Free-mo at the Springfield Show - January 25-26 2025

 I know not much content has flowed through this site in a while, but just thought I would throw a post up here.

The annual Springfield train show, aka The Big E, Amherst show, etc., will again include a large Free-mo layout. Setup will occur Friday January 24, and the show will happen on Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th.

Those interested in participating should reach out to James Koretsky on the New England Free-mo groups.io list (https://groups.io/g/NEFree-mo)

More info on the show itself: http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com

Free-mo at Springfield "Big E" / Amherst Train Show Jan 2022

Free-mo will be on hand at the Springfield train show in West Springfield MA, Jan. 29th and 30th, 2022. The layout is hosted by New England Free-mo and should see modules from Capitol Free-mo, Albany Free-mo, NJ Free-mo, as well as Ohio, Syracuse and perhaps Canada.

More info on th show: http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com

Free-mo at the NER Convention in Mahwah, Sept 2018

There will be a Free-mo layout on site at the convention hotel for the 2018 NER-NMRA Convention, the Erie Limited, in Mahwah, NJ, September 13-16, 2018.

The Northeastern Region of the NMRA has hosted Free-mo layouts in the past, including Newport RI in 2017 and Laconia NH in 2013. With space available, the committee has asked NJ Free-mo to organize an on-site layout that can feature operating sessions for convention attendees.

The layout will cover an app 25' x 50' space and utilize modules from NJ Free-mo, New England Free-mo, Albany Free-mo and Capitol Free-mo. The final plan is being drawn up, and I'll post an update here once done.

For more in the convention, check out erielimited.org.

Bordentown Train Show - Dec. 2016

(No posts for a while, but there have ben many NJ Free-mo activities in the past 3 years)

This December, Free-mo modules from Mike Prokop and Bill Grosse will be on display and feature operations during the annual Bordentown Holiday Train Show. Here is the flyer for the event:

Each Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December, from 4pm to 8pm, the Free-mo layout will be available to view and run trains on. There are also a number of other layouts to see, and it makes a good family event.

NER NMRA Convention Oct. 17-20, 2013

The Northeastern Region of the NMRA will be having their 2013 Regional Convention in Laconia, New Hampshire on October 17-20, 2013. Just south of the White Mountains in NH on Lake Winnipesaukee, the Fall colors should be in full force with a crispness in the air. Model Railroading season indeed!

More information on the convention can be found at this web site.

Part of the convention will be a large Free-mo layout setup utilizing modules from New England Free-mo, the Seacoast Division NMRA and also the NJ Free-mo group. A plan has been put together and you can see that a long, linear layout featuring a return loop will be constructed:

Mike McNamara's Woodstown Jct. module is located just to the left of the return loop. It appears that the slight curve of the module cam in useful in locatiing the return loop!

NEFFRPM September 29, 2012

On Saturday, September 29, 2012 there will be a Railroad Prototype Modelers Meet in Bridgewater, NJ. This is an annual event and is called the Northeastern Fallen Flags Prototype Modelers Meet. The Meet takes place from 9am to 6pm and will feature many models, clinics, a lunch and vendors, and usually draws over 100 people. The location is the Ted Blum 4-H Center, 310 Milltown Road, Bridgewater, NJ 08807. More info on the Meet can be found at the web site http://www.hansmanns.org/neff_rpm/

Of interest for Free-mo followers is that I will be giving a clinic titled "Intro to Free-mo" and I will also have my 3 section module Woodstown Junction on hand and operating. Stop by if you can make it!

Greenberg Show - Edison August 11/12, 2012

I will be promoting NJ Free-mo at the Greenberg Edison, NJ show Saturday and Sunday August 11-12, 2012.  Please do stop by if you will be attending the show.  I am at the BRMNA (British Railway Modellers of North America) table.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get in touch with anyone with a finished module to attend, but I will be handing out flyers.

Timonium, February 2012

I joined the Capitol Free-mo folks for the Timonium Maryland show in February. This time we were in a different building with a somewhat small space. This did allow for what I think was a great deal more foot traffic, but also exposed the need of the group to have a way to turn the layout 180 degrees (like a U shape) to better utilize the space allotted. No problems though, we set up and had a good time all weekend.

