The most basic guideline in creating the Calgary Free-Mo group was to have fun and enjoy the company of others who are looking for the same in playing with; we mean, operating our trains.
The Calgary Free-Mo group is not a regular club; in the sense that we do not collect any dues and we do not elect any officials. i.e. president, treasurer etc. We do however now require our members to be members of the NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) as we are transitioning to being a 100% NMRA group.
We do hold monthly meetings to discuss progress on group activities, module construction, and other general topics. The meetings are held every second tuesday of the month at the HMCS Tecumseh (24th Street & 17th Ave SW), and attendance is voluntary. We also have members share their talents on different aspects of the hobby.
The group operates on the co-operative efforts of all members.
The group has acquired and will continue to acquire equipment of one sort or another. If items are deemed necessary for the group to purchase, the members will be asked to chip in what they can financially. NO MEMBER AT ANY TIME IS UNDER ANY OBLIGATION TO DONATE. THIS IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.
No member owns any of the purchased or donated property. If a member leaves the group for whatever reason, they are not entitled to any reimbursement for any monies they have put into the group.
If the group ever disbands, all group owned equipment will either be donated directly to Trains for Kids or sold and the proceeds donated to Trains for Kids. Again, no member or members are entitled to any reimbursement for monies or goods given to the group. An inventory list will be made up and kept as current as possible so that all group owned equipment can be tracked.
New members are always welcome, and encouraged to join in the fun. The only pre-requisites to join are that you are interested in building a module that meets with the Calgary Free-Mo Standards & Procedures, have a willingness to participate in group set ups at different venues, and take out and maintain a membership with the NMRA. We welcome anyone with these desires; from the raw novice modeler to the most seasoned veteran of the hobby.
The following are a set of guidelines for all of our members:
- It is suggested that each member should own the following:
- At least one module.
- At least one DCC equipped locomotive to operate at set ups
- Willingness to have fun!
- Each member should get acquainted with the operation of Digitrax DCC throttles so that they can participate in operations at any set up. All of our members, to date, that have existing layouts with Digitrax DCC can arrange a convenient time and date for anyone wishing to practice with a Digitrax DCC throttle on their home layouts. It would be preferable if each member eventually purchased their own throttle, but this is not an absolute requirement
- All members modules, rolling stock and locomotives must meet with the Calgary Free-Mo Standards & Procedures. Note that non-compliance with the Standards & Procedures will exclude the offending module, locomotive or piece of rolling stock from being used in any group setup until the particular item(s) do conform. This does not exclude the member from participating in any set-up.
- Members should have a willingness to share their modeling talents with the group. This will help others gain a wider knowledge of different modeling techniques and procedures.
- All organizational functions within the group are on a strictly volunteer basis. If you volunteer for something that you cannot complete you are asked to contact the group and advise them so someone else can pick up the slack and help out. It must be understood by all members that a group of this nature cannot survive without a concerted effort on everyone's part to help out wherever they can. This does not mean that you are expected to assist in every aspect of the group, but if you can help with any organizational function, please do.
- These guidelines may be modified from time to time as the group grows and matures. Any input to adjust these guidelines or the Standards & Procedures should be sent out to all of the members currently listed on the group mailing list and/or presented at the next available meeting for discussion.
Please keep in mind that the original Free-Mo organization in Europe had some very basic concepts in mind when it was formed as shown below. (See www.fremo.org)
The FREMO (Freundeskreis Europäischer Modellbahner = Friendship Association of European Model Railroaders) All three parts of the name are important to us:
FReundeskreis / Circle of Friends - we meet not only at our official meetings, but we stay in contact with each other personally, by e-mail or via the phone
Europäscher - although incorporated in Germany, our memberlist underlines our engagement for a Europe without frontiers.
MOdellbahner / MOdelrailroaders - we would like to see ourselve as the creative avantgarde of the hobby in Europe - articles written by our members appear in several magazins and books - we promote the use of smaller rails and many ideas, which surfaced to a wider audiance in the last years, were developed and tested at FREMO-meetings.
We would like to keep the friendship and comaraderie portion of the group at the forefront, as it is the historic basis from which the concept and standards have been formed.