The Holiday Haul

The holiday season is always a good opportunity to add to the model train venture. Be it new rolling stock, technical equipment or other useful things – something always gets added. This year’s haul was unexpectedly big, due to some opportunity purchases that I normally wouldn’t have made, but couldn’t pass up. So here’s the rundown of the new additions to the fleet.

The first addition was a set of VAK coal hoppers. These models, made by Australian manufacturer Southern Rail, have been virtually sold out for some time. I previously acquired a set of four VGK hoppers to serve as coal cars with my QR 2300 class, whose real-life purpose is almost exclusively coal traffic. The VGKs could class as cheating, since they are upgraded VAKs specifically for grain transport, but since they were the only ones I could get my hands on at the time, they’ll do. Four cars in a train looks puny even on a small layout, so I was very happy to find another set of actual VAKS for a damn good price. Second hand, yes, but barely used.

Fun fact: a real-life coal train in South East Queensland consists of two locos and 40 cars.

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From the same seller I acquired a set of three KOJX cattle wagons as used in Queensland. I already had a set of them, but never did much with them because I didn’t have a matching loco – the 2300 could have done in a pinch, but it didn’t feel quite right, since, as mentioned above, it is a dedicated coal loco. Still, these were practically free, so why not?

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And the cattle cars would not remain drive-less for long. Because we decided to finish what we started, and acquire the matching loco, a Queensland Rail 2170 class Diesel. The 2170 class is related to the 2300 class, both have a similar foundation, their key difference being the engines.

The 2170 started its life dedicated to coal freight, but was later assimilated into general freight service. This model comes from Southern Rail, same as the 2300, and carries early QR National livery. I have seen these in front of cattle trains, usually paired with a 2400 class, so it’s at least plausible to have this one pull the KOJX cars. I see real life cattle trains consisting of 39 cars being hauled by two locos.

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And since it was so much fun, here’s a short clip of both locos with their dedicated payload.

So that’s two freight trains sorted. But we didn’t stop there. Ever since I acquired my Ludmilla, I wanted to give it something more to do than cleaning tracks. Matching rolling stock of Deutsche Reichsbahn Epoch IV does exist, but is either very expensive, or old and hard to come by down under. When I came across a collection of old Lima DB passenger cars, I decided to create an approximation of an Interzone train, or transit train, as they traveled between East and West Germany. These trains could consist of both DR and DB rolling stock, and would be operated by East German locomotives such as the Ludmilla, at least in East German territory.

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Now, such a train would have traveled long distances, and therefore would have had a restaurant car more often than not. With a modicum of research I worked out that both the East German Mitropa, and the West German DSG, may have operated restaurant cars in the kind of train I was trying to build. I became fond of the idea of adding a Mitropa car to the largely West German formation, which may not have been 100% typical. But as I read on a forum recently, there wasn’t much that didn’t happen in that era when it came to rolling stock combinations – and ‘when in doubt, declare it a museum train’. Good enough.

I managed to get this car for a very decent price on Ebay. This is a model manufactured by East German manufacturer Schicht, which was a precursor to PIKO, and it would have been made anywhere between the late 60s and early 80s. For its age, it is in very good condition, even the interior lighting works.

With the Lima cars, I also received a batch of Roco DB passenger cars of the same era. I didn’t have a use for them, but they seller threw them in anyway. They are suitable to build an Epoch IV DB express train – known as D-Zug – but I need a matching loco for it. This is how opportunity purchases lead to more purchasing.

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There was one more addition to the fleet during the holidays. For purposes of shuttling passengers between the upper village and the lake, we wanted a railcar which could change directions without it being too noticeable. It had to be reasonably short, and a diesel, which really limited the options. The original idea was for an older style rail bus of the Epoch III, but we decided we wanted something more modern. Most diesel railcars however come in multiple units of three to five cars, which really is too long for our setup. We ended up deciding on a model of the LINT 27, a one-piece railcar which was just the right size. Looks were secondary in this case, so the fact that this model carries the livery of defunct private operator Vectus has absolutely no meaning at all – it was available.

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And that’s the holiday haul for this season. We are getting to the point where each loco has a dedicated train and a purpose. Unfortunately, money is always a bit tight after the holidays, so further progress will take some time.