Big Valley 2018

I first had the pleasure of attending “Big Valley” in August 2017. This is a Free-mo event hosted by the Calgary Free-mo group Calgary Free-mo. The event is held in an ice hockey arena in the village of Big Valley, Alberta located about an hour’s drive east of Red Deer. The collegial and welcoming organizers and participants include Free-mo modelers from the north-west United States and western Canada. While not advertised as being open to the public, it is and there is no admission charge to be a spectator. In 2017 there were over 540 linear feet of Free-mo modules.

As 2018 marked the 15th anniversary of Big Valley, the organizers set the ambitious goal of having at least 1,000 linear feet of modules – well in excess of the previous North America record of 599.75 feet which was set also at Big Valley in 2013, their 10th anniversary. This goal was exceeded, with 1,126 linear feet of modules comprising 1,900 feet of track on which to run trains over 135 modules. This took 1 Digitrax DCS240 command station, 26 track boosters and 12 accessory boosters to operate.

Having learned from the previous 14 years of Big Valley events, the organizers were superbly organized in the setup. They began the setup a day earlier than usual to ensure that adequate time was available. Setup began on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 15. Trains were running on Friday, August 17 and take-down began at 4 PM on Sunday, August 19. As with previous years, it was possible to run trains 24 hours a day if one was so inclined.

The organizers had also arranged for participants to engage in operating an actual locomotive and a couple of cars doing yard work in both the engineer and conductor roles. With safety training and proper clothing, we were supervised in these duties by employees of Alberta Prairie Railway.

If you are already a Free-mo modeler or are inclined to become one, this is an event not to be missed in a future year. Keep tabs on the Calgary Free-mo website for upcoming events.

Following are a few pictures from Big Valley 2018.

The following diagram is an image found on the Calgary Free-mo website. It is quite remarkable.