Introduction
The layout pages describe my modeltrain layout in detail. My layout has Dombås as its central focus. Dombås is a small town in Norway and it is an important traffic junction, both for rail and road. The mainline from Oslo to Trondheim meets the branch line to Åndalsnes. The mainline is electrified, the branch line is not. Until 2000 the branch line was the domain of the NSB Di3 locomotives.
Overview
In my childhood I visited Norway a few times and that gave me a general interest in Norway. In 1993 I did my first backpack trip with the main focus on the railways in Norway.
This gave me the idea to switch to modeling a layout after Norwegian prototype. Until then I built small layouts or module/segments after Dutch prototype (as I grew up in the Netherlands). At Rail'94 I bought my first Norwegian Di3 from NMJ (at the Philotrain booth) and that was the start of the layout.
In a Norwegian book an idea was published about a layout modeling the line between Dombås and Åndalses. I used that as a starting point for modeling Dombås.
The whole layout is built in segments or modules. This allowed to be moved two times already. It started in the Netherlands and was published in the 1997 in the Railhobby magazine. In 1998 we moved to Chicago area in the USA and then it moved again in 2005 to the west coast in the USA.
The only prototypical part of the layout is Dombås station. All the other parts are freelance. Three staging yards are used to model Oslo, Trondheim and Åndalsnes.
The history pages shows the history of this layout that started in 1995. The layout at a glance pages will show the different parts of the layout in more detail. The layout is operated using a timetable and the operating details page has details about the timetable operation. The layout is controlled with digital command control (DCC). The rolling stock pages show various train models that are used on the layout.
Era
Running close like the prototype is something that I prefer. Selecting the right era and the trains belonging to that era is part of the hobby. Originally I started out modelling the
mid-1990's. This was a transformative time for the Norwegian Railways. The older locomotives were being replaced, either successfully (El18) or unsuccessfully (Di6&Di8). I traveled extensively
to Norway during that time as well so I had my own memories and pictures.
A few years ago when NMJ started to make the Di3 and some of the older electrics it was suddenly possible to model the early 1980's, another very interesting time. Specifically in 1985 it was possible to see three different liveries (color schemes), it also included the introduction of the new express trian with the B7 coaches.
Given my modeltrain collection it is now possible to either runs trains like it is 1984/1985, 1988/1989, 1989/1990, 1993 or 1997. My preferred era is the mid to late 1980's.
Updated: 2020-06-19