Three more freight cars for the layout

I am lucky enough to have a modeling friend that loves to make norwegian freight cars, but has no layout to put them all. He has now given me three cars for me to use on the GFB. All of them are cars from Roco/Fleischmann that have been modified to represent norwegian prototypes that was left here in Norway after WWII. Modification, paint and lettering is by Ole Johan Aabel, and I've given them a very quick weathering myself. Looking at the pictures I see that the wheels maybe are not up to scratch. Maybe I will change them for some Rp25's. What do you think?

A norwegian L4 made from a Fleischmann car. Diagonal bracing has been added on the sides by using thin strips of paper.

Nothing has been done to this Fleischmann car except paint, lettering and some weathering. So it's not 100% correct, but in my mind - good enough.

This car started out as a white Roco refridgerated car with a brake hut on one end. This has been replaced by a small brake platform instead.

While I'm waiting

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

T3 wagon

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.

Changes in concept... and a new loco

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.

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.

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.