Press release from 09.09.2022: The model railroad layouts of IMA 2022 introduce themselves
Track IIm (G): Passion IIm
Passion IIm is a modular layout that represents an imaginary metric line and imaginary railroad companies. The rolling stock consists mostly of LGB models that have received new paint jobs. The weathering gives a realistic impression. The modular concept allows countless possibilities to adapt to the size of the room. Each module plant is so unique. The layout always has terminus stations and never runs the daylong its rounds. The single track connects a terminal station with a hidden reversing loop, which corresponds to a staging yard. Functional signaling controls the trains. The focus is on the countless shunting maneuvers, which are fascinating for the audience. The return of the steam engines is done with a turntable at the terminal stations. The rolling stock is equipped with Kadee couplers. In both presented stations, the remote uncoupling process by means of magnets is explained to the audience.
Operator: Passion IIm, Mr. Jean-Michel Mayor, Switzerland-1612 Ecoteaux
Plant size: 18 x 9 m
IIm Gauge (G): West Side Lumber Model Logging Railway
It is a US forest track with “redwood” trees up to three meters high. It shows, among other things, a U.S. Western town with a fully furnished saloon (with Hilli Billi sound), hotel rooms, a sheriff’s office with cells, a church with altar and pews, and two hucksters’ stores. All locomotives like SHAYs, Climax and Heisler are aged, have pulsed evaporators and provide coherent atmosphere. The facility presents logging in the years 1880 – 1920. The transport of logs, their unloading and entry into the sawmill. The sawing of the logs and the removal of the boards via a light railway line. All sounds and motion effects can be triggered by visitors using buttons on the edge of the installation.
Operator: WSL & Co. Logging Railway, Mr. Klaus P. Kerwer, D-53881 Euskirchen
Plant size: 22 x 6 m
Track I: Model Railway Team Track 1 Hannover
The basic shape of the plant is a triangle. It was supplemented by a bulge with a reversing loop. Approx. 150 m of track, 1 turntable, 1 crossing point and 25 switches are installed. The minimum radius is 1650 mm, with the entrance of the curves larger than 2000 mm. The layout represents a through station on a double track line in northern Germany. On the layout it is not only possible to run in a circle, but also a shuttle service from the station to the depot is possible. The reversing loop makes it possible to drive directly from the depot back to the depot via the plant. The landscape is rural in character and is still constantly being supplemented with new ideas. Care was taken to ensure that details (e.g. a stream with a small lake) liven up the overall impression without making the facility look cluttered. At the hairpin bend there is a small farm. We run digital with Motorola and DCC protocol. The vehicles from the manufacturers Märklin, Hübner, Kiss, Benecken and KM1 are privately owned.
Operator: Model Railroad Team Gauge 1 Hanover, Mr. Gerd Krauße, D-30165 Hanover
Plant size: 23 x 12 m
Track I: German Federal Railroad
The layout (epochs 1 and 2) with 3 stations has a curve radius of 2.4 m. The background is a half relief, a whole relief and the matching platforms with brick, gravel and asphalt. The background and indirect lighting make it look like an aquarium. The steam locomotives from KM-1, Kiss and Märklin (all with synchronous steam output) is a highlight on the layout and magically attracts the eyes of visitors. Eye-catchers are the steel carts from Wunder-Modelle.
Operator: Spur I Team Hasselt, Mr. Paul Schraepen, Belgium-3511 Hasselt
Plant size: 22 x 6.5 m
Gauge 0: 1st Tyrolean gauge 0 module layout with American motifs
The layout shows itself as a large oval with a 2-track line on which long trains with multiple traction typical for America also make their rounds. One plant side is dominated by huge rocks in a desert landscape. The route crosses a mountain cut on classic trestle bridges. On the other side there is a station with 2 passing tracks, a station for the treatment of steam locomotives and a stabling group, which allows a varied train operation. Vehicles with signs of aging are predominantly used. The turnouts can be switched digitally and by hand.
Operator: 1.Tyrolean gauge 0 module plant, Mr. Robert Wolf, A-6410 Telfs
Plant size: 12 x 6 m
H0 scale: Märklinfan Club Italia – Italian modular layout
The layout represents an Italian double track railroad line. It does not reproduce an existing stretch of road, but represents several elements typical of the Italian landscape. It consists of the transit of many classic Italian trains from Era III to the present day, including some international trains that have arrived in Italy.
Settebello, Frecciarossa, Espresso del Levante, Riviera Express, Freccia del Sole, Autozug and many more ensure a show that is always highly interesting.
