Press release from 05.02.2026: Private investment competition – From the hobby cellar to the limelight!

In the past years, the interest in the private plant competition for the Fascination MODELLBAHN Mannheim was always very high.

Once again this year, 6 private model railroad layouts worth seeing were selected for the MIBA Private Layout Competition 2026. Participants come from all over Germany with their model railroad beauties, often built especially for Faszination MODELLBAHN Mannheim.

Here you will find an overview of this year’s private plants:

Ilona and Bernd Rüger, stand 1320 A: Steinberg (H0e gauge)

This segment layout is based on a section of a fictitious narrow-gauge line in the Ore Mountains with a station, engine shed and standard railroad buildings. The track plan has enough shunting possibilities to present the local 4K locomotive, for example. Along the track there are replicas of beautiful buildings typical of this region. For example, a large farmstead, an old smithy and a carpenter’s workshop with a house. Here, “Grandma Johanne” sits in front of the house with her lace-making utensils.

The focus here was on visualizing the somewhat romantic and quiet lifestyle of this period with many small scenes.

In one garden, for example, the white laundry is “bleached” on the lawn so that the sun and water can remove dirt stains from the laundry without chemicals. The children are busy with watering cans.

Various vehicles and inscriptions or slogans quickly show that the period around 1955 was recreated in Saxony.

The “Steinberg” segment layout with scenery and lighting will be shown to the public for the first time at this trade fair.

Jürgen Heinritz, stand 1320 B: Itsnot Moor (track 0-16.5)

The model railway layout shows the freight loading of a small narrow-gauge private railroad in the south of England at the end of the 19th century.

The layout is built on a scale of 1:43.5. This corresponds to the British scale 0. As the vehicles run on a track gauge of 16.5 mm, this results in the designation 0-16.5.

Only very few things on the layout are bought ready-made. Almost everything has been converted or built by myself. For example, the tracks and the points were made suitable for narrow gauge using commercially available material. The locomotive and wagons were made from kits from England.

To present the system in the best possible light, it has built-in lighting. There is even a loudspeaker to provide the right background music.

Hanns Hirblinger, stand 1320 C: The Saw Mill (track 0n30)

The layout represents a small US sawmill for sleepers. The sawmill is a kit from the USA (Sierra West Scale Models). The workshop at the front edge of the layout and the engine shed are self-built. The workshop has a complete interior.

The road vehicles (trucks) are 3D kits from the aforementioned US manufacturer. The rail vehicles are converted Bachmann models, some of which are equipped with sound decoders. The wagon models are mainly home-made. All models are naturally aged. The layout is equipped with background scenery and lighting.

Ansgar Meyring, Stand 1320 D: Ümmeling (N gauge)

Ümmeling is a fictitious rural junction station on a single-track branch line in the German hill country.

The village of Ümmeling is only hinted at, the rural character is in the foreground. Ümmeling was built sometime in the 50s, 60s or perhaps even in the early 70s of the last century. Steam and diesel vehicles are used for transportation and are accompanied by wing signals. There is a three-track staging yard at the rear.

Jörg Baumann, Stand 1320 E: Light railroad in the sawmill (1:13 scale)

This layout is a 1:13 scale section of a light railroad layout showing a sawmill including the timber loading area. In the sawmill there is a fully functional self-built frame saw. This frame saw can be used to cut real pieces of wood.
The wood is loaded with the help of a derrick crane, which is also home-made. It is remote-controlled and fully functional.
The rolling stock was built entirely by the builder. It is a field railway locomotive without a specific prototype. The second locomotive is based on the diesel locomotive of the Schlossgartenbahn in Karlsruhe.

Leo Bettonviel, Booth 1320 F: Morenci Mining District, Arizona (Gauge 0n30, H0 and 0n14)

The Morenci Mining District model railroad layout depicts a mining area in the United States of America around 1930. The layout is designed in the scales 0n30, Ho and 0n14.

It shines with a high degree of workmanship, lighting and digital control.

Images for royalty-free use for your reporting here: http://www.faszination-modellbahn.com/presse/

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Contact: Messe Sinsheim GmbH, phone: +49 7025 9206-102, e-mail: presse@messe-sinsheim.de