Modular Model Railroads

The following are shelves for holding model trains for display.  These are handy if you have a large collection of trains and no place to display them.

Glenn Snyder Display Systems - http://www.gsds.com/

• HO/S Gauge $12 per 6 ft section
• O Gauge $15 per 6 ft section
• O/STD/LGB Gauge $25 per 6 ft section
• Aluminum extrusion
• UPS shipping additional

RailRax - http://www.railrax.net/

• HO/S gauge - $15.00 per 6 ft. section
• O gauge - $19.50 per 6 ft. section
• #1/ G/ Standard/O - $28.00 per 6 ft. section
• Aluminum Extrusion
• UPS/FedEx shipping additional

Dechants Model Railroad Display Shelves - http://www.mrtrain.com/products.asp?cat=10

• HO/O Gauge $15.75 per 4 ft section
• Reversible for HO or O Gauge
• Aluminum extrusion
• UPS shipping additional

ShelfTrax - http://www.shelftrax.com/woodenmodelrailroadshelfpage.html

• O, S, or On30 Gauge $35 per 6 ft section
• HO or N Gauge $24 per 6 ft section
• Wood moulding
• UPS shipping additional

Fremo is a European standard for single track modular railroading.  The meets are usually a private meeting for Fremo members and generally exclude the general public.  Fremo members pay the exhibition hall costs to exhibit and run their modules.

The most recently found Fremo photo galleries are listed first:

 Sfra photo album, GMO-Frisco photo album and GMO-Frisco YouTube video from the Fremo HO-USA Southwest Division Weekend in Mutschelbach, Germany on May 21-24, 2009

Harald Brosch has two photo galleries from the May 2009 Fremo convention in Perleberg Germany, May 22 photos and the May 23 photos.

Harald Brosch’s has two new photo albums  Ths first is of the Jan. 2008 Fremo meet, Braunschweig, Germany, with additional photos by Thomas and Joerg.  The second is the Feb. 2008 Fremo meet in Hamburg, Germany, with additional photos by Thorsten.

Klaus Rilling has photo albums of the Oct. 2007 Fremo in Prague and the Frankfurt 2007 Fremo meet. Klaus’ site is in German only. Read the rest of this entry »

Sacramento (Calif.) Modular Railroaders will be at the Ione Railfair on May 23-24, 2009 with a 40×60 modular layout - http://www.ionerailfair.org/

Orange County (Calif.) Moduler Railroaders is an HO scale module group looking for new members.  See the OCMR website for more info - http://www.trainweb.org/ocmr/

The Hartford (Conn.) National 2009 NMRA Convention will be held at the Conneticutt Convention Center in Hartford on July 5-11, 2009.  Lots of details at the website - http://hn2009.org

Plan now to attend the New England/Northeast Prototype Meet, May 29-30, 2009 at the Canton Community Center, Collinsville, Connecticut and will include FreeMo modules - www.neprototypemeet.com

The Great New York State Model Train Fair  is scheduled for November 8-9, 2009 in Syracuse, New York and has 30 operating layouts and over 100 vendors.  Make plans and visit the website - http://cnynrhs.org/Train_Fair/train_fair.html Read the rest of this entry »

This month’s feature is the St. Alban’s Railroad Fellowship (StARR) submitted by Frank Martin, StARR’s Operations Manager.  The StARR is a large HO scale layout includes both 2 and 4 track NMRA modules with strong point-to-point operations, and in the future, will include Free-Mo modules.  The StARR is located in the suburbs west of Philadelphia.

Club Name: St. Alban’s Railroad Fellowship

Famous for:  The club is most proud of Albanwood Steel.  There is no particular prototype but its basic layout and operations were designed by our regional “steel mill expert”, Mike Rabbitt.  It is a 24-foot module in three 8-foot sections with a blast furnace, electric furnace, soaking pit, rolling mill, and administration building.  Most of the buildings are from the Walther’s cornerstone series.  During an operating session, the steel mill is served by three trains: a coke/limestone train, an ore train, and a mixed commodities train; and, two “pours” of the blast furnace are simulated during each operating session.

Description:  Fellowship includes railfans and model railroaders from all walks of life.  While individual interests and skills vary widely, the railroads that helped build our nation are the common bond.  To satisfy varied interests, the program includes clinics, presentations, videos, socializing, trips, and model railroading.  While affiliated with St. Alban’s Church, the fellowship is a non-sectarian group of railfans and model railroaders mostly in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.

