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<p>[quote user="NKato"]</p> <div class="quote-header"> </div> <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-user">BMMECNYC</div> <div class="quote-content"> <p>A few things you may want to take into consideration. </p> <p>1.  The DCC system your free-mo club uses (get the same).</p> <p>2.  7ft long modules are going to be difficult to transport.  I would instead break it down into three 4ft modules and a 2 ft module if you must have 14 ft.  4ft fits much better in most vehicles.  My own club (Mohegan Pequot) has gone to making all new modules 4ft modules for this very reason.  If you absolutely must have long, go with two 6ft modules and one 2 ft.  Long modules tend also to be somewhat heavier than shorter ones.  I can extend the legs on my 4ft modules and set them up on my own with no assistance.  My three 6ft modules (recently purchased legacy modules from the club) require a minimum of 2 people to set up and 3 people to load into a vehicle.  If you decide to go with 7ft anyway, you are limited in vehicle choices (truck with 8ft bed or full size cargo van). </p> <p>3.  Width of the modules.  I have not read the Free-mo standard, so I don't know what the width specification is, but transporting (and using) modules over 30" wide gets difficult.  Especially cleaning the tracks on one side or the other, or correcting de-railments (which always happen on the furthest possible track).</p> <div style="clear:both;"> </div> <p> </p> </div> </blockquote> <div class="quote-footer"> </div> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>In the end, I might just ditch the free-mo standard...but on second thought, how about this: If I built a model railroad layout in segments for a room, that would make it transportable to any houses I end up moving to (transportability is a huge aspect - having to tear down/write-off prior layout builds is just a big no to me). Such a scheme would allow me to create a 4-foot segment that I can pop in/out of the overall layout, and use as a free-mo module. I would like feedback on this idea. :) This approach would also let me model more of a railroad than I'd initially planned.</p> <p>[/quote]</p> <p>A couple key points on this. </p> <p>If you do plan on going the route of building a home module set, make sure you build in small sections (you already plan to).  Bolt the sections together (ease of disassembly). </p> <p>Wiring can be a hassle (fortuneately DCC needs only two wires for a basic setup), cutting then splicing the sections back together.  A simple terminal strip near the joint should minimize issues. </p> <p>If you have someone who can help you, you dont need legs on each table segment (especially if you bolt them together.  The first "table" needs 4, but after that you can do 2 legs on each section or 4 legs on every other "table".</p> <p>They are a bit pricy, but installing T-nuts and carriage bolts in the legs help greatly with keeping your modules level, especially if you are going to be moving.</p> <p>If you would like I can post a few photos of my layouts construction process (I did most, but not all of the things above. </p>
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