MODEL BUURT SPOOR
The new lay out since 2022
The first rail plan for Arnhem
After a stressfull move from one provincial capital to another one, the M.B.S. workshop has already has been set up in situ and a new rail plan was created for the outdoor railway, after taking measures of the available space in the new garden.
The actual garden is 27 meters by 6½ meters (or 175.5 square meters), measured from the waterfront to the rear facade.
It will takes a lot of time to initially design a completely new rail plan for this.
I rather would spend this time for better design, based on the experiences of the first design from 2019.
This time it will be a (no longer) existing rail plan, the depot area of the Betuwsche Stoomtram Maatschappij,
at the time located on the east side of Karstraat in Bemmel.
From here the B.S.M. from 1908 until the end in 1935, the area between Arnhem and Nijmegen, including all villages east of the Arnhem-Nijmegen railway line.
The tram company of the B.S.M. was relatively simple in design, with many fruit growers and farmers served with transport to the Elster Kweekers Veiling in Elst.
From the start, passenger transport became less popular, with the exception of the Monday market tram to Nijmegen.
The above rail plan is that of the B.S.M. depot/yard. as it was from 1908 to 1935.
Of the houses on Papenstraat, I use to live in one of the houses towards Gendt.
After abolition of the tram company, it was converted into a bus garage, where it retained the name depot.
All buildings that did not serve the bus company were demolished after 1935.
In 1975, the Gelderse Tram Wegen (!) decided to replace the old depot with a functional concrete garage.
Although the bus company has moved out years ago, the concrete building still exists.
As an 8-year-old boy, I witnessed the demolition of the old depot in 1975, as well as the construction of the new garage.
As the last relic of the B.S.M. the administration building was demolished in 1989, which served as a residence for owner Th. Steenhof owner of the adjacent machine factory De Remise, named after the B.S.M. garage from 1945 to 1989.
The rail plan has been converted for use with L.G.B. rail material in the AnyRail design app.
There are 17 left-hand switches and 10 right-hand switches (22½°) and the total rail length is 149.12 meters.
Enough running length to realize an interesting model tram company.
The large gray area at the top represents the terrace at home, while the grid in the rail plan measures 1 m² each, the green areas are the undeveloped garden and the yellow area is the depot area with the associated buildings.
In reality, the Karstraat in Bemmel has a small 'bend', this has been omitted in the rail plan to leave as little 'rail waste' as possible.
This street is used in model as a footpath in the garden to provide easy access to the tracks for maintenance and other necessities.
The second rail plan for Arnhem
There are 5 months and a nice warm summer between the BSM rail plan and the new one pictured above.
On closer inspection, the BSM rail plan is a bit too much of a good thing, given the many switches it has.
On one hand it is a shame, but on the other hand it is fortunate, because it saves the high costs of new points and their drives.
The new plan is based on the BSM rail plan, but the future design of this long bank garden has been better taken into account.
Nevertheless, this second plan provides almost 30 meters more effective driving length...! (110m)
In terms of costs, straight rails are cheaper to purchase than the more complex switches, while this second plan does not require any new additional switches, other than what comes from the old Den Bosch track.
Moreover, the options are more extensive, so that several trams can run at the same time.
Something that will certainly be desirable in view of future digitalization.
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The basis of this second rail plan will remain unchanged as much as possible and will be further optimized.
It will be better explained later in this chapter with appropriate references.
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The gray area at the top right becomes the shed / shed / control house from which the track is operated.
Just as the Den Bosch tramway had a beautiful 19-inch control box until the very end, the same control box will be relocated in this shed, so that the first Arnhem journeys can be run sometime in 2023 or 2024.
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In six months the garden has changed from a wasteland to a bare empty garden with a certain potential for a beautiful new garden track.
The Arnhem bank garden in April 2022, the immense pruning work had already started with the pruning of the conifers on the terrace.
The contours of the garden path towards the rear are partly visible.
As can be seen in the following photo from the end of July 2022, all the greenery on the left of this garden path has disappeared, as have all the weeds and the laurel hedge on the right has already been pruned back so far that when the fence is placed on the right, it takes as little time as possible to dig it up. .
This laurel hedge, like the rest of the garden, had not been maintained in 6 years.
It yielded 3.5 cubic meters or 14 (!) full green containers of 250 liters full of shredded greenery, where I helped the ProZero men empty these containers every two weeks while collecting them, so heavy that they were... .
The garden as it stands now (September 2022), is mostly empty.
The garden path is paved with pavers that turned out to be covered in weeds near the blue bucket at the back.