Address:  3625 Chapel Road, Newtown Square, PA. Basement, under the Thrift Shop, of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church near intersection of PA Rts. 3 and 252; 3.5 mi west on PA 3 from Exit 9 on I-476.

Membership:  Open

Meetings: Thursdays @ 7:30 PM

Dues: $25.00 per month

Website: http://home.comcast.net/~stalbansrr

Contact: stalbansrr@comcast.net

Scale:  HO

Standards:  NMRA with 2-track and 4-track mains.  Free-mo is in the works.

Theme:  Eclectic.  Generally transition era of the Pennyslvania RR, Reading RR and Delaware & Hudson RR.  Williamsport & North Branch is circa 1900.  However, nothing is excluded and operators are invited to use their own engines and cabooses.

Setup Status:  Semi-permanent; modules can be easily added, removed, and relocated as the railroad evolves.  One “module” is the original permanent layout with modular interfaces added.  <Click here> to see the general layout, details change.

Size of Layout:  Growing.  Currently covers 4000 square feet.  Four-track main line is 225 feet long. Also included three branch lines, a steel mill, and two working classification yards with engine facilities.  There are over 800 pieces of rolling stock.

Power & Control:  Digitrax Digital Command Control (DCC).  Two towers, using JMRI PanelPro, control all turnouts on main tracks and in staging areas; yard and industrial switching uses ground-throws.  Towers communicate with engineers via FRS radios.  Block detection and signaling are in the works.

Operations:  StARR simulates prototype railroad operations on the fourth Saturday of each month.  The operating crews (15-25 people) are comprised of StARR members and visiting operators from other groups in the tri-state area.  Custom software generates train schedules, work orders, and waybills for car forwarding.  A roadmaster, a dispatcher, three tower operators, two yardmasters (one having two assistant yardmasters: a through train classifier and a local train classifier), a steel mill shifter, and a variable number of engineers/conductors, affect the movements of four commuter trains, eight passenger limiteds, eleven merchandise and unit freight trains, and seven local freight trains in about a three hour session.

Open to the Public:  Open to the public on the selected weekends from Thanksgiving through the end of February.  Schedule is posted on StARR’s website, local newspapers, and fliers that are distributed throughout the area.  Donations are gratefully accepted.   Note: StARR is not easily accessible for people with mobility handicaps.

Photo Tour: <Click Here> or view below Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Club, Free-Mo, HO, NMRA, Operations, Photos

The NZ120 module standards are an interesting example of localization and adaptation using availbable materials to model New Zealand local prototypes.

The Automationz webpage explains, “NZ120 is the common name (within New Zealand Model Railway Guild circles) for a scale more accurately referred to as TTn3.5, that is 1:120 scale (or 1/10″ to the foot) modelling of a 3′6″ prototype (the gauge of all of New Zealand’s rail lines).”  This page also has a thorough review and comparision of other popular module standards and how NZ120 came to be.

 The New Zealand Model Railway Guild publishes the NZModel Railway Journal and has links to plan sets, FAQ, suppliers, photo gallery and events listings.  The sample article, One Thing or Another, is a sample article showing the flavor of New Zealand railway modeling, including wonderful railway model photos.

 The Chosen Scale Cooperative has their 1999-2002 newsletter index online and provide additional details regarding NZ120 cost, model availability and techniques.  The Cooperative also has a brief “What is NZ120” introduction available.

The Railmodel Electronics and NZ120 page as links to photo galleries, NZ120 module standards, and thorough discussion of the NZ120 design concept.

 There are also several active blogs covering the world of NZ120, including:

• Motorised Dandruff -Active
• Little Trains of Thought

Finally, there is also a very active Yahoo NZ120 group with almost 100 members and 20-80 messages per month as of December 2008.

Your local hobby shop is your best source of supply.  Returns are easy, advice is available and your local hobby shop can get anything you can find on the internet.  For those of us without a local hobby shop nearby, the following is an alphabetical list from various threads at the Model Railroader forums: Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a collection of links and how-to articles that may be useful when building sectional, modular or portable layouts:

DCC University and Realistic Scenery clinics from Joe Fugate’s forums

Schedule of Model Railroad Shows - Little Toy Trains

Ten Commandments of Model Railroad Yard Design - Houstonic RR

Make Your Own Homasote Roadbed - Houstonic RR

Backdrop Painting with Artists Oils - Houstonic RR Read the rest of this entry »

Free-mo is a similar to Fremo, but a different North American standard for single track modular railroading. Free-mo meets generally part of a larger exhibition with other scales and open to the public for viewing.

