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City Pforzheim Donates Hybrid Bus to Loewenherz on Its 40th Anniversary

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Bad Niedrigsrode’s twin city Pforzheim in Baden Württemberg donated a MAN Lion’s City GL hybrid (natural gas/biogas) bus to the Loewenherz Railway Park on its 40th anniversary recently. Both city mayors were present at a simple handover ceremony to the Loewenpark park management. According to Pforzheim mayor Friedrich Müller, the donation was a token of continuing friendship between the two cities and the effort of Loewenherz to preserve a piece of railway history for the future generations. Its open-space park with permanent and revolving collections of railway rolling stocks and artefacts helps the public and railway enthusiasts to learn about … Continue reading City Pforzheim Donates Hybrid Bus to Loewenherz on Its 40th Anniversary

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Dabbling Into the World of Weathering

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All this while I wanted to keep my models “squeeky” clean. After seeing some beautiful weathered models, I think it is time to make them “realistically” well-used and dirty. Vallejo and AK Interactive offer great acrylic paints and accessories for weathering. The Vallejo Model Air (for airbrushing vs Vallejo Model for paintbrushing) Railway Colors (Europe) seems like a good starting point for me. It has the necessary colors that I would need. They are: 71.001 White71.014 Gunship Green71.019 Camouflage Dark Green71.028 Sand Yellow71.037 Mud Brown71.039 Hull Red71.049 Sea Grey71.057 Black71.062 Aluminium (Metallic)71.069 Rust (Metallic)71.076 Skin Tone71.078 Yellow RLM0471.080 Rust71.084 Fire … Continue reading Dabbling Into the World of Weathering

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Constructing Stone Wall and Cobblestone Street

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Landscaping and structural work begins on Loewenherz modules. On Module 1b visitor side, I originally planned for a simple city bus stop. The asphalt street and a pavement will serve as a temporary stop. The pavement will lead to the other side of the park off-scene (Module 1a) After some thoughts, I decided to add a staircase leading to the train viewing platform (bottom right). Instead of asphalt road for the bus stop, I wanted a cobblestone road, which clearly marks it as bus stop zone and no other vehicles are allowed. Staircase made from XPS (Foto: Jimmy Low (c)) … Continue reading Constructing Stone Wall and Cobblestone Street

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Making Cobblestone Pavements

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I have been following a few Facebook groups and YouTube channels on building dioramas and weathering. Those who do tabletop modelling for wargames (1/35 scale) really make impressive models. I want to apply their techniques on my 1/87 modules, which mean 60% smaller (yes!) than what they make. Extruded styrofoam (XPS / Styrodur) is an easier material to work with then expanded styrofoam (EPS / Styropor), which are the white, beaded foam that comes in electrical device packaging. XPS is used for building insulation and comes in densed foam. Lightly carve out each stone on the XPS. I found the … Continue reading Making Cobblestone Pavements

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Railway Fans Can Now Spot Trains

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A few months ago, I announced that the Bad Niedrigsrode city planner has approved the construction of a new, wheel-chair friendly train viewing platform to replace the original one. The 36cm long and 9cm wide platform was constructed entirely 3mm and 5mm styrofoam. City planner inspector visited the site to check on the quality of the construction (Foto: Jimmy Low (c)) Modelling putty is used to fill any gaps on the platform. I use Vallejo Plastic Putty as it is extremely foam-friendly. It does not dissolve the foam unlike Revell Plasto (Foto: Jimmy Low (c)) The new platform made its … Continue reading Railway Fans Can Now Spot Trains

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First Special Exhibitions at Loewenherz

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The park held its first special exhibitions at the second MIST-61 operating session on 25th and 26th June. After months of planning and construction, the two exhibitions “Eisenbahn in Kriegzeit: Spendenwagen “Ukraine Hilfe” (Railway in Wartime: Donation Car “Ukraine Hilfe”) und “Weltgeschwindigkeitrekorde: Vergangenkeit und Gegenwart” (World Speed Records: Past and Present) were held at the park. Visitors could see these exhibits on loan from Märklin, Thalys (SNCF/SNCB) and National Railway Museum York. Continue reading First Special Exhibitions at Loewenherz

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Loewenherz is Now Officially Part of MIST-61

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Today is the moment of truth – Commissioning and Integration of Loewenherz Railway Park Bad Niedrigsrode with other modules from MIST-61. Commissioning and Integration is successfully completed. Club acceptance test passed. The modules are now internally designated “Bahnpark 1” (aka Module 1a) and “Bahnpark 2” (aka Module 1b). Although I treat the two modules as one unit, the club event planner maintains the right to select 1 or 2 modules for an operating session depending on the available hall space and number of participating members. Therefore, my modules should be separable when needed. Exactly 3 months planning and construction time, … Continue reading Loewenherz is Now Officially Part of MIST-61

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Testing 1, 2, 3 …. and We Are Good to GO!

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Three months effort is finally ready to the final test! Will the train run smoothly on the two main tracks? Everything else does not matter, if trains cannot run smoothly through Loewenherz modules. My Märklin mentor René setup the test in his large basement train room. We connected my 2 modules to his module. We tested if the test train will run from Module 1a to Module 1b, both within my module zone, and to his neighbouring module. A beautiful volunteer for our test train – Baureihe 95 with sound! Continue reading Testing 1, 2, 3 …. and We Are Good to GO!

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Let’s Peek Underneath

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A lot of efforts are put in (understandbly) the visible part of a layout – it is the part that any modellers want to wow and impress. It is the part that visitors will remember the most. A good layout is also about taking care of the invisible but equally important part – what lies unseen. Just like a car, you want to ensure the transmission mechanism (in our case wiring), wheel axles and brake plates (legs and bolts that hold our modules together) work properly and maintainable. The keyword is MAINTAINABILITY! No one wants any frustrations arising from poor … Continue reading Let’s Peek Underneath

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On Your Mark, Get Set …. Reality Check!

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Now that the structures are completed, I started identifying the placement for the key elements such as plinths, tunnel, miniature railway park trackage, etc., which forms the visible elements of Loewenherz. As good as you could plan on paper (or on computer), the final check is when you sight the actual available space on the modules and adjust your plan accordingly. Some compromises are required as a result of the actual spatial constraints and for overall aesthetic. For example, a café in a Donnerbüchse (Thunderbox) baggage car supposed to be placed at the bottom right corner (see above pic) near … Continue reading On Your Mark, Get Set …. Reality Check!