Gentlemen, could anyone illustrate about this images picked-up in http://www.artitec-deutschland.de/arah055.htm ? were them real ww1 subjects, or are just funny extrapolations? tahnk You in advance, EDUARDO
Judjing by the rest of the range I would have thought they are of prototypes I supose they ran on lines of the Eastern front(?) but the Russian gauge was alot bigger than the German so this would have restricted their use. One explanation is could they have been captured Russian stock? Will look up my books to see if I can find anything else.
I recognise some of the WW2 stuff and would therefore assume that the WW1 stuff might be genuine as well. One of these appears to be a Fahrpanzer on a railway truck.
The middle pic rather accurately depicts the Pz.T9( tenderlokomotive T9 ); which did indeed exist. They were used extensively with KuK armoured trains when moving grain from the Ukraine in 1918.
Yes, the Ruski railways were all 5 ft. gauge. A purpose design to deny ready use of their rail system by western European powers operating standard gauge( 4' 8 3/4").
I recognise some of the WW2 stuff and would therefore assume that the WW1 stuff might be genuine as well. One of these appears to be a Fahrpanzer on a railway truck.
Thank You to all gentlemen for the quick response. I am also intregued and make mine Centurion´s words,i recognize the WW2 items, which most of them I have seen in photos of real subject. The one that strongly intrigues me is the heavy siege gun... located too of-line on the truck´s gravity center as for being steady enough to be transported safely. A little enigma...
Ruski railways were all 5 ft. gauge. A purpose design to deny ready use of their rail system by western European powers operating standard gauge( 4' 8 3/4").
If that were the reason it was singularly ineffective as the Germans very quickly came up with a wheel spacer kit. I had understood that it was to ensure that incoming commercial goods had to be transhipped onto Russian trains (and duties, tolls collected etc) - some similar silly tricks were once applied on Britains canal system about a hundred years before to force transhipment etc between canals owned by different companies.
I don't know much about Railways, so I can not tell wether they are correct or not.
But the sign (white shield with block cross) on the side definetly is regarding to German Freikorps. More precisely it is "Grenzschutz Ost" (Boarder Defense East). I have seen pictures with signs like that. Also it is said, that one was later in action near/in Berlin.
Indeed, German railway engineers were continually busy in occupied territories. The Russians did, however, buy time with their unique gauge. Laying an inside rail on Ruski sleepers( known as ties in USA ) provided a quick bed for 60cm traffic, but the standard qauge traffic was not addressed so easily by the pioneers. The 5' gauge was just narrow enough to prevent a 3rd rail for standard gauge to be laid. This neccessitated pulling a rail, and repositioning a new rail a little more than 3" in from the old rail location. There is an old pic illustrating German gondolas piled full of rail, and cut bridgework apparently routing back to German mills.
I thought I had only seen such pictures, but by searching some other pictures within my collection today, I found this one below in an envelope with Freikorps pictures. The titel says: "Regarding the unrests in Berlin. An armoured train in the midst of the city."
The last wagon in your photo captures a rare 7,72cm Eisenbahn Flakwagen. Mounted on a special depressed short flat wagon, this weapon system came into use in mid 1918. What makes your pic particularly rare is the splinter shield fitted to the piece. Good find !
Hello again, this discussion is gaining interest with the valuable add fo images and data/opinion.The shield painted on the trucks is according to the kindly provided photo a proof of some degree of realism in the subject models.- All the best, EDUARDO