Norbert Josef Pitrof

Norbert Josef Pitrof (* 1907 in Ferbka near Postoloprty , Saaz district , Bohemia ; † May 24, 1995 in Pegnitz ), known under the stage name Pit-Peg , was a German painter and model railroader .

Life

Norbert Josef Pitrof was born the son of a master wagner , learned the blacksmith and wheelwright trade and also took private lessons in drawing and painting . After completing his apprenticeship, he worked as a commercial artist in Karlsbad .

In 1943 he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg with Otto Michael Schmitt . Since he could not return to his homeland after the Second World War , he settled in Gößweinstein in 1946 , where he worked as a freelance artist . In the 1960s he was given numerous orders for the artistic design of public buildings in the Pegnitz district, where he also moved his residence after living in Frankfurt am Main from 1957 to 1960 . In the following period he was active in all of southern Germany .

Pitrof was artistically active until the last year of his life, before he had to stop his work due to an almost complete loss of vision due to an eye disease. He died of a hamstring fracture from which he did not recover.

Working as a model train designer and author

In the 1950s, Pitrof got into model railroading as a hobby. From the beginning of 1958 he published articles in the magazine MIBA , in which he showed and explained both designs for entire model railroad layouts and for the design of individual areas such as train stations or small details such as level crossings and retaining walls . The special feature of these contributions were the drawn perspective, sometimes very detailed representations, which gave a plastic, atmospheric impression of the possible appearance of the implemented plan.

Pitrof's designs quickly gained popularity and were considered an important source of inspiration, although his layout plans in particular often could not be implemented as shown without changes; His main focus was often primarily on the artistic design and the aspect of attractive landscape forms, scenarios and detailed solutions rather than on practical feasibility. This did not reduce the popularity and influence of his designs, which were particularly inspired by the Upper Franconian region. In early 1961 he began to use the stage name Pit-Peg for this work , composed of the first letters of his surname and his place of residence Pegnitz.

His first book, Anlagen-Fibel , was published in 1962 . Five more books followed by 1981, dealing with various aspects of model railway design.

Publications

• System primer (with Werner Walter Weinstötter ); MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1962
• Pit-Peg's Panoramas (with Michael Meinhold and Werner Walter Weinstötter); MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1978
• Pit-Peg's system primer (with Michael Meinhold and Werner Walter Weinstötter); MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1978
• Pit-Peg's sketch book (with Michael Meinhold and Werner Walter Weinstötter); MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1979
• Pit-peg's construction projects ; MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1981
• Pit-Peg's construction projects 2 ; MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1981

swell

• Portrait photo of Norbert Josef Pitrof on MIBA.de - five decades of model railway history
• Manfred H. Grieb : Nürnberger Künstlerlexikon visual artists, artisans, scholars, collectors, cultural workers and patrons from the 12th to the middle of the 20th century . Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 2007. ISBN 3110912961
• Franz Rittig: Pit-Peg . MIBA-Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3896102214
• Mourning for Pit-Peg , in: MIBA-Miniaturbahnen 7/95, p. 23
• A stroke of luck Pit-Peg - model railway designer with a pen, in: MIBA-Miniaturbahnen 10/98, pp. 94–99