Voie Libre international

Discover every three months in this international issue of Voie Libre in english, new products reviews, layout descriptions, model building, historical information on secondary lines and prototypes...

Editorial #105 • REALISTIC OR WHIMSICAL?

Voie Libre International

What’s New

NARROW PLANET : CHANGE OF ADDRESS

SCENERY

PRESS REVIEW

TRIBUTE • FAREWELL TO A FRIEND

TRAMFABRIEK THE SMALL RAILCAR Freestyle, but neatly drawn! • Tramfabriek has released an 00-9 freestyle railcar, in brass and 3D printed resin, fitted to a Kato driving chassis. Lets take a closer look at it on the workbench.

Jahnsbach Truer than life • In this article, we discover Jahnsbach, a small station on the Saxon narrow gauge network. The station stood on the Thum – Meinersdorf line, which no longer exists. Jens Petermann has resurrected it in 1/87 scale on 9mm gauge track.

Narrow gauge in Saxony • Created in the 1870s, the Saxon narrow gauge network reached its peak at the turn of the XXth century. In the 1970s, the East German regime closed most 75cm gauge lines. Uwe Haas takes us on a tour of those that survived.

LOAD YOUR WAGONS • It’s springtime, wagons have shed their clothing and display their loads! Here are a few practical examples and some sources of inspiration, to make our layouts more life-like.

1 LEAD OR TIN TARPAULINS • Pliable and available as thin sheets, lead and tin are perfectly suited to representing textiles such as tarpaulins used to cover loads.

2 A LOAD OF BRICKS • Such loads used to be found on the 60cm gauge line between Skopje and Ohrid in ex-Jugoslavia. Even though it is a lengthy job, an open wagon can be filled with Juweela bricks.

3 3D PRINTED LOADS • Many things can be loaded into an open wagon or on to a low-sided flat wagon. In the modelling world, 3D designing and printing is a quick and easy way of obtaining stacks of goods with realistic shapes.

4 CARRYING EVERYTHING • Annette Rochaix delved into Jean-Louis’ fabulous photo collection and found some fine pictures of loads. They show you many methods for loading wood and hay in bulk, as well as some incredible items such as these curved metal structures.

5 LOADS • Under the Scenecraft brand, Bachmann produces a range of small objets in 00 scale, which are both affordable and realistic. They are compatible with a continental layout in H0.

6 A CONTAINER FOR A FLAT WAGON • A wooden container for shipping valuable items, here is what Joswood produces. This brand supplies these wooden crates in three sizes and with 5 different company names.

7 LOADING A ROAD VEHICLE • A road vehicle can be loaded onto a flat wagon, provided it is firmly held in place.

8 OPENING THE DOORS OF A BOX VAN • Moving houses in a box van! Not really an interesting load, unless, for some reason, the sliding door of the wagon has been left open!

How to easily paint and weather YOUR ROLLING STOCK • Having procrastined somewhat, Éric Fresné found himself smothered in models that required painting. To cope with this invasion, he started looking for products and methods that were simple and quick to use. He describes them below.

THE PRODUCTS USED

MAKE YOUR OWN ACRYLIC WASH

A PANHARD RAILCAR FROM THE TLC NETWORK Pressing on the gas pedal! • Everyone is familiar with the gentle summer pleasures of handling charcoal when preparing a barbecue. However, in the past, some railcars drivers had to do likewise, to feed their producer gas motor!

Rejuvenating AN ANCIENT EGGER-BAHN • How to make something old into something new – well, not quite! You also need a bit of goodwill. Shall I tell you how?

My Billard tank wagon TRUE TO...