It fits exactly...
At a closer look compare the second design with the location of the garden path, you will see the similarity.
The piece of double track will be located to the right of it and the stabling tracks start at the height of the wooden garden chair.
On the left where the cable loop is located, there is a slight elevation, which is eventually smoothed out to ensure that there are as few height differences as possible in the garden track.
The tracks will cross this garden path several times, for which a special concrete construction will have to be made.
The terrace behind the house is 20 cm higher than the garden, which is nice.
The control box will be located at the back left of the wooden garden chair, this is 15 meters measured from the edge of the terrace...
To give our Labradors some room to play, the empty areas are filled with lawn as much as possible.
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The rail plan has been changed slightly, it has added two stabling tracks at the bottom right.
The switch plan has been adjusted for this and the two switches at the top have been given new numbers, namely switches 14 and 15.
Furthermore, all switches will receive a complete overhaul and a complete summary of their data will be made for the first time.
This is in view of the upcoming digitalization of the outdoor track, where all switches can be programmed.
They each get their own address, with the existing switch number remaining leading.
Once this digitalization has been achieved, it will mean a major simplification of the electrical installation.
Instead of large control cables from the control box to the points, there is actually only a two-core ring cable of 6mm² along the track to distribute the supply voltage.
This is to ensure driving voltage in the event of a bad track weld (which is almost impossible with the system used).
The 19-inch control box will also be eliminated, the digital equipment will fit on a small shelf...
Another change in the new rail plan.
An upgrade to version 2 this time, where the entire track is divided into sections with section numbers and track numbers, as well as a renumbering of all switches.
Furthermore, the plan has been drawn up without a terrace and has been adjusted in height from 6.4 to 6.5 meters
and has been shortened in width from 27 to 19 meters.
The entire rail plan can be roughly divided into 4 parts, the green A loop, the blue depot tracks, the
red C loop and the yellow D loop.
The switch numbers are now linked to the loops of which they are part.
As an example, switch A2, this is the first switch in section AC.
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5 options for driving around are built into the entire plan.
Lowest section number is A (bottom left) and highest is DD.
The logic behind this is easy to explain: section A starts with switch A1, assuming anti-clockwise rail traffic.
Next comes switch A2; left to section AC, straight to switch B1 in section B.
If we follow section AC, we arrive at the switch street: left again to section AA, via switches A3 and A4.
We then follow section AA and arrive back at switch A1 to complete the green loop.
So first A, then AC, then AA back to A.
The 2nd loop is via sections A, B, track 1, C and via the switch street and AA back to A.
The 3rd loop is via sections A, B, track 1, C and the switch street over D, D1 (or D2), DB and DA to A (this is the largest loop)
The 4th loop is via sections A, AC and via the interchange over D, D1 (or D2), DB and DA to A
The 5th loop is via sections D, D1 (or D2), DB and DD back to D.
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old switch number / new switch number
1A to 1D / A4 - A3 - C2 - C1
2 / D1
3 / D4
4 / A1
5 / A2
6 / B1
7 / B2
8 / B3
9 / B4
10 / B5
11A / B6a
11B / B6b
12 / B7
13 / reserve
14 / D2
15 / D3
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In addition to this renumbering, the depot area has also been 'overturned'.
Entry switch B1 is now directly behind the previously described switch A2.
The depot building is now part of the right blue loop and provides 1.5m more track length per depot track.
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It all seems a bit exaggerated; the many changes while less than a meter of track has yet been constructed.
Please note that it is better to make changes on a drawing board than to adjust a track that is already in the garden.
Moreover, the rail plan is perfected down to the last detail in this way...
The previous track in 's-Hertogenbosch was also constructed with a rail plan, but (due to enthusiasm) the moving and sawing of rail sections and constant changes to the track body were started too early.
I now want to try to prevent this, and the switch to digital driving is imminent.
The large control box is no longer necessary, with large control cables to the switch lanes.
This switch is still in development (October 2022) and will certainly have its own chapter dedicated to this on this site.
For the time being, we will only design the track in the old-fashioned analogue way.
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Above is an image of a design made in Excel for the section signs and the turnout numbers.
All switches are now provided with the correct number shield.
A solution is still being sought for the section signs in terms of whether the signs can be placed low or high next to the track.
For this purpose, metal posts must be made on which the signs will be mounted.
In passing, 4 warning signs for the tram were also included in the print.
Because the track is situated as much as possible in the 1950s/60s, the traffic signs have also been designed accordingly.​