I need the help for research for a european side project.

[jadebullet]

Well, I have one project open, and I am thinking about starting a second to keep me from getting bored. I have decided to do something that I have thought about, but haven't actually decided to start until now.

I have decided to jump over the Atlantic and settle in France. I will be modeling a certain time period, mainly 1940-1944.(I might have the first date a little off, it's late and I am tired, lol)

I have chosen this time as I am a WWII buff, and the thought of modeling a wartime German railroad seems pretty cool, especially running troop trains.

The route will be freelanced, though I intend to try to keep things as proto as possible.

This is where I need my fellow members at Auran. I know absolutely nothing about German railroads. Does anyone have any suggestions for period locomotives that I should be using? What about tracks? Any suggestions for those would also be appreciated. Also, the operations of the trains is something that is a mystery to me at the moment. I know that there were troop trains and equipment trains and such, but did they also run standard freight and passenger traffic as if there wasn't a war going on? Any resources on this would be a huge help.

Actually, what inspired me was this page.(any clue as to what type of locomotive that is would also be helpful.)
http://www.funmansion.com/pics/realistic_model_railroad.html


Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,
jadebullet.

 

[bchester]

Hello Jadebullet,

A quick search of the internet gave me this site: http://orion.math.iastate.edu/jdhsmith/term/sldekdl.htm

There are links for the first two locomotive classes listed and the loco you want is likely the second with the larger diameter cylinders.

It is amazing the effort that went into that model railway. Hats off to the modeler.

Have Fun,

Bricey

 

[Euphod]

This is where I need my fellow members at Auran. I know absolutely nothing about German railroads. Does anyone have any suggestions for period locomotives that I should be using? What about tracks? Any suggestions for those would also be appreciated. Also, the operations of the trains is something that is a mystery to me at the moment. I know that there were troop trains and equipment trains and such, but did they also run standard freight and passenger traffic as if there wasn't a war going on?

Firstly; I hope this attempt sees you through to completion. Certainly the German occupation would have used the French locomotives and rolling stock as well as their own. Since France essentially surrendered after only 42 days of the mounted offensive through the Ardennes (which they considered to be an insurmountable barrier), the rail infrastructure was basically intact. Passenger movement would not have continued as before with the nation divided into several areas of varying levels of occupation, and certainly troop and supply trains would have taken priority for some time after the initial occupation forces arrived. Perhaps a couple of years later regular rail service would have commenced, but then soon after the Allied advances would have drawn the German forces into even Vichy France, and all bets would have been off as they tried to resist the armies attempting to take back the nation of France.

I wish you luck with this, and will help with whatever I can.

 

[jadebullet]

Thank you. As I said, it is a side project, so it will be a while before completion. Basically, when I need a break from working on the area around Mayburry, PA, I will be working on it. Thanks for the info. I will let you know if I need more information about various aspects.

 

[switchdoc]

Well, this would be a project...

First of all something about the situation.

In the first year of the war, there was not too much of damage of the French railway infrastructure - one of the most advanced in Europe at pre war time. So the German army was sure to use French engines, cars and personnel to do the job. (French resistance put up a hell of a fight though, to try to prevent this). Try to get to the film French-American movie 'The train' starring Burt Lancaster to get some visual idea of the situation.


So if you want to have this situation in your map, you would mostly rely on French rolling stock.

As far as I know the Germans had to use there own stuff on the eastern frontline, Poland, Russia many other eastern European nations. There they had to put up some running railway line with their own material.

All the engines you would need for the eastern theatre are available on DLS or (Payware) from SLW. These were usually pre-war freight train engines that were redesigned for easier production and less material consumption (and of course to withstand the more severe climatic conditions in eastern Europe, especially Russia). As many of these engines survived the war and were used in Germany and other European nations for quite a number of years after the war, these models are quite popular.

The engine in your screens is a 52-series which is a 'light' 2-10-0 freight train engine. Search the DLS for the works of 'cebenpeter', schaupp' or 'sg1' and you will have quite a good selection. Check all the boxes of the different Trainz builds as some content is pretty old.

In Germany itself of course any prewar equipment able to run on tracks was used for the vast transportation effort. And of course, private usage was restricted. 'Räder müssen rollen für den Sieg' ('Wheels have to roll for victory') or 'Erst siegen, dann reisen' ('win first, travel then') was written on the wall in every station.

Well I would not be too happy with a set up at that piece of time. You know, there have been the trains that ran to Ausschwitz, Belsen or other such places.

I would prefer the pre-war situation. In 1936 the German railway organisation was at its best. It took the West-German Bundesbahn more than 25years to reach similar performance in speed and transportation. The East German railways had to suffer more war damage and reparation - and inferior local coal quality - and it took them even longer to recover.

Norbert

 

[jadebullet]

Thanks for the information. It is alot of help. I figured that the route might have a little bit of controversy due to the time period, but if you choose to ignore parts of history, you are doomed to repeat it. Needless to say, I will not be modeling any concentration camps. I was thinking about the prewar, but it didn't really interest me as much. I prefer to model the troop, and equipment trains, as well as the resistance, and the hecktic nature of a wartime system.

As for the French Resistance, they will be a pretty big part of the route as well. I plan on having some damaged track, and other types of sabotage modeled on the route.

 

[Dreadnought1]

...and get hold of a copy of the movie "The Train" with Burt Lancaster...
Lots of useful stuff there I think!

Cheers,
Dreadnought1