times since the counter was installed.
NOTE: Page size is limited by HTML to some 30kB;
thus, I have been forced to add new pages just for Z-Scale, more Z-scale, and articles about Z-scale.
(02 Feb 08)
Berlinerwerke-Z Saga
Berlinerwerke Saga (HO, included with Horseshoe Curve info.)
Z-Scale model railroading, at an incredible 220 times smaller than life size, or slightly under half the size of the familiar HO scale, with rails only 6.5mm (~¼") apart, continued ...
Z scale is about 2½ times smaller than HO! In Z scale, a scale ¼-mile is exactly (and only) 6 feet; in other words, a mile is only 24 feet!
Because much information about Z scale is in German, you might find Chris Ozdoba's Eisenbahn- und Modellbahn-Wörterbuch - Deutsch-Englisch / Railroad and Model Railroading Dictionary - German-English of value.
I'm a nut about Orcas (Killer Whales) (see my
whale page) and had always hoped to locate an 837 Super-Wahljahr
(Whale-year) 1994 car (aka #88631) at an affordable price (I'm NOT a collector):
Ztrack Magazine
The Newsletter for Z Scale Model Railroading
Ztrack now has a separate page of its own - ztrack.html.
And More Z
(continued from Z Pages 2 and 6)
Dan Stirpe is producing scale Pennsy water plugs, to tracing 61140-A, in Z:
There is also supposed to be a town called Zee
Estates in El Dorado County in California (which
puts it just east of Sacramento, perhaps 30-40 miles
north of the Valley Division), but I can't find hide
nor hair of the old Zee nor of Zee Estates.
Energie Versorgung Schwaben {Swabian Energy Supply} [black cabs]
BEWAG Berlin
FÜL - Fränkisches Überlandwerk AG {French Overland Works}
RWE {???}
SCHLESWAG {Schleswig} [black cabs]
(03 Jan 04 photos by and © 2004 by S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
I had drawn up a rather detailed side-view CAD layout of the CEBX 800 in Z scale, with the long load typical of petrochemical reactor vessels, but the wheelsets don't quite match the final configuration:
Again, the wheelsets aren't the final version and the spacing around the curves is
a wee bit odd; the inter-axle spacing on each half-car is exactly 6' (1.83m) [0.327"
(0.831mm) in Z]. Also, the 170mm and 195mm views weren't complete so I
didn't move them into this composite image. I may not bother updating these;
once the tracking mockup is ready, I can just photograph it on the various curves (see
similar coverage below).
First pix (reshot):
(06 Jan 05 photographs by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Talk about a feat getting all the wheels on the track! BOTH loco and car are quite a challenge to rail or rerail. The use of the Märklin 8974 or M-T 988 00 221 (old 930) rerailers is STRONGLY recommended.
Just to prove that all the wheels on the bottle car are on the track, I tried processing the photo to show the exceedingly-black undercarriage better, to little avail:
Next, I strung the loco and car out together; now THAT is an impressive sight in Z - some 9¾" long!
(06 Jan 05 photographs by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
O. K. That's a wee bit extreme; let's try them on the other two standard Märklin radii, 195mm (8520/8521) and 220mm (8530/8531), respectively:
(07 Jan 05 photograph by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
It was borne in upon me that there was a definite resemblance to a torpedo or submarine here; some quick checking in the Art Department of the Berlinerwerke turned up this old view:
(02 Feb 08)
(02 Feb 08)
As with WheelZ and WheelZ II, above, I tried the new 88053 lok on my 145mmR mini-layout:
(02 Feb 08 photographs by and © 2008 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Speaking of wheelZ, lots of wheelZ, I attended the first-ever Z-scale convention in Columbus 05-06 July 2005 on my way home from a jaunt to Texas and then went down to Cincinnati for the NMRA's National Train Show, where the largest Z layout ever assembled was up and running (sort of). On my way up to Columbus, I saw several flatbed loads of giant tires (for earthmovers, I'd guess), probably on their way down from Goodyear. The tires were so big they hung over each side of the trailers and the rigs were placarded "OVERSIZED LOAD" front and back. Most loads had two tires stacked up front and two on the bed behind the stack; only one load had the fourth tire stacked on the second. Unfortunately, at 140mph closing speed, I didn't get any photos, but DING! What a great load for the layout! Gotta get flatbeds! Well, there don't seem to be any; Jerry Davis's ISM seems to have vanished. Bob's Trains had two brand-new Herpa Mercedes-Benz COE tractors with Euro flatbeds which I snapped up and his neighboring booth, Cars & Trains, had big HO traction tires, so I was in business (I thought) Here's the souvenir 40' Ztrack boxcar I got at the convention, the Herpa truck in front of it for comparison, and the truck with the tires (I know, they need to be secured):
(26 Sep 05)
(25 Sep 05 photograph by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
Best regardZ, S.B.,III
The courtesy page for Ztrack Magazine is now on its own page, q.v.
To tour the Z-scale pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the Z-scale index page
to the main Z-Scale page, then to the Sub-Z-Scale page and continuation pages 1, 2, 3 and on,
the Z articles page, the 6 BW-Z saga pages, and, and finally to the current Ztrack page.
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