Photos of the FREMO americaN Meeting. Read the detailed report of the meeting in Delmenhorst in 2022.

Setting up the layout Modules ready for the setup This year, we had the chance to use a room of the Nordwestdeutsches Museum für IndustrieKultur in Delmenhorst, near Bremen. During the meet there were 11 attendees. We had prepared a plan and a concept for operations to siumlate the traffic around the year 2005. Unpacking all modules, setting up the layout and installing the loconet wiring for the boosters took about seven hours.

This article gives an insight into the operationional concept for a typical modular meeting of the americaN chapter of the FREMO. The Layout Overview of a modular layout made for operations Never the same layout. For every modular meeting, we plan a new layout. The layout is planned to match all the given constraints, like the room, the attendees and the available modules, the choosen era. A layout may vary in size, shape and the order of modules.

A few members of the FREMO americaN group wrote an article for issue december 2020 issue of the N Scale Railroading Magazine. During a small modular meeting we took photos of the operations. We choose to follow a single train during operating session and explain the thoughts and operations in detail in this article. A small selection of the content we choose for the article. >  >   <>   <

Cascade, Idaho. Is consists of eight segments and has a total length of about six meters. It has three industry tracks with a total of about 14 spots, a three meter long passing siding and a wye to connect a to a branch or turn trains. The prototype Photo: RICHARD STEINHEIMER, 1960s, private collection Photo: LEE RUSSELL, 1941, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS The Module Trackplan for the Cascade module (dark) with two extensions.

Close to the deadline set by our participation at the US Model Railroad Convention 2019 in Rodgau, I ran out of time and kits. I had the kit for a small diner at hand but I had seen this structure on at least two modules in our group and wanted to create a different version of it. So I had to improvise a solution to fill some spaces on my module.

South of East Mill Street in Cascade Idaho are some interesting buildings. At the far south of the town there is a Rodeo arena with its stables. Due to space limitations I decided not to model it, but I added a freelanced workshop and wanted to add the diner I already had bought. >  >   <>   < The workshop is completely scratch built and freelanced. I just created a structure to use the left over plastic parts for a roof and some windows and doors I had lying around.

Northeastern Scale Models offers a nice Structure “One Story Section House” in its Small Trackside Structures (STS) Series. I got three of these. I used them to kit bash two neighbouring houses, that look very different. The long one The kit contains parts for square house with a veranda at one end and the entry to the basement on the other end. I used two of the kits to create a longer version.

Due to the selected level of compression, the lots are smaller – most of all shorter – than in the prototype. But even in the prototype some of the lots are quite narrow and accommodate a small house and a garage. I wanted to capture this look and feel and found some kits, that would help me to achieve that. The smallish house with the garage is Kit No. 698 “Company House” by American Model Builders.

Opposite of the Cascade Depot there are multiple lots with either small business or private structures. The houses in Cascade near the railroad tracks are an interesting mix. Most of the houses are quite unique and do not repeat along the street. A few years ago I bought a few laser kits for different houses. Some of the kits either contained two or three samples of the same house or I simply bought multiples of them.

The Hallack & Howard Lumber Company Sawmill is the main industry in Cascade and on my module. It has two tracks and generates about 6 to 9 cars incoming and outgoing traffic every day. Let me show you, how it was built. Hallack & Howard Lumber Company >   <>   < Hallack & Howard Lumber Company, Images LOC & Idaho State Historic SocietyThe sawmill was torn down, but in the 1960s it was quite busy and is the main industry on my module.

I wanted to capture the look of the prototype as close as possible but I could not find any kit that came close enough. So I decided to create the depot my self. I constructed it in 3D CAD and got it printed by Shapeways. The Depot was built in 1914 for the Oregon Shortline Railroad. It functioned as a freight room, baggage and ticket office, and waiting room as well as a second story home for the station agent.

In August 2018 a group of five brave members of the FREMO americaN group travelled from Germany to Sweden. We met just north of Hamburg and continued together with a transporter and a minibus. Rear view of a Citroen Jumpy packed full to the roof with modules >   <>   < We continued through Denmark. With an perfect timing we arrived at Helsingør and did not have to wait for the next ferry.

July 2019 in Delmenhorst, Germany. It was one of the warmest days of the year some maniacs had no better idea than setting up a modular layout for the weekend. In October 2019 we want to show a layout during the US-Modellbahn-Convention in Rodgau. In the FREMO americaN group we build modules for operations. Showing the modules at an exhibition or convention is not our primary intention, but we found out that we could build an oval layout with some modules and only needed two small adapters to make it all fit.

After the successful test of this module I continued on building the scenery. I used static grass and fine turf in various shades to create an interesting structure. >  >   <>   <>   <>   <>   < Cascade used in Vögelsen and Waldenburg in 2017.Some areas are still kept free for the structures I intend to add. The key structures have been built as paper mock ups to add a third dimension and give an impression of the future look.

After woodworking it was time time to add ballast to the track and cover the plywood pacific with something that does a better job in imitating nature. First I painted the surface in colors to match the later usage (brown for dirt and grass, gray for gravel and roads). The next layer is sprinkled over most areas with colored, flexible gap filling putty (like Lugato Universal-Fuge-Flexibel). You can get it in different sized bags and multiple colors which can be mixed to create an interesting and varied surface cover.

The whole module required 8 segments. Four straight modules of 90 x 40 cm, two straight 60 x 40 and two curved modules with a track radius of 160 cm at 30 ° each. The total length is about six meters. The segments are built from 12 mm multiplex birch plywood. The heavy stuff with 6 mm pine plywood on top. I would not use this material for a complete module anymore.