The most recently found Free-mo photo galleries are listed first:

Brian Kreimendahl’s and Perry Lambert’s photo galleries of the April 2009 Free-me photos from Winslow, AZ are no online.

Photos of the March 2008 RITMRC, Free-mo setup on the RITMRC website, with more photos by “Kruppinator”.

Bob Schrempp’s pics of the March 2008 Free-mo SLOBarn setup at Arroyo Grande, CA and  September 2007 Free-mo setup in Aptos, California. Read the rest of this entry »

This month’s feature is the Pocatello Model Railroad & Historical Society’s large NMRA HO modular layout located on the Union Pacific Railroad’s premises in Pocatello, Idaho.  The club’s history details various moves that have been possible because of the modular layout.

Club Name: Pocatello Model Railroad and Historical Society, a 501c3 non-profit.

Famous for:  Replica of the Oregon Shortline Roundhouse with 53 stalls set at 6 degree intervals around a 100 foot long turntable.
     Walk thru module published in Model Railroader magazine.  Website has details for the prototype Lift-Bridge Module or an alternative Swinging Door Module.

Address: Union Pacific uilding B-59 SouthWest, near intersection of Main and Bonneville, Pocatello, Idaho, USA

Website: http://www.ida.net/org/pmrhs/

Photo Album: Yes, both of modular layout and historic Pocatello. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Club, HO, NMRA, Operations, Photos

The Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society will host a meet at La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona, on Saturday, April 19. Here’s the official meet website including the clinic line-up:http://www.atsfrr.com/convention/Winslow.htm

You do not have to be a Society member to attend the meet.

SouthWest Free-mo will again be part of the Society’s meet and will set-up trackside in the Depot waiting room at the La Posada Hotel. SouthWest Free-mo will be in the Depot on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 18-20. Here are photos from last year’s SouthWest Free-mo Winslow set-up:

http://www.pbase.com/intermodal/winslow_2007

Motorized Dandruff - Bills itself as “The worlds first (and so far ) only NZ 120 blog”, and covers the NZ120 scale and module scene in New Zealand.

Ed’s Model Railroad Diary - Lots of info on Ed Harrison’s Free-moN Modules, including a staging module, leg brackets and corner module construction.

Confessions of a Model Train Geek - Musings on model trains, layouts, design and construction.

Bayside and Tidewater - Has information on module building, including the “module in a week” post.

Peter’s and Hope’s - Has a nice entry, in both German and English, on the family’s construction of several Bend Track modules.

the UMG - an informal group of model railroaders from the Canadian Maritimes based on Free-mo.

Harold Brosch is the official supplier for the European Fremo standard.  There are a large number of Fremo standard profiles, which Brosch has laser cut.  His online store, eisenbahn-modulbau is currently in german only.  Brosch sells a 100 cm long straight module with Fremo-USA profile ends for 52.00 Euros as of Oct 2007.  Shipping and customs to the USA are additional and significant.

Iron Road Hobbies builds both Free-mo and NMRA standard module kits and assembled modules.  A 2×4 ft NMRA module kit is about $145, including shipping to USA lower 48, as of Oct. 2007.

Scalecraft Baseboards offers a variety of module sizes, from 1×2 foot to 4×6 foot, both with and without legs.  The 612LA is a 2×4 foot module with adjustable legs for £70 with “mainland only” delivery an additional £10 as of March 2008.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Hostlers 2008 Model Railroad Festival will be held February 29 to March 2 at the Union Station in Ogden Utah.  Adult admission is $5.00 and includes all Festival attractions as well as the Ogden Union Station Museums.  Children under 12 are free.  This the the intermountain West’s largest show, attracting about 7,000 people in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

NMRA 4th Div, Pacific Northwest Region HO Module SIG has a photo album of its recent setups.  Of great interest to module builders are the two pages of recommendations and procedures on making setups at shows a better experience for both the public and the club.

The first page is titled, “Procedures and Reliability” and links to “during show” topics including: Read the rest of this entry »

 Z scale is the smallest, electrically operated model train scale commerically available.  Z scale (1:220) is about 3/4 smaller than N scale (1:160).  Z scale is a fascinating scale because the diminutive size of the trains can be realistically overwhelmed by the scenery.  Additional general information on Z scale model railroading is can be found in the bi-monthly magazine, ztrack.com.

There are two modular standards for Z scale, both have similarities to the Ntrak standards interface standards.  Unlike Ntrak, both Z scale standards are endplate or interface only standards and do not specify module length or angles.  This allows the free form of Free-mo modules with “balloon” turn around loops. Read the rest of this entry »