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Club member Bengt Karlsson’s layout is 780 cm by 180 cm (about 26′ by 6′), with an additional “L” on the right side. A panorama shot appears above. Bengt has spent about 8 years building it since moving to NH from RI. There is a main station with seven tracks from which a double track goes around the entire layout twice. The main track is divided into five blocks so that he can run multiple trains at the same time without collision. There is an additional single track leading to a second and third station. Under the layout, there is a staging yard with 14 siding tracks for storing trains. The mural that lines the back wall is part Switzerland and part Scotland, made from photos he has taken while hiking abroad. They have been merged using Photoshop into a continuous scene and printed on a canvas before being secured to the wall. A very nice touch!
Bengt is not trying to model any particular country or specific era. He hales originally from Sweden so a lot of his engines are Swedish models. There are other European locos and rolling stock on his layout as well; even a good ‘ole American “Big Boy” steam engine. The landscape is characteristically more middle European than anything else.
Bengt’s collection consists of 28, mostly digital locomotives, some being originally analog engines that have been converted to digital. He got his first train in 1952 and still has 5 engines that have not been converted. They may end up operating on an independent, analog loop someday.
The layout is divided into 7 separate electrical zones so that many trains can run simultaneously, but operations are limited somewhat presently because only 4 boosters are used. Bengt controls his layout with a Marklin CS1 control station, but hopes to upgrade to a CS2 in the near future, at which time he will add more boosters and the operating limitations will disappear.
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At one of the small stations (above) near an operating windmill, a Swedish TGOJ Diesel Type V36 locomotive departs. A snow covered Swiss mountain appears in background. In the second photo, a BVI Sauerlach passes by a small yard near the main station.
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In the photo above, a Swedish SJ T44 376 class diesel engine hauls a load of Volvo carriages while a passenger consist (Da SJ) passes behind. The Passenger train is about to enter a tunnel in the snow covered mountain (middle picture) before arriving back at the station (lower picture).
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On the main line an InterCity Express (ICE) train passes, while the single track doubles back on itself and has a Swedish G1414 SJ (middle of photo) and a rail bus in the upper portion of the photo.
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A Swedish SA 944 with three passenger carriages approaches on the main line in the photo above. Behind it in the photo is a sawmill and a boy scout camp. In the background there is a ski area. Snow was not in Bengt’s original plan, but his kids gave him some skiers for Christmas one year and so he had to add snow! We all know what that is like.
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A Swedish G1414 SJ engine with three passenger cars passes between the main city and a mountain range. The train is on the single track leading up to the mountains. The city is centrally located on the layout, immediately atop an access panel.