In case you are unfamiliar with the term "modular railroading", it refers to a layout you build in sections, or modules, each usually about 2 or 2 1/2 feet wide by 4 feet long. Each section bolts onto the next. Most modular railroads are club layouts and each member owns at least one module. The club itself usually owns the corner modules with the curved track. Members bring and set up their modules at an indoor or outdoor site for operating sessions, then break down the layout after a day or two. So layouts are semi-permanent and may vary in size or shape depending on how many members participate and how much room is available.

The most successful modular railroad group in America is probably N-Trac. Its members live all over this country, Canada, and some even farther away. Each usually belongs to a local club and, once a year, many members bring their modules to a single location for a national meet. The resulting layout or layouts stretch for several scale miles. N-Trak has established national standards for a module's height, length, mainline track type and placement-everything necessary for any member's module to be compatible with any other member's, no matter how far apart they may live.

Everything else on the module, including additional track, scenery, or structures is strictly up to the builder.

HO, S, and O scale modelers also participate in modular clubs. Magazines such as Model Railroader have run feature articles on complete layouts as well as individual modules. Some are very impressive because of their realistic modeling.

Large scale model railroaders also participate in modular clubs. Del Oro Pacific in Southern California may be the largest, but many excellent groups exist throughout the country. Some maintain very high modeling standards and even require handlaid code 250 rail on individual ties.

Modular railroading enjoys three big attractions: First, even hobbyists with "no" space, such as those living in small apartments, have enough for a 2 1/2 by 4 foot module. (One would store easily under the bed.) Second, modules allow indoor operation when the weather is bad and outdoor operation when the weather is good. (No excuses about large scale model railroading being a "seasonal" hobby.) Third, when enough hobbyists join their modules together, the resulting layout may be much larger and more detailed than any one individual could possibly build. (For example, the layout we feature this month, the Del Oro Pacific, has more than 1500 feet of track.)

Here are some other advantages of modular railroading: Modules allow those of us on a tight budget or with a commitment to another scale still to enjoy a satisfying involvement in large scale. They let us share our layout with more people because we take the layout with us out of the house. Modules encourage gradual expansion as space, money, and time permit. They help us to develop modeling skills because we tend to concentrate on perfecting one module before moving on to the next. Or, if we have run out of layout space, we may concentrate on building rolling stock, structures, or locomotives in the time we might have spent building a larger layout.

You might have assumed our title, Outdoor Railroader, suggests we should ignore indoor model railroading. Wrong. Even our slogan says otherwise: "Realistic Large Scale Railroading" encompasses all large scale modeling, indoors or out.

We support the modular railroading concept and encourage it as strongly as we do traditional outdoor railroading. We would like to see every hobbyist with limited space build a module and those with outdoor layouts also try one. In a few months, Outdoor Railroader, with the help of some of our advertisers, will present a sophisticated modular diorama of our own.

We foresee a day when thousands of hobbyists from the smaller scales also model in large scale. We think many will join us through modular railroading. If that should happen, the future of our hobby would be very bright.

So why not try a module? No time like the present to enjoy the future.