One of the local clubs I am in has made an oval using Free-mo standards with the exception of 40″ high instead of 50″ high. The reason is because we are setting up at public shows and it’s really hard for the kids to see the trains when they are that high. For those of us who operate at Free-mo meets the legs have a 10″ extender so that can meet the height requirement. Maybe less than half of the modules do both setups. Also, a traditional Free-mo setup is freeform and for the club we have made enough modules to make an oval. This way we can keep trains running for the public. For this reason I made a module 26″ x 48″ – a 4′ double track main that is the same as the other straight sections in the club. It can easily fit in the club setup and Free-mo setups.
There was a lot of work to make this work the way I wanted! I needed a double track mainline with the Free-mo standards. I also needed the switching lead to be long enough which meant it needed to cross the mainlines. I also wanted to be able to connect to at least one of the mainlines from the yard. I also had wanted to try building the new Fast Tracks Diamond Line Crossing kits. It turns out it was a little tricky to make but I think looks really cool. I am really good at making crossings by hand, and they are pricy so for me I wouldn’t use them again but I do like how they look and if someone else hasn’t made as many as I have I would tell them to try it. It’s a good system and well thought out.
My CAD Software
Using the computer to help design almost anything should save time, especially if you go thorough many revision. CAD stands for Computer-aided Design. There are a lot of CAD options out there: AutoCAD, Solidworks, Autodesk, Fusion 360, Sketchup and Tinkercad are just a few. There are also even layout design programs such as SCARM (Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeller), XtrackCad, Anyrail and 3rd PlanIt. I’ve tried a few of them but for some reason or another had a hard time really getting into it. I have used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for over 30 years so those are my programs of choice. So not technically what I would consider CAD software, they are a computer aiding me with the design! I tried several versions and variations, including a right hand instead of left hand turnout to get to the yard making the other mainline have to jog. In the end, I like what I came up with shown below. The radius is quite tight but no tighter than what is in the yard. The only cars/train using it would be my own tested equipment so I feel I don’t need to keep it to the Free-mo standards (besides keeping the mainline to the standards.)
