On November 29, 2008 I visited the Dutch Modelrailroad days
1 I started off at the site of a Gauge II society. I still find the steam loco's of the Rheatian Railway of a fascinating design
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4 This is "my" engine (see Collection)
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9 Another impressive exhibit was a layout with mainly tams. I took a few photo's from NZH-trams (in full: NZHTM, the Noord Zuid Hollandse Tramweg Maatschappij, Noth and South Holland Tramway Co)
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12 The famous Budapester tramcars.
13 and their small brother
14 a closer look at the motor car
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16 Tramways were very common in the Netherland.
17 A mrr group from The Hague
18 The private rail car of the Board of Directors of the Dutch Railways. It was built in the early fifties if I remember correctly and used as a private director's car until the seventies. Because of the two humps, accomodating the driver's cabs, at was called "De Kameel", the camel. It was for rent or private parties for some time but when it reached a service due date is was more or less plucked for spare parts common with other motor cars and put away in the Dutch Railway Museum, left to rot in the open air. In recent years an enormous effort has been made to restore it to operating condition and since about a year it roams the rails again.
19 Here a photo of the restored original.
20 The mrr from The Hague models.......The Hague. Station Den Haag Hollandsch Spoor is one of the best preserved stations in the country. If you ever happen to visit The Hague don't miss it!!
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23 Modelers of another tramway. The RTM survived until 1966, being the last tramway to operate (partly) with steam.
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28 The infamous lifting bridge at Spijkenisse. Infamous because rail and road traffic shared the the road deck, giving cause to many a serious accident.
29 For those who fail to see the pun: Stella Artois is a beer brand
30 but the diorama depict a sleepy French village
31 a few turnouts some rails, that's all it takes to create a wonderful diorama. One of the most heard comments: it doesn't need to be big to be beautiful
32 the water tank
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37 Another classy diorama. Though I'm usually not very interested in modern themes, I liked this one. In der Beschränkung zeigt sich der Meister. (The master shows himself in the restriction)
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40 A fictive station in the Rheatian Alps
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52 now what do you think this Preiserman is doing??
53 Another beauty of three switches and half a square meter
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68 Well this diorama is so surprising. First it is framed like a painting. The front buildings are protruding a little creating a real 3D effect. The buildings are 1:50 (appr) but the vicarage in the centre is of a smaller scale and the church tower even smaller still (1:160). The same applies to the people on the street. Larger figures in front, smaller in the back. This creates a very strong visual effect which the photo can hardly show. (see also http://msgvalkenswaard.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=61).
69 But this isn't all. A tram runs along the street in the front, then makes a sharp turn behind the house on the right....
70 and seems to disappear in the distant street. The modeler of this diorama has done the same trick with the trams: two identical consists in two scales (1:50 and 1:160) appear and disappear in consecutive order creating a very surprising effect.
71 Finally some pictures of a few live steam loco's. Actually I made these photo's for my collegue Vincent. Take a close look at he loco and you'll know why.
![ns 20+ 205[1] Here a photo of the restored original.](slides/ns_20+_205[1].jpg)
