Z Scale Modifications

Dear Friends!

Please take a look at my site www.go123.net/z-line to see my lastest works.

All items are deliverable, please mail for further informations.

Welcome Gunther, Your website shows first class work. Very nice. I did notice that one car had the decals upside down. I know Z is small, but you should change this picture. Other than that outstanding work. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Hi Gunther. Very nice models (I bought a 'trafo train' from you on eBay). Do you plan to make more OBB models?

Gunther, great job, I agree. How about EuroNacht?

Allow me to confess my ignorance - what is "Rollenden Landstrasse" all about?

Hello Gary,

" Rollende Landstrasse " or " Rolling Highway " is about reducing traffic on the streets, and also to give the drivers time to sleep while they still are making miles (or kilometers...).

For passenger traffic this is named as " Autoreisezug " or " Motorail ". I used the Autoreisezug from Hamburg to Lörrach near the Swiss border, when I went to Switzerland for vacation. This gave me an additional day of vacation since I could board the train in the evening, and reached my destination in the morning of the next day. Well rested, and fit to drive the small distance left until my final destination.

Gunther,

Awesome!!!!!

BNSF is my choice of railroad!

This caboose is outstanding!!

Hobo Tim

Thanks ULie. How is this different from Autozug?

Hello Gary,

"Autozug" is a newer name for the "Autoreisezug". It has the same background as the "Rollende Landstrasse". The difference is that the "Rollende Landstrasse" is meant for trucks and trailers and the "Autozug" is meant for passenger traffic. In the Autozug the cars are parked in two levels, whereas the "Rollende Landstrasse" only has one level for trucks and trailers. As I wrote I used the "Autozug" to get through Germany down to Switzerland. Each time I got directed into the lower level, and I couldn't stand fully upright when I left my car. Since a lot of railtraffic is done by electric locos,they turn off the power in the catenary over the rail in the station while the train is unloaded and loaded again. This is to prevent any danger for the people who have to park their car in the upper level. You drive with your car onto the train via ramps and you have to drive the whole lenght of the train eventually, because you drive on on one end, and then pass through the train to leave it at the other end when reaching the destination.

Depending on the time of travel and the lenght of travel the train consists beside the autoracks of passenger cars either just as a normal car or with sleeping cars as well. A lot of this traffic is sheduled during the night, so that you can get some sleep under way.

Besides this long distance travel those kind of trains are used for special connections. One is the tunnel from France to England , where the cars and trucks are loaded into trains and transported through the tunnel. You stay in your car while the train passes through the tunnel.
The same thing is going on when you travel to the island of Sylt in Northern Germany. This island is connected to the mainland via the Hindenburgdamm . The only other connction to the island is a ferry from Denmark.
Another place where a lot of traffic, especially truck and trailer traffic, is loaded on trains is the passage of the alps from north to south, and vice versa. Here those trains are meant to reduce especially heavy traffic on the often narrow streets over the passes.

cool. How many autoracks in a typical Autozug consist (those things are expensive from Marklin )

Hello Ondrej,
andyjbj wrote:

cool. How many autoracks in a typical Autozug consist (those things are expensive from Marklin )

The train I used from Hamburg to Lörrach had 8 coaches of different kind (different comfort level, with compartments with 3 beds up to 6 beds, and washbassin in the compartment or in a seperate room for the whole coach). And there where 8 autoracks.

Since the coaches always are coupled directly behind the engine, and the autoracks made up the rear half of the train a good deal of shunting has to happen.

On arrival in Hamburg (where the station used is a terminus) the train drives into the station, and then the autoracks are pulled back with a shunter, and pushed in the track at the other side of the platform. Then the driver, and only the driver, can get on the autorack to his car and drive it down from the train. First one level is cleared and then the other level follows as the ramp has to be hoisted in place in between.
For departure the train is pushed back into the station in the correct order. The driver drives his car onto the autorack, and then goes forward to the coaches to get his place there.

It is different in Lörrach where the station track is shorter. Also there is no shunter available. On arrival the train stops on a track, the autoracks are uncoupled and the coaches are pushed into the station. Then the engine gets the autoracks, and pushes them into a track besides the coaches. Now the ramp cars, older shorter autorack cars which are only used for this purpose, are placed at the exit side of the autoracks, and the driver can drive from the train.

On departure, first the coaches are pulled out of the station and placed on a track, then the engine moves away the ramp cars, and then the autoracks are placed behind the coaches. Now the engine change to the front of the train, and of it goes into the night.

Here is a pictue of the Lörrach station. Those tracks where the train is standing are ending at the left side of the picture. On the right side they are connected to the main tracks. At arrival and on departure half of the train is parked on a track below of the station building while the other half is pushed into the station or pulled out of it. The train arrives from and leaves to the left in order to go to Hamburg:



the lower row are the coaches, and the upper row are the autoracks, with the ramps at the right end. There are five in use for the train. Three are directly behind the train. From the right the first is a flatcar where you get from the concrete ramp to the car, then you get to the ramp to get to the upper level, and the third is a two level auto rack with the lower left side removed. On the track below are two cars. First a flatcar, and then a autorack with the lower right side removed. This is placed beside the third car in the other track and you can drive over from one car to the other under the upper level, and thus reach the lower level of the trains autoracks.

If you can't see the whole train, then you can right click on the picture and choose a option in the menue to see the whole picture.

Many thanks ULie for your comprehensive explanation. I'm going to run an express with ONE autorack only - that will give me the "flavour" of an Autozug.

That's what I had in mind....sounds like the real deal would need a lot of "flavor," perhaps 4 or more cars. they are hard to come by

This place might have a couple at a reasonable price:

www.rarecollectibles.com/

And of course there's always fleabay, although I've only seen a couple of them there over the last few months.

thanks Gary, they do, $50 buys two.