Rolf Ertmer

Rolf Ertmer (born January 20, 1925 in Paderborn ; † July 15, 2004 in Altenbeken ) was a German model railroader and author .

Life

Ertmer was already working in the 1930s with model railways of the then new nominal size H0 (at that time still called 00 ). His first model railway, built with TRIX Express material, burned in 1945, shortly after his convocation to the Wehrmacht had received. After TRIX had resumed production after the currency reform , Ertmer built a new system, which he presented in words and pictures in his first article for the MIBA magazine in May 1955.

In the 1950s, Ertmer became increasingly dissatisfied with the prototypical three-rail tracks of the TRIX Express program and began building a new model railway layout, for which he only used true-to-the-original, self-made tracks in the two-rail two-rail system . He also strived for greater realism in the landscaping. The system, which he named Repa-Bahn - composed of the initials of his name and the first letters of his place of residence in Paderborn - he presented for the first time in the January 1959 issue of MIBA.

The compromises that he had made when designing this system due to spatial restrictions were displeased to Ertmer after a short time. In 1962, he therefore began building the Repa-Bahn II in a larger room , where he made an unusual effort for the time, both through special attention to design details and in the overall concept: He built the entire Altenbeken station as true to the original as possible to. In addition, the system was designed to precisely reproduce the real operating processes and timetables. Since the turnout drives , decoupling tracks and speed controllers offered by the model railway industry did not meet his requirements, he constructed his own developments that were also sold commercially under the brand name REPA and, as Ertmer gained increasing popularity and reputation among model railroaders, also spread. In 1972 the facility was completed.

Ertmer, who, as a trained photographer , had extensively documented the creation of the Repa-Bahn II with photographs, wrote a series of books in which he presented the system and its underlying principles and which were published by MIBA-Verlag between 1977 and 1985. Together with the magazine articles showing his work, these books ensured that Ertmer's layout was seen as a style-defining feature.

Ertmer had to dismantle the Repa-Bahn II as early as 1977 because he was moving to Altenbeken . At his new place of residence he took up the model railroad again, but switched to nominal size 0 . He also documented in a book the construction of his new Repa-Bahn III facility , for which he again set higher standards. He also built a garden railway with a 5-inch gauge, which was operated with real steam locomotives.

The seriously ill Rolf Ertmer died in July 2004.

Books

• Repa-Bahn 1 . MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1977
• Repa-Bahn 2 . MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1977
• Repa-Bahn practice . MIBA-Verlag, Nuremberg 1978
• Back then in Altenbeken (with Michael Meinhold ). MIBA-Verlag, Fürstenfeldbruck 1985. ISBN 3896109588
• From half zero to zero - The Repa-Bahn III . MIBA-Verlag, Fürstenfeldbruck 1988.

swell

• Portrait photo of Rolf Ertmer on MIBA.de - practitioner and innovator
• Practitioner and innovator - On the death of Rolf Ertmer . In: MIBA miniature railways 9/2004, p. 7
• Super model railroad layouts part 2: In gauge 0 and 0e . Verlag Hermann Merker, 1996. ISBN 3922404871

Web links

• One of three "Makaros"