The Grimstad Line


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	19.12.2007 Wiring work I've started wiring the track. I dont rely on the rail joiners to do the job so every length of track get their own two wires. The black and red wires are common power that goes the length of the benchwork. I have also started mounting Tortoise switch machines on Rykene. The switches are all modified to be DCC secure by the help of the Auto-bulb.
	18.12.2007 Almost there The first T3 wagon is almost complete now and it has received a coat of Tamiya Surface Primer.
	13.12.2007 Rolling stock Every railroad needs a lot of rolling stock. The typical norwegian railroad cars used in the 50's and 60's needs to be built from brass kits so it will be a lot of work (read: fun) to get a decent amount of them on the Grimstad Line. Here is the first one I've started building. It's a type T3 from Scandinavian Miniatures. Still not complete, but it's getting there.
	06.12.2007 The first industry spur I have now made a spur to a factory that produces canned goods called "Grimstad Konserves". The spur is located on the left side of the peninsula and is situated between Grimstad and Rykene. This industry will be served by a shunting loco which will be stationed at Rykene.
	05.10.2007 Trackwork in Grimstad The spur that leads from the turntable to "Grimstad Skipsophugning" (not modeled on the layout) has been unballasted for quite some time now. I finally got around to fixing this now. I started out spreading some very fine sifted sand which I weathered with some artist chalks. Then I added some very nice "tufts" from MiniNatur. The grass on the left side of the track is Heki static grass applied with Noch Grasmaster.
	20.09.2007 New pictures added I took a couple of new pictures today and have added them to the "Gallery" page. The green Di3 locomotive has never been to Grimstad in real life, but what the heck - it's my layout - I decide :)
	17.09.2007 A turnout shack At the end of many norwegian railway station areas small shacks were put up to house different equipment for the turnouts and also as a shelter for the crew. I have built this from a brass kit which will be on offer on the market very soon. Looking at the picture I now discovered that I forgot the door handle....
	10.09.2007 More roadbed Not the most exciting to read about, but I've laid down some more cork the last few days. This picture is from the left side of the peninsula. The incline here is close to 2,5 % and the sharpest curve on the layout is the one seen to the right in the picture. It's a 55cm radiuscurve, but it works fine and looks ok with most of the rolling stock I plan to use on the line.
	05.09.2007 A new house under construction I like to work with several projects at a time. I have been working on this lovely house for some time now, and have today come to the point where I could give it it's first coat of paint. The house is a etched brass kit from the swedish manufacturer Rimbo Grande. It is very detailed, so it'll take some time until it's finished.
	12.08.2007 Cork roadbed I've started putting down some cork roadbed on the end of the peninsula and on Rykene industrial area. The cork is 5mm thick and very easy to work with.
	08.08.2007 Summer in Grimstad It seems like everyone in Grimstad is away for their holidays, so it's rather quiet here now. But the crew that works here are quite pleased with the fact that they can earn their money doing - well ehhh - nothing!
	21.06.2007 More trackbed! With good help from my friend Halvor, we got a lot of work done tonight. The trackbed is now complete all the way to Rykene and even a good bit further! The last picture shows a Skd220c with 8 cars on the grade up to Rykene.
	12.06.2007 And now for some track! I got very inspired by the progress we made last Thursday, so during the weekend I've been able to lay a lot of track. The track is now complete half-way up to Rykene.
	07.06.2007 One step back and two steps forward After the whole styrofoam deal I kind of lost the momentum on my layout work. The noise from the trains on the styrofoam annoyed me too much, so I tore down the whole thing again - tracks and all. Now a new wooden trackbed is in place and we have reached Rykene in one night! This looks promising :)
	16.03.2007 Fremo work I've spent a couple of evenings now preparing my latest Fremo-module for the upcoming Fremo-meet in Arendal this weekend. I've been experimenting with different types of Heki products for the grass. The trees are a mix of Faller Premium "fichten" and Heki bushes.
	02.03.2007 Nothing's happening Sometimes when it's not happening much, it can be nice to just sit down and relax on your boat. Maybe go fishing or something...
	21.02.2007 The first train! The first train has left Grimstad station, and is seen here on route to Rykene. It seems like the Styrofoam generates a lot of noise when a train is rolling over it, so I'll have to figure out a way to overcome this as it is pretty annoying...
	29.01.2007 Almost ready for some track! I have covered the newly built benchwork with some Styrofoam. This creates a really sturdy and nice base for both the trackbed and the future landscape. For the trackbed I have used regular 10mm. styrofoam and cut the sides at an 45 degree angle. This method of construction is much more fun I think than the traditional wood trackbed with wooden risers. And it's much faster as well. I have connected the Grimstad modules to the rest of the layout now. The curve right outside of Grimstad is in the corner is the tighest on the whole layout at 55 cm. radius. Now I'm ready to lay down some Peco code 75 track. Stay tuned for more pictures soon!
	28.01.2007 More carpentry II The peninsula is complete and with the help of some friends the portion that will connect this to the existing Grimstad modules is good on it's way.
	05.01.2007 More carpentry The construction of the peninsula continues. Things are starting to look good. This is fun!
	28.12.2006 Construction has begun! The Grimstad Line has so far only consisted in model of the three modules that make up the Grimstad station. Now the construction of the peninsula in the middle of the layoutroom has begun! I hope to be able to finish this soon so I can attach it to my previous modules and begin to lay some track :)
	14.11.2006 A new locomotive on the Grimstad Line! After World War II one of these locomotives was left in Norway. It was named Skd211 by the NSB, but is more commonly known as Köf. It will be used for shunting work in Grimstad and small local freights to Rykene and Rise.