Operator: märklin Club Italia, Mr. Alberto Pedrini, Italy – 12037 Saluzzo CN
Plant size: 12 x 6 m
H0 gauge: Landscaping in Era IV to VI
The layout consists of about 35 modules, on which Märklin C-tracks with a track spacing of 77.5 mm were installed.
All tracks are additionally ballasted. Landscaping is kept in the seasons of spring / summer.
No model has been deliberately assigned in order to give free rein to the imagination. Several module blocks are assigned to individual topics.
Worth mentioning would be the four-track through station, our Faller Car System, a fairground, a wooded area with bridge, and an open staging yard.
In addition to the digital driving operation on the layout, a computer-controlled automatic operation with WIN DIGIPET 2021 “Premium” takes place at the exhibitions. This allows for a lively train operation with 8 trains.
Due to the integration of the staging yard into the program, a special feature is that trains can be changed during operation.
Operator: IG Modellgruppe der märklin Insider Stammtisch Hildesheim, Mr. Michael Ptok, D-31185 Hoheneggelsen
Plant size: 11 x 6 m
H0 gauge: Railways through German low mountain ranges
The model railroad layout of the epoch III and IV has no fixed model, it is based on models that can be found in the German low mountain ranges (Eifel, Bergisches Land). It is single and double track, stations are located on the single track sections for the purpose of train crossings.
To the right and left of the tracks you will find a brewery, timber operations/sawmills, reservoir with power generation, fair, weekly market, restaurants, farms and a replica of the Moselle bridge of Bullay.
To involve visitors, the model railroad layout has various push buttons that can be used to set figures or the like in motion on the layout.
This module plant is operated digitally. If visitors (especially children) are interested in operating a station or running a train themselves during the exhibition, this is possible under supervision.
Operator: Rhine-Sieg Railway Club, Mr. Uwe Bodenstein, 53721 Siegburg, Germany
Plant size: 20 x 6 meters
H0 gauge: Wood on the track
The forest and multifunctional forestry with the three forest functions of protection, utilization and recreation is the subject of the 12-part modular layout “Wood on the Trail” in H0.
At this unique forestry and timber facility in Germany, the approximately 1,000 scaled and optimized spruces, pines and firs are particularly eye-catching. In combination with numerous deciduous trees, they bring the diversity of the forest to life in detail.
The loading of the freight cars and trucks in Era VI is also at its finest: trains and trucks with accurately detailed loaded and lashed long and short logs bring the raw material wood to the modern sawmill.
The presentation of a safety incident at a tunnel portal, by means of an interactive functional model with sound, proves to be a visitor magnet.
The motifs for the layout come from the southern Black Forest, including the model of the Wutach viaduct of the “Sauschwänzlebahn”.
Operator: Cooperation Holz auf der Spur, Mr. Jörg Hammes, D-78052 Villingen-Schwenningen
Plant size: 19.5 x 8 meters
H0 gauge: Saarland impressions
With the plant, a perfect image of their Saarland home was created. A double-track main line runs through rolling green hills, past half-timbered houses and vineyards. It was created over many years of painstaking work one of 2173 handmade vines. A country road also winds through the area. The focus is on vehicles that have been familiar for decades, from the ocean-blue and beige 216 to the old sheet-metal Rheingold cars. Up to 9 trains can run on the layout. The operational center is the five-track through station at St. Wendel (Saar). It is the starting point of a double-track main line. The romantic landscape is interrupted by industrial plants and shopping malls, just like the original. In the industrial area, sidings ensure busy shunting operations.
Operator: Modellbahnfreunde Bliesen e.V., Mr. Heribert Horras, D-66606 St. Wendel
Plant size: 7 x 4 m
H0 gauge: Association of Swiss Digital Model Railroaders (VSDM)
The Association of Swiss Digital Model Railroaders (VSDM) was founded in 1995 to promote digital model railroading. The aim of the club is to teach the club members the tricks of the application of digital technology of model railroads. The focus is on a purely technical plant without landscape. For 17 years, the core group of the association has been building the layout, on which up to 18 trains are in operation. The trains run in left-hand traffic according to the Swiss model. The signaling in the upper station, the left loop and the track helix comply with Swiss driving regulations. The signalization of the lower station is currently being planned. The plant measures 12.5m × 3.6m and consists of 25 modules. The trains make their rounds on Märklin C-tracks. A total of 4 digital systems are in use. Digital is driven with a Märklin CS3 and 5 Märklin boosters. TrainController Gold was chosen as the control program. The turnouts and signals as well as the feedback devices run via a model railroad self-build control system (MoBaSbS). The illumination of the Symo control desk, with its 163 LEDs and 32 buttons, runs via a home-built Z21 DCC center. Then the keys of the standing desk are read out via a digital system developed by the club using an S88 bus. The Symo control panel operates the upper station, the left loop and the track helix. The lower station is operated with a screen, the Raspberry PI and the TrainController 9. In total, the plant has 48 turnouts, 26 signals and 271 indicators.
