Ops meet at Leonberg 2026
It has become a tradition, the week after Easter we meet at Strohgäuhalle in Höfingen near Leonberg (Baden-Würtemberg). Actually it is our fourth attendance.
As we are all only too aware of, setting up a FREMO-layout involves a lot of work.
We were able to put up a layout of some 70 m, the Berlin Division starting and one subdivision, the Green Division.
Starting point was Chicago Newman's Yard, where trains were classified and then traveled on to Schuyler Street, passed Neuman Bloxx (an industry producing cinder blocks) and Lapel with its two grain elevators and eventually arrived at Berlin Yard. Here the trains headed on to Lacolle in Canada or turned to the Green Subdivision, passing Elmsworth Grain Elevator and arriving at Green Hills and Green Hills Traction where several industries had to be switched.
A number of freight trains were to be manned (locals, turns, through-trains) and from 1986 on we also had a commuter service. Uli provided an F40 and a two-car train. Thanks!
We were able to fill seven sessions each with a dedicated date.
Sessions made accessible
| Session | Day | Date |
| 1 | Thursday | 29.08.1963 |
| 2 | Thursday | 05.09.1963 |
| 3 | Tuesday | 10.06.1986 |
| 4 | Wednesday | 18.06.1986 |
| 5 | Monday | 08.09.1997 |
| 6 | Tuesday | 16.09.1997 |
| 7 | Tuesday | 22.07.2003 |
What was new at this meet
A welcome new development was the fact that Ralf had extended Chicago by two new pieces thus creating a siding which made classifying and especially arriving on the return much more handy.
A new development was the fast clock with a speed of 3:1 by running JMRI in the background. This ratio left enough time for switching but was not overlong for traveling. In the end we were all using mobile phones for driving the trains as the fast clock was shown on Wi-Throttle and Engine Driver, making reading departure times really easy.
For the first time we introduced mile post to be prepared if the need for a dispatcher arose. BTW, the signs were simply stuck to the fascia. The Yard Limit sign restricted the movements of trains during classification. At the same time it increased the challenge of switching in a satisfactory way.
As usual we had switch lists. Some new FREMOdules were introduced and worked both fine and enabled interesting switching operations.
So, we are growing both in members and operations.
Cheers
Andreas
Pictures from Leonberg 2026
