Ainsa
by
Ian Buck

Description	Spanish State Railway (RENFE) - Present day
Scale / Gauge	1:160 - 9mm
Size:	1.75m by 1.75m
Contact:	[email protected]

Ainsa is an actual town located in the Spanish region of Aragon, of which Zaragoza is the capital. The town does not have a station but the nearby famous railway to Canfranc proved useful for inspiration. At Huesca the trains have to reverse in and out of the dead end station to carry on their journeys and this idea was imported into Ainsa.

Modelling Spanish railways is not as problematical as perhaps it seems. Many items of rolling stock are available from the likes of Roco, Ibertren and Arnold. I have set Ainsa in the year 2000 where you will see running just about everything that is available in N scale. All buildings have to be scratchbuilt and I hope they capture something of the area. For those whose only experience of Spain is the Costas the scenery may not seem very Spanish but it is fairly typical of the Pyrenean area.


Operationally, Ainsa is electrified but in true prototypical practice the trains are short, just one or two coaches although an example of the famous Talgo makes occasional appearances. Freight traffic is also in evidence, mostly cement and timber.

The locomotives used are normally all RENFE classes, 269 & 251 electrics and a 310 diesel shunter. Coaches are typical mainline type with a Talgo set plus a class 596 dmu but a Portuguese diesel may appear from time to time on loan from my other layout. Freight is carried in the type of vehicles seen all over Europe these days.