3 running-sessions and another Grand Opening - In just 10 days

There have been several garden railway running sessions amongst the members of our model railway club. I haven't have time to attend to them all, due to work. The last week have been a busy one with several garden railway outings: 

Day out at Heine's 

First, Heine invited to a day out at his garden railway on Sunday. The weather was perfect for running trains. Some members were still on vacation and there were not so many attending. This Maxi track locomotive belongs to a friend and retailer visiting this Sunday:

My Heeresfeldbahn was hauling a load of a Pioner Ferry and crew-members:

An American Roundhouse Live Steam Locomotive:

A Rätische Bahn train. The EMU hauling this rake is a really rare model made in just some few numbers:

Kristian from 'Living Steam', was running his Roundhouse Harrogate. A really beautiful model:

And finally a 'Crocodile':

Club meeting at Gylmer's

2 days later the weather was still very nice, so Gylmer invited to BBQ and a running-session on his large and fully scenic garden railway layout on one of our regular club nights (insted of going to the clubhouse):

My Heeresfeldbahn was hauling a rake loaded with motorcycles, cars, riders and drivers and fuel for the front. 'Räder Müssen Rollen für den Sieg':

Armed trains on this line seems necessary as sabotage actions sometimes takes place:

The locomotive to the left is scratchbuilt and the one to the right is 3D-printed:

Trains & Coffee:

Grand Opening of Hummelfjellbanen (Ry)

Svenn Robert lives some 420km north of us. This long distance has not kept him away from participating on running sessions at Heine's from time to time. Svenn Robert has recently created an own Garden Railway layout at his home in the mountain village of 'Dalsbygda', and announced an open invitation for 'The Grand Opening' last Saturday.

The layout it self is kind of 'compact' and really huge at the same time:

The view from the opposite side:

And even further out, beyond the pond:

Here is a Cabview of this impressive Garden Railway Layout, starting and ending at Hummelfjell Station:

Svenn Robert used to be a 'old car' and car body mechanic with a special interest for Citroëns...
(Top right photo is the same type of Citroën Traction I've made in model)

....so what kind of train and rake I was going to haul this time was kind of obvious:

Due to periodic rainy weather and slippery rails in the inclines I couldn't pull all the wagons I brought to this meeting at the same time, so sometimes I had to uncouple some, and other times I could add some back again. The morning local freight gets ready on Hummelfjell Station (scratch-built by Svenn Robert and painted by his wife Hildegunn who is an graphic designer):

These bridges are also scratchbuilt by Svenn Robert. They are very sturdy and can even hold a man:

The turntable and roundhouse is scratchbuilt by Svenn Robert. The turntable is working:

It was a really busy day with 24 visitors coming to attend to the official opening and to either run or watch trains. At most there where 6 different trains operating the lines at the same time. Later when traffic was a little bit less intense, our lovely host finally got time to run some trains on his own:

Final run, on it's way to the train shed to park for the night:

The official opening of Hummelfjellbanen got honorable mention in the local newspaper the following day:

Thank you for inviting us and your warm hospitality and great accommodation Svenn Robert & Hildegunn! Congratulations with your impressive garden railway! We really had a splendid time at your lovely garden railway!

Return to Opsundbanen 

Just 3 days after the Grand Opening of Hummelfjellbanen in Dalsbygda, it was Tuesday and time for a meeting at our Model Railway Club again. I think Heine was worried that we hadn't had time to run enough trains lately, so he suggested that we arranged the Club-evening in his garden for another 'Trains & BBQ'. I haven't actually had time to unpack my trains yet, so I ran another Heeresfeldbahn train. This train was loaded with a Pioner Ferry, motorcycles and crew-members and riders, so perhaps Army Group North are planning to ferry a reconnaissance unit into enemy territory ahead of a coming offensive? 

These days it's exactly 2 years since I converted a LGB startset into a Heeresfeldbahn train set.

This is from summer of 2023:

Same train on the same spot 2 years later:

This blogpost is dedicated to Heine, Gylmer, Svenn Robert and Hildegunn who have invited and hosted these running sessions in their gardens. I am grateful!

Despite this busy week I've got some few items ready on my 3D-printer, so the next blogpost will be wargame related. Stay tuned and hit 'Follow' for automatic updates.