New tubular track curves

Yesterday, I visited the local toy train meeting in Zutphen and purchased some new tin-plate toy train tubular tracks made by the Czech company Merkur. Sixteen R9910 curves make a circle (about 042) and some additional straights R9920 (12 inch long)  make it an nice oval. The local Merkur and ETS dealer had a stand and layout. The tank engine 9195 with lights and sound ran a small goods train around the oval. It was a lively display and it really stood out from all the regular sales booths. Here are some pictures from the "Modelspoorbeurs Zutphen".

Modelspoorbeurs Zutphen May 25th 2013

Merkur toy trains

Merkur and ETS toy trains

There was also a bloke with a Lima scale zero layout, which was nice to see. And I was able to buy two old Lionel street lamps with die cast poles and the white plastic caps.  So a perfect trade meeting as far as I am concerned.

Lima scale zero layout on the floor of the Hanze Hall.

Well we directly laid an oval of the new track on the floor and it just ran great; no more derailments, shorts and other issues. The Weaver Alco can now finally run with some Lionel and Weaver cars directly coupled to it and without the help of some spacer to avoid derailment. I sure made me happy today.

The major bonus of tubular track is the rattle and rhythm, which can be heard in real trains on real tracks as well: 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, etc.

Steam and model railroad days in Nienoord

Last long weekend (May 9th -12th) amusement park Nienoord held the steam and model railroad days. There were quiet a few large steam engines showing off, puffing and whistling. But the large steam powered model trains that actually run a circle through the forest is the prime attraction of Nienoord. Quiet a few steam engines came over to join the fun. Here are a few pictures to show you what it was like. The rain on Saturday and Sunday, was unfortunately slightly less attractive.

Sunny afternoon thoughts

The good thing of MTH engines with protosound is that you need to charge their batteries every few months to avoid a lot of repair trouble. So, this basically means I am forced to make a temporary layout and enjoy my trains every now and then. Today, I learned that all my engines run great, but that a bulk head flat car filled with true wooden logs is truly heavy for many engines.
Furthermore, one of my JEP 042 curves has a wobbly dent that makes the cow catcher of my camelback engine hit the center rail all the times and besides some electric sparks this causes a guaranteed derailment, so I will need to buy some proper wider curves soon.