When the old H&DLR closed to traffic, the station buildings were taken up and placed in storage for future re-use. The old H&DLR portrayed a British style railway, albeit with continental rolling stock, and so the stations reflected that style. However, on the new H&DLR, we are trying to be a tad more consistently Austrian this time. Some of the old stations have been pressed back into service, but over this winter are being converted to a more Austrian style. None of the following pretend to be scale models of actual stations but hope to capture the general style.

First up, Dottendorf station. The origins are the Pola Oberndorf kit, fairly obviously, which I'd previously anglicised by making the roof smaller - I decided that the most obviously continental aspect of the building was the roof overhang and, in my desire to create a British looking building, I reduced it.

From H&DLR public album photos

Now with a more Germanic station name board, and a more suitable departure poster. Not a major overhaul on this one, but I think it looks a little more "Austrian".

From H&DLR public album photos

The former station at Forsythia Junction has re-emerged as the halt of Holzapfel.

From H&DLR public album photos

The prototype inspiration for this station comes from the small halt of Holzapfel on the Ybbstalbahn Bergstrecke. This isn't a scale model, but the real station is timber built and has a shelter and a store room, much like my model, and a single, dead-end, siding.

From H&DLR public album photos

The red seat on the end is inspired by Andlwirt, although there seem to be a number of examples where the bench is helpfully placed outside the shelter!

Is the last one scratchbuilt, if so how did you build it and what sort of wood did you use?

And is you 'new' line fully up and running now?

Holzapfel was a kit, or more accurately two kits, from Roy Jones' Architectural Model Castings range. They're resin kits. Not bad, but sometimes a bit warped. It's made from one waiting shelter and one small building kit merged togther - many of the parts are deliberately interchangeable to allow such combinations. The building is a few years old now but the material is as good as it ever was.

And yes, the new H&DLR is fully operational - not complete, obviously, but a long way on!

Further stations will be added to this thread in a bit... assuming they're of interest, of course!

The largest station on the line is at Birkenhof. Here, space limitations dictated the Piko Rosenbach station. I've never been entirely convinced by the Piko stations, although after looking at various Austrian prototypes I realised that a two storey block at right angles to the track with a single storey block parallel to the track is a typically Austrian design. To my eye, the main problem with the Piko station as designed is that the first floor windows are impossibly close to floor level. This may be due to the 1:32 origins of the kit, but either way, it doesn't look right to me. The solution I adopted was to make the windows smaller, and thus higher above floor level. Smaller windows at the upper floor level also seem sensible anyway. Although not identical to the Piko kit, Ybbsitz or Klein Hollenstein give you the idea. I also amended the canopy design slightly.

From H&DLR public album photos

Bruce-

I remember your posts over at GSM about this Piko depot. I was wondering if one were to get two, and use the 2 story bit from one, and the wings from both, if someone could come up with something a bit more interesting, and Austrian.

But then the more I look, as you point out, the window's just don't make it. So now the thought is to scratchbuild such a depot.

Here is the general idea:

http://www.stillgelegt.de/frbb/herfry21.jpg

Depot in the former Ausrian-Hungarian empire, now Czech Republic.

Should work, though. You could shrink the upper windows even more, I just wanted to recycle the frames I'd got. With two single storey sections you could have a double winged station as per your example, the roof join from the single to the double storey section should be easy enough to reverse and there are spare cladding sections in the kit. Alternatively, if space permits, use it to lengthen the single storey side - mine/the Piko one is a bit too short in that department, although it does fit the available space. That would be slightly harder to conceal the joins on.

Wood Apple Station looks the business.

Good luck with the construction, Garrett, keep us posted. By way of a little update, I've added some downlighters above the station names. You may recall the debate about the scale of this building; certainly it is underscale, whereas the Pola and Piko wall mounted lamps are overscale, meaning that they wouldn't look right. In the other place, someone pointed me in the direction of model boat builders parts. The downlighters are by Graupner; brass lamp top, brass rod to maintain the shape, slightly bizarrely inside a flexible plastic tube. Anyway, you can't see that when they're painted. My only thought is that at 3v they don't shed quite as much light as I'd have liked. You can see that the lamps under the canopy, which are 12v bulbs under run at about 8-10v, shed more light. Graupner also do a 6v lamp, so another time... Fairly inexpensive, too - bought 4 for about the cost of 1 Pola lamp...

From H&DLR public album photos

Nice looking station Bruce, I dont know if its just the picture but I think those lights look better with less brightness, sort of gives the station more atmosphere.

Mikey

More to the scale of this station....

I also bought a Piko half timber house (actually a Mill, but it is a house with a wheel and was CHEAPER than the house itself?!?!), and I like the doors with that kit better for the station and vice versa.

......well.........

Sure enough, the doors are about 1/4" bigger in height and width of the house Vs. the station!

Ahhhhh.....the slothlike updates.....

I just bought off of eBay the Rosenbach Bier Garten kit for US $50. Same building as the station, but with different colors. No big deal, as the Piko station kit will be getting painted more Austrianesque colors anyhow.

The plan is to use the "wing' from the Biergarten kit for the station, and maybe actually build a Gasthaus for Neustadt out of the remaining bits!