North Georgia Modurail

HO scale Modular Railroad Club

Do you like to operate HO scale trains but don't have room for a home layout?
Do you move too frequently to warrant investing the time and money into a permanent layout?
Do you have a layout but want to run equipment from a different era?
Do you want to learn more about model railroading and need a way to practice new skills?
Do you want to share your hobby and meet other interested individuals?

If so, modular model railroading may be just right for you!

North Georgia Modurail is an HO scale modular railroading club serving the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Updates: Friday, March 7th

Next Meeting: Annual Meeting, Saturday, March 8th, 2008

The next meeting is our Annual Meeting. The office of Treasurer and two Board of Director positions are available. There will also be voting on some by-law changes, including a proposed increase in dues. The Annual Meeting is at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 2110 Brockett Road, Tucker GA, from 7pm to 9pm.

Books about Modular Model Railroading

At the May 2006 meeting, Bob Slaughter gave a presentation about four books that deal with modular model railroading. If you missed the meeting, or would like a copy, you can access a PDF version here.

Future Meeting Ideas

We're still interested in ideas for clinics or presentation subjects for our meetings. Some samples include:

Turnout detailing (Gary Bechdol)
Group trip to Southeastern Rail Museum in Duluth: (Bryan Johnson)

If anyone else has a program they would like to present, contact Bryan Johnson.

Meeting Locations

Meetings consist of clinics, discussions, project planning and status reports, and other activities.

Next Meeting:

March 8th, 2008, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Tucker: Annual Meeting, 7pm to 9pm. Year-in-review, awards, elections, food.

Future Meetings :

April 22, 2008 at Smoke Rise: Final discussion for Wesley Chapel show.
May 27, 2008 at Smoke Rise: TBD
June 24, 2008 at Smoke Rise: TBD.

NGM Events or Public Shows :

Piedmont Model Train Soow: March 8th and 9th, 2008. Cobb Civic Center, Marietta
Wesley Chapel Train Exhibit: April 26th through 14th, 2007.

Other Area Events or Public Showings: (NGM will not be attending these as an organization, but they are listed here for informational purposes, for both members and non-members)

None at this time.

We are currently meeting at Smoke Rise Baptist Church near Stone Mountain. Meetings are on the fourth Tuesday of each month except December. Meetings start at 7:30PM. See below for directions.

Meeting Locations

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 2110 Brockett Road, Tucker GA

Directions:

Take I-285 to LaVista Road (exit 37)
Exit LaVista Road east
About 1 mi, turn RIGHT onto Brocket Road (left-side listed as Henderson Road)
Go past Lawrenceville Highway. St. Mark's is on the right.

Smoke Rise Baptist Church

Directions to Smoke Rise Baptist Church:

East side of I-285. Go to Stone Mountain Freeway (Hwy 78) towards Stone Mountain.
Exit on Hugh Howell Road.
Go through light at Lilburn Stone Mountain Road.
Go up the hill and the church is on the left. Gym at the back right hand of church. We meet in the first room on the right. Meetings start at 7:30PM

Who we are, and what we do.

Modular model railroading allows you the opportunity to build and own a small part of a larger layout, called a module. When combined with other member's modules you help create a much larger complete model railroad, limited only by the space to contain it!

Members are encouraged to build sectional parts of a layout, known as modules, according to the club standards, which are based on the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) standards. Often these are straight sections, usually between 4 and 8 feet. In addition to the member owned modules, the club owns four corner modules and a 32-foot yard area. At train shows, meets, and other events, we assemble these modules into a single layout ( Example or see the Album link below).

By building your own module you learn benchwork (the carpentry needed to build the frame), track laying techniques, realistic scenery creation skills, how to plan and build structures, kit building, "kitbashing", and more.

Members display a range of skills and interests within the hobby. Some members recreate the glory days of steam powered railroading, while others model modern railroads with the latest high-powered diesel locomotives pulling long strings of intermodal cars. All members share a love for the hobby and a desire to exchange ideas and tips with others. Some members are excellent at creating scenery, others the building and detailing of buildings, or installing DCC decoders, or painting detailing the cars and locomotives.

Our organization supports the NMRA Digital Command Control (DCC) standard. We currently use the Chief system as produced by Digitrax, Inc. Members may use any brand DCC compliant decoders, and are not required, but it is strongly suggested, to use DCC decoders in their locomotives.

The NGM documents page, contains standards, by-laws, the Telegraph newsletter, and other documents.

The NGM Free-Mo Information Page! Click here for more information on the North American Free-Mo modular standards, and NGM's efforts to incorporate this into our club.

The NGM Photo Album page! Click here to see some pictures of our club set-ups and modules! Recently updated with Smoke Rise 2004 pictures.

Gary Bechdol's Compliance Document Click here to access it.

Revised Gentle Guide to Free-mo

Back in the Summer of 2004, the Free-mo standards were amended. I have updated the Gentle Guide to Free-mo accordingly, and the revised version is now available for download through the NGM Free-Mo page link above, or directly through this link.