Retail therapy

I did some serious damage to my bank account this week-end. I guess it was inevitable since I showed incredible restraint during my year in Prague. Mind you, crystal, garnet and shoes aren't my thing so it was pretty easy to not buy much for myself. I did manage to pick up a bunch of viaducts that are hard to get in North America. However, things would have been different had I been assigned to Munich. It seemed like every department store sold model trains. I would like to return to Germany specifically for a train holiday and do some serious shopping!

After my visit to HobbyTech, my rolling stock is now up to seven train sets, which are all MiniTrix. There's a few other I would like to add to my inventory, but the sets I have now are enough for my European railway station layout. There are a few passenger cars that weren't in stock so I had to place an order. Sleeper cars will be pulled by a class 185 locomotive that's designed for cross border traffic.



11202 (1/1) ICE 3 three car set
11478 (2/2) DB Regio four car set
11608 (1/1) IC six car train set
12564 (1/1) ICE 1 four car train set
12565 (1/1) DB Class 185.1 locomotive
12785 (1/1) ICE 1 six car train set
12793 (1/1) ICE 3 three car set
15356 (1/1) "Sports Cars I" Automobile Transport Car Laekks 553
15357 (1/1) "Sports Cars II" Automobile Transport Car Laekks 553
15841 (1/1) ICE 1 bord bistro car
15842 (1/1) ICE 1 1st class car
15843 (1/1) ICE 1 2nd class car
15844 (4/4) ICE 3 1st class car
15845 (6/6) ICE 3 2nd class car
15853 (1/1) DB Nachtzug three car set
15854 (1/1) DB Nachtzug two car set

Starter sets

I finally got a chance to unpack my trains from the box and see how they look side by side. Two ICE3 and one ICE1. The ICE3 starter sets contained three cars, which I expanded to six cars. However, I read that the Deutsche Bahn's normal configuration is eight cars so I'll add two extra cars to each of them. The length of my ICE1 will remain six cars since there are no expansion cars with the same pin striping. It's difficult to see on the photograph, but the striping is an older style with a purple line beneath the red.

I came across the older prototype at Hertie's department store when I was in Munich in July. It was definitely an older model that had been discontinued as all the current ICEs in the Deutsche Bahn have changed their detailing to a single red pin stripe. The sales person gave me a 10% discount which I couldn't pass up. I suspect the store had difficulties selling it because of the older style detailing, but I wanted it because I remember riding other ICE cars with the same older style pinstriping.

Prior to 1994, the railway service in West Germany used to be called Deutsche Bundesbahn. East Germany's was called Deutsche Reichsbahn. After the country's reunification, they merged the two railway services and named it Deutsche Bahn AG or DBAG for short. I'm not sure what the AG stands for.

Tram

I visited Prague's tram museum a long time ago and just got around to sorting through my photographs. It is definitely a place to visit for train enthusiasts. The museum houses many different models of trams that were put into service over the history of Prague. Some are still working today although they are not part of the standard livery that are in daily operation used by the general public. The city operates these antiques on limited tours through the city for tourists. I've seen some of them roll through the city often with a bar service. If they offered that service on Calgary transit, it would double ridership!

Supertrain2008

The week-end of my return also happened to coincide with the SuperTrain2008 show. Sunday was the last day. Despite the jet lag, I was glad to make it out there. Although most of the train layouts were based on North American trains it still provided lots of ideas and inspiration. This year's show increased in size with many more exhibits on display. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came to the show. Many with their children. Clearly the show was a big hit. However, the hobby still seems to be entirely dominated by men.

I also discovered there is a new train club called Calgary Eurorail Express that specializes in European model trains. They happen to hold meetings at Hobby Tech on Saturday mornings so I'll have a chance to check the club out while I'm shopping at the store. I've already identified the sets I want. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to pick up some accessories such as tunnel portals specific to the ICEs produced by Busch. Man those are hard to come by even in Germany.

I spoke with one person who was more into creating model building than trains. We got to chatting. He was very helpful and gave me some advice on my layout. I was planning to use paper or foam board to construct my buildings. He suggested I consider using plastic sheets, which can be had at any hobby store and wasn't expensive at all. The added bonus was that it was much sturdier than either paper or foam board and unlike foam board, wouldn't warp if painted. However, I'm still considering leaving the city layout all white like those architectural displays. In doing so, the focus will be on the model trains, which would stand out against the white background. Of course, I think I will do a quick mock up using paper to help visualize whether this will be esthetically pleasing. If it works out I might add people to the scenery and leave them unpainted as well.