Operator: VSDM, Mr. Bruno Geninazzi, Lindacker 11, Switzerland – 3465 Dürrenroth,
Plant size: 12.5 x 3.6m
H0 gauge: Model railroad and traffic history by Hagen von Ortloff
The popular celebrity presenter Hagen von Ortloff from the well-known TV series “Eisenbahn-Romantik” (Railway Romance), together with Lutz Mäder and Rolf Brändle, will present a show layout set in the 1950s and 1960s entitled “Model Railway and Transport History”.
This layout features trolley buses produced by the Esslingen-based company Eheim in the 1950s and 1960s, later continued by the Brawa company. It runs a monorail from Schuco, a state-of-the-art monorail from the late 1950s, but which was not very successful as a toy and is now accordingly sought after and expensive. On the other side of the layout, streetcars make their rounds, a Stuttgart streetcar from the Ulm company Gog and a Dresden streetcar from the local company BeKa. In addition, there is a Loren cable car from Eheim, a cable car from Brawa. As the highlight and centerpiece of the layout, the funicular from Brawa is on the move.
The railroad that connects all the other vehicles and circles the layout comes from the Göppingen model railroad company Märklin. The trains, mainly from the fifties, rattle over the metal tracks, some still with center rails. In addition, there are buildings from the traditional companies Faller, Vollmer and Kibri, whereby the legendary ‘Villa im Tessin’ should be highlighted at this point, which has been sold a total of over 400,000 times in four decades. The Elbe from its source to its mouth, depicted on picture postcards, some of which are over a hundred years old.
110 images, somewhat enlarged and zigzagged together, create a colorful background more than 20 meters long.
Operators: Hagen von Ortloff, Lutz Mäder and Stephan Kraus
Plant size: 11 x 6 m
H0 gauge: The railroad depot Klappstadt
The plant “Bw Klappstadt” was built with carpenter boards connected by hinges. Shown are the locomotive handling facilities corresponding to Era 3-4. The Fleischmann turntable is located between the two locomotive sheds, which in reality was rather rare in railroad depots.
The system is analog controlled, the electrical supply of the system parts is done by cable plug connections. The track material used was Fleischmann profile track. While the locomotive shed on the right was created from the Faller car shed 190069, the shed on the left is a self-built using parts from the Kibri locomotive shed “Ottbergen”.
Operationally, the processes in a steam locomotive depot are reproduced. The locomotives pass the coal bins coming from the right and are coaled with hunts. Then they take water at the water cranes, while the slag is emptied into the pits running in the track. The next operation is the unloading before the locomotives move to the sanding towers where the sand tanks are filled up. The locomotives are then ready to move to the turntable. On the front track, there is the peculiarity that the machines must first advance to the end of the track and then reach the turntable backwards via a switch. By means of the turntable the locomotives are distributed to the sidings leading to the locomotive sheds. Track sections can be de-energized via small switches inserted into the layout plate.
An interesting operation is created by several Peco locomotive lifts at the right end of the layout. Here, various locomotives are placed alternately on a current-carrying short track that leads into the layout. Shunting departments, consisting of a short shunting locomotive with one or two two-axle trucks, provide the supplies for the workshops in the locomotive sheds. They fit both on the locomotive lifts and on the turntable.
Operator: Friedel Helmich, 93339 Riedenburg
Plant size: 3 x 0.5 m
TT gauge: A layout with a double-track main line and branching branch lines
The motif is built without a prototype and is a double track fully electrified main line with branching branch lines. The vehicles are from epochs III to VI. Steam and ICE operation is thus possible. The main emphasis was placed on III and IV. Tillig model track was used as the track material. The system is primarily controlled by a block section control system in which the next train is always pulled into the next block according to the occupancy. Starting the trains from the staging yard is done by radio remote control or on the control panel. The main lines are equipped with signals. Each signal is connected to an automatic braking and starting system, so that the trains can start and slow down in the same way as the prototype. One of the special features is a self-designed and built video train. The spectators have the impression of a driver’s cab ride. Around the system, ten function buttons are installed where the interested spectator can activate certain functions himself.
