Model railway exhibitions in Germany are normally organized by model train clubs. They build railway modules, mostly in HO scale, and plug them together. That's how they get a huge model railroad system for their visitors. One focus of model railroading or railway modelling is on joining different modules with different train control systems. Before they open their model railroad exhibit on the weekend, the members are busy harmonizing various decoders, locomotives, switches, etc. In this video, Pilentum presents a model train show which was organized by three modelling clubs.
After building a large modular railway layout consisting of more than 100 single modules, visitors enjoyed more than 200 meters of railroad track in HO scale and a lot of rolling stock, mostly German locomotives, freight trains and passenger trains. In Germany, the brands Marklin, Fleischmann and Roco are very popular. But recently there are smaller manufacturers making very detailed scale models of locomotives, for example ESU and BRAWA. They focus on realizing amazing digital functions in their locomotives, such as sound and light effects in electric locomotives or smoke generators in steam locomotives. Finally, German model railroaders more and more are using digital car systems on their model railway layouts even if the layouts were designed only as a modular system. The joy of running these little miniature vehicles or model cars in HO scale is unmistakable.
