First running session in 2026

Heine invited us over to join the first running session in 2026 in his garden at the same time we got the first snow. It was not vey much snow at the time but very cold and windy (which made it even colder). - A 'Siberian Cold Front'. I was really eager to try out my recent military 'winter train loads' under the conditions I made them for in the first place, so it was just to dress warmly for the cold weather and take my German Heeresfeldbahn loaded for winter warfare for another outing.

It was 'blue' temperature + wind = wind chill. This made the temperature actually closer to -15°C🌡❄️ 

To clear the track Heine used multiple locomotives with regular snow plow, rotary snow plow and his anti-icing tank car:

Despite all these efforts it was really challenging conditions to run trains on a day like this. After clearing the snow from the tracks and de-icing them, the tracks just turned icey again almost immediately. It was primarily not the snow, but the low temperatures causing  trouble this day with ice piling up inside the tracks turning rock hard. Not all trains made it to the tracks this day. For my military train it's 'Räder Muss Rollen für den Sieg' - no matter the weather:

Soon my German military Heeresfeldbahn also discovered seriously challenges running under these conditions, and the short rake became too heavy to pull. I eventually needed to uncouple some wagons to be able to keep the train running. The Aerosan transport got highest priority:

Lovely train. Too bad it didn't make it today:

Neither did this:

This very strange combination with double traction and a de-icing tank car between the locomotives actually managed:

Heine also took one of his WIP 3d-printed cars out for a run. Due to being 3D-printed it's very light and doesn't take to much to pull through the snow and ice:

With weather like this the presence of the brazier was most welcome. Usually the snow and ice melts below it, but not this day:

And it could be used to BBQ some hotdogs:

You know it's cold outside when even the coffee freezes over:

There were not so many trains running this day as there usually are on days out at Heine's. Despite the very cold weather and challenging running conditions we all agreed that it was another great day out:

Thank you Heine for inviting us over for this seasonal 'kick off' and your warm hospitality.

Blog PostScript 

It's typically, but after this very cold day out it started to snow again. A lot! Like in many other European countries I belive. 

So now it was just to unload a couple of my wagons again so I could finally takes photos of them under the right conditions:

Heine was even out at night trying out his rotary snow plow. I guess there will be no delays at that line during the morning traffic:

It's awesome with all this snow. -Not only for running trains outside, but it's also interesting conditions for outside wargaming. I think I'll need to prepare a wargame or two in the snow. Please follow for updates.