AsorA Bahn

This mornings running, on a nice warm sunny Autumn day.
I took the day off working, it is good Friday here and I had a very relaxing time sitting in the sun watching trains go bye.



I think the little Playmobil 4010 loco does a very good job with quite a heavy train, with its original powertrain.
5 coach express working, impressive
 
I did cheat a little, it is running on 6 x 1.5v Nimh batteries.
I have to say I would never have thought it capable of such haulage even with extra batteries, just shows how good PM was and what we have lost with it’s demise. Mine has been converted with USA power bogies. Must do a maximum haulage test at some stage.
 
Its been a few weeks since I have had a chance to get much of anything done on the railway.

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This large rock was between the tracks behind the pond, its now on its way up above the entrance to Arosa station.
This would be a simple 5 minute job if I could get the tractor to it. :rolleyes: Unfortunately there is 3 m3 of sand /gravel in the way. So I had to lift it the best way I could, with a crow bar and building up a base of blocks and using the stool as I slowly lifted it. Took a while.

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Up into place, sitting on a temporary support. I still had to trim the right hand side to fit the other rock. Rain got in the way of that.


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The next day after I had cut the end to match the rock on the right. Gravity and friction holds it in place ok. It will get mortared in when we get a nice day.
You can see the 10mm steel rods drilled and glued into the rocks. This is to support the catenary and mesh for a planter above and is drilled and tapped above the track centreline.

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I will cut these blocks to make a roadway above the track to link up with the wall on the right.
This is a compromise to transition from the scenic rocks and plants to the village. In reality the tunnel comes out in the village itself.

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Mesh and landscape fabric to make the centre area a planter for dwarf pines. The orange will blast off the rock to more match the other rocks, they all came from the same place.

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Rods in place for the catenary in the tunnels, you can see the 3/16 brass screws hanging down to take the wire.
Which will be o gauge bullhead rail( because I have a pack of it).
I cut a groove in the countersunk screw head and hammered it over to make a dovetailed groove.
The rail slides in and is held securely, but can expand/contract lengthwise.
The first of the catenary gantries in place at the end of the catenary system. I am not going to go over the R1 temporary loop.
As per @Nodrog1826's suggestion the extensions to guide the panto's under the catenary will be extended and the angle lowered.

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The rocks in place and are supported by the rods and will be mortared later on. Some mesh in place for planting spaces.

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Doggo lurking in the background.
The catenary through this section will just be the o gauge rail for ease of installation.
I am making a snow shelter for the gap between the bridge and gantry.
Still have the mortaring in of rocks, tunnel portals, snow shelter and to plant out the spaces.

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The frame made for the snow shelter and gantries machined, with a lot of filing left to do on them.
Its supposed to rain tomorrow, so if I am up to it I will have a crack at it. Being 1.5mm ally its not hard to do, just tedious.
Lengths of rail soldered together and bent to match the track.
 
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Its been a few weeks since I have had a chance to get much of anything done on the railway.

View attachment 355110
This large rock was between the tracks behind the pond, its now on its way up above the entrance to Arosa station.
This would be a simple 5 minute job if I could get the tractor to it. :rolleyes: Unfortunately there is 3 m3 of sand /gravel in the way. So I had to lift it the best way I could, with a crow bar and building up a base of blocks and using the stool as I slowly lifted it. Took a while.

View attachment 355113
Up into place, sitting on a temporary support. I still had to trim the right hand side to fit the other rock. Rain got in the way of that.


View attachment 355111
The next day after I had cut the end to match the rock on the right. Gravity and friction holds it in place ok. It will get mortared in when we get a nice day.
You can see the 10mm steel rods drilled and glued into the rocks. This is to support the catenary and mesh for a planter above and is drilled and tapped above the track centreline.

View attachment 355114
I will cut these blocks to make a roadway above the track to link up with the wall on the right.
This is a compromise to transition from the scenic rocks and plants to the village. In reality the tunnel comes out in the village itself.

View attachment 355119
Mesh and landscape fabric to make the centre area a planter for dwarf pines. The orange will blast off the rock to more match the other rocks, they all came from the same place.

View attachment 355121
Rods in place for the catenary in the tunnels, you can see the 3/16 brass screws hanging down to take the wire.
Which will be o gauge bullhead rail( because I have a pack of it).
I cut a groove in the countersunk screw head and hammered it over to make a dovetailed groove.
The rail slides in and is held securely, but can expand/contract lengthwise.
The first of the catenary gantries in place at the end of the catenary system. I am not going to go over the R1 temporary loop.
As per @Nodrog1826's suggestion the extensions to guide the panto's under the catenary will be extended and the angle lowered.

View attachment 355120
The rocks in place and are supported by the rods and will be mortared later on. Some mesh in place for planting spaces.

View attachment 355123
Doggo lurking in the background.
The catenary through this section will just be the o gauge rail for ease of installation.
I am making a snow shelter for the gap between the bridge and gantry.
Still have the mortaring in of rocks, tunnel portals, snow shelter and to plant out the spaces.

View attachment 355124
The frame made for the snow shelter and gantries machined, with a lot of filing left to do on them.
Its supposed to rain tomorrow, so if I am up to it I will have a crack at it. Being 1.5mm ally its not hard to do, just tedious.
Lengths of rail soldered together and bent to match the track.
I think using rail for the overhead will be a great decision, may not be quite so scale but easily held in place. You could thread fishplates on the top to solder cross wires to that to give some flexibility. Also you will be able to curve the overhead (I know not prototypical) but will assist in keeping the Pan on the overhead in R1 curves.

