Sommerfeldt railway models
| Sommerfeldt Eisenbahn-Modelle GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1949 |
| Seat | Hattenhofen , Germany |
| management | Andreas Heintel, Sonja Putschkat, Ingo Putschkat |
| Branch | Model railway |
| Website | www.sommerfeldt.de |
The Sommerfeldt Eisenbahn GmbH models , also Sommerfeldt Catenary + pantograph GmbH or Sommerfeldt GmbH , a German manufacturer of overhead lines and current collectors for model railways based in Hattenhofen in Baden-Wuerttemberg .
history
In 1949 Günter Sommerfeldt began manufacturing model accessories made of sheet metal, wire and plastic. First of all, fine, prototypical and at the same time functional pantographs were produced for the 0 gauge, which was common at the time . Metal profile masts of various types followed, as well as contact wires and transverse support structures . At that time, the fine contact lines, suspension cables and spacers were considered to be trend-setting. Sommerfeldt used sturdy metal masts in order to be able to absorb the tension forces necessary for a model that is as true to the original as possible. Before the introduction of digital control, only a functioning overhead line enabled most systems to independently control two trains on one track. Sommerfeldt played a key role in the development and introduction of the corresponding NEM standards , as well as in the standardization of the dimensions for pantographs and overhead lines after the introduction of the nominal size N in 1962.
In 1969 the company moved from Göppingen to Hattenhofen. In the following years, the product range was expanded to include items for the railways in neighboring German countries as well as narrow-gauge and trams . In 1979 the legal form of the GmbH was chosen for the company. In 1988 the company founder retired and handed over the business to his son Jürgen. On January 1, 2016, the Sommerfeldt Eisenbahn-Modell GmbH was taken over by the Sommerfeldt Oberlinien + Stromabnehmer GmbH. The new owners are Andreas Heintel and Ingo Putschkat. Both have been known in the industry for many years, as both are also owners of the modellplan company.
range
In addition to overhead lines, Sommerfeldt initially manufactured couplings and individual locomotive models. However, the company quickly concentrated on overhead lines and pantographs. Over the years, the range of contact lines has been expanded to the nominal sizes from 0 to N gauge . The offer includes models for railways from seven European countries as well as historical railways. Sommerfeldt currently produces the most extensive range of model overhead lines for different eras and railway companies. The pantographs are standard at well-known model railway manufacturers such as Fleischmann and Märklin . There is an extensive range of spare parts for replacing wear parts or for more prototypical retrofitting. Sommerfeldt manufactures its products exclusively in Hattenhofen, Germany.
Product development (selection)
- 1949 DB pantograph H0 and pantograph track 0
- 1952 DB pantograph and coupling with pre-uncoupling option
- 1965 N gauge overhead line and N gauge pantograph
- 1971 SBB overhead line H0 gauge
- 1974 FS overhead line H0 gauge
- 1976 Dutch catenary H0 gauge
- 1979 RhB overhead line H0m gauge
- 1983 SBB overhead line N gauge
- 1986 Belgian overhead line H0 gauge
- 1992 ÖBB overhead line H0 gauge
- 1998 Overhead line for TT gauge
- 2012 DB overhead line for 0 gauge
Print sources
- Manfred Scheibling: Ambitious plans for the “Panto-Pope” . In: railway magazine . No. 9 , 2017, ISSN 0342-1902 , p. 80-81 .
- Sommerfeldt catalogs
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overhead lines pantograph Sommerfeldt 50 years, Sommerfeldt GmbH, 1999, p. 4
- ↑ a b c Hans Zschaler: Pioneers of the model railway (4). Günter Sommerfeldt: BlickpunktOberleitung , in: MIBA-Miniaturbahnen 4/98, pp. 88–89
- ↑ Article list 2016 ( Memento from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Preface ( Memento from March 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on: sommerfeld.de, accessed March 11, 2016
- ↑ Sommerfeldt Eisenbahn-Modelle GmbH - overhead lines pantograph. (No longer available online.) In: www.sommerfeldt.de. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016 ; accessed on September 22, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
