Pretty Nice Micro Model Train City Edge Layout of the Suburbs of Paris in France by Wieger Pasman

Published on November 27, 2023

Although this model railway layout is only 60 cm x 30 cm in size, we discover an incredible amount of detail. This is the special feature of model railroader Wieger Pasman, who demonstrates that less can be more with his understated atmospheric model train city edge diorama. He was inspired by the desolate atmosphere of the Parisian district of La Plaine Saint Denis and built a diorama in HO scale with an industrial yard crossed on one side by a main line railway on an embankment.

The suburbs of large cities - called “Banlieue” in French - can be characterised by dirt and filth on the streets, abandoned houses, wild camping sites and everything we would describe as ugly. But it is typical of these suburbs that there is railway traffic. There are mainly goods trains. Sometimes, there are locomotives being transferred from one station to another. The roads are also crossed by industrial railways because there are many factories and large companies in the suburbs that need to be supplied with goods.

Wieger Pasman, a railway modeller from the Netherlands, has captured exactly this mystical, industrial atmosphere and transferred it into his small model train diorama. While two diesel locomotives shuttle from one depot to the other on the railway embankment along the bridge, a small blue Y2100 shunter, made by manufacturer “REE Modèles”, rumbles across the road. The dirty suburban life takes place across a width of just 60 cm on the shelf layout with a fiddle yard on each side.

At the model railway exhibition “Modeltrein Expo On TraXS” where this city edge layout was presented, Wieger Pasman said: Designing a model railway layout starts with the atmosphere that he wants to convey and a certain feeling that the whole model railroad layout must evoke. Furthermore, Wieger Pasman said that he is a very thoughtful modeller who works on small HO scale layouts that fit into his 45 square meter flat. In addition, he has a preference for the obscure, for the run-down and for the charm of so-called “lost places”, i.e. “forgotten places” or “abandoned premises”.

The layout “La Plaine Saint Denis”, which belongs to the category of “micro layouts”, conveys a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. It is not entirely clear what is going on. It is a kind of emptiness. The whole scene is carefully detailed and weathered. Although his micro city edge layout is only large enough to fit on a kitchen table, even the old washing machine standing next to the telephone shop shows a certain patina. Once the train has passed, another detail is revealed below and behind the bridge. Finally, the windows of the houses underline the run-down and dirty atmosphere intended by model builder Wieger Pasman.

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