03-05-2009, 09:03 PM
I would have enjoyed doing some rail travel while over there. After we arrived in Nuremberg, we looked into taking the train to Prague, but we ran the risk of running into return flight issues if we didn't execute the itinerary as it was. We had one business meeting in Prague the first day we were there and asked for ideas for a day trip that involved rail - they (a man named Stefan Gasparin - a maker of Co2 powered motors - and his friend / translator) suggested going to Vienna, which sounded very cool. Three hours they said. We later spoke some folks at the hotel about it and they immediately poo-pooed the idea. 4.5 - 5 hours; apparently Czech trains are slow, relatively expensive, and not very reliable from a schedule stand point. Dang. Sounded too iffy for a day trip, and would have been too little time actually in the city. I'll take your advice and make my way there if I get this opportunity again.
Re: tender drives, I found several makes at the toy fair that used these on HO steam locomotives - I did not expect that. One of the makers I was most visually impressed with (Gutzhold) was one of them. I think the lack of a gearbox, etc. was probably one of the reasons I liked the locomotives - they had a nice, light look. I was impressed with how smoothly the mechanism was, considering it had no motor to mask any binding.
Another maker - I think it was Fleischman, supplied some power to the locomotive's drive wheels, but most of the power was via the tender.
Very odd compared to what American modelers are used to / expect.
Matt
Re: tender drives, I found several makes at the toy fair that used these on HO steam locomotives - I did not expect that. One of the makers I was most visually impressed with (Gutzhold) was one of them. I think the lack of a gearbox, etc. was probably one of the reasons I liked the locomotives - they had a nice, light look. I was impressed with how smoothly the mechanism was, considering it had no motor to mask any binding.
Another maker - I think it was Fleischman, supplied some power to the locomotive's drive wheels, but most of the power was via the tender.
Very odd compared to what American modelers are used to / expect.
Matt
Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio