Switching in Grimstad

The layout has been dormant for many months, so I just felt like taking a picture of my brass NMJ Superline 32.290 steamer doing some switching in Grimstad. The car is a reworked Fleischmann model. The picture is taken with an old Iphone 4s.

The Grimstad Line 2.0

Yesterday me and a friend started construction of the Grimstad Line 2.0. I have kept the three main modules for the Grimstad station, but the rest of the layout will be totally rebuilt. I hope to be able to post a schematic track plan soon.

L-girder benchwork under construction.

Grimstad will be in the center of the room now, where the old peninsula used to be.

Goodbye peninsula

I have never been really pleased with the peninsula of the Grimstad Line. So, although it took me a great deal of effort to move it to my new hometown, it soon became evident that it had to go. The lack of progress on the layout is usually a good indication that something is not right. The peninsula is now gone, and Grimstad Line 2.0 is already underway. 

A sad sight. All the trees and mountains are gone...

Not much left now.

Almost complete

The Grimstad depot is almost complete now. I've added signs made in Photoshop. They are actually a screenshot from the old video from 1961 (shown earlier here in the blog) which I've modified slightly. I'm still missing windows and other details.

Snow in Grimstad

Even though Grimstad is pretty far south in Norway, it can be quite snowy, as evident in this picture from 1954. The tracks are somewhere to the left of the skis :)

The new Grimstad depot!

Here is a "work-in-progress" shot of the new Grimstad depot building. It's custom built from laser cut wood. Now it's just up to me to finish the painting of it all. This is going to look so much better than the old plastic stand-in i had in place temporarily.

The new layout room

Well it's about time I showed you the new layout room for the Grimstad Line. Here's a panoramic view of it, clutter and all. To the right you can see the Grimstad modules, and the peninsula in the center. The two are not yet connected, so that will be the next challenge I guess.

Current state of affairs

This picture of Grimstad was taken last weekend when I attended a FREMO meet at Ask in Norway. Not much has happened to the modules the last year or so, but things are looking up. Stay tuned!

I love Facebook!

Old pictures from Grimstad regularly appears on a Facebook-page with members from Grimstad. The picture below is the newest discovery. It's shows the narrow gauge GFB #1 or #2 during the construction of the line sometime in 1906/07.

Trains are finally running again!

I've connected up some wires, and the trains are finally running on the Grimstad line again. It's been a year since the last time I was able to do that, so it feels really good. So far, only the Grimstad modules are hooked up. I need to build some new benchwork to be able to connect these to the main peninsula, but in the meantime I can have some fun switching Grimstad station.

In the picture NSB class 32 loco no. 390 is heading a short passenger train into Grimstad.

The Grimstad layout is being reborn

After what seems like an eternity, I have finally started rebuilding my Grimstad Line layout in its new location. The new room is slightly longer, but narrower than the room in my old home. I've had to scrap some pieces of the old layout, but I hope it all will come together nicely in it's new home.

Today I've been working on installing lights in the layout room. I was given some spotligths from an old shop, and they look rather stylish hanging above the layout. Unfortunately it's hard to get good pictures of sharp lights. Anyway; here's a mobile phone snapshot :

A new railing

Wow! Second update this week. I'm on fire! :)

The old railing on "Pharos Vei" has been partly destroyed for a while now, so it was about time I fixed it. I have now replaced it with a brass railling from Weinert (part no. 3215). I soldered on a tiny 0.4mm brass pin  on the bottom of every post so I can fix it properly to the road.

First prototype of Grimstad station

I just received the first photos of the Grimstad station building, which I'm having custom made. It sure looks good, and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Exciting new prototype photos

I've put off building the station house (depot) at Grimstad for many years now. Both due to it's complexety, but also due to the elusive back side of the building. I've found several photos for the three other sides, but the back side has not appeared in a single photo - until now. Recently I joined a Facebook-group where people living in Grimstad share photos and stories from their home town. There I posted a question regarding the missing wall, and after a couple of days I received these two photos from a gentleman named Odd Johnsen. I've waisted no time, so now I've contacted a guy with a laser to help me out with the model. I'm very excited about this!

This photo is from 1916.