	16.10.2006 Grimstad on tour! Two weeks ago me and my Grimstad modules attended Fremo's 25th birthday celebrations in Alsfeld Germany. It is very nice to see my modules play their part in a huge operating session together with 117(!) other stations on the layout. There were a lot of freight and passengers in and out of Grimstad every session. For instance; fish was sent to a big station on the Chech part of the layout. And the local newspaper in Grimstad got a lot of paper from a Dutch paperplant on the opposite side of the layout. It took several hours of transportation real-time until these shipments reached their destinations on this huge layout which had almost a kilometer of mainline track. Unfortunately this is the only picture of Grimstad I've got from the meeting. Next time I'll remember to bring my camera...
	20.08.2006 New locomotive on the Grimstad Line Due to shortage of motive power on the Grimstad Line, the management has turned it's head to other railroads for help. An agreement has been reached with SjB (Sjuskogbanen) which have kindly rented out one of their reserve locos. The loco is SjB no.9 which is a tank engine of NSB type 20b. The picture shows no.9 in Grimstad for the first time shortly after arriving with freight train Gt 5675.
	28.07.2006 A new turntable for Grimstad I am now in the process of changing the manual turntable in Grimstad for an electric one. The new tuntable is from Fleischmann and is a model of a 16meter prototype. I am going to modify it a little bit so it looks more like a norwegian one.
	16.06.2006 A watertower for Nelaug station Its summer, and I have taken a break in the construction of the Grimstad Line. The summer is great for smaller projects, and my latest is a model of a water tower that is going to be used at my local club's Fremo-modules of Nelaug station.
	23.04.2006 The guestbook is working! Finally I have found a simple and free guestbook that seems to work fine. I would really appreciate it if you leave a little greeting there after your visit to my site.
	14.04.2006 Overview of Grimstad Work continues slowly on the new and revised area around Grimstad station. I have also added a black "skirt" under Grimstad which enhances the overall look nicely. Here is a picture of how the three sections look when you enter my layout room.
	17.03.2006 First sneek-peek I got a new digital camera today, so I just had to try it out. The area around the station building in Grimstad is far from finished yet, but at least this picture shows some of the new ground cover. Stay tuned for more pictures!
	05.03.2006 Renovation of Grimstad continues For a while now I''ve worked on renovating my Grimstad-modules. Now the time has come to the last section containing the harbour-front and station building. This section has been rather unfinished for a long time now. It's always fun with "before and after" pictures, so here comes the "before" one.
	19.02.2006 Backdrop experimentation I need a backdrop all along the wall in my layout room, so I bought some blue skyes and clouds from Vollmer :). Behind Grimstad station, which is a removeable Fremo-module that consists of three sections, I will make three removeable backdrops that can be clamped on the modules for use on Fremo meets or shows. I'm not 100% pleased with the color of the sky, as I think it is too blue. Also, the clouds are too low on the "horizon" so I'll probably look for something else. But these will have to do for now.
	10.02.2006 The Skd206-project continues The paint on the little 206 is now finished and it is fitted with the special wire couplings I'm going to use on all my rolling stock. Here the loco is at work on a friend's home layout.
	26.01.2006 Skd206 has got its first coat of paint Halvor has now painted the 206 engine! Unlike the bigger locos at NSB, these small shunting engines started out being red-brownish and ended up being painted green. This model is going to represent the early paint scheme which was used around 1960. Some details are still missing; lights, windows, exhaustpipe, decals etc. It also needs to be weathered, but I think it is staring to look really good. Not many who has this model on their layouts yet ;)
	22.01.2006 Model of NSB skd206 under construction These little rascals were produced in a number of 37 units from 1936 to 1939. They had a Scania Vabis engine producing a "staggering" 96 HP. One of these were stationed at Nelaug, but as far as I know they were not used on the Grimstad-Line, as the need for shunting on the small line was limited. In my model version of Grimstad however, a small loco like this is perfect for taking care of Grimstad's shunting needs. My good friend Halvor Sannæs is building this loco for me from a brass kit. It looks very promising!
	07.01.2006 Finally - a track plan! After a couple of long nights working with the computer I finally have something I can call a trackplan for my layout. I used the demo version of a german program called Wintrack 7.0 which has a cool feature; 3D! It's fun seeing my plans in 3D although it all looks like a picture from the Faller catalogue :) You can find the normal version by clicking "Trackplan" in the menu.
	04.01.2006 The Grimstad modules test their new home Some years ago I started construction of Grimstad station using the FREMO-module standard. These three sections have been to many shows both in Norway and in Germany, and now they are going to serve as the main focal point on my new Grimstad Line layout. They don't look very good at the moment,as they are currently being renovated with new ground cover, more buildings and some modification to the tracks, but that will hopefully change soon!. A new turntable is also going to be installed. The layoutroom is not finished yet, but I couldn't resist to try out the modules in their new home.
	17.12.2005 The layout-room is finally nearing its completion! I have been dreaming of my very own room in which i could build my dream layout for many many years, and now the goal is finally in sight. In the first floor of my home there has been an incomplete second livingroom for almost ten years now. Finally I have been able financially to complete this room, and it will house my first layout; the Grimstad-line. In a couple of weeks I hope to have the room ready for my Grimstad modules and the construction of the rest of the line can commense.