Calgary Free-mo: Standards And Guidelines
Locomotives and Rolling Stock
Wheels:
- Metal. Plastic wheels are not to be used.
- Clean
- Back-to-back spacing meets NMRA gauge
- Gauge meets NMRA gauge
- Flange contours are RP-25 or have equivalent flange depth. Semi-scale (.088") wheel treads are allowed
Rolling Quality:
- Cars roll freely down a 3% grade
Trucks:
- Pivot freely
- Slight lateral rock on at least one end (three-point mount)
- Able to negotiate a #5 turnout
- Able to negotiate a 30" radius curve
- Able to negotiate vertical rail curves as specified in Section 4.0 TRACK WORK
standards
Couplers:
- Kadee #5 or #58; other brands will be allowed as long as there are no
problems with inter-brand coupling. Kadee couplers will take precedence.
- Match to center of Kadee coupler height gauge or NMRA Standards Gauge, plus
or minus 1/32"
- Knuckle and centering springs work freely
- Free of flash
- Metal couplers are insulated from the rail
- Trip pins clear Kadee coupler height gauge or equivalent
OPTIONAL: coupler trip pins may be cut off at the bottom of the coupler body
Car Weight:
- As long as a car is operating correctly and not causing derailments or other
operational problems, we will not be checking weight.
- We do recommend that a car be weighted to within +10%, -5% of NMRA
specification (1 oz + 1/2 oz for each inch of car length:) so that these
problems are avoided. (see chart below.)
| Car Length (Scale ft) |
NMRA Weight (oz) |
| 30 |
3.1 |
| 35 |
3.4 |
| 40 |
3.8 |
| 45 |
4.1 |
| 50 |
4.4 |
| 55 |
4.8 |
| 60 |
5.1 |
| 65 |
5.5 |
| 70 |
5.8 |
| 75 |
6.2 |
| 80 |
6.5 |
| 85 |
6.9 |
| 90 |
7.2 |
Electronics:
- Locomotives must be equipped with DCC decoders compatible with NMRA DCC compliant systems
- The Calgary Free-mo has adopted a plan for the decoder addresses. Each member is assigned a prefix, which then becomes the first two digits of the four digit address. The last two digits are up to the owner to choose, though the last two digits of the road number on the locomotive usually takes precedence. A second prefix may be allowed in extreme circumstances. The Free-mo group has reserved the 00, 01, and 02 prefixes.
- The Two-Digit Address 03 will not be allowed to operate on any set up, except for "testing" purposes after getting clearance from the run chief. Address 00, used for analog locomotives without a decoder, cannot be used on the layout as this capability has been disabled on the command station.