Bergheim	Rail Yard	Reichenbach	Things Of Interest	Trains

Courtesy of Richard C. Wysong. A picture guide to M track ( Currently new track only ).

The following is in Richard's own words. Enjoy!

Project started: November 2002
Project end date: Are you kidding me?
Size: 104 sq. ft.
Track: Märklin M
System: Analog


My intent: To create a somewhat realistic representation of an area of southern Germany of the 1970s to complement my Märklin train collection.

I wanted a 1970s era theme due to the fact that Germany still used steam locomotives for freight. Having spent a good amount of time (9 ½ years) in Germany during the 1970s and early 80s with the U.S. Army, and the fact my wife is German, made designing the surrounding area a little easier.

With a boot box full of Märklin M track, several houses & buildings purchased while in Germany, and a few locomotives & cars acquired over my 48 years, I set to my task.

I walled off an area of my 40' x 60' shop building and started constructing a table for my layout. I needed something large enough to have two towns, after all it is no fun having just one town, where are your passengers traveling to? I also wanted to have a mountain, (wouldn’t be southern Germany without a mountain) to separate the two towns. So I built an L shaped table approximately 52 sq. ft. in area and started laying track. I constructed the mountain with layers of styrofoam sheets cutting the contours as the glue dried, and with help from my wife it was decorated. My little piece of Germany was starting to look pretty good. Then my wife went to Germany to visit her parents and brought back a few turnouts. Only 16 of them ! And more straight and curved track. The next thing I know I’m moving a wall and adding another 40 sq. ft. of table. With all those turnouts you must have a rail yard, and if there is a rail yard, the town has to be large enough to support it. So I needed more buildings, more people, more cars, streets, sidewalks, bus stops. Do you know where to get bus stop signs? I didn’t, so I made my own.

I now have 87 structures in two towns on a 104 sq. ft. table, plus over 400 people (96% of them I painted by hand), with a few more to paint but I’m giving my eyes a rest for several months, 55 vehicles, and several cows, sheep, deer, dogs etc.. I haven’t even calculated how much track is on the table, but it is more than a couple of yards.

Modifications: I had a considerable amount of M track from the start, so I didn’t want to change to C or K, and I didn’t care for the appearance of the M track setting so high. So I took 1/4 “ styrofoam sheet (good stuff that Styrofoam) cut & attached it to the table around the track, coated with a laytex primer/sealer, then “Woodland Scenics” earth or grass undercoat and while still a little wet applied the appropriate turf. If you slip strips of paper between the styrofoam and the track base, you won’t even get any paint on the track sections. My Mercedes dealership (I would have preferred BMW) is an IHC kit, inexpensive but nice. It only took a little imagination and half an hour extra time in construction to make the sign light up at night. The Faller “Posthalde” passenger platforms were short one little detail. How do passengers get from the track 1 platform to the platform for tracks 2 & 3? With spare parts from some other structures I made stairs going to an underground connecting tunnel. The IHC gantry crane, another inexpensive (cheap) kit, did not have a working floodlight or loadline, now it does.

Future plans: Installing crossing gates & signals before someone gets killed, home and distant signals in the appropriate locations (this is where I will need the most help), various signage, and eventually catenary masts & wire for the electric locomotives. And oh yeah, MORE LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS!

(1) - An overview of the track layout. Reichenbach is to the left, or North, and Bergheim is to the right, or South. The map is oriented on its side to match the orientation of most of the pictures to come.

(2) - A work in progress, a labor of love.

(3) - Reichenbach and Betriebswerk