Fremo AmericaN meeting in Bremen Germany

Recently I went to the Fremo AmericaN meeting in the northern German city of Bremen. The trip took some doing as both halves of the train trip resulted in delays. A signalbox failure in Deventer in the Netherlands on the outbound trip meant my planned route had to be changed. On the return trip there were engineering works in the Netherlands on my route and I had to take a replacement bus. As luck wouyld have it, the one on my route was a local bus stopping at all stations and on the other route it was a fast bus. Oh well.
Luckily both NS and DB were very helpful and no additional costs were incurred. Only time delays and they were compensated by new train routes I travelled.

This meeting was the first time we tried out timetable and trainorder operation. While we had some problems I feel we can overcome them with more familiarity with the procedures. It helps of course when yours truly pays attention to the switching and makes it efficient. Oh well, live and learn, right? I had great hopes for this type of operation which is a bit difficult to do on ever changing modular setups. I was pleasantly surprised by the easy with which everyone adapted to it. Normally we use track warrant control or no dispatcher in our meetings. 

See here for the report, here for a plan of the modular layout and here for Hagen Langbartel's pics. You can even see me in some of the pictures...

Thanks to all who made it possible to have a great time despite coming down with the flu.

Caught - update on planning G&M Junction

Caught the flu before the holidays and can't quite get rid of it. The design for the G&M modules is nearly finished but I haven't gotten around to start cutting them up. I keep finding little things I've overseen and I can only cut them up once...

This is the situation right now. 

I will probably turn the module with the Interstate bridge around if I want it to be prototypical but keep it this way as this gives more of a curve for Fremo America-N layout planners. The scenery will most likely also be made as puzzle scenery. This means that most of the scenery but not the track will be separate pieces. In this way I can model the Interstate bridge in more modern times but with fields in a 1950's session.

All module ends will be conform the Fremo America-N standard though likely some centimeters 'higher' (actually below the usual 10 cm to cater for the new much thinner sections being stored below them during transport to save on volume) than the usual 10 cm.

From any module end there will first be 5 cm of straight track to mitigate potential problems when coming from an adjoining module before any curves start. It's been my experience that if an adjoining module has the curve right up to the end of the module this gives problems if the next module starts with a turnout. Even if the turnout and the curve are curving in the same direction.

A curve, a switch and two modules connecting is one thing too many. I would make it at least 10 cm but that gave too much problems.

Well, it's about time to bring this blog back to life after a long hiatus due to way too many physical health problems and the attendant mental health problems.

I got a bit farther with this module Featureless Plains but unfortunately the pictures I took of the next layer, gypsum with pigment and white glue, got lost when my laptop was stolen from my house while I was on a company outing. I still have the module but it is in storage at the moment awaiting decisions on what to do with it. Originally I wanted it to be a double track module but at a length of 1 meter it has become too large and above all too heavy. I lost a lot of strength as a result of a botched medical procedure. So I may cut it in two for easier transport or use it at home by redoing everything on top...

So I'm thinking of making this blog now a more general blog about my (model) railroad activities with links to specific blogs where I detail the building of N-scale modules according to the norms of the Fremo America-N group. For more information about those norms you can take a look here:
Fremo americaN

In the intervening years I've managed to get a lot of nice to have informationvia the M&StL Yahoo group (M&StL Yahoo group) with regard to my most favourite American railroad, the Minneapolis & St Louis Railroad. I'm particularly fascinated by the extreme south end in Iowa, the line from Oskaloosa to Albia. A very nice bonus is the fact that there was an interchange with the Wabash Railroad, my second favourite American railroad. I now have timetables, trackcharts etc. that give a good overview of this 23.5 mile long line. I'm in the process of setting up a blog detailing the designing, and hopefully building, proces of this south end of the tenth district of the M&StL in a small second bedroom in my appartment.

There are enough interesting features on this short piece of railroad, most of which is still there even though not in operation by the current owner Union Pacific, such as:
- (former) coal mines south of Albia at a place named Hocking,
- the interchange with the Wabash in Albia (and likely the former interurban ISU),
- a crossing and interchange with the Burlington (CB&Q),
- Hickory Hill,
- Lockman and it's trestles (and former coalmines),
- a long gone town named Coalfield,
- the then new powerplant at Bridgeport just before the crossing of the Des Moines river into Eddyville,
- Eddyville with sand and gravel loader and where a CRI&P line comes in from the southeast and parallels the line,
- crossing at Givin (another abandoned town with coal mines nearby)
- the sweeping curve at Beacon but no station, that was on the CRI&P,
- Tracy Junction, later Fosterdale Junction and finally
- the entrance to Oskaloosa's M&StL South Yard via a wye, underneath the track was a gauntlet track of the CB&Q and, again, the CRI&P.
- Ending at the modelgenic passenger station.
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So, stay tuned!

My father helped me build the first few modules

Sometime ago my father helped me making the first few modules. The modules are made of birch plywood, 9 mm thick. The height of the frame is 10 cm, length is 100 cm and width is 40 cm. This width is conform the America-N standards. Off course I could make them wider between the end plates but you always have to take into consideration that the thing has to be transported. Which is why I will build shorter modules in the future. 100 cm is a bit long when you have to transport a few of them by train to a show....

Here are some pictures of the construction of the frames.