Photos as usual over on the Capitol Free-mo site, capitolfreemo.org, and I also have some video I shot using the i-Car, a car that holds an iPhone and allows for shooting video down the track, which I picked up the weekend before at the Springfield show. Check it out at the link below:

Capitol Free-mo via i-Car

New England Free-mo

I went up to Springfield, Massachusetts for the annual train show. On hand this year were the folks of New England Free-mo. They had a U shaped layout set up. I talked with them and took a few photos. They have some nice modules with great scenery and structures. I also liked the thin multi-section staging yard they built. Real useful for operating the layout. Here are a few pictures:

Hopefully one day the the New England, Capitol and NJ Free-mo folks can have a joint set up as we could put together a nice sized layout. I do know that the New England guys participate in a show in Syracuse each November, so perhaps that will be an opportunity.

NJ Free-mo Name Tags

I created a simple personal name tag and module name tag in a word processing document. These feature the NJ Free-mo logo and have a space for the module name and owner name, and on the personal tag just the owner name. The module name tags can be applied to the module sides while the personal name tag fits with a standard name plastic tag holder (like the ones you get at conventions).

I have posted the documents to the "News" page of the NJ Free-mo website, njfreemo.org. Feel free to download and make a set for yourself.

Benchwork Paint Color

There is no formal Free-mo standard and participants in NJ Free-mo can use any paint color they want for legs and benchwork. But if you want to match what I used on my Woodstown Jct. modules, here is the info:

Paint from Lowe's

Olympic "Submarine" chip D64-5, this is part of the Green color selection

Lowe's link to sample

Timonium, October 2011

I traveled down to Timonium, Maryland again for the October Great Scale Model Train Show, setting up with the fine folks of Capitol Free-mo again. An early season snow storm luckily did not slow things down too much, but the crowds were a little light on Saturday.

For this show, I mainly focused on getting my bridge section painted and weathered with some basic scenery in place. Here is a look at it (my home layout is in the background):

For more photos, check out the Capitol Free-mo website, capitolfreemo.org.

Module Storage

I thought I would share a couple of photos about how I store my modules when I am not using or working on them. My layout was pretty much designed and all benchwork was built before I learned about and started down the Free-mo path. The layout is not changing, and I am not able to incorporate my modules into the layout. Which is OK because part of doing the modules was to allow me to model a time period after my layout which is set in 1980. So things you would see circa 1996 to 2005 are on the modules and would not be easily integrated into my layout.

So I needed a place to store them safely within the confines of the layout room. I built a set of brackets under the layout and use plastic sheeting to keep dust and debris from above the layout.

The smaller module sits to the side and the legs go underneath. They are safe here and still allow me to work on the layout above with no problems.

These have been in storage since the last Timonium show, but they should be up in the garage in September to get ready for the NJ Division Meet in Delanco, as they will be on site at the Meet location. And then they will also be on the road to travel to the Timonium Maryland show October 29-30, 2011.

Setup with Capitol Free-mo at Timonium

On April 9-10, 2011, I set up my modules with the Capitol Free-mo group at the Timonium Great Scale Model Train Show in Maryland. The Free-mo modules were then connected to a much larger (250' x 75') Sipping & Switching Society layout using their MOSS interface 1" module. Here are some pictures I took at the show. More photos are on the Capitol Free-mo Yahoo discussion page and videos are up on YouTube (search for "Timonium Sipping & Switching").

Free-mo events, NJ Web Site

Just wanted to post something to keep the blog active.

On Sat. 1/15/11 at the NJ Division NMRA Meet in Haddon Twp. NJ, a Free-mo set up will occur. It is open to anyone, even visitors who are not NMRA. Check out njdivnmra.org for more info.

In April at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, Free-mo modules will be set up and attached to other switching layouts to form a large layout for operations. Check out GSMTS.com for info on the show. Free-mo module builders can coordinate through me (I will pass along contact info) or go directly to the Capitol Free-mo group, www.capitolfreemo.org.

There is the potential for a Free-mo set up at the NER NMRA convention in Warwick, RI in October. More info to come, check out nernmra.org for the latest.

And a reminder that the NJ Free-mo group has a web site established that will have updates on these events as well as module building info and pictures. Check out njfreemo.org.

Change in name/geography

It has been a while since we have made any updates to this site. Geographically, we have focused just on central and southern New Jersey, so the blogspot name is now njfreemo.blogspot.com. We'll leave PA and DE along with the Delaware Valley designation out of it as there seems to be others in those areas interested in getting Free-mo groups together.

