22,191 views
In Steinsfeld in Middle Franconia, there is one of the largest model railway systems in Europe, covering an area of more than 250 m², with the theme of the Swiss railways, in particular the Gotthard North Ramp, on over 900 meters of model track. Known in specialist circles as the "Fascination of the Gotthard Railway in Miniature" or the "Model Railway of the Gotthard North Ramp", this large model railway system is also the life's work of the Köttgen family. At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium, large, permanent model railway exhibitions were set up in many towns and cities in Germany. That was the time when the Miniatur Wunderland was still in its infancy. Suddenly you could read something in specialist magazines about a "Germany Express" or the "Oberhausen Model Railway" exhibition or the "Black Forest Model Railway". There are many more permanent exhibitions that were set up at that time to the delight of many railway fans. In any case, one of the large-scale systems that was created at that time was the "Fascination of the Gotthard Railway in Miniature" in the Middle Franconian town of Steinsfeld, very close to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The focus of this permanent exhibition, which still exists today, is a true-to-scale replica of the Gotthard North Ramp in Switzerland. The famous Gotthard Railway in the Swiss Alps is presented in H0 gauge with all of its distinctive buildings, bridges and tunnels. Hans Köttgen, the builder of the Gotthard model railway, has done a real job of hard work. 14,000 trees alone adorn the mountains and slopes of the miniature landscapes, so that you can see that faithfulness to detail was more important than quick, striking model construction. Everything should be as close to the original as possible, i.e. every detail, no matter how small, is usually made by hand because ready-made kits are not available. The model system includes well over 40 bridges and viaducts, tunnels and galleries. Even the gradients of the track are based precisely on the real conditions of the mountain section in Switzerland, so that the height difference that the model trains have to overcome is just under 2.5 meters. In its edition of January 5, 2006, the "Fränkische Anzeiger" newspaper judged that the model railway in Reichelshofen was a prime example of attention to detail. The exhibition was already described at the time as "Europe's most true-to-life model railway show." Here you can see the Gotthard Railway as it was operated between 1960 and 1980, says Hans Köttgen, who created a model railway exhibition to preserve and present to posterity a model railway collection that has grown over 60 years. Fascination Gotthard Railway http://www.gotthard-modellbahn.de Pennula https://www.pennula.com