I have no scenery at all on the Grimstad Line. So today I started adding some cuts and rock faces on the end of the peninsula which is the place you'll first see when you enter my train room. I use plaster castings combined with plaster cloth bought from the local pharmacy. Much cheaper than the Woodland Scenics one :)

The first Fremo-meet!

2008-03-30T22:09:00.004+02:00

This weekend my local model railroad club; AMJK (Arendal Modelljernbaneklubb) held our annual meeting in Arendal, and Grimstad was a part of the large layout! Here are a few pictures.

Here's a Skd206 on the module i built to place outside of Grimstad. This module is only used for meets and also has the entrance signal for Grimstad.

Grimstad in action for the first time! Everything went smoothly with no technical problems whatsoever!
The first station master; Morten Jacobsen

Svein Rasmussen controlling the station.

Overview of a part of the layout.

Turntable

2008-03-27T00:03:00.002+01:00

The Fleischmann-turntable from the old Grimstad has now been moved to the new. This'll have to do until I can find the guts to make my own.

Grimstad operational!

2008-03-26T10:43:00.004+01:00

After a couple of weeks of boring and tedious work with wiring and stuff, I could finally run the first train on the newly built Grimstad station module. And everything seems to work like it should - strangely enough...

Controlled chaos. I've never done the wiring on a module all by myself, and I was surprised to experience how much work it really is.

Every single length of tracks has it's own set of wires to ensure maximum reliability. Rail joiners have a tendency to stop working after a couple of years, but now this shouldn't be a problem.

Yours truly driving the first test-train :)

I still have to install the turntable and the track leading to it. That will be tonight's task.

Wiring

2008-03-10T00:24:00.006+01:00

Every single piece of track gets it's own wire to erradicate problems with railjoiners that doesn't conduct properly after a while.

An easy and simple way to connect all the wires is to use a piece of track. An old piece of code100 flextrack does the trick. Looks neat too :)

Basic trackwork complete

2008-02-27T10:41:00.004+01:00

I've laid down all the trackwork for the new Grimstad now, and it looks much better and more correct than the old version although this new one is only 40cm longer. Compare it to the picture of the prototype :) Next on my "to do-list" is cutting the track at the end of each section and mount them permanently.

Trackwork

2008-02-22T14:39:00.006+01:00

The new Grimstad sections at home with fresh paint and some trackwork in place. It looks pretty chaotic at the moment, but in a couple of weeks I hope to have all the trackwork complete with most wiring done.

Looking towards the "entrance" of the station. The loco shed and turntable will be on the track to the left where the three wagons are standing now.

Prototype pictures

2008-02-22T11:23:00.004+01:00

It's about time I added some pictures of the prototype Grimstad station area. Here are a couple, and the trackplan for the prototype.

Here is a picture from one of the last summers before the line closed down. Notice all the flowers! The track on the right actually goes through the whole freight depot for some reason. The railcar is a Bm87. The flowers on top of the buffer stop is something I wish to incorporate in my model version, and even the three employees standing on the platform and a photographer taking this picture :)

An overview of the whole area. If I were to build it stricly in 1:87 it would be 4,4 meters long. My version is 3,3 so it's not that bad, and the two main tracks are of correct length. The portion from the first turnout to the locoshed will be somewhat compressed. The siding with the sharp curve that goes out to "Torskeholmen" will be built on a section on it's own, but that'll be step two of the contruction process.

This is a very helpful picture for me, and it's shot from the "roof" of the tunnel. You can barely see the open turntable in the front, with the track to "Grimstad Skipsophugning" to the right. This will be modelled only with a track that ends on the module side. Between this track and the main track you can see the coal shed, and in the back, the freight depot and the station buillding.

On its own feet

2008-02-14T23:20:00.002+01:00

Today, I mounted legs on the new sections. It's very satisfying to see it all together.

I've used alloy legs with steel mounts bought on previous trips to Fremo-meets in Germany. They're quite expensive, but very nice and easy to mount.

And here it is - Grimstad in all it's in all it's plywood glory :)

Goodbye Grimstad! .... Hello new Grimstad :)

2008-02-12T23:19:00.004+01:00

The Fremo-modules that make up Grimstad station was built 8 years ago, and they have traveled a lot around to different Fremo-meets over these years. The last couple of years it has started to show signs of age and wear, and with old code 100 tracks and new scenery skills at hand, I've dreamt of starting all over again. Today, with good help from Halvor Sannæs, I have actually started the big process of making a brand new Grimstad station that I can take with me to Fremo-meets as well as using it as a part of my layout at home. The first Fremo-meet is in just 6 weeks, so I'd better hurry!

This is like a clean sheat of paper. First a lot of cutting.

Then the fun begins; the first section is taking shape.

And here it is : the first complete section of the new Grimstad!!!

Two sections down, one to go.

And here it is. After 4 hours of work we got the three sections done. The new Grimstad is roughly 40 cm longer than the old one, and will have Code75 track instead of code 100 and larger turonouts. Can't wait to start laying track!