I was worrying the other day how you would manage on the R1 curves with wire, need lots of pull off’s’.
 
I think using rail for the overhead will be a great decision, may not be quite so scale but easily held in place. You could thread fishplates on the top to solder cross wires to that to give some flexibility. Also you will be able to curve the overhead (I know not prototypical) but will assist in keeping the Pan on the overhead in R1 curves.

I was worrying the other day how you would manage on the R1 curves with wire, need lots of pull off’s’.
Yeah, the o gauge bullhead rail will simplify running catenary through tunnels, snow shelter and to the edge.
I will be using copper wire through the rest of the system. I will be trying a support system inspired by the Ruschbahn.
 
Yeah, the o gauge bullhead rail will simplify running catenary through tunnels, snow shelter and to the edge.
I will be using copper wire through the rest of the system. I will be trying a support system inspired by the Ruschbahn.
I still think you may have problems on R1 curves with wire and trying to keep in tension plus keeping in place for Pan, I know we did with 4ft Radius and plus curves.
 
I still think you may have problems on R1 curves with wire and trying to keep in tension plus keeping in place for Pan, I know we did with 4ft Radius and plus curves.
The only R1s I have are points into sidings and in the temporary balloon loop which I am not going over with the catenary, the rest of the curves are R2 or bigger.
 
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I still think you may have problems on R1 curves with wire and trying to keep in tension plus keeping in place for Pan

Nothing is impossible . . .

R1 balloon loop with catenary on our rack railway layout at the Exeter Garden Railway show in 2023 . . .

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(we made it "difficult" for ourselves with much of the frontage being without catenary, requiring a change of motive power at the loops nearest the camera)

. . . and the same ballon loop at the tramway event at the Solent Sky Museum in Southampton in June 2025 (danger of livestock straying onto the tracks!) . . .

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. . . but we do use code 75 (American HO gauge) rail (rather than wire), and the masts are bolted into the baseboard (rather than clipped to the sleepers).

All the best

David
 
The only R1s I have are points into sidings and in the temporary balloon loop which I am not going over with the catenary, the rest of the curves are R2 or bigger.
Oh yes forgot all that and you can of course have closer Poles as they have done on Whiteleaf and of course on real Tramways.
 
Was quite a nice day and I was able to get out to the railway for a few hours.

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Finished the snow shelter frame and installed it.IMG_20260419_162549732_HDR.jpg
You can see how I slipped the o gauge rail through the slot in the screws. That worked well.
Made a big mistake, instead of lowering the height of the shelter 20mm below the normal catenary height, I managed to raise it by 10mm :rolleyes:.
Oh well mistakes get made, it still works just doesn't look as good.
Need to paint the rail, screws and insulator black.
Apologies for my fingers in the shot :D.

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The foam cutter made quick work cutting the roof to match the rocks.
Still have the ends to make, a job for tomorrow I hope.

First test.
 
Was quite a nice day and I was able to get out to the railway for a few hours.

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Finished the snow shelter frame and installed it.View attachment 355220
You can see how I slipped the o gauge rail through the slot in the screws. That worked well.
Made a big mistake, instead of lowering the height of the shelter 20mm below the normal catenary height, I managed to raise it by 10mm :rolleyes:.
Oh well mistakes get made, it still works just doesn't look as good.
Need to paint the rail, screws and insulator black.
Apologies for my fingers in the shot :D.

View attachment 355223
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The foam cutter made quick work cutting the roof to match the rocks.
Still have the ends to make, a job for tomorrow I hope.

First test.
Very nice, if you put some arches to the front with the top line sitting down some you may not notice your height issue quite so much.
 
Very nice, if you put some arches to the front with the top line sitting down some you may not notice your height issue quite so much.
Good idea, i will put some short wall sections in to fill the gap.
Its real no big deal. Making a silly measuring mistake is annoying and it looks ok, just not quite what I had in mind.
A few years in the future, when I have gotten all the way round and don't have much left to do. I might change it out for a better one, maybe :D.
 
Some more progress has been made.

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Part way through painting and weathering the snow shelter.
I added walls at the end and a strip underneath that's still still all black undercoat, The idea coming from on a suggestion from @dunnyrail. To help hide how high it ended up.

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The foam cutter getting a workout again, this time a tunnel portal.
Also testing out a few rocks on the edge of the shelter roof. There will be 2 small planting pockets to let baby's tears grow over the top as well.

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Due to the reverse curve through here it has to be pretty wide, thou i did keep the clearances to a bare minimum.
These portals can be pushed in and taken out easily.

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Next section of catenary in through the tunnel. Yesterdays bit painted black.
You might notice some of the rocks have been changed in different shots. As the weather has been iffy for rain and I couldn't mortar them in.
I took the opportunity to play around with different rocks.

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I just soldered the diverging line to the straight through line, edges chamfered and the join cleaned up with a file.
I dropped the catenary height down to look better exiting the tunnel at Arosa station.

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The entrance to Arosa station, the opening above will have a basket made out of wire for plants. That can be lifted out when I need to get in there.
The front just a temporary support soldered on for testing.
Happy to say no snags on testing, even thou it looks like a roller coaster ride through there :rofl:.
Now I have some fun work to do of a evening for the week, a tunnel portal to finish and the shelter to finish weathering whilst watching the telly:)
 
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