americaN in Fagerhult
By Robert Klarén
In the middle of the Swedish forest, in the village of Fagerhult on the west side of the large lake Vättern, about 30 km north of Jönköping, American model trains in N-scale run every year. The first meeting was held in 2018 and now in 2024 we held our sixth event (the pandemic forced us to cancel the meeting 2020).
We again had a sizable arrangement thanks to the modules brought by the German participants, and new modules made by some of the Swedes
The freight traffic centered around the hub Hoquiam-Pinehill-Haslingen. Six manifest delivered and picked up cars every session in Pinehill. Most cars were headed for Hoquiam and Haslingen, but there were also cars for the local to Gray Yard and Fairview Yard. To this was added unit trains with cars to Haslingen and Loveridge. After its first appearance last year with some minor interchange traffic, it was now time to let Falconer work. This year it was used as the interchange to the industrial area and mainly served by the passing manifests.
Passenger traffic was another high point at the meeting. In our FREMO world it is common to drive passenger trains from point A to Z and make short stops at stations in between, it can be relaxing but is usually a bit boring. At this meeting however this was not the case. There was switching to be done with express cars, sleepers, mail and milk cars that had to be dropped off or picked up, a procedure that made the passenger trains far from dull.
This year we had enough wiFREDs to use them for all engines removing the need to focus on the next point from where you can control your train. Greatly appreciated.
Driving a train is an exhausting job, which means that food and drink are of the utmost importance. Only 100 meters from the hall you will find the company Fagerhult, which houses the restaurant where our host served good and nourishing lunch and dinner in ample quantity at a decent price. It was greatly appreciated by the participants. As the restoration was close by, there were only short interruptions in the traffic.
Planning for 2025 is already underway, reserve 14-17/8 2025 for americaN in Fagerhult (It is already on the Fremo web-site)
Shout-out to Erik Kuiper for arranging the layout, traffic, electricity and the digital coordination. Also a big thanks to PO Lönn for creating the intricate passenger traffic.
