In the following I will describe the elements that I am considering at the moment for my layout. I imagine they could be placed approximately like this:
The pictures on this page are from various sources, among them Tage Falkenberg, Erik Trudsø and EVP.
Spøttrup Station
The history goes something like this: We are in 1990 and have just realized that SVJ (Skive Vestsalling Jernbane) still exists even though in real life, it disappeared in 1966, when I was 2 1/2 years old. However Spøttrup station (that use to have a rather large depot building, shown on the following pictures) has been reduced to only 2 tracks and only a fraction of the depot building.
I am considering only to build the part behind the port to the far left on the picture above. There is a better view of that part (seen from behind the building) here:
To fit the station reasonably correct I will add a small siding pointing back towards Skive, but only going into the depot building. I have no intention of building the turntable or the other tracks. It would take up to much space. See this track plan of the real Spøttrup Station:
I am not sure if I am going to build the station building itself. The real building looked (and looks) like this:
Heljan’s model of Videbæk station does of course nok look especially much like Spøttrup station. And it is (as I guess is true for all buildings from Heljan) to small. Anyway, it might as a starting point become the station building on my layout:
Since Spøttrup station is becoming a time warp, it also gives me an opportunity to have a semaphore signal. Such a signal had it’s place at Spøttrup station:
The signal had only one arm. What might look like the second arm is really a luminaire. As far as I know, one cannot buy such a Danish signal. There has over time however been people producing the arm, so that one could place that on a signal that has been produced as a German signal. My idea is to settle with a Viesmann 4500 (250 kr), which for example can be bought at Lokdoc.
The signal requires a decoder for magnetic articles. And even though I can build one myself, this might one place where I buy an ESU SwitchPilot (260 kr).
Besides, the manual states that a transformer with 14-16V 0,7A is needed. But I don’t need that. All my signals are to be controlled by the IB-COM. And that has a more than adequate power supply.
Märklin 70392 could be an alternative. But it is as expensive as both Viessmann 4500 and ESU SwitchPilot.
I could also equip one of my Paco decoders with a darlington array as a driver and different software. The darlington array is 3 kroner, and I have it already. See the diagram here, even though I would modify it to not have a separate power supply, but drive the signal directly from DCC power.
The signal should be painted so that the mast is grey and the arm red as it should be for a Danish signal. I think that would be good enough for me. The signal looks as this:
Whereas a correct Danish signal would look like this:
I do see that there should be holes in the arm, but a solid red arm is good enough for me. The German read and white piece on the mast must be cut off. And the same thing with the object near the ground which is supposed to look like an electric motor.
See this instruction from Freja.
Besides there were no red and green lanterns on the signal in Spøttrup. But there seem to have been on other Danish signals. So either I have to add to the story that at some point in time, these lanterns were added to the signal, or I shall manage to cut them off without destroying the rest of the signal.
The real signal at Spøttrup looked like this:
Skive Station
The real Skive station looked like this on the tracks used by SVJ:
Note the signals. I intend to only implement a single PU signal at the edge of the platform towards Spøttrup.
The signals on the main tracks will be similar to those still on the same track today: I-signals with 4 lanterns and U-signals with 2. There still seems to be a PU signal with 6 lanterns towards Struer. But I think I will forget about that.
The station building looks like this:
As it can be seen, the station is built into a slope or a hillside, so that it is 4 storeys high towards the platforms and only 2 towards the parking lot.
I have bought Heljan’s version of “a modern station”, that is not in production anymore, but still available from Togdillen. It is 2 storeys both sides, but seems to be inspired by Skive station. The model is 48 cm long, which probably is not enough to be 1:87, but more than enough for my small layout. The model looks as this:
The facade towards the parking lot can be made a bit closer to reality if the DSB wings are put above the entrance instead of on the gable, which by the way shall be “clean” as in the real world.
The facade against the platforms can also be less wrong by avoiding the canopy. But the real station is 4 storeys, which the model is never going to be.
I have thought of placing the building at high enough elevation that the track to the far left towards the rear shadow station “disappears” under the station building. I don’t want to make mountains for that trick in a flat country as Denmark. And at the same time, Skive Station will reside way above the track as in real life.
I still don’t know what to do with the doors on the model in the platform side. Maybe I will paint them so they look like windows. Maybe I will make them into Venetian balconies with bars in front of them.
Likewise, I am not sure about the covered stairways down to the platforms. I may be doing something entirely different than the real world. We will see.
Other Elements
I am living in Taastrup in a house from 1997. So it has obviously no place in a landscape near Skive anno 1987 / 1962.
But I would like to challenge myself by building my own house, so I will find a place for it. Maybe in Rødding, which is the village where Spøttrup station is.
Besides, there need to be a road for my single Faller car. Maybe a circle from Skive station out through the city, crossing the rails at the end of Spøttrup station, continuing behind the railway and through Rødding, under the rails, which must then be on a bridge and back to Skive. For a bit of added fun, I could add a “turnout” in Skive leading to a parking place, where I can start and stop the car using an electro-magnet.
I would also like a lake, where I can try to make water. And then somebody can be fishing and somebody can be bathing. It will bring life to the layout.
Maybe a camping site by the lake?
It seems very modern to make a tivoli. But I don’t think I want to use space on that.
Skive Town
I am considering to build the post office as well as the square next to it. At the square there is an ice skating rink in the wintertime.And it could be fun to make ice skaters that actually move. It might be that the rest of the layout is summer while this one element is winter. But so be it.
The square could also give room for a “pølsevogn” (particular Danish kind of hotdog stand) – even though I have no recollection of such a thing from Skive at those days.
To make a complete town, there need to be more houses in Skive. But some kits from e.g. Faller would be sufficient. Even though they are German houses, some of them are somewhat similar to Danish buildings from around 1900.
Elevation
As already described, Skive station resides high above the front tracks. From there the terrain raises even higher both moving to the right and to the rear of the layout. The town of Skive is situated on this slope.
Rødding might be placed high enough to make it possible to make a road bridge across the track?
Rødding Village
Rødding consists of the station building and a few houses more.One of those house could be the one where I was born in 1963. The house is similar to house number 2 from the left on the picture below:
The was hoever only a single window in one of the gables (at the top floor).The dormer window (which is still there) is a bit wider and consists of 7 single pane windows. The windows in the facade had 6 panes like this one. There was however an arch at the top as far as I remember:
Rødding also had an ice cream parlor selling Grotte ice cream. It was not this one, but it probably looked similar:
The church is almost next to the station – opposite the village. I will not build the church right away, but it can become a fun challenge at a later stage with it’s varying building materials from different ages and with the pointed roof on the tower:
Along the road between Skive and Rødding there are fields and a couple of houses. One of them could be the Faller house I have ordered just to start with something.
In addition, I can make a stopping place for the train. There were a handful of those in addition to real stations between Skive and Rødding stations.
I am not sure if there will be room for Spøttrup castle. But it could be fun:
The brickworks at Nymølle is also among my very early childhood memories. It disappeared in the late sixties. Today, only the chimney is left:
Maybe I could make room for the ring furnace some time way out in the future?