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The new Danville railroad
our R/C tank-battlefield at the AAF-TankMuseum in Danville , VA has now a train-yard !
here are some insides to the Danville railroad
The new Danville railroad is actually modeled in 1/16 scale ,
based on the German narrow gauge “Heeresfeldbahn” from WW2.
A railroad was in the plans since the beginning of this scale-battlefield ,
but never finished because of the lack of usable material of locomotives and train-cars in 1/16 scale ,
in fact , there is non .
Full size train-tracks measure 1435 mm / 56 ½ “
which would be in 1/16 scale 90 mm / 3 ½”
the larges model-rail-road track available is made by Magnus in Germany ,
64 mm / 2 ½” , which represents full-size tracks in 1/22.5 scale ,
which is very expensive stuff .
The more commonly known G-scale track measures 45 mm / 1 ¾”
and represents European narrow gauge in 1/22.5 scale or US full-gauge in 1/29 to 1/32 scale .
( US large scale model train manufactures adapted to the already existing LGB 45 mm track )
So full-gauge is out of the question , but narrow gauge was an option ,
since there was a narrow gauge German “Heeresfeldbahn” in WW2.
This “Heeresfeldbahn” was a German military narrow gauge train system
used in WW2 to transport goods and materials to the front lines .
The actually train-track gauge used was from 600 mm to 1000 mm ,
which equals to about 24” to 40” gauge in 1/16 scale .
The used 45 mm , about 1 ¾” G-scale track , represents in 1/16 scale 720 mm / 28”
Instead of the very time-consuming scratch building of a true 1/16 scale full gauge rail-road
I showed Doug Gasser ( AAF-TankMuseum ) my already existing narrow gauge 1/16 illusion train-projects
at my place and this was the start for the Danville battlefield railroad and the first armored train .
The rolling stock ( train-cars ) is not a big deal ,
I mainly use here LGB G-scale train-cars and widen the loading deck .
The locomotives present more of a challenge .
I call them illusions , since I first basically just started out with raising the cabs on various G-scale locomotives ,
( see the video with that yellow diesel-switcher , and my first military train project and these 2 older Danville train videos )
or installed bigger wheels , to cheat the scale appearance .
On steam-locomotives this is not that easy to make it look right ,
but to cheat on a diesel-locomotives scale appearance is much easier .
For the German “Heeresfeldbahn” were various types of diesel locomotives used ,
which gives a wide spectrum to let your fantasy go wild to build something in 1/16 scale .
The black diesel ( a quick kit-bash from a 1/20 scale GE center-cab diesel-switcher ,
same like that yellow diesel ) is supposed to represent a German HF200 in 1/16 scale .
This one is packed with R/C stuff , for the driving , sound and exhaust-smoke.
It also has working couplers via R/C . But it’s not done yet .
I gone do more to that one . More details and functions .
Of course a steam locomotive is much cooler , because of the smoke and sound effects .
I have here various projects in the works , but not finished yet , therefore I picked one of my Shay locomotives
( the steam locomotive with the 3 outside cylinders ) and just raised the cab on that one and gave it also an additional wider tender
( which will be used in future to hide all the R/C electronics ) .
Shays were produced as narrow gauge logging locomotives and came in all different sizes ,
therefore also a good object for a narrow gauge 1/16 scale illusion project .
The steam locomotive you see first in that video ( roof-top view ) , is a model of a “Deutsche Reichsbahn “ ,
also used in WW2 in Germany in 1/22.5 scale , on which I installed a different undercarriage with larger wheels ,
which would bring it to about a 1/18 cheat-scale . Therefore it only can be used alone , or as background .
This is also a kit-bashed locomotive , started from a LGB locomotive
with a sound-systems taken from a US-style Mogul with synchronized steam sound .
This one I made running on a R/C system and is switchable back to DCC .
As for the smokers used , the diesel has a larger smoker with an in-build fan ,
synchronized to the engine rpm’s .
The steam locomotives have LGB smokers in them ,
on the Shay with a red LED inside the smoke-stack to give it a nice glow at night .
The Shay also has a flickering firebox .
reference links :
Here some videos :
All of this is just the beginning , I gone work on more cool and more detailed train-stuff ,
also working cranes , for the Danville railroad . It’s just a matter of time till it’s done …..
Willy
CustomRCmodels
Nov 2011