HOtrak.com is moving to Modular-Model-Railroads.com.
Only the name has changed to reflect the original intent of covering all gauges and scales intent. The same content and focus on modular, sectional and lightweight model railroading.
All the content from HOtrak.com has been moved to Modular-Model-Railroads.com. New content is regularly posted on Modular-Model-Railroads.com All that is left is to tweak the new site to a more model railroad theme.
Thanks,
Modulator
The following is a collection of useful how-to articles that may be useful:
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
Making Your Own Turntable? - Houstonic RR
Rolling Your Own Wood I-Beams - Houstonic RR
Skirting Hangers - Free-mo SLO
Module Curve Tool Jig - Free-mo SLO
Fixing Ends that are not Square - Free-mo SLO
Internal Joint Pegs - Free-mo SLO
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:
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.
Mark N. Goedert’s photos of the Free-mo modules and the Sipping & Switching Society modules at the 2007 NMRA National Train Show in Detroit, Michigan. 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 »
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:
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.
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 »
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:
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.
There are photos of the October 2007 meet in Rendsburg, Germany with photos by a German Fremo participant and a more photos by a Norwegian Fremo participant. 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 »
Montana NTRAK will be at the Gallatin Valley Mall in Bozeman, MT on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 26-27, 2008. The Exposition will introduce Montana Ntrak and the hobby of Ntrak modular model railroading to the Bozeman general public. We will have trains running continuously on four lines: Red, Yellow, and Blue with the big radius turns, and Green (the Mountain Line) up top.
Spring Free-Mo at RIT will be held at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York on March 21, 22, 23. Please contact the run chief, Mike Walsh, by February 3, 2008 to participate with modules in this event. More information is available in a pdf at: http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/insanerocketkid/RITMRC_Spring_2008.pdf
“Dominoes” are typically 2 x 4 foot sections or modules of “open grid” benchwork that bolt together to make a railroad layout. The use of dominoes has been credited to and popularized by David Barrow on his Cat Mountain and Santa Fe.
There are several nice forum threads and photo albums detailing the layout construction using domino type construction: Read the rest of this entry »
The Eagle Rock Railroad Historical Society (“ERRHS”) in Idaho Falls Idaho held their annual Railshow 2007 on October 13-14, 2007. The Great Basin Lego Train Club, the Rocky Mountain Hi-Railers and the Hostlers displayed operating layouts, along with the Eagle Rock’s permanent club layout in the basement.
Hostlers Model Railroad Club (“HMRRC”) from Ogden, Utah had their HO modular layout on display. The Hostlers run NMRA compliant modules with 3 lines. The outer line is DC and the two inner lines are DCC.
Hostlers wide radius corner modules. Read the rest of this entry »
ulf999 has several very complete threads on the step-by-step construction of straight and corner modules on the “the Gauge” Modular Layout Forum. The first thread is titled, “How I construct modules” and shows the construction of a pair of Fremo curved modules from wood frame work to scenery and trees. All the threads have extensive written details and an abundance of high quality photographs. Read the rest of this entry »
The Four County Society of Model Engineers (“FCSME.org“)modular club was started in 1975 and is located in Central Maryland. FCSME uses module specification that is “backward” compatible with the NMRA standards. The FCSME module standards are available on CD for $10. The FCSME website also features extensive photo galleries of past shows and layouts. Read the rest of this entry »
YouTube has a nice series of 9 videos by Evert or “thebige61″ on making scenery using extruded foam (pink or blue). The videos are very thorough and well done. They cover everything from tool selection to completion of the scenery with dirt and grass. Highly recommended. Read the rest of this entry »
There are many types of foam used by modelers in constructing model railroad scenery, layouts and baseboards.
When selecting a material for building, the modeler should give careful consideration to the flamability of the product. Read the rest of this entry »
The prolific UK layout builder, Ian Lampkin, models in a variety of scales, including N, HO and TT. Several of Mr. Lampkin’s exhibition layouts are shown on the Model Railways, South East England website along with other friends. The N scale California Coast, is also known as the “Surf Line” has been exhibited almost 50 times in the past 8 years. It is an American prototype, double track mainline located along the Pacific coast in Southern California. The Surf Line is scheduled to be retired in the fall of 2007. Passenger and freight trains operate over the oval layout measuring about 7.5 by 10.5 feet. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a list of items that are useful to have around when modelling:
The Pacific Coast Airline Railway (“PCAR”) is Harold Minkwitz’s narrow gauge, 1870’s California railroad modelled in Sn3.5, the British Imperial gauge. The current layout is a 4×8 foot built to test and serve as a “proof of concept” for techniques to be used in the future construction of a basement filling layout. The 4 x 8 ft. layout is constructioned in halves, or sectional so that it may be easily moved from the basement. There is also a page showing how a 4×8 layout can be integrated in to a 10 x 11 ft. room. The PCAR website also has PhotoAlbum1 and PhotoAlbum2.
Of interest to module-makers are the large number of tutorials covering a variety of scenery making techniques. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul Templar is a U.K. modeller well known for his exhibition quality, narrow gauge, U.S. themed logging/mining layouts. Paul’s last HO scale layout was Red Fox Lumber in about 2003. Since then, Mr. Templar has focused his attention on building On30 scale layouts. Photo galleries of the earlier Cooncreek and Tumbleweed Springs and the current layout, the Badger Creek Lumber Co. are both available on the internet. Read the rest of this entry »
The Silver Creek Reconstruction is a thread on All-Model-Railroading.co.uk by user SimonC documenting the construction and finishing of his On30 Silver Creek layout in 29 days. The layout is 18 ft. 3 in. by 7 ft. 3 in and built if layers of extruded foam edge with lightweight plywood and “Bendy MDF“. The roadbed is made of cork over luaun plywood glued to the foam. The layout uses tortise switch machines that are attached to the plywood roadbed for each of the switches and then recessed into the foam. Read the rest of this entry »
Horst Meier’s Sherman Hill layout is an excellent example of a creating a large, busy railroad in a small sectional space. The layout is complete and exceptionally well done. The photo backdrops are in the correct perspective and the backdrop and layout secenery colors match well as shown in Photo1 and Photo2. Read the rest of this entry »
