Voie Libre international OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2024 - 119

October, november, december 2024 WHAT COUNTS IS TAKING PART! The title of this piece has something to do with looking back into the driving mirror, following an Olympic summer when everything went peaceful around us, so concentrated were we on contests, results, medals; forgetful of everything else and especially of the world’s problems! With the end of the summer, shows, sharing and new meetings with modellers have resumed. What has also resumed is our favourite hobby, which helps us remain inside our bubble, giving us a break from troubled atmospheres. And I remain convinced that these small pauses, when we can share, exchange, create, are well needed! That is why we suggest you take up a new challenge, together with us and with the organizers of Trains d’ici et d’ailleurs,…

0-16,5 Our appetites having been whetted by the small Quarry Hunslet in 009, Bachmann cranks up the pleasure-meter and has now released them in... 0 scale! These models look as great as those in 00, with a finer standard of course, heaps of detail and impressively printed liveries. A small note, which proves the care taken with the finishing touches, the two water level gauges on the backhead are modelled in transparent plastic, something you only notice if scrutinizing the model very thoroughly. Technically, while the prototype has outside chassis frames, the model comprises a driving mechanism and transmission with mock outside frames, whose cutouts are completely concealed by the fly-cranks. The engine is driven by a coreless motor, while a Next18 socket is fitted above the driving mechanism. In…

A small engine has just been released in the Atelier du Tacot 009 range. It’s far from being dropdead gorgeous, but it’s cracking all the same! A small Plymouth, with a coreless motor, a belt primary drive, a gear cascade driving both axles, a 3D printed body and etched parts, will be available for Railexpo. Pascal Boivin quotes a price of ca. €150. The prototypes used to run on the plant network of the Santerre central sugar mill at Dompierre, and also at Goussainville; they had been supplied in the framework of the Marshall Plan. François Fontana ATELIER DU TACOT HTTPS://ATELIERDUTACOT.FR/ PRICE: €150 009…

Trains de Rêve has released an attractive wagon consisting of two Feldbahn carrier trucks and a flat deck, fully assembled and painted grey, to be hauled by this supplier’s GRIMIC locotractor. The 3D printed trucks are fitted with pointed axles, the blackened metal wheels being isolated at the hub. The axleboxes feature bronze journals. The models are supplied with Kadee couplings. The deck, consisting of a metal structure and of a wood floor, also 3D printed, measures 120 × 36mm. It can be fitted with 12 stanchions. All the parts are very well detailled and printed; all they require is some light weathering and whichever load you feel like adding. The pair of Feldbahn trucks, assembled, painted and fitted with couplings, sells for €144, the complete wagon for €195. Trains…

What’s New Schmalspurbedarf, a German retailer, sells the new releases from the Polish artisan Mano. Here are four new wagons, three of which are from the Kruszwica sugar mill: the small open wagons, the bogie open wagon with a brakeman’s seat and the bogie box van. The fourth one is a PKP bogie van, the type of vehicle that used to be included in both passenger and goods trains. On this model, buyers will need to fit the stovepipe and the steps. All the wagons feature metal axles with blackened wheels and etched loop couplings. Jacques Royan H0-9 SCHMALSPURBEDARF WWW.SCHMALSPURBEDARF.DE PRICE: TWO 4-WHEELER OPEN WAGONS: €75 BOGIE WAGONS: €75…

Following on from its successful cooperation with Peco on the Small England 0-4-0 T+T engines, Kato Japan has just launched a new range of track for H0-9/00-9. Kato is not a newcomer to the field of scale track. Their Unitrack ranges in H0 and above all in N are very popular with enthusiasts all over the world. The new narrow gauge track calls on the same design, featuring sleepers integrated into a sole. The sole is cast in grey plastic, while the sleepers are of a medium brown shade. Their size and spacing are similar to those of the Peco Setrack range, and call on the same type of rail. The rail joiners and their large plastic shoes ensure a firm assembly between the track sections, even on mobile track.…