The new Markenburg theme: Venneweg, is basically built with the Gilze Rijen trainstation environment. These consist out of the station building, the side building and the freight warehouse. Markenburg has had the station building in its product range since 2013 and since a somewhat later date it is not only available in scale 1:160 (N), but also in scale 1:87 (H0). The side building and the freight warehouse are completely new and immediately available in both scales. Furthermore, the Venneweg theme will offer space in the future for more, typical interbellum period, 1920/1930 buildings, such as those that can usually be found in the (small)city environment. This is a good continuation of the buildings from the Rijense station area, which were actually erected around 1920.
The freight warehouse and the side building were actually demolished more than 30 years ago. That did not make the development of the models easier. The original specifications drawings certainly left room for further interpretation at detail level. That happens more often, but in particular detailed photos often provide a definitive answer to what the details of the buildings have looked like in those situations. We soon noticed that public archives have relatively little detail photo material of both buildings. As a result, with the help of enthusiastic hobbyists and people with a large local network, we were also able to consult numerous private archives and photo collections. In this way a reasonable photo graphic image was created, mostly of photo fragments, of the two buildings. The city building and structural engineers of Markenburg have converted this fragmented information into a total set of reconstruction drawings of the two buildings. And based on the reconstruction drawings, we have been able to work out the models available from now on.
Markenburg already has two goods sheds in its range. Nevertheless, we think that this freight warehouse is a welcome addition. After all, the warehouse in the Venneweg theme is much longer and slimmer than the sheds in the Klokkenlaan and Wolfshoek themes. It is therefore possible to shunt more wagons along this shed, without the building surface greatly increasing. Together with the side building and the station building, certainly in the set-up to reality, an elongated, but also fairly narrow layout can be designed well.
For more detailed information, both about the kits and the background of the actual buildings, the product pages can be consulted. The relevant product pages can of course be found in the Venneweg theme.
