What interested me about German railways was the how beatiful some of the old locos were in Epoch 1 and 2. I was manily interested in the trains of Epoch 2 due to their styling and innovative designs. I love streamlined locomotives especially art deco ones. In terms of models what interested me was the better quality of the models and the technology which was unavailable in British railway models. I have all but abandoned British railway modelling until the technology catches up.

I model Era IV since that was was when I first encounted German Trains. My father was in the US Airforce and we spent the years 73-76 in the area around Kaiserslautern. I was already interested in model trains, but my parents purchased several N scale german models as gifts and the great adventure took off.

Epoch 3. 1. Standing on the road bridge on Bundesstrasse 1 at the western end of the station throat watching the continious flow of trains in and out of the marshalling yard at Paderborn HBF. 2.All the damaged and repaired guterwagen being shunted in and out of the wagon repair works at Paderborn Nord Bhf, On the single Line Paderborn -Bielefeld. V36 AS WERKSLOK and Br 50 as train loks. British Railways? David

Epoch Preferences
I share the attraction to Epoch 1 because of the attractiveness and individuality of its locos and rolling stock. I suppose that this began because the British model companies do not offer items prior to Epoch 3. However, I voted for Epoch 2 since it has an earnestness which I find attractive, although I have to pull short of the 'art deco' types as they do not 'speak' to me. I am still considering the early fast trains such as Rheingold but I may stick to the functional freight. peter brown

Epoch II, Bavaria. Little engines, little carriages, little wagons, on little trains, all straight off the shelf and appropriate to a small layout. When I think that it is getting too easy, I go back to modelling South Australian Railways...

favorite Epoche
I like to model in Epoch III due to the fact that the HF110C (my favorite loco) was then being used for more civilian purposes (I have done my duty with the West German Army and I'm therefore not very fond of modelling anything in conjunction with military ...); my preferred area is the North of Germany i. e. Lower Saxony - the southern part. Epoch III also allows to use lots of the old Prussian steam locos together with the Einheits-locos as being developed after the I WW. with a friendly Glueckauf Klaus Weibezahn

I don't have my own layout because I spend much of my free time at two railway clubs. The variety of rolling stock owned by the members allows the running of all periods on the layouts, although sometimes we do have themed evenings. This allows me to enjoy running a variety of compositions from all eras. For this reason my choice has to be Epoch 5 because the rest of my rolling stock can be regarded as museum trains.

Hello, I am new on this forum. My interest is era one, the K.W.St.E. to infect others and for example a picture from my layout: More pictures are one my website. Unfortunately only on German. Please excuse my english. Scooltime was long ago.

Hi Aristoteles, You are very welcome, I often visit your excellent website.

Hi Alan, thank you for the welcom and for the friendly words to my website. Aristoteles Held

Modelling German Railways
Hi Jochen, I am new to the forum and would like to participate in your opinion poll. I grew up in South Africa when steam was at its peak and I could have therefore easily modelled the South African Railways, but the German Railways has always appealed to me. It was therefore an easy decision when I got actively involved in the hobby some 15 years ago to go for the German Railways. I had a German Railways modular layout but after having moved house recently we are now in the process of planning a new layout. I am in the fortunate position that my wife Anne whom I met in 2002 is just as interested as I am in the hobby (lucky me heh?) and although we appreciate the South African model train layouts, we have decided to model the DB late Epoche IV and V in HO-scale. We have considered several factors before coming to a decision. The modern era German Railways has a vast selection of colourful locomotives and rolling stock. Most of these locomotives and rolling stock are available as quality HO-scale models from several model train manufacturers in Europe. The motive power on a modern era German Railways layout will be electric and diesel power. However, having grown up during the steam era in South Africa it is our opinion that a model train layout is not complete without some of those beautiful German steam locomotives and we therefore just had to have steam traction on the layout. Visitors to the layout may well ask how you justify steam traction on a modern era layout and the answer is quite simple. Let me begin by saying that we believe that every layout should tell a story and that depending on the size of the layout there should be one or more stories/scenes within the bigger story. Now let's answer the visitors question. In one of the layout towns there is an active steam preservation group operating from premises donated to the group by The German Railways Authorities. On these premises you will find a selection of lovingly restored steam locomotives and rolling stock from the steam era. This group also runs regular steam enthusiasts specials to stretch the legs of those beauties. You will also find some carefully restored steam era buildings and structures on the premises such as a rounhouse, turntable, sanding and coaling towers, water tower and maybe even a small steam era station and signal tower. (How nice to make up your own credible story to fit in with your layout). Another reason for deciding to model the German Railways is the availability of a huge selection of building and structure kits from several top quality manufacturers in Europe as well as vehicles, figures, scenery materials, accessories etc. I may be sticking my head out here, but it is my opinion that the kits, figures, vehicles and accessories from the European manufacturers are superior to those from most of the other sources. (I am trying to be diplomatic). We have in recent times imported a lot of stuff from model train dealers in Germany and I must admit that we have only received top notch service from these dealers. Well now you know why we here in South Africa model the German Railways and are loving what we are doing. Enjoy this fascinating and rewarding hobby of ours and keep the hobby alive. Kind regards. Johan de Villiers

Preference for Era
My vote was for Era II - DRG. Reason : - The height of Technical development for Steam Locos. This era saw the greatest rate of new lok development not only in steam but also the rise of Electric and the beginnings of Diesel. It also saw the rise of truly International trains both passenger and freight. The DRG was also the first truly National carrier in the world. At the time the other great rail nations such as the US and GB had private companies and divided development efforts. So, whilst I run some Era I "preserved" loks and have 2 Era III sets for the club layout, the height of my interest is Era II.

Forgetting the 60s? For some visitors the 60s is as remote as the 19th century, after all it is a lifetime ago however it is the most popular modelling era as it covers the transition from steam to modern traction. It is easy enough to choose enough railway vehicles as the model manufacturers are normally good enough to indicate the Epoch however what about the rest of the world on the other side of the railway fence? To remember the 60s, you need to be 50+ otherwise you just weren't there and the main problem is a desperate lack of imagery unless it involves road vehicles or pop stars. What makes the 60s different from today? 1. Lack of road traffic. 2. Children-today they seem to be almost invisible compared with the 60s. No computer games, lack of traffic meant a safer play environment, children tended to play in groups rather than individuals. Hinkelkästchen- See below* 3. Gardens tended to have more home-grown products, women did not need to work unlike today's two income families. More leisure time meant more time for gardening. 4. Mobile shops-do you recall the vegetable seller with his cart and horse? What about the mobile grocery store? http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/victorians/standard/play/learning/hopscotch/index.shtml

Some good points there Tim. I was born in the sixties and have fragmented recollections rather than clear memories but how things have changed socially. There was the occaisional horse and cart too. Coal delivery and storage. It's those little things that make the difference.

:oops: :oops: Haven't had much input into the forum for which I apologise, but I do look at it fairly regularly. I lived in Germany for 6 years with the Army, and bought railway catalogues in German, didn't do much about a layout because of the frequent packing up and moving! I seem to be the only one who has plumped for era V. I'm not sure why, when the railways in Britain are pretty colourful now with the various companies running, or should that be ruining the railway. I suppose on one level it is the colour schemes that Die Bahn have used, and the fact that having lived in the country and know abit of the language it seemed the ideal place to base my layout. Still not really an explanation, for which I apologise :?