# Genova-La Spezia railway line



## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Good morning everyone.
First I introduce myself, my name is Fabrizio and I live in Turin, Italy. I am passionate about real trains and model railways. I joined this forum because I am interested in the railways and improve my English. I apologize now if you commit a mistake.
To learn about I show you my realization, an H0 scale model that represents a stretch of railway in my country, namely the railway Genoa-La Spezia, in Liguria. Exactly is a stretch of 200 meters between stations of Genova Nervi and Bogliasco. The time of setting is the VI, the rolling stock are Trenitalia and the railway is operated by RFI. To you the questions and comments.
Greetings


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Welcome! Very nice layout. Where did you get the palm trees?


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Thanks,
the palms I have bought from a craftsman of Calabria, a region of southern Italy where the specimens (the real) are also prevalent.
In Italy it is very difficult to find commercial products that faithfully reproduce the Italian setting that is used by the craftsmen or if youshould to change industrial production.
I joined the forum to also become familiar with English, I apologize now if I commit any mistakes.
In the secon pictures, another type of palm trees


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, you're a lot better with English than I am with Italian, so you're already way ahead of the game! :laugh:

Welcome to the forum, don't worry about your English, you seem to be doing just fine. :thumbsup:


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Thanks you wery much,
Italian is really not very common! I have to learn English because I have to take the IELTS examination, and then I decided to combine business with pleasure.

I would add that the model is DCC, the measures are 190x120 cm and is contained within a cabinet window. The La Spezia-Genova line is a main artery that connects Turin with Roma, on this travel itinerary all types of domestic trains, from the Frecciargento,regional trains to the goods. The trains that you see in the photos are a regional train and intercity train pulled by a locomotive E402B from 200km / h.
The E402B locomotive is currently in preparation for the changes of improving the appearance and electrical


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Fabrizio,

Welcome, and ...

WOW! FABULOUS DIAORAMA LAYOUT!!! You've really captured the look and feel of the Med coastline. The walls and stonework. Even the color of the sea. Beautiful.

I'd be curious if you have a photo or two of the real (actual) coast along this section, for comparison? (For others here, he's modeled a section of coastline on the upper/western corner of Italy.)

When you say "time of setting is the VI", can you clarify what that means?

(As a sidenote, I have friends who have visited the Cinque Terre region down the coast a bit, and they say it's absolutely wonderful.)

Great to have you onboard the forum!

TJ


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

I can only add to TJ's FABULOUS comment by saying WOW!


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Thanks you very much tjcruiser and JackC,
I do not know in other countries, in Italy it is in use to divide the time for historical periods, the time VI is running from 2005 to the present, by the introduction in Italy of 25kV 50Hz ac electrification system (for hight speed trains).
The model is then set in the years 2005 to present (coach and locomotive in green and white livery called XMPR)
The sea is modeled with the white and transparent silicone, painting prior background in turquoise.
Here are some pictures to make the comparison between the real environment and a model.
Yes, the Cinque Terre are located immediately downstream of Genova and is a very beautiful place, I was inspired precisely those areas.
The model is operational, however, permits the movement of only one train at a time.


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## kursplat (Dec 8, 2010)

wonderful, is your model powered by the tracks or the overhead wire?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Amazing stuff, hard to tell it's not real! Well, the plastic woman gives it away, but most of it is very lifelike. :thumbsup:


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Fabrizio,

AMAZING! The correlation between the real coastline and your modeled coastline is superb. You really captured the look and feel nicely.

I've embedded a couple of your pics below.

Very nice display box. I saw some sort of wood framing in the pics in your first post, but I didn't realize that was a display case. Clever.

And ... importantly ... who was the model for the girl in blue standing on the balcony ?!?!? Hubba hubba!!! (<=== there's some English for you to learn!) 

You should be incredibly proud of this wonderful project. Thanks for sharing it with us. I'm sure many of our forum guys would be interested to see any "during construction" sequence photos that you might have. How the hills were framed and sculpted, how you made the stone arch walls, etc.

Great to have you onboard!

Ohhh ... photo tip ...

To embed a photo directly in a post, simply stick the full URL address of the photo between "img" tags like this:










You can use the "Go Advanced" tab at the bottom of the thread, and from there, click on the little "mountain icon" which will automate adding the "img" tags for you.

TJ

===

Hard to tell which one is the model !!! ...


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

WOW! And your english is great!


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

How would you like to come home from work by train and have to climb that hill up to your house everyday? That is some very steep terrain and it looks to be all rock. 
Eurostar you have some beautiful rock wall work there. Lots of time in that I'm sure. Very nice work. Pete


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Thank you all for the appreciation of my work, I'm glad you like it. 
The model is powered by the tracks, in DCC. The overhead wire is only for aesthetic purposes.
Unfortunately I have'nt photos of the work "work in progress" because when I built the model I did not think and I did not make any pictures.
To achieve the mountains I used overlapping sheets of styrofoam and then modeled with a knife, after I covered them with papier mache and gypsum. For the reproduction of the cliffs and rocks I used real rocks, those which are used for playing rock gardens. Starting with "large" rocks, with flexible, hammer and chisel I have modeled the shape of rocks until is necessary. I then applied to the polystyrene support using a mixture of gypsum and vinylic glue very dense. Arches, retaining walls and tunnel portals I've made starting from sheets of polystyrene shaped with a chisel and colored with acrylic paints. The measurements of the stones and arches were drawn from real artifacts. In some cases (tunnel portals and houses) I started working up articles of industrial production. To play the vegetation I'm aware of the flora of the area and I researched several local artisans that produces the trees (pine trees, palms, oleanders, agaves), for the reproduction of the earth I used different kinds of dust and sands of industrial production (Woodland scenics). 
Tjcruiser Thanks for the advice on the photos, I will adopt this system. 
The model for the girl on the balcony is a friend of mine, in Italian we would say a "gnugna" I do not know how to translate into English, but it means a very pretty girl!
As it says gunrunnerjohn is a bit plasticous, but is the best I could do.
Some any pictures
Greetings to all 
Fabrizio
Minuetto ME (minuetto electric) Regional train from Sestri Levante to Genova Brignole








