Category: Rail-Life Operations

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Verden-Walsroder Eisenbahn (VWE): What 185,510 Tonnes of Freight Means on the Model

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Deutsche Version weiter unten, hier klicken. Update, 4 October 2026: Since writing this post, I have published FREMO N-RE Integration Framework 2.1. The figures and working estimates below still help me understand the scale and balance of VWE traffic. What I now need to make clearer is that the tonnage calculation estimates loaded traffic. Supplying and returning empty wagons, and moving wagons within the factory, add further work. At a FREMO N-RE meeting, that work follows the agreed freight requirements, waybills (Frachtzettel), empty-wagon requests (Leerwagenanforderungen), timetable and train-formation instructions. Looking again at the VWE freight figures for 1984, I realised that … Continue reading Verden-Walsroder Eisenbahn (VWE): What 185,510 Tonnes of Freight Means on the Model

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Verden-Walsroder Eisenbahn (VWE): Looking Beyond Effem – The Other Customers in 1984

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Deutsche Version weiter unten, hier klicken. Update, 4 October 2026: Since writing this post, I have published FREMO N-RE Integration Framework 2.1. The customer research below remains useful, including the unresolved questions about who contributed to “Other” traffic. What needs clarification is how I represent those customers at a FREMO N-RE meeting. The dated notes distinguish the prototype industries from the tracks I can actually operate, explain how unmodelled destinations are represented, and keep the estimated annual wagon volume separate from the meeting’s freight requirements. Once I had converted the 1984 VWE freight figures into approximate wagon numbers, one figure started … Continue reading Verden-Walsroder Eisenbahn (VWE): Looking Beyond Effem – The Other Customers in 1984

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Effem in Verden (Aller): How a Pet-Food Factory Shaped the VWE (Part 2)

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Deutsche Version weiter unten, hier klicken. In Part 1, I looked at the business behind Effem: why people buy particular foods for their animals, how manufacturers build brands, and why production and distribution have to keep changing with the market. Returning to Verden (Aller) with that background, I began to see the factory differently. The loading ramps and sidings were the visible end of decisions about products, investment, customers and transport. To understand why Effem became so important to the Verden-Walsroder Eisenbahn, I needed to follow those decisions through the life of the works. There is a striking contrast at the … Continue reading Effem in Verden (Aller): How a Pet-Food Factory Shaped the VWE (Part 2)

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Mars and the Pet-Food Business: How It Works and What Makes It Difficult (Part 1)

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Deutsche Version weiter unten, hier klicken. When I started researching Effem, I followed the railway wagons. But the more I learnt about the company, the more I realised that I needed to understand what stood behind those loads: the products, the people buying them and the business supplying them. Why did one manufacturer need so many brands? How did owners’ expectations and shopping habits change what it sold? Why produce different foods in different factories? And how could a growing pet-food business eventually generate less railway traffic? Those questions lead from the factory gate to supermarket shelves, household budgets and a … Continue reading Mars and the Pet-Food Business: How It Works and What Makes It Difficult (Part 1)

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Rechnergestützter Zugleitbetrieb (RgZLB) bei Pinzgauer Lokalbahn

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See below for the English version. Während unserer Sonderzugfahrt nach Zell am See entwickelte sich mein Interesse am Zugleitbetrieb in eine völlig neue Richtung. Zur Fahrt gehörte auch ein Besuch der 53 km langen, 760-mm-Schmalspurbahn Pinzgauer Lokalbahn (PLB), die von Zell am See nach Krimml verkehrt. Bereits am Bahnhof Zell am See und später im Betriebswerk Tischlerhäusl fielen mir einige Schilder auf, darunter Z Vm, Zlm Tih und Zlm Hzh. Ich fragte unseren PLB-Begleiter danach. Zufällig war er auch der Triebfahrzeugführer unseres Sonderzuges, der rund 50 Teilnehmer von Zell am See nach Tischlerhäusl gebracht hatte. Ich erzählte ihm, dass ich mit … Continue reading Rechnergestützter Zugleitbetrieb (RgZLB) bei Pinzgauer Lokalbahn

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Pinzgauer Lokalbahn (PLB) in Zell am See

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Deutsche Version weiter unten, hier klicken. Thomas and I joined more than 300 railway enthusiasts on a special excursion to Kitzbühel and Zell am See in Austria last Saturday. We’ve made at least one railway trip together every year since 2022, including visits to Dresden and the Bahnfest in Königstein (Taunus). Our journey began at 4:48 am in Frankfurt-Höchst. The special eight-coach train (five first-class TEE coaches, two second-class coaches and one TEE restaurant car) was hauled by the legendary Deutsche Bundesbahn Class 103 electric locomotive, 103 245-7, one of the icons of the 1960s to 1980s. The Class 103 was … Continue reading Pinzgauer Lokalbahn (PLB) in Zell am See