This doesn't mean you have to be strictly from this area of NJ to be a NJ Free-mo participant. We have no club or dues, no bylaws of course. So anyone is welcome to participate online, at setups and in construction sessions.

We also established our own web site, njfreemo.org, and that will continue to be the place with the most up-to-date info on the group.

~ Mike McNamara

Belle Mead Photos

I took a drive over to Belle Meade to look at the section of track Claude is looking to model. Here are my photos of the stations and overpass.



Track is in good condition and looks well used. The station has seen better days...




Building across from station...old freight house?



Mike Mc.

sky blue yellow

Gentlemen,

Never used any kind of blog before, so please help me out :-)

I do not like rules, but can live with guidelines, such as....

Module paint color. I do NOT like 'southwest desert sand' for our lush green northeast. I happen to use a dark green, but can change to any reasonable color.
Ballast color
Tie color - I use 'roof brown' and paint the rails a rust color

questions:

any interest in PRSL? I'm a confirmed Reading fan (20+ yr member RCT&HS)
any interest in marine railroading? waterfront module?
how do I post pics of my modules, legs, leg pockets, etc?

jim

Legs for Calais Module

With the frame and top pieces completed for each unit, I moved on to building the legs. I have been looking at different options for the legs and finally settled on leg units built from wood, much like the RMC article describes. After looking over the lumber selection available locally, I decided to go with clear pine 1 x 2 material for the legs. The quality of the wood is pretty high so I feel this will work well. I started the legs by building L-girders, glued and screwed. Next I added a small piece of 1 x 2 for the bottom where the T-nut will be installed, making a "solid" end that is 2 x 3. After some test measuring to determine the needed length, I cut the legs to 47.5 inches long. I drilled out the hole for the leveling bolts and inserted the T-nut and bolts.


I built leg pockets using 1 x 2 pieces and a rectangular section of plywood (see photo). Because the ends are not 90 degrees, I set the leg pockets in a couple of inches from the ends. Using the legs as a guide, I glued the 1 x 2's in place using the assigned leg as a guide (I labeled each leg so it would go to a specific pocket). After the plywood was attached, the leg fit was tight, so I sanded the leg ends some to make them slide in easier.

I inserted the legs and stood the module up. The module will rest on a cross piece connecting the 2 legs on each end, so I set that in place, measuring to get the end around 49.5" off the floor (the roadbed and track make up the remaining half inch). Doing this, I set the 2.5" bolt to about halfway in so I would have an inch adjustment either way, up or down. I glued and screwed the cross piece to the legs, and then added another cross piece at the bottom to stabilize the lower portion of the legs. I tested pulling out and inserting the leg to make sure it aligned OK. A little extra sanding on the legs into the pockets helps. I repeated the process for the other end.

The single module unit is suprisingly stable with no bolts to hold the legs in and no diagonal braces. I do think I will add a diagonal stabilizer to each leg unit to keep it from twisting or bending. As far as a diagonal piece connecting the leg to the module side, I am going to wait until I get the whole module assembled and see how it works. I can pobably make a piece that can be installed with carriage bolts so I have it available if needed.

So, the module A is complete and I am on to module B. Should go faster now that I figured out the process. Here is a look at the completed module A unit.

My first Module

Gentlemen,

I'm excited to get started, so that we can get together. For my first module, I want to model the Belle Mead, NJ area. The line used to be double tracked, but now only single. It is a CSX mainline through this area. I drew up my idea, see below. I need to get it to wherever the meet is, so it has to fit inside my van. Hence, I'll limit it to 7' long. Take a look:








Here is a satelite view:




The spur leads to a mill (now it's called Belle Mead Coop). The tracks are now gone, but the loading doors are still visible on the buildings, and as you can see, it's curved (more noticable when zoomed in). At the far end of the module, just to the right of the overpass is an old, forgotten and dilapidated station. The rest of the module is filled with trees and a couple houses. Except for the overpass, the rest of the module will be pretty flat.

Let me know your comments. I think this won't be too difficult, or intricate, to build. Looking further into the future, I have an idea for an interchange module, essentially an "X" shape. That'll be more difficult, but would add some fun during operations. More later.

Thanks
Claude