Come with us to a peninsula on the south-east of Rügen

Transcription

1 Bridge Top layout of the month Come with us to a peninsula on the south-east of Rügen Text: Thomas Bradler Photos: Eddy Puhlmann, Uwe Eichmann

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3 8 Top layout of the month Big Spring 2013 Mönchgut, the peninsula on the south-east of Rügen, is a biosphere reserve. A dream for all who like to combine holidays with nature. Almost like the original: Loco 53 Mh is one of the attractive Rügen steam locomotives in the LGB range. Her prototype was built in 1925 and still today steams across the island on the Rasender Roland. Uwe Eichmann is not one of the holiday makers on Rügen. He s one of those who live here all the year round. That leaves its mark: his relationship with Rasender Roland, as the Rügen narrow-gauge railroad is fondly called, was always extremely close. No wonder the narrow-gauge line still connects his home town of Göhren on the Mönchgut peninsula, with Putbus, the oldest spa town on the island, via Baabe, Sellin and Binz. has now been decorating the LGB logo for some decades. Then. a simple oval had to suffice for this first garden railroad. But there was soon a desire for more. A real garden railroad should be constructed, not merely a loose circle, as up to now. Uwe Eichmann had good fortune in double measure: now only did his wife Karin give her agreement, she also put her shoulder to the wheel. The hard-working couple invested almost all their spare time in extending the line successfully. Within just two years, the LGB layout grew, with the help of son Manfred too, In only two years, the layout grew enormously However, despite his closeness to the narrowgauge line, passion for model railroads in his childhood and early youth didn t yet take him to the narrow gauge. To start with, expresses and freight trains all over the world, then in H0 gauge, made their circuits of his layout. But the fresh sea air positively demands that you do something in the open air, Uwe Eichmann relates. It all began in 1999 with an LGB starter set with the Stainz, a small two-axle loco which to cover some 450 square meters (4,850 square feet). An LGB train takes about eight minutes to cover the 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet) of track before it gets back to its starting point. The garden railroad train has to negotiate a height difference of 1.40 meters (about 4'7") from the lowest to the highest point. Plotting the course of the railroad was a real challenge. To base the layout as convincingly as possible in the wide variety of Rügen landscapes, several trailerloads of stone were brought in. No problem to position the small ones, such as one often sees in the fields. But the largest boulders up to a meter (3'3") in height could only be put in their final positions with a shovel and a crowbar, as Uwe Eichmann recalls. The work was all worth while. When the couple stands in front of their layout, they are looking at a lovingly laid-out landscape typical of the island, just as you find in the south-east of Rügen. It wasn t just in laying the tracks that exceptional feats were accomplished; the bridges

4 1 2 Looking for clues: in the Middle Ages, Mönchgut belonged to Eldena Abbey, near Greifswald. 3 1 Loco parade with Köf 6003, , and The suspension bridge measures a fantastic five meters (16'4") between the piers. 3 On the layout, the trains have to conquer a height difference of around 1.40 meters (4'7").

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6 Imposing view: Diesel loco and steam loco 53 Mh are doing the rounds of the Rügen layout.

7 Big Spring 2013 too aren t just interesting eye-catchers but also superlatives. One of the bridges, a meter long (3'3"), was scratch-built of aluminum profiles. Similarly scratch-built were a lifting bridge (broadly based on the Rügendamm Bridge) with an overall length of 1.40 meters (4'7") and a suspension bridge which measures no less than 5 meters (16'4") between piers. The four tunnels constructed on the layout are also something: they are between two and seven meters (6'7" and 23') long. Incidentally, it is thanks to Karin Eichmann that there is also a large American wooden trestle bridge on the Rügen layout : I m just a fan of American trains, she smiles. This bridge was constructed on a curve, and is 5.50 meters long (18'). In company, the hobby is at least twice the fun Two typical Rügen trains on the LGB, created with many details and much loving care to invite you to look at it. The idea of automatic operation was intentionally discarded; manual running fun is the main attraction here. Since all locos are fitted with MZS decoders, up to four engineers can drive their trains at the same time everyone knows that a hobby is so much more enjoyable when it is shared with others. To start with, more or less everything in the LGB range was run on the layout. In recent years, however, LGB has produced more and more models based on Rasender Roland prototypes. So since the Rügensche BäderBahn more or less ran past his front door, Uwe Eichmann decided to specialize in these models about five years ago. Now there is almost everything on this theme here which LGB has ever produced, or still produces: from the military narrow-gauge locos with tender and a Saxon IV K, such as would have been here in the 1960s, the typical Vulcan-built eight-couplers (which can be admired in service even today) to the two diesel locos, one the Köf 6003, the other the four-axle , which are both stationed in Putbus. Variety in operations is guaranteed with the four-axle rebuilt cars in either green or two-tone green and beige as well as the historical short two-axle passenger cars as well as an extensive fleet of freight cars. Much to the delight of visitors, these cars also take their turn from time to time with the traffic once the day s work is done and it s time to relax. This superb garden railroad layout can be visited by arrangement in advance. Visiting engineers and their locomotives are always welcome as we already said, up to four garden railroad enthusiasts can drive their trains at the same time. This opportunity will be reopening following the winter break.

8 Big Spring 2013 Top layout of the month 13 The Eichmann family s garden railroad Suspension bridge 5 m (16'4") Tunnels 6 m and 7 m (19'8" and 23') Arched bridge Steel girder bridge Tunnel 2 x 2 m (2 x 6'7") 2 arched bridges each 1.80 m (5'11") Lifting bridge Arched bridge 3.60 m (11'10") Trestle bridge Building commenced: 1999 Terrain: an artificial slope on about 450 square meters (nearly 4,850 square feet) Tracks: Around 300 m (nearly 1,000 feet) Turnouts: 42, of which 3 turnouts R1, 39 turnouts R2 Control center (LGB): 1 Radio receivers: 2 Universal cell phones: 2 Stations: 4 Tunnels/bridges: Planting: Layout description 4 tunnels with a length of 2 7 m (6'7"-23'), 4 bridges with lengths of 1 5 m (3'3" to 16'4") Thyme, box, Japanese cypress Contact: Uwe Eichmann, tel. +49 (0) /22 71 Internet: Südost- Rügen Sellin Gager Middelhagen Göhren Lobber Ort Region Mönchgut Thiessow Vacation paradise thanks to a variety of landscapes and endless beaches. Today, the Rasender Roland still connects the Baltic Sea spa of Göhren with Putbus, the oldest spa town on the Island of Rügen. Little wonder then, that this typical Rügen steam loco is still here in steam as a model as well.