Freemo USA 2018 Trent Valley meet.

[AndrewC]

That was very nearly killed by arguing over what name it should have, wasn't it... (Should have just spent 5 minutes adopting Freemo with peco streamline spacing for 2 track board ends, but that's another story).

I still refer to it as Dave. Like the Golgafrinchams in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, they reinvented the wheel and spent all their time arguing over what colour to paint it. (the wheel was in fact a lop sided hexagon with the axle poked between 2 of the spokes.)

 

The strange thing is we tried doing British Modular in Canada with the BRMNA back in the 90s. Failed miserably as nobody could get over the transition between companies, eras, and regions. At one time we had tried using scenic breaks between modules but that too failed. Too many cooks....... The same people also do North American modular modelling with no issues. Must be a British thing. 

Edited October 4, 2018 by AndrewC

[Oldddudders]

Glad I found this and all those pictures! The generally modern-ish theme is convincing enough but even I spotted the original EMD GP20 demo 5625, which is a mite out of period! Sadly I didn’t notice any covered wagons.

 

Looks like a lot of fun. And of course hats off to you all for agreeing standards.

[Talltim]

That was me driving the GP20. Not sure whose it was

[Glorious NSE]

Glad I found this and all those pictures! The generally modern-ish theme is convincing enough but even I spotted the original EMD GP20 demo 5625, which is a mite out of period! Sadly I didn’t notice any covered wagons.

 

Looks like a lot of fun. And of course hats off to you all for agreeing standards.

Entirely possible that somebody could paint a GP20 like that in 2018 - it's not possible for a SD70ACE to exist in 1960.

[Oldddudders]

Entirely possible that somebody could paint a GP20 like that in 2018 - it's not possible for a SD70ACE to exist in 1960.

Is a 567D2 a viable prime mover these days?

[mdvle]

I wonder if it's caught on here more because most of us have essentially no hope of a Basement Empire, and the only way we can get anywhere near that is to hire the village hall. But if you can have a Basement Empire then you don't need to make the compromises that we do.

 

I suspect the Basement Empire has always been exaggerated in terms of numbers, and I would also guess it is in decline as basements (when they exist) are now frequently finished and considered part of the normal house now.

 

And while maybe not as much as Europe a lot of the population in parts of North America are now in smaller houses or condos / apartments as prices move out of range for a lot of people.

[Glorious NSE]

Is a 567D2 a viable prime mover these days?

There still appears to be ones running recently in what looks like the right configuration (there are other GP20s around that have obvious signs of losing their turbo's too...)

 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3284240

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3275291

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2059853

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4141078

 

 

 

 

[Mike Kieran]

There's also some GP30s around using the same prime mover as well, though parts aren't as easy to find as they used to be.

[J. S. Bach]

The East Penn traction modules back in the 1970s we're my first exposure to the concept of a portable layout by a group of guys.

The East Penn system dates back before 1964 and was mainly designed by Everett Wood. Here is a sample module:

My Philadelphia Suburban streamliner on a friend's module.

Edited October 12, 2018 by J. S. Bach

[Mike Kieran]

I was only aware of it from 1975 on, but kudos to them because the trackwork and wiring on modoles makes things more tricky.

[Mike Kieran]

BTW, next month's Model Railroader is doing an article on British Freemo.