Grafenwalde Closure

     

The HO layout ‘Grafenwalde’ is to be sold, this will include all locos, rolling stock, station buildings, cottage and all road vehicles. 

The items will appear on EBay, username:- tim-hale

Intro

The why and wherefore

Grafenwalde - a former privatbahn located in a quiet corner of the northern edge of the Thuringia Forest in the mid-1960s

Courtesy Peter Koenig

Fiction and fact merge

Fact

The line to Grafenwalde is based on an amalgam of other lines on the northern edge of the Thüringer Wald. 

 Fiction

The Grafenwalder Privatbahn AG, was a railway line in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia, which connected the town of Grafenwald to the railway network. The 4,60km long railway line began about 2.5 kilometers west of Rottenbach at the Köditzberg separation station and led from there through the valley of the valley to the west via the stop Unterköditz to Grafenwalde, where it ended on the southeastern outskirts of the town.

The 15.5t limit on the line could support nothing larger than a BR64,  the original locomotive was a T3 89 5901, in 1921 it was supplemented by a T9.3 91 1627 and later a V15 LKM diesel which was in use until the passenger service was discontinued. 

The line became part of the DR in 1949, revenue began to decline in the 1960s and in 1976, the closure of the line was again considered, and track maintenance was reduced to a minimum. In 1988 the passenger service ceased and Grafenwalde was used only to transport timber, until this ceased in 1995. Today, it is no longer served by rail and the track has been lifted, only the Preußisch station building remains, now a private residence.

Layout

The layout design

The project began with four old recycled baseboards that had been stripped and cleaned.  It is not a copy of any particular location, merely an amalgam of many suitable features.

Buildings

The ‘inspiration’ for the station was not located in Thuringia but Blankenfelde near Berlin, it is built in the Prussian style, common enough in many areas. On such a small layout there are just a few complete structures, the station group plus a wooden shelter for the bus passengers.

 

Sell 1

Locos

  

 

 

Sell 2

Rolling stock

Goods

SVT 137 - Sell 3

Cottage

The cottage 

A small Faller building carefully rendered and weathered 

The cottage garden has a couple of fruit trees, vegetable garden and chicken coop.

I remember that in my childhood, chickens (and other domestic birds) were bustling around in every village. The owners of the poultry seemed to have no concern for their safety at all. A constant image was the birds taking carelessly walks along the road running through the village buildings. And this sometimes ended in a tragic accident under the wheels of a car.