Hello all, last weekend we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the FREMO modular standard americaN at the annual FREMO meeting in Rheda-Wiedenbrück (GER): The annual meeting had a convention character with multiple small layouts (primarily with german prototypes) in various scales for short operation sessions and also a lot of workshops and lectures. Our groups layout incorporated modules of four members: After almost 20 years with a flat and symmetrical endplate we are now on the path to add one or two asymmetrical endplates with a river valley theme in our standard. The first attempts are really breathtaking: This is Woolf Creek by Caddy58 It consists of seven segments with low and high river valley endplates and transition segments with "normal" endplates. This is just... ...the beginning of a longer industrial spur... ...with prototype inspired industries. It´s called South Tacoma. Handlaid track from Code 40 profiles is the hallmark of the "Glacier": Additionally the owner also has some really smooth running locos with sound. Have a look at his YouTube channel with english commentary: modular railroading I hope you enjoyed these impressions from abroad.
I am always impressed with the high quality of modeling done in Europe, and especially at how well American scenes/prototypes are modeled!
Love the pictures, especially the first one where it shows the wavy rails, just like the prototype if you sight down the rails!
I MUST have more info about the grain elevator/mill (picture 8 from top...also in picture 6). Also, what is the other building in front of the elevator? Kit or scratch? The entire layout is extremely impressive!
@JMaurer1 : Here is the owner's answer: The feed mill on picture 8 is indeed the feedmill from N-Scale Architect. The kit includes the elevator, several silos and the warehouse shown in the foreground. For the builder it was a must because he models sceneries in Tacoma/WA and the X-Cel feed mill is a landmark in South Tacoma. Unfortunately, the kit is quite simplified compared to the prototype and a lot of improvements had to be done: At the prototype, the tracks meet the warehouse building in an angle and therefore the ground plan is a trapezoid, not a rectangle as given in the kit. Stairs to the upper floor are missing, as well as the the big elevator and together with many more details had to be scratchbuild and corrected. The next spurs on the module group lead to Nalley Fine Foods with its production of potato chips and dills and pickles. The smell of the production led to the nickname of the valley as „Nalley Valley“. The huge complex is compressed to a group of three buildings, one started with another N-Scale Architect kit after a Californian prototype (Cal Fame Packing) which lost some roof lights and the office wing, a new office building kitbashed from Walthers parts and a completely scratchbuild building with the distinctive hipped barrel roof which is found in no kit at all. The third factory represents the Atlas foundry with its colorful buildings, mostly scratchbuild and filled with lots of 3D-printed details. All these companies are lined up along the line from downtown Tacoma to the south in this very sequence, but of course the prototype has more distance between the companies. The modeler is glad that the public library of Tacoma has a very useful picture library including hundreds of historic photographs of the prototype buildings.
I had to wait since January 2020 to have the next opportunity for photographing an americaN layout from completely and nicely scenicked modules. Eventually I could produce new focusstacked images with these interesting details you mentioned.
Tacoma, South Tacoma, the old Northern Pacific in that area are quite familiar to me. My father was born just a couple of miles from "Nalley Valley".
Those are some beautiful scenes! And it looks like the "meet" was a success! The river scene modules were hyper-realistic!
