Hello all, I’m new to this site but not to N Scale, I’ve been interested in trains all my life. First with Lionel, then about 10 years ago, due to space constraints, I discovered N Scale and I love it.
I’m in the process of trying to start a modular layout club in my area (Lancaster County, Pa). This is close to Reading, Pa and Harrisburg, Pa. I was thinking of following N-Trak standards, but the club could always use them as a guide and make it’s own standards for itself. The meeting times, days and location would all be figured out after we would have a couple of interested people. The club membership is open to all ages, genders and races, only requirement is a love of model railroading along with an interest in N Scale.
Move to Leominster Ma and Ill join. lol Good luck though. Happy N scaling. Tim
You might want to reconsider some of that. Using the N-Trak standards without deviation from track placement & wiring specs will ensure compatibility should you or anyone else in your club wish to participate in an N-Trak event anywhere in the country.
Our club members made that mistake and had to re-do everything before we could display our modules at shows & meets in conjunction with other clubs.
Additionally, if the club fails or you decide to move elsewhere, having a module built to national standards will ensure compatibility with new friends and/or associations with whom you may encounter.
Just something to consider…and it saves time & money if things ever need to be changed to conform to established standards.
In the meantime, best of luck with your new club. Feel free to email me if you need some help or ideas getting set up. I’ve been a participant in the establishment of several clubs that are (amazingly) still around 
Mac
I second the suggestion about N Track standards. If you look at what others have done, you’ll find plenty of creative opportunities in the standards and the benefit of being able to set up with other NTrak groups is a plus it’s hard to calculate, especially in your club’s early days.
Best of luck and have fun!
I also am starting a ho freemo club in red deer alberta and I agree to the suggestions of following a set of standards. The reason for choosing free mo is that there is three other clubs that get together for a large meet. thats the best reason for getting involved in a modular club is the abilty to get together for a layout that is far larger than is possible for any one individual layout.
I looked at and discarded several different sets of standards because we would be going at it alone and that is not what I wanted to be doing. it would pay to do some searches for your area and see what can be found. most of the clubs that I have talked to have been more than willing to meet with me and to give me some help in getting started.
One of the best peices of advice is to look in the malls to see if they will donate some unused space in return for the layout being a draw for the mall. while that is not possible for us, it was definately worth looking into. good luck on getting things rolling, it will take patience, perserverence and lots of your time, but it will be worth it in the end.
I understand what you guys are saying, but a club can make special modules to bring the tracks back to the N-TRAK specs and use their models as one group. I’ve seen this done around here and it isn’t a bad idea. If anyone in the Lancaster County, PA area is looking to join a club, reply to this post.