Download "A superb model railway layout of tramway lines in the brickworks region of Belgium in O scale"

In Belgium, there is a group of model builders who have focused on constructing and designing O scale model railroads or gauge 0 model railways. The members call themselves “Spoor-O-Team”. Founded in 2012, the eight team members share the same passion for model trains in narrow gauge in 1/43.5 scale with a track gauge of 22.5 mm. The main interest of these members is to create scale models, dioramas and model train layouts that are as authentic as possible enriched with a touch of playful imagination. In 2009, the idea arose to construct a model railroad layout with trams, tramways, streetcars or trolley cars. Eric van Hemelrijck and Marc van Nieuwenhove initially thought of replicating the tram lines around Charleroi on their model railway layout. But then they remembered the tram lines that existed in the province of Antwerp in the 1960s. Their goal was to built a tram line in the brickworks region between Antwerp and Mechelen. In the 20th century, there were countless tramways in Belgium that were called “Buurtspoorwegen”. The National Company of Light Railways (Dutch: “Nationale Maatschappij Van Buurtspoorwegen”, abbreviated as NMVB; French: “Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Vicinaux”, abbreviated as SNCV) was a state-owned transportation provider which comprised a system of narrow-gauge tramways and local railways in Belgium, which covered the whole country, including the countryside, and had a greater route length than the mainline railway system. The tram network consisted of electrified city lines and rural lines using steam locomotives and diesel railcars because only half of the tram network was electrified. The tramway layout is measuring 3.60 x 3.60 meters with three separate dioramas with a high scenery content, each with its own specific character and typical original scenes. The first diorama depicts a part of the route between Rumst and Terhagen in Belgium. There are a brickworks, an industrial narrow-gauge railway line and a café on the corner where the brickmakers were paid their weekly wages. A row of workers' houses, a railroad crossing for the streetcar and a dilapidated bakery have been built based on photographs from that time. The second diorama depicts the center of the city of Terhagen with a row of upper-class houses. Furthermore, everyday life is depicted in front of the houses on the street, sometimes with humorous scenes. In front of them is a tram stop. The third diorama is built in an L-shape and is a simplified scale model of the tram station in Rumst in Belgium. The station building is an exact copy of the building that still exists today. In the background, there are the tram shed and the old water tower building. The buildings, houses, tracks, and signals are not commercially available, so everything was built by hand. Marc van Nieuwenhove specialized in recreating the rows of houses in Terhagen and Rumst, while Eric van Hemelrijck took care of building the tram station, the water tower, and the tram depot in Rumst. All buildings are exactly to scale according to the existing plans. The main materials used were architect’s cardboard, Forex, and plasticard, covered and finished with Redutex. The catenary masts were designed by Jan van Tassel. The typical signals were designed by Gustaaf de Meester. The single-track signaling system operates fully in accordance with the original standard of the National Company of Light Railways in Belgium with main signal and double direction signal. The track is digitally controlled according to Roco’s DCC system Z21. The control of model trains and model trams is done with mobile phones. *Eric van Hemelrijck & Marc van Nieuwenhove* https://spoor-0-team.be/banen/terhagen *Pilentum Television* https://www.pilentum.org/ *Keywords*