Operator: Modellbahn-Club Guben e.V., Mr. Christoph Garcia Almendaris, 03172 Guben
Plant size: 8.5 x 6 m
TT gauge: track is double-tracked and has main line character
The club has chosen a spectator-friendly construction height of 1 meter for its installation. The depicted line is double-tracked and has main line character without a concrete prototype. An extensive stop and a small station currently complete the ensemble. A highlight is the layout group where on a depth of 70 cm and with a track length of up to 320 cm plenty of vehicles and cars can be presented in exemplary sets. Some of the track connections are made without switches using swing arms, and complete trains can roll out of their TrainSave tubes onto the layout. As a novelty, we offer our guests a branching side track that reflects the northern German character.
Operator: TT Modulstammtisch Hamburg-Holstein, Mr. Ralf Küster, 20257 Hamburg
Plant size: 15 m x 10 m
N Gauge: Arlberg in N Gauge
The layout is digitally controlled and managed via a Traincontroller timetable. All vehicles are equipped with sound, as well as interior lighting and other details.
The great pride of the club are the modules with prototypical motifs of the east ramp of the Arlberg line. This impressively designed model shows the following track sections of the legendary prototype:
Schmidtobelt tunnel & viaduct, Weinzierltunnel, Trisannabrücke with Wiesberg castle, Pians station 3-track with 4.5 m length, Engelwand tunnel & Engelwand bridge, Burgfried viaduct, Wolfsgruberbach viaduct. The entire facility has 2 stations (Braz and Pians) as well as the Hintergasse passing station. In total, more than 60m track length which shows in loving detail the single-track line with many details. The driving operation is mainly done with models of the ÖBB after prototype, but other models can also be seen on the layout.
Operator: N-Spur.at, Mr. Herbert Buchinger, Austria-3430 Tulln
Plant size: 14 m x 8 m
N scale: city station and railroad depot
This plant consists of different individual elements:
City station with 15-stand roundhouse and 7-track transfer table in the depot. In the station there are 9 through tracks, 2 stub tracks for reversible trains and in the station apron 1 cogwheel track for a mountain line.
The train service with 13 train sets runs as a ring system on the 2-track main line with 2 staging yards and a branch from the 13-track staging yard back to the main station.
The terrain design does not correspond to any prototype, but includes the essential details such as urban buildings, amusement park, agricultural elements and so on. The WinDigipet operating system is used to control the digitally operated layout.
Operator: Eisenbahnfreunde Ravensburg-Weingarten, Mr. Alfons Horn, Germany-88276 Berg
Plant size: 18 m x 5 m
N gauge: Chalon sur Saone station in France around 1995
The model railroad layout shows the replica of the station of Chalon sur Saone in France and 4 km of real track in scale 1:160 (N gauge) in the period around 1995.
The model has 98 turnouts and 120 m of track, the backstage model has 19 storage tracks with 50 m of track and 40 Roco turnouts.
The network works with a 3-light SNCF BAL car with relay, the console can track 80 possible routes
The buildings, signals and overhead lines are all custom-made!
Operator: Jean-Marc Monin, France-71440 Lessard en bresse
Plant size: 11 x 8 m
N Gauge: Pennsylvania Steel
Shown is a small blast furnace plant with steel mill in the eastern USA. We are in the period of the mid-50s. The blast furnace plant was built entirely by the company itself. Diesel locomotives already dominate industrial rail traffic. Trains carrying raw and semi-finished materials shuttle continuously between the individual parts of the plant. Coke, limestone and, of course, iron ore are delivered on the elevated railroad and poured into the storage bunkers. The raw materials are portioned by crane and transported to the blast furnace by inclined elevator. The blast furnace plant is located on the banks of a river from which the large quantities of cooling water required are pumped via a pump house. Self-painted figures complete this small plant.
Operator: Heinz-Ulrich Grumpe, 48151 Münster, Germany
Plant size: 1.6 x 0.65 m
Z gauge: Z gauge, small railroad very big
During the Int. Model Railroad Exhibition Friedrichshafen, Z-Freunde International will present several Z-scale model railroad layouts worth seeing from many different builders. The Z-Friends will be happy to answer questions and provide information.
Operator: Z-Freunde International, Mr. Sylvester Schmidt, D-81827 Munich, Germany
Plant size: 12 m x 8 m
Pictures of all model railroad layouts can be found on our homepage www.ima-friedrichshafen.de in the “Press” section or under the following direct link: https://www.ima-friedrichshafen.de/presse/