European Z

Friends, I have a question...though I love Z Central, everyone here is superbly kind and helpful....there is just not much European action, and that is 99% of what I model. The stuff I like fetches many bids and high prices on eBay, so there MUST be a community of Euro-interested Z modelers out there somewhere. But it is not here, railwire, or trainboard. Where on the Web can I talk to other Euro Z modelers, in English? Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

sounds like you are going to have to learn German
z-friends-europe

Hello Ondrej,
andyjbj wrote:

Where on the Web can I talk to other Euro Z modelers, in English? Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

as Chris wrote, if you're looking for a Euro-Z-community that exclusivly writes in English you won't have much luck. Beside the options you mentioned and the Yahoo group "z-scale" the only strong and big Z-scale board is the z-friends-europe board . This link leads to the English start page of the board. At least the registration can be done in English. The main board language is German, but if you post a question i English you will also get an answer, since there are many members that are also are active here. Unfortunately the Z-Friends-Europe main page which Chris linked in his message only works in German.

I would recommend that you at least take a look into the board. You won't believe what you will find there.

Uwe,

Thanks for encouraging people to sign up to the z-friends-europe board. I've learned a lot already

andyjbj wrote:

Friends, I have a question...though I love Z Central, everyone here is superbly kind and helpful....there is just not much European action, and that is 99% of what I model. The stuff I like fetches many bids and high prices on eBay, so there MUST be a community of Euro-interested Z modelers out there somewhere. But it is not here, railwire, or trainboard. Where on the Web can I talk to other Euro Z modelers, in English? Am I looking for something that doesn't exist?

Hello Andy,

I model Swiss, but do have some DB and as always some USA items. My USA items are mainly railroads that operated in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Maryland. The time frame is 1940-1960 before all the mergers. These are run on the Zo Cal layout.
My Swiss items are SBB, BLS, and SOB. I recently discovered an OBB Rail Jet train set, but I think it will cost me over $2,000 USD for the 7 car train set. What I like about the Swiss Railways are the bridges, viaducts, and tunnels. I just need to learn how to construct a helix to gain hight. I have also collected several Kibri Swiss buildings that I need to assemble.
So Andy, yes there is at least one member on this site that loves European Trains.

Robert

Operating Tweezer Trains
"On the Left Coast"

"GO NITTANY LIONS"

Hello Beverly,
Beverly56 wrote:

Thanks for encouraging people to sign up to the z-friends-europe board. I've learned a lot already

Welcome aboard the ZFE train...

...as you might have seen I'm there also. Currently are some great threads are going on. Just to mention one thread out of many I would like to point to the sawmill thread. In German: Sägewerk (you have to be logged in at ZFE for opening this thread....). When I did read the postings in this thread, I couldn't believe what is possible for some people...
... a working sawmill (this video is on MyVideo, and you don't need to be logged in...)...

About the video: check out also "Andere Videos von "zistmeinleben" " (second row of videos on the right side).

That sawmill was cool.

Jeremy

Well I just joined up, but I have not read any german since I was a kid, might take a while:laugh: but looks like a good site. jeff

HI
I just got on the Z Friends Europe group last week. Of course our German and other European friends that we see here are for the most part there too, and they have welcomed me. My German writing skills are awful but I cheat and talk my Frau into writing for me:side:
I know you feel a bit discouraged that there are not a lot of European railroad fans here, but keep at it. I have a few German trains and will be doing German standard modules in the future. And even our European friends here that do American Z railroading will surly help you with questions you have about European Railroading. Uwe is always quick to answer questions about Germany, and I try what I can giving you a perspective though American eyes of things European.
At this time I am trying to decide on which module norm to use, and as soon as I get that worked out you will see some more of German railroading

I am also a huge European Railroad fan! I would love to see more topics on the forum on European Z. I have found that many European Z modeler are a bit more quite and reserved than those modeling North American Z. It is one reason we are always actively searching for more European themed articles to run in Ztrack.

I have been working on expanding my home layout which is solely European based. I will post photos as soon as I have time to take them. The layout is coming along very nicely! Here is one of my favorite photos of the passenger station:



Rob

This layout is very very well done. It captures European railroading. The proportions and layout.. the bridge in the back and the building, and the spur line on the right side. Germans don't waste a bit of land and there a buildings put in little corners and at angles. Nice autobahn in the front. I could take pictures all over Germany of real train stations almost like this and you got it right on the nose..At least from what I have seen being over here 20 years

Same problem here. This is the most helpful Z forum I found so far. The main focus might be US prototype, but maybe if a bit more european modellers let themselves be known that part of the forum would flourish a bit.

The main board language is German, but if you post a question i English you will also get an answer,

Well, my experience with german forums has been very negative. Quite a nose-in-the-air attitude, certainly with respect to non-native german speakers. I did my best in german, appologised for possible faults but never got any replies. It looks as if they notice that you're not german (or austrian) they just ignore you. Forums where they call each other by their last name AND TILTLE (Sehr Geachter Herr, Herr Dr., Herr Dipl. Ing. etc) is far from inviting. I gave up.

This is not my experience with Germans when you see them in flesh and blood. But on the net...