I think this photo is even older. Perhaps not long after the line opened in 1907? Notice the curved mouldings round the main entrance - a nice detail!

The Grimstad Line on the move!

It's been a long time coming, but now it has finally happened: We have bought a new house, and the GFB has been carefully dismanteled. Most of the layout is now in storage, and parts of it will be moved to a spare room in my model railroad shop for display there - as it won't fit in our new home. I plan to continue the construction of the layout on a weekly basis in my shop - while I am at work. It will be fun to see how that turns out. I hope the progress will be good, and that the feedback from my customers will give me an incentive to keep building.  

But all this raises a big question : WHAT NOW? Of course I need a layout in our new home as well, and I've already obtained trackage rights in a nice room for it. The creative juices are flowing and I have a lot (too many) ideas. Some of them are : A modern era US layout in N-scale based on the Alexander Railroad in North Carolina, a freelanced H0n3-layout based loosely on the railroads in and around Red Mountain, Colorodo, or perhaps yet another Norwegian layout, but with a bit more mainline action than the GFB.

Time will show!

Here are some pictures from the dismantling process:

It's early in the evening, and I've started to remove some of the small details.

Rise station looking very sorry for itself with wiring being removed and without skirting.

The cat looks like she won't budge...

Halvor cutting the main peninsula from the rest of the layout.

The Grimstad modules to the right have been removed

The main peninsula being removed in one big piece.

A couple of days later, the room in the first picture looks like this. It took less time than expected to tear everything down. That's my mother helping out. She thinks the room looks a lot better now. I think I disagree...

A new control panel for Grimstad

Signals are cool. Therefore, although the real Grimstad Line probably never had any, I will have signals on my 1:87 representation of the line. Norwegian manufacturer Skala Design has made correct Norwegian signals that are very nice, so I needed to have some of those. I've also made a new panel for Grimstad that's recessed into the module itself so the switches don't protrude into the aisle space. Sorry for the crappy mobile phone quality photo.

 

Scenery - step by step

Prior to my local clubs' Fremo-meeting a few weeks ago, I wanted to update my Grimstad modules a little bit. Section one, where the turntable is, has had only very basic scenery so far. About time I did something about that. Here's a couple of evenings of work (fun) step by step.

First of all I had to make some wooden extensions to the section itself. The rock formations is a ready made product from Noch.

Then I filled up the space behind the rocks with some scrap bits of styrofoam.

I used expanding foam to fill in the rest. This makes for a very strong and light base for further scenery work.

The foam has to dry for at least 24 hours. Then I shaped the basic countours with a kitchen knife.

Next step is to paint the base with a light beige color. Then I sprinkeled sand in the wet paint.

Time for the green stuff. I use various shades of Woodland Scenics Fine Turf for this. And fix it all with scenery cement from WS.

The Noch rock formations are very grey and uniform in their color, so I painted them with diluted acrylics to make them come alive.

Then I covered most of the area with various grass mats from Heki. I use Woodland Scenics burnt grass and green blend fine turf to cover the "seams" between the mats.

All the mats are in place and trees are starting to grow. Notice the sand underneath peeping through in several places.

All the trees and bushes are in place.

I finish the rocks with a light drybrushing with white paint and plant some weeds on them.

A closeup of the base scenery. Here I've used Heki 1842 for the grass, MiniNatur bushes and the white flowers to the right are from Czech manufacturer Polák Model.

Here's the finished hill put in good use as a backdrop for an incoming freight train on the Fremo-meet.

A NSB Skd202 in front of the new rocks and scenery.

One for the gallery

Here's a small passenger train on it's way to Rise station.

A small area complete

For the first time in a while, I've actually more or less completed a scene. A magazine article featuring my layout was all the inspriation I needed to get going :)

Some other pictures from this area are shown in earlier posts under here.

Old pictures

My quest for old pictures of Grimstad has evolved to a hobby within the hobby. Pictures pop up from different sources on the web. I've also bought some old postcards which are rather nice. Torskeholmen 1924.

Norsk Skipsophugnings Co. 1965

1953. Torskeholmen to the right. The boat's name is "Bjørgvin".

A picture from the narrow gauge period (pre 1937)