Every year the Dutch Railway museum attempts to gather the top of modelrailroading Europe in their Utrecht venue. This year was the 10th edition of the event.
1 The entrance of the museum. Normally there are about 30 to 40 dioramas and layouts on display. It is impossible to cover them all. So I picked out those which I liked most.
2 The title is simply "Garden Railway" and that is exactly what it shows: a house in 1:32 and a railway in the garden in 1:220, so in a real garden it is pretty much a 7¼" miniature railway.
3 The layout is simple. To my feeling the modelling level does not live up to the Ontrax standards, but it is a funny idea. Note the side spur that goes into the back of the garage.
4 The modeller is sitting at his workbench waiting for his train to come "home"
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6 For me this was the top attraction of this year's edition.
7 An extremely well executed diorama with a WWI theme. Worked out into the finest details, excellent weathering and more: five articulated steam locomotives of the Pechot-Bourdon type, which was a real treat for me! This view shows just about the whole diorama!
8 The loco shed is a busy hive
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10 The Pechot-Bourdon is very much akin to the Fairlie design and especially developed for 600 mm military railways
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12 The war effort also saw the advent of internal combustion locomotives albeit not yet diesel.
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14 Sites like this are always cluttered with all kinds of stuff for the war effort
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18 I simply love these engine, I wonder how they built them.
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20 The detailing goes as far as stamping the briquets with their quality marks.
21 and depicting damage to the planking of the flat car. War wasn't for the sensitive!
22 Discussing the transportation problems?
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26 This photo was taken to show the curtains of the locomotive in the second row to protect the crew a bit from the weather.
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28 One last shot of this magnificent diorama
29 This diorama depicts the open railroad where an old remnant of the old signalling system still stands in modern time. Although I usually have little affinity for modern modelrailways, I liked the execution of this one.
30 This is KISS "Keep is stupid simple" taken to the next level. A straight railroad, a straight highway and some scenery. Too simple? No look again. See the different car speeds and the aircraft flying along the sky. Most ingenious!
31 Besides dioramas there are also larger layouts, but only a few due to space restrictions. This one is set in France also in modern time, judging by the rolling stock, but at the same time showing a sleepy country village where life seems to flow as it has done for decades. A nice contrast.
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33 An impressive viaduct
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36 It is obviously summer just after mass and the locals are meeting at the local café.
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41 Tourists canooing the turbulent river
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48 A diorama hardly bigger than a trunk, depicts a post WWII situation. It is inspired on the capture of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier whose name I mention with the greatest respect for following orders to the letter, but as a consequence soldiering on in the forests of the Phillipines until 1974 in the assumption that the war was still going on. Read his story here.
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56 Two dioramas by Henk Wust, a true veteran in the field, and Jan van Mourik. This one "Mouville" depicts a sleepy town in the French countrysite.
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73 Their second diorama "Retreat" depicts the return of the German army from the east front in the winter of 1944-1945
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79 A diorama in progress. The owner has so far been working on it for four years. But the results are stunning!
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84 Some of his techniques are on display
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87 An English contribution to all the fun was this diorama by Christopher Payne, the same builder as the fabulous Sutton Wharf.
88 The trackplan is as simple as can be
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103 Christopher (right) explaining to a visitor
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108 More a sort of advertisement of the business than anything else, but nevertheless a beautiful layout was this American themed "Rocky Mountain"
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115 Despite the size of the layout much attention has been paid to detailing the landscape. How many tufts of grass must have been there!
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127 An overview to give an impression of the size of the layout
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131 Another French theme
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141 A diorama named after a Belgian candy: Cuberdon
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144 Some kid on the diorama is crying...
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155 On a table there was a handful of mini-mini-dioramas, usually not more than 10 cm in diameter.
156 This one turnedslowly around, alternatively showing the world on the street and the world behind the walls.
