Jan 29 2009
Not Enough Money, Time, Space? Modular Model Railroading Is the Answer
Not Enough Money, Time, Space? Modular Model Railroading Is the Answer
You love trains and model railroads but there’s never enough money, time, or space. Until you win the lottery, quit your job and family responsibilities, and buy a place with no limits, consider modular model railroading.
What’s Modular Model Railroading?
Model railroads were traditionally either a small hobby that took up a table top, a place around the holiday tree, or an “empire” that soon grew to fill an entire room or many rooms. Excluding the track around the holiday tree, all of these railroads were built in place using materials and methods that made them impractical to move. When houses were sold they often included the railroad.
Sectional Railroads. Then people came up with the idea that the railroad could be built in sections. Sections that were specific to a single railroad. Like an addition on a particular house. The wiring, studs, and plumbing all lined up with existing wiring studs, and plumbing in that one house.
In the last 30 years a new concept in model railroads was developed as a response to the limits that the “empire” and the “sectional” railroad imposed.
Modules. A model railroad is built in small sections in a way that is specifically designed to be joined together with other modules. If there was an agreed standard it was possible to join up with modules you had never even seen before. The small size and standard connections made it possible to move the railroad from place to place for displays, meetings, conventions, and fun running trains. It was possible to take the module to other railroader’s houses, join them together and run trains. It was possible to build your own railroad incrementally and adjust track designs and goals over time.
The leader in the field of modular railroads is NTRAK in N Scale. The NTRAK standard has inspired thousands of model railroad modules to be built. NTRAK modules have been the basis of world’s records in the largest model railroads and longest model railroad trains. There are numerous clubs and organizations that have sprung up around the NTRAK standard. After decades of refinement and practice, the NTRAK standard has set the pattern for modular railroads in many different scales. The National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Module Standards has adopted standards that reflect the proven experience developed in N scale and has expanded that to numerous scales including HO. There are also widely adopted, but informal, standards for Modules running Large Scale Trains in G, S Scale, and O scale.
Module standards provide a lot of details on materials, dimensions. You add your creativity to one small area and still get the advantage of running trains on a large railroad. Modules add the social dimension to trains. Almost requiring you to go out and join up with others. Share experiences and expertise. You are no longer trapped in the basement or garage alone. Variety is possible because modules can be joined in a variety of ways. You save money because the underlying structure is shared. You retain your own control over your module or modules and your trains.
Have fun!
Trainguy
