FREMO


The Friendship of European railway modellers is a modular rail transport modelling standard. Individual track and scenery modules are built to a common standard and are joined together to make larger model railway layouts.
The FREMO standards were created following a meeting in Europe in 1981.
Single track h0 scale modules are typically wide, of variable length, viewable from both sides. Each module comes with adjustable legs, to create a uniform top-of-rail height of above floor level. Modules are physically joined together using three holes and hand-tightened M8 wingbolts with washers and wingnuts. The electrical inter-connection uses two Banana connectors per track bus, over which Digital Command Control signalling running at 14 volts is used for train control. Track uses Code 83 rails and fixed track centre-line spacing of ; representing separation at 1:87 scale).
Some general aspects, such as rigid construction of modules, are derived from the NEM 900 standards published by MOROP.
In 1995, the North American Free-mo standards were based on those of FREMO, with a number of changes made.

North American standards

In 1994 Chris Palomarez and Art Armstrong at the San Luis Obispo Model Railroad Club developed the Free-mo Standard based on the European FREMO concept.

N-scale variant

In 2004, the traditional Free-mo standard was adapted for N scale. It uses Code 55 rail at a nominal height of. Curves should not have a radius of less than on the main line and use turnouts sized No. 6 or larger.

NMRA British Region Freemo standard

In 2011 the NMRA British Region released a set of standards called Freemo, Recommended Specifications For HO Scale Modules.

Australian Model Railway Association standard

The Australian Model Railway Association has a set of standards based on FREMO called the "AMRA Free Form Module Standard." Version 2.4 of the standard was published in July 2024., there are standards for HO and N Scales, with an O Scale version under development in collaboration with the Aus7 O Scale Modeller's Group. The AMRA standard is similar to the FREMO standard, but uses a slightly lower rail height of 1,200 mm and uses M6 wing bolts.