August 2025

Gauge 1 layouts are individually built and designed dreams. Sometimes they have to disappear. Fortunately, there is usually still time to photograph them in detail.

42 photos of a richly equipped basement layout that no longer exists.

With its usual precision, Spur1-igArtig.de has completed a locomotive shed that corresponds to part of the original from 1907. The prototype is located in Saint-Maurice in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Railway photographers are generally harmless and rarely cause any trouble, except for the occasional dangerous interference with rail traffic. In one country, however, the situation is quite different.

For the price of a gauge 1 locomotive—per day—you can travel through picturesque southern Europe on a new uxury train.

On Saturday, IG-DU invited guests to a public get-together and presented the large-scale layout, which is currently under construction and is gradually being fitted out with more and more details. Many gauge 1 locomotive models and numerous modern, self-built cars were on display, either from guests or here at home.

The freight bypass line east of Hanover resembles a jungle in places because DB's infrastructure subsidiary InfraGO has clearly neglected maintenance of the line. The bushes between the two tracks are almost four meters high, and the line is used not only by freight trains but also occasionally by ICE trains. The branches almost brush against the trains.

One bright spot for photographers is that interesting vehicles occasionally appear among the overgrown vegetation.

In the summer lull, something is happening. New products for epochs I to III. But there is still some time left for pre-orders.

Let's take another look at France: at details on the tracks and the freight cars with more than a hundred years of history.

The IG Spur 1 Mittelrhein is celebrating its tenth module meeting on September 20 and 21, 2025, at the DB Museum, Schönbornslusterstraße 14, 56070 Koblenz, Germany.

The September issue of Eisenbahn-Kurier magazine, which has just been published, features a review of the AA1 from Fine Models with large photos. My article covers a total of three pages. Two additional pages feature clearly scanned photos of the original locomotive with its leading axle and a photo after conversion to the 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, as well as a detailed report of the test run on March 27, 1896.

Eisenbahn-Kurier 9/2025

For a few days now, exhibitors have been able to register for the International Gauge 1 Meeting in mid-November 2025. The mood is optimistic at the moment.

At the French heritage railway, I found the counterpart to the hand-operated 5-ton crane from Bavaria, which Fine Models produced for gauge 1. It is over 110 years old.

Handcrafted small-series models in gauge 1 have longer delivery times. But the wait was worth it. The SNCF class 67400 from JK-Models delighted the customer so much that he sent us a series of photos.

Preserving old railway cars is laborious, but urgently necessary given the lack of historical awareness of many railway companies. But what are we to make of the concept I am presenting here in this collection of photographs?

Kiss has launched an attractive gauge 1 model of the Baden class Xb shunting locomotive. A review with 46 large-format photos.