More FREMO work

2008-01-22T18:18:00.009+01:00

I have to finish this Fremo-module in time for the Fremo meet in Arendal in March. Now everything is starting to take shape. I have used several new scenery techiques as a test before I begin in earnest on the new Grimstad Line layout.

Work at Rykene

2008-01-08T18:44:00.001+01:00

There are a lot af things going on at Rykene these days. Here the trackworkers are putting the finishing touches on one of the the turnouts.

Wiring work

2007-12-19T22:19:00.001+01:00

I've started wiring the track. I don't rely on the rail joiners to do the job so every length of track get their own two wires. The black and red wires are common power that goes the length of the benchwork.
I have also started mounting Tortoise switch machines on Rykene. The switches are all modified to be DCC secure by the help of the Auto-bulb.

Team track

2007-12-19T18:59:00.001+01:00

Rykene industrial area will have several different on-line industries, but we also need a team track for all the customers with no rail-access.

The first industry spur

2007-12-06T12:21:00.001+01:00

I have now made a spur to a factory that produces canned goods called "Grimstad Konserves". The spur is located on the left side of the peninsula and is situated between Grimstad and Rykene. This industry will be served by a shunting loco which will be stationed at Rykene.

Cork roadbed

2007-09-10T01:23:00.001+02:00

I've started putting down some cork roadbed on the end of the peninsula and on Rykene industrial area. The cork is 5mm thick and very easy to work with.<This picture is from the left side of the peninsula. The incline here is close to 2,5 % and the sharpest curve on the layout is the one seen to the right in the picture. It's a 55cm radiuscurve, but it works fine and looks ok with most of the rolling stock I plan to use on the line.

More trackbed!

2007-06-21T01:18:00.000+02:00

With good help from my friend Halvor, we got a lot of work done tonight. The trackbed is now complete all the way to Rykene and even a good bit further! The last picture shows a Skd220c with 8 cars on the grade up to Rykene.

And now for some track!

2007-06-12T01:13:00.001+02:00

I got very inspired by the progress we made last Thursday, so during the weekend I've been able to lay a lot of track. The track is now complete half-way up to Rykene.

One step back and two steps forward

2007-06-07T01:08:00.000+02:00

After the whole styrofoam deal I kind of lost the momentum on my layout work. The noise from the trains on the styrofoam annoyed me too much, so I tore down the whole thing again - tracks and all. Now a new wooden trackbed is in place and we have reached Rykene in one night! This looks promising :)

The first train!

2007-02-21T09:59:00.002+01:00

The first train has left Grimstad station, and is seen here on route to Rykene.

It seems like the Styrofoam generates a lot of noise when a train is rolling over it, so I'll have to figure out a way to overcome this as it is pretty annoying...

Almost ready for some track!

2007-01-29T09:54:00.003+01:00

I have covered the newly built benchwork with some Styrofoam. This creates a really sturdy and nice base for both the trackbed and the future landscape. For the trackbed I have used regular 10mm. styrofoam and cut the sides at an 45 degree angle. This method of construction is much more fun I think than the traditional wood trackbed with wooden risers. And it's much faster as well.

I have connected the Grimstad modules to the rest of the layout now. The curve right outside of Grimstad is in the corner is the tighest on the whole layout at 55 cm. radius. Now I'm ready to lay down some Peco code 75 track. Stay tuned for more pictures soon!

More carpentry II

2007-01-28T09:32:00.001+01:00

The peninsula is complete and with the help of some friends the portion that will connect this to the existing Grimstad modules is good on it's way.

More carpentry

2007-01-05T09:14:00.001+01:00

The construction of the peninsula continues. Things are starting to look good. This is fun!

Construction has begun!

2006-12-28T09:09:00.001+01:00

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!

2006-11-14T22:37:00.001+01:00

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!

2006-10-16T00:59:00.000+02:00

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

2006-08-20T22:30:00.001+02:00

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

2006-04-14T00:50:00.001+02:00

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

2006-02-19T00:46:00.001+01:00

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!

2006-01-07T00:42:00.000+01:00

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

2006-01-04T00:07:00.002+01:00

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.

The layout-room is finally nearing its completion!

2005-12-17T22:25:00.001+01:00

I have been dreaming of my very own room in which i could build my dream layout for many many years, and now the goal is finally in sight. In the first floor of my home there has been an incomplete second livingroom for almost ten years now. Finally I have been able financially to complete this room, and it will house my first layout; the Grimstad-line. In a couple of weeks I hope to have the room ready for my Grimstad modules and the construction of the rest of the line can commence.

Gallery

2005-02-23T19:46:00.000+01:00

Trackplan

2005-02-15T00:18:00.001+01:00

This is not the final trackplan, but I think it shows quite good what my plans are - at the moment. Like all real railroads it has a point-to-point configuration. The railroad starts from the coastal town of Grimstad and goes up to Rise via Rykene on its way. The track goes two times around the peninsula on its way up to Rise which is 15 centimeters higher than Grimstad. During operating sessions a fiddle yard will be added on the end of Rise.