I became a member of FREMO and visited one of their meets way back in April of 2011. I was asked the question on at least 3 or 4 occasions whether there was a FREMO group in India and I scoffed at the suggestion and dismissed the idea as one would, the most improbable or insane ….I could not have dreamt in my wildest dreams that 2 years hence i would actually participate in one, here in India. While not technically under the aegis of the FREMO group, the idea of having a modular railroad club emanated from FREMO and hence i take the liberty of calling it the FREMO group of Indian Railways or sometimes,the IRMRC – The Indian Railways modular railroad club.
As you may be aware i have been documenting the building of the modular staging yard in this blog and that formed part of the setup today……along with the modules which were brought by Rajit and the Daga brothers ….. together forming a layout which was 40 ft long and barely fitted into my layout room ….
Hookup was fast and easy and only a few steps were needed , like setting the various command stations to slave mode, hooking up the loconet cables and setting the polarity of the track of individual modules to the same common. Some time was devoted to route programming and a few niggles like a busted UR92 radio receiver, loco addresses and momentum, coupler changing etc etc were fixed. We then operated even though we had no plan or timetable to follow and just generally mocked up situations and scenarios……… but boy was it fun for me cause i just love railroad operations …… here we see Rajit’s Garrett and a kit-bashed and repainted WDM2 ( an Indian railways diesel ) wannabe hauling some Deutsche Bahn freight cars !!!!
i am sure Rajit and the Daga brothers had as much fun as i did … here we see the Daga brothers ” Haripur” module and also Rajit’s module …. i do not know what he has called it ….
Unfortunately Ranjeev Dubeys module was not ready and if it is ready when we meet next ….. probably after about 3 months …. then we will need more space as these set of modules just about fit into the space we had ….. till then i assume we will work on the scenery aspect as well as the scratch-building of rolling stock ….. a small modest start but it all went of well with not too many glitches as one can expect in a “first time ever” meet ……
hopefully in the coming time we will have more people pitching in with modules and we can have even bigger setups…..
Looks like a great start set-up in India for FREMO !
And with such a collection of enthusiastic and professional model railroaders, I am quite exited to future developments. By the way, if any of you should trip over to Germany, pls. be my guests. I live an hours´ drive from Frankfurt airport. We can share our experiences and I can show you my humble layout (HO DCC) here too.
Cheers to you all, wonderful greetings from Germany, from Richard.
Excellent Model it looks by the way can we see it ?
Looks like a fantastic start. I look forward to watching your freemo group develope.
Hello,
By 2015/6 I will be making highly detailed 00 (1:72) scale IR models. These models will be of excellent standards. I have a moderate range planned. I cannot make models in bucket loads because after the components are manufactured in Holland I assemble here in India. It will take about 2-3 weeks to make a model from start to finish.
For more details please email me at:
fdmodels95@gmail.com
or
FD Models
https://www.facebook.com/JeremiahsNScaleIndianRailwayModels
Dear Vikas,
Well, now it’s time we’ll change the name of our society. World Friends of Model Railways would be nice! 😉
I’m stunned what you have achieved in that short time.
I would like to be kept informed about your further achievements.
Greetings,
Paul Hartman
President FREMO
Kudos to all of you, and of course to Vikas for making this happen! Hope to attend one of your meets in the future.
A momentous occasion indeed! Let us first have the club name registered. “IRMRC” should be ours for keeps!
After so many years of dreaming of a layout – however small – I finally managed some modules, and the whole exercise has been so rewarding! I have made some super friends, have picked up new skills, am feeling proud that I am no more an armchair hobbyist, and now my locos have a place to stretch their legs!
The work progressed in fits and starts over the last year. Vikas has been a patient mentor all through, and has always helped in negotiating difficulties.This really wouldn’t have been possible for us without him. But it was the Govil brothers’ “Golden Spike” ceremony for SV Rail last month that really reinvigorated us first timers. That’s when the Dags and I decided to go for the home run! (Honestly, a visit to Vikas;s layout is a bit of a paradox! It’s inspiring and scary at the same time!!). Now I am itching to start work on some rolling stock (coaches and loco repaints), a U turn and a staging yard which will allow me to have op-sessions at home!
But before that, let me hurtle down the main line with blaring horns one more time!!! Kaustav, get yourself a flight ticket to Delhi for this Friday!
Wow! unbelievable! Congratulations to all the members of the first FREMO group in India. I totally agree with Ranjeev, the craftsmanship in these modules are outstanding – very interesting track arrangements and flawless built… all that these modules require now is a bit of scenery and some buildings!
Way to go guys! Wish I was in Delhi!
For rookies, Rajit and the BeeDees (The Brother’ Dagas) have created outstanding modules to a great standard. The standard of workmanship was a bit of a shock to me. They trotted up the learning curve like it didn’t exist. Congrats guys.
I am one of the Daga Brother. Its was a dream that came true today. We almost spent 9-10 hours today and every moment was exciting. Problems came but all were overcome under able guidance of Vikas. Hat’s off to him. As a first day we think we made a good achievement.. We will now be looking forward for the next meet when everyone of us will make more improvements in their modules.
Cheers.