Fremo fiNescale module profiles

The Fremo standard concerns modelling of 1:1 railway practice in scale using transportable railway tables called modules. Essentially a module is just a box, track on top, with standardised cross sections at the ends - end profile - the actual length of a module and its form in between the end profiles is free. Thus larger sets such as stations or shunting yards etc. only need these fixed end profiles at the ends in order to couple to the rest of the modular world. Generally length and form of modules are limited by the transport options of its owner, not by the Fremo standard. The object of defining a standard profile is to guarantee easy coupling of modules and safe and error free crossing of trains over the module borders and facilitate smooth transition of the landscape between modules with different owners.

The start was with only a flat single track module with a low elevation for the track, nice for modules representing flat countryside, but in general the terrain is rarely flat. First extension was of course producing double track for members with higher trafic requirements.

But a dam on a 1m long module with flat transitions does not look particularly good, and it also looks strange when two dam modules meet and form a hump in the middle. Thus members who liked more elevated landscapes asked for further profiles. Edward under took a succesful proposal in 2007 showing more variety in cross sections. Although the profiles are standardised this does not guarantee that the module can be freely deployed at meetings as lack of connecting modules may inhibit this. Therefor these profiles are preferably used as standard profiles inside a set of modules. The set having the original flat profile at the ends.

The profiles are designed in such a way that natural cross-sections with terrain heights corresponding to the prototype can be achieved and yet credible transitions between the different profiles can also be achieved on an 80cm module.

Below follow the revised profiles with better appearance and coupling. In essence, the embankments and the subgrade have become narrower. The screw holes in the embankment have been arranged more favorably.

The following images are also links to the PDF drawings at a scale of 1:2. Simply print them out on A4 and enlarge them by a factor of 2 in the copy store to obtain an exact pattern. Alternatively, many printer drivers offer the option of poster printing at 200% on 2 pages.

All drawings are available for download below as PDF files in a compressed ZIP file.

Original flat profile

The following two profiles are the FREMO standard profiles for the scale 1:160 in 9mm standard gauge for single and double track lines.

Dam

A low dam, about 7m high. It shouldn't be any lower, everything else is no longer a dam, but a mound of earth :-)

The handgrip is smaller and optional, the screw connections are placed as high up as possible. With this arrangement of holes, it is possible to insert a continuous girder on edge under the route to avoid "jumps" at the transition and to easily create vertical end boards. The handgripss are not compatible with the flat profile. The sides are chosen high enough to attach the legs and for stability reasons.

There is sufficient surface area in the plane on each side to create a landscape. A pleasing transition to the flat profile or slope is easily possible. The direct transition to the incision profile should be motivated by a suitable occasion, e.g. a rocky outcrop, due to the large difference in height.

Slope

A slope profile straight out of the substructure textbook :-) The slope axis runs through the middle of the formation, on the slope side the maximum inclination is worked out with a trench, the material removed there was used to fill the valley side. The slope is not evenly inclined. On the uphill side it is the same height (175mm) as the cut, the downhill side is compatible with the dam profile with a height of 55mm, so a smooth transition to all other profiles is possible. The screw connection is compatible with the flat profile.

Cutting

The profile is symmetrical in order to have more freedom when planning meetings. There is sufficient space on both sides of the track for ditches and side paths. Nevertheless, the cut is deep enough to be able to build a credible bridge over the track. Compared to the prototype, all profiles are only very low, a 7m high embankment or a 12m deep cutting does not look very impressive in the original, but it is still easy to rebuild.

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translation: Henk Oversloot
date: 14 June 2024