Pretty nice tramway model railway layout from Belgium (On traXS 2024)

Published on July 17, 2024

At the exhibition for model trains in Utrecht (On TraXS), the members of the model railroading club MOBOV presented their latest model railway layout in H0 scale. They sought and found inspiration in their own Antwerp region with the National Company of Neighbourhood Railways (NMVB) connection from the city centre to the polder villages north of Antwerp. Until 1961, there was heavy tram traffic for both passenger and freight transport. Because of their blue livery, they were soon popularly nicknamed “Den Blauwen” (“The Blue Ones”). This is how the name of the model railroad layout originated, namely “Met den Blauwen naar Lillo” (“With the Blue Ones to Lillo”).

Among the members of MOBOV there is a great interest in tramway operation, so the new model railway layout was to be a tramway layout based on the former neighbourhood railways in the Antwerp region. They chose the village of Lillo. This was a village on the Scheldt north of Antwerp but which almost completely disappeared from the map due to the expansion of the port of Antwerp in the 1960s. Only the small residential centre of Lillo with its market, a few streets and tidal harbour can still be visited.

The model railroad layout had to be easily transportable and had to be limited to two segments placed against each other at a 90 degree angle. Reproducing Lillo in reality was not possible on this small surface area, so an impression of the harbour was chosen. Finally, the model train layout depicts the tramways running from the fiddle yard to the harbour. The buildings were made by the members of the MOBOV club from cardboard and paper. The short and long grasses were made by the electrostatic “Grasmaster”. Throughout the landscape, green bushes from “Martin Welberg Scenic Studios” and “MBR Model” were applied. Ballast is a mixture of different materials to mimic the characteristic of NMVB’s bedding as accurately as possible. The typical NMVB overhead line (catenary) was also rebuilt.

Transport consisted mainly of hay, straw, coal, sugar beet and eels transported by special wagons. For example, sugar beet was brought in by barge and then transported by freight tram to the sugar factory in Lillo. NMVB tractors were used for goods transport, some of them in their typical blue livery. A standard NMVB tramway provides passenger transport. All trams were built using kits from “Ferivan”, painted themselves and equipped with the necessary details.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7bEWkEWpUs

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