Hello Johan,
Havoc wrote:

[...about ZFE...]The main board language is German, but if you post a question i English you will also get an answer,

Well, my experience with german forums has been very negative. Quite a nose-in-the-air attitude, certainly with respect to non-native german speakers. I did my best in german, appologised for possible faults but never got any replies. It looks as if they notice that you're not german (or austrian) they just ignore you. Forums where they call each other by their last name AND TILTLE (Sehr Geachter Herr, Herr Dr., Herr Dipl. Ing. etc) is far from inviting. I gave up.

This is not my experience with Germans when you see them in flesh and blood. But on the net...

What kind of boards are that where they use last name and title...
...as far as I saw on the net the the tone is definitely more relaxed then in real life. I would never even think about calling my boss by his first name, but on the net this wouldn't be a problem. Even if I would meet my boss in a internet board it would probably be so that I address him with his first name or his nick on the net, and still keep with his last name in real life.

I don't know about Belgium and the languages spoken there, but German is a language that has very clearly different ways to address persons: "Sie" and "Du" are the two forms, the "Sie" being the polite form used for anybody whom I either not familiar with or who is in a whatever better position. The "Du" is reserved for friends and family only. This is relaxing somewhat with the younger generations, but still there are even rules about who may offer the change from "Sie" to "Du"...

About the ZFE board, I knew that there are lots of people who can speak and write in English, and I also knew that there are those that can and do so in Dutch. From your name I believe that that might be your language too.

What kind of boards are that where they use last name and title...

Take a look here: www.gdo.de/hausorgel/ (then "forum/pinboard" and then to "hausorgelbau" ) go to the years 2004-2005 (that's when I tried to get some answers there) page 13-17 about. Don't find back the other board I went then, I only kept a link to this one as sometimes something interesting came up. But I never post there anymore.

I don't know about Belgium and the languages spoken there, but German is a language that has very clearly different ways to address persons: "Sie" and "Du" are the two forms, the "Sie" being the polite form used for anybody whom I either not familiar with or who is in a whatever better position. The "Du" is reserved for friends and family only. This is relaxing somewhat with the younger generations, but still there are even rules about who may offer the change from "Sie" to "Du"...

Same here, Dutch is closely related to German and german is an official language in Belgium. Difference is that in belgium nobody will be shocked when there are faults made to this, certainly not when strangers make them.

You seem to forget "Euch" (sp?) from your list, the germans use that also a lot.

I only really met one guy who had a Doctor title that worked with Z trains, and when I met him he was very happy to have met me and was very friendly. Of course he makes fantastic models and has his own company, but he went out of his way to find me at a show in Germany and shake my hand. I don't remember if we became "per Du" but I guess years of my reenacting Prussian military, I am used to German formality and it doesn't bother me.
My wife is an instrument builder and she thinks its odd to have a "Herr Doktor" title even for organ builders, so those guys must be an exception. (They would really look at me crosseyed if I asked them where I could find a real goatskin bellow for my barrel organ..as I am sure a hurdy gurdy type organ is beneath them.)
I haven't been on the German forum for long so I will have to wait and see. So far people have been friendly.

My wife is an instrument builder and she thinks its odd to have a "Herr Doktor" title even for organ builders, so those guys must be an exception.

These are not professional builder but amateur builders. From what I learned afterwards, in germany, once you get a "doktor" title it becomes part of your name. Even officially. I also take a guess these are not likely doktors in medicine but in other "arts".

Anyway, we are way off topic now.

What are we going to do to get more activity in the european Z scene on this forum?

I had trouble getting into ZFE, anyways it seems there is plenty of interest here in ZCS. Rob, that is an awesome layout and as Alinda and I gain skills, it sounds like we would be good to send photos & articles (does Z track publish photo-only sort of content sometimes?) to Z Track.
For this forum, I promise to take some time this week to start a few threads about our recent projects and post many more photos of what we are up to. Rob, considering that your home layout is obviously awesome, you might do the same Show us some more angles and maybe the track layout/dimensions of your great looking work!
I model Era 5, NS/DB/CFF/OBB and of course Czech.

Hello Johan,
Havoc wrote:

Same here, Dutch is closely related to German and german is an official language in Belgium. Difference is that in belgium nobody will be shocked when there are faults made to this, certainly not when strangers make them.

My experience in English is that when talking to British people they would correct mistakes I made in a very polite way, whereas an American just ignores the mistake and only if he's not sure what I really meant asked again.

You seem to forget "Euch" (sp?) from your list, the germans use that also a lot.

Not really, because "Euch" (spelling is correct) mostly means the plural. I would say "Euch" if I address a group of people in an informal way. Just like I would say "Dir/Dich" addressing a single person. This belongs to the informal addressing "Du/Dir/Dich" (depending on the grammar) in singular and "Ihr/Euch" in plural. The more formal version from "Euch" ist "Ihnen" which belongs to the "Sie" for the formal addressing. Couriously in the formal version the "Sie/Ihnen" ist used in singular and in plural, meaning it is no difference in those words if I address one person or a group. In English all those words "Du/Dir/Dich/Euch/Sie/Ihnen" gets to "You".

Another story is the old addressing in the third person. Then I would say "Euch" if I mean a single person, but this is something of the past as Germany still was a monarchy with a king or emperor...

Here is a site of a gentleman in Austria that is doing some special work He is constructing the OBB Rail Jet.
I just thought I would share this.

www.modellbauprofi.info


Robert

Splendid station Rob. I see a few of my favourite trains there

Is that station a Kibri kit?