the night








"Modigliani" Intercity train from Torino Porta Nuova to Salerno








Graffiti on type Z second class coach








Cliff








E402B electric locomotive on the left








"Capodimonte" Intercity train from Napoli centrale to Torino Porta nuova
















Type Gran Comfort first class coach


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

norgale said:


> How would you like to come home from work by train and have to climb that hill up to your house everyday? That is some very steep terrain and it looks to be all rock.
> Eurostar you have some beautiful rock wall work there. Lots of time in that I'm sure. Very nice work. Pete


Thanks you Pete,
yes the work to build the rock cliffs is along and difficult. I first used the flexible and then hammer and chisel, until the result was not satisfactory.
To go to catch the train, if you want you can go from the road behind the house. In reality, however, the station is 2 km away, better get the car parked in the yard!
"Aurelia SS1" national street behind the house








Car in the yard


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

I think that living in that house may be dangerous to your health if you've had too much vino. Maybe an elevator to the train might work.
Anyway that is some fascinating model work and the scenery is very well done. One question if you please; Where do the trains go when they enter the tunnels?
The display case is another well done project. Would that be mahogany wood? Pete


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

The circuit is a simple single-track oval, doubling only in exposed part and occurs through trade in tunnels beneath the curve. The minimum radius of curvature is 371mm. All this to save space given the small size. The display case was built on my project by a expert carpenter in fir wood painted mahogany.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

It certainly is an impressive piece of work all around, very nice! :thumbsup:


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Thanks,
the costruction it is started in 2004 by the project and ended in 2009. In 2011 I improve the vegetation with new tipe of palm trees and busch. Actually I started to increase the existing fleet of rolling stock material from industrial production to make a new type of Intercity train end Eurostar train (ETR460).
For the future I think to build a new plastic that mimics a stretch of railway high-speed Rome-Naples, actually I find a pictures of the location and techical information about this railroad in order to starting with a project. 

Fabrizio


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

What did you use to model your water? :smilie_daumenpos:
Do you have a couple of closeup shots of the sea hitting the shoreline?


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Hello,
these are the best pictures that I have of the sea. I do not have a good camera.


















For the sea I coloured the support in three different tone of blue (turquoise), dark where the sea is deeper, light where the sea is shallow and I made small strips of white near the rocks. 

After that I coated the support with two type of silicone (sealant), transparent for the water and white for the foam near the rocks. I modeled the silicone with a spatula dipped in the alcohol. Alcohol is used because without the silicone remains attached to the spatula, but if you want reproduce the spurts near the rock you do not dip the spatula into the alcohol to model these areas.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

OK, so what you painted over was like a roughed up plaster base?

Looks good. :thumbsup:


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

No, I painted directly onto the plywood used for the base of the diorama. But I think that your is not a bad idea, also your tecnique is used. 
I obtained the "sea effetc" modeling the silicone when it was wet. I think that the effect is quiete good, but now we have developed others little tips that improve the realistic effect. For example it is important the shape of the spatula and the quantity of alcohol, variable depending on the state of agitation of the sea. To reproduce splashing, now I use a dry toothpick and I put the white silicone direcly on the toothpick (before I putted the white silicone onto the painted support), after that I mix the white silicone on the toothpick with the transparent silicone on the painted support. 

We have developed another tecnique with which it is possible to reproduce the depth of the sea, the tecnique consist in the use of a transparent plastic sheet between painted support and the layer of silicone. 

Hello

Fabrizio


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## blackz28 (Jan 6, 2013)

WOW I gotta admit you did a great job !!!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

OK, I understand about using the silicon. I thought maybe some was plaster too.
Silicon does whip up nice with a toothpick to make the sea look alive. :thumbsup: 

I does look good, a good alternative to pouring the water products that are on the market.:smilie_daumenpos:


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## alman (Oct 22, 2012)

I actually travelled on that line a few times in the fifties.

I was maybe ten years old. 

Your model looks almost exactly as I remember it.

My sister lived in Genoa , and her family had a seaside villa in La Spezia.

I spent a month or so at that villa one summer. Beautiful area.

I remember the sand being so hot that you had to run into the water.

I boarded a ship in 1959 from The port of Genoa, to Halifax , Canada.

The ship was called the The Olympia. The Greek Line.

I have been in Canada ever since !

Grazie per il momento nostalgico voi.

My family is Italian of course , and I still have relatives that live in Italy , in Livorno.

It's a small world.


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## Eurostar Italia (May 20, 2011)

Interesting story alman, yes the world is small!
The railway line Genova - La Spezia offers beautiful landscapes.
Instead the other ligurian railways (Genova - Venimiglia ) is changing al lot. The new line is doubled and is built in the inland, not on the sea like the old single track line. There is many tunnel and the landscape are not particular, but the new railways is faster.
On the old line, bike paths are under construction.
Hello 

Fabrizio


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