ERGENS IN NEDERLAND SOMEWHERE IN HOLLAND
It all started back in the summer of 1991 on a business trip the Netherlands, where the office in which I was working overlooked the approaches to Den Haag Centraal.
The Dutch TouchI found out with my previous layout, that I liked to watch the trains going through the scenery, rather than the stopping and starting at a station, where the passengers neither embark or disembark, this might be the ex train spotter in me!
So inspired by “The Dutch Touch” Poster, a simple twin track running through a typical Dutch scene “somewhere in Holland” in a setting that reminded me of typical landscape features that I had witnessed from my travels by train in The Netherlands, with Bulb fields and a couple of small holdings and windmills alongside a river. This setting would allow me to run my favourite trains without geographical implications.
The main scenic section is divided in the centre by a dyke used to drain the surrounding land, either side of the dyke are two groups of buildings, each consisting of a typical Dutch country dwelling and a windmill, these building kits are by Faller.
Leaving the Right hand side of the marshalling yard the tracks cross the liftout section which is disguised scenically with a simple field and then pass a Smock Mill, similar to those at Kinderdijk, used for draining large areas. Next we pass a small holding with its riding stable, flower distribution barn and the bulb fields (as inspired by the 1991 poster). The tulips in the field are from WW Scenics 6mm static grass/flower range. Crossing over the dyke with it’s resident Swans, we pass a small Wipmolen (or Post Mill) which collects water in a tank below it’s base and pumps this out into the dyke, with the Mill operators house and it’s small herd of cows and then over the main lift out section leading into the edge of town, the buildings for this come from using a screen shot from streetview on Google Maps, (as do many of the buildings on the back drop behind the marshalling yard) and back into the left hand end of the marshalling yard.
The materials used for the ground cover are block paving sand for the stables area, very fine sand collected from a local woodland area for the wooded area at the rear of the layout and the gardens, and fields and lawns are mainly 2mm static grass fibres sifted through a tea strainer. I do not have a static grass applicator, but I feel that it gives a good result for mown or well munched grass, which is normally quite short. The trees come from a variety of sources including sea foam and give a nice eclectic mix. Some of the foliage scatter that came with the sea foam trees was added to the field next to the smock mill. This is all backed with photographic back-scene depicting a village and waterway, with woodlands at both ends.
This has been a very therapeutical retirement project and I look forward to many hours “Watching Trains go by” in my own little piece of Holland.
