SWISS Z SCALE MODEL RAILWAY LAYOUTS

You were just thinking what an excellent day you picked for coming up to the Gotthard mountain range when a distant rumble tells you that the views you are enjoying are just about to get even better. In the distance you can pick out the shiny red silhouette of an Re 460 locomotive speeding towards your trackside position with a heavy freight, and as this modern power horse gallops past you with a container train in tow, mastering this breathtaking natural barrier with ease, you know you've come to the right place. This is Swiss train watching at its best.

The Gotthard route, running from the industrial and business centers in northern Switzerland to the lakeside localities on the border with Italy in the South, has always held a deep fascination with railway enthusiasts and modellers alike. The 160 kilometers (100 miles) of railway track are characterized by a sinuous course on steep gradients which, in a number of places called for winding helicoid loops - only 18% of the route is level. The culminating point on this truly incredible railway route is the 15 kilometers (almost 10 miles) long Gotthard tunnel under the Alps.

Work began in 1872 on both sides of the mountains, at Goeschenen in the North and Airolo in the South. The two bores of the tunnel met in 1880, with full train service starting in 1882 when the equally arduous approach lines had been completed. Steam power reigned for over forty years until electrification reached the line just after World War I. With electric and thus increased motive power at hand, heavier loads could be moved at greater speeds.

The Gotthardbahn became the most heavily used international route from North to South in Europe. Tonnage and passenger numbers increased dramatically and gave birth to impressive mountain railway locomotives which became icons of Swiss engineering and Swiss railways, with the famous "Crocodile" as one of the world's truly classic locomotives.

Robert Albriton from Washington D.C. has chosen to model in Z scale not because he lacks the space for larger scales, but rather because he was looking for a more realistic scenery to railway ratio and realistically long trains. From this point of view the Gotthard route very much looks like an obvious choice, with the scenery dominating if not dwarfing the railway and both classic and modern motive power of the route available in ready-to-run form.

Rob took on the huge challenge and came up with a Z scale masterpiece.

Over the course of 90 days, from late April to early July 2002, Rob built over 100 square feet of Z-Bend Track modules for the NMRA National Train Show in St. Louis. At home, this modern era layout is even larger, with modules arranged in a horseshoe formation.

True to the prototype location, the Gotthard modules feature some breathtaking views and show the scenic potential of Z scale at its very best.

The layout is built using Maerklin track throughout (though Rob has used flexible track in order to have some generous radius curvature), but some of the rolling stock to be seen on the layout definitely is not standard Z scale production. A variety of customised passenger coaches (Eurofima sleepers, Hupac piggyback train coach, etc.) stand out, not the least Rob's Class 482 SBB Cargo locomotive which he had up and running in 2002 - he not only beat Maerklin to it by four years but also SBB Cargo, as his Z scale model was put into service on his layout before the real thing entered revenue service in 1:1 scale...

click for larger image

This is a layout which is beyond most Z scale modellers simply for the sheer size of the project, but it is a fascinating example of just why Z scale has nothing to do with toy trains at all.

You can see more of this layout by visiting Rob Albriton's homepage.