Today there is my last interview from the model railway exhibition at the MVG Museum Munich. In it, René Helbig shows me and explains his small H0 shunting system on a scale of 1to87. It allows almost any shunting task to be put together in a playful manner on an area of just one square meter. The 174 cm long and 58 cm deep system is basically based on the strategy game idea “Timesaver” by John Whitby Allen from 1966. The system by René Helbig consists of Märklin C tracks and includes 6 switches and a double crossing switch. The detailed track plan of the system can be seen in the video at 4 minutes 40 seconds. The video interview took place on March 17, 2024 at the exhibition in the MVG Museum, which was organized by the Modellbahnfreunde MVG U-Bahn Munich (model railway friends MVG underground traffic system)
My video consists of the following sections, which can also be selected directly in the timeline:
00:00 René Helbig about John Allen's Timesaver
00:33 Tasks for fun in a small space
01:10 Overview of the system from above and game ideas
01:56 Dimensions of the system
02:23 Track material, digital control
02:43 Digitally switchable SMA clutches
03:09 Demonstration of the maneuvering process
04:11 Tight turnout radii for reasons of space
04:36 Track plan created with WinTrack
05:03 Details goods shed and locomotive shed
05:36 It's supposed to be fun as a pastime
05:57 Shunting trip V 60 from Märklin
06:33 V 90 is too big for this system
06:53 Tip: as short as possible locos like Köf 2
07:27 Mobile Station 2 and ESU switch pilot
08:25 Game idea comes from John Allen
08:45 Extended John Allen track plan
09:35 Exit to a counter module
09:23 Farewell
Link to René Helbig’s Instagram channel:
gandalaress