Gruppo Fermodellistico Milanese
"Italo Briano"

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AN INTRODUCTION TO GFMIB
Warning: every link in this page leads to another one in Italian language.

The Gruppo Fermodellistico Milanese "Italo Briano" (GFMIB) is a free association of railway enthusiasts constituted on the 18th January 1987 in Milan with the purpose to promote the interest in models and real railways, tramways and trolleybus. GFMIB also collaborate with Italian State Railways (F.S.: Ferrovie dello Stato).
The club, which has not been established for sake of gain, is also member of the National Italian Railway Modellers Federation (FIMF).

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

GFMIB was provided since its establishment with a Statute to rule and manage all its activities.
The Assemblea dei Soci (=General Meeting of the Members) is the most important body: it convenes at least once in a year to approve the financial balance, set up the budgets for the coming year and review the activities of the Gruppo as well as to elect the Consiglio Direttivo, a sort of board of directors of the club, responsible of the implementation of the decisions taken by the general meeting of the members.
The Consiglio Direttivo is composed of the President, the Vice-President, a Secretary, a Tresaurer plus seven active members each one responsible for a specific line of activity; this means that a relatively high number of members are directly involved in the management of the club.

THE REAL RAILWAYS FANS

The enthusiasts of the real railways can find a number of actractive proposals ranging among visits to railway, tramway, trolleybus and underground works and premises, railways tours on lines of particular interest, organization of "special" trains directly rent by the Gruppo or in coordination with other clubs, slides and video shows as well as photographs exibitions at the Club house.
All visits, railway tours and special trains are scheduled in accordance with a calendar approved by the general meeting of the members and are open for partecipation both to members and non members with the rule that members have always priority over the non members, where a limitation in the number of partecipants exists or is imposed by the hosting organization.
In any case the calendar is set up to avoid as much as possible overlappings or duplications of similar arrangements made by other clubs, thus promoting a good cooperation for the mutual benefit of all railways fans.
Slides and videos projections are scheduled on the last Tuesday evening of each month at the GFMIB Club house, while the photo exibitions are generally organized on a "special event" basis and with the aim of approcing of a brother attendance.

THE RAILWAYS MODELLING ACTIVITY

The railway modelling is focused on the construction, operation and continuous upgrading of the Club layout which consists in a central fixed body surrounded by a number of modular panels (built according to FIMF standards) in H0 (1:87) scale.
This modular arrangement allows to add or substitute the panels of the Gruppo with new ones built as private assets by individual members.
A connection with panels built by other clubs with the same FIMF standards is also possible in case of joint exibition.
Another advantage of the modular construction is the ease of storage of the panels, when laying idle, as well as of handling and transportation when the Gruppo partecipates in model railway exibitions or in promotional events as requested, from time to time, by the Italian State Railways (F.S.).
It is worth to note that the fixed part of the layout is self consistant and can be fully operated even in absence of all surrounding panels, thus allowing for the members to test and run their model trains when the modular part is exibiting somewhere else. The modular part can also be assembled to become an autonomous and ever changing layout.
But due attention is also paid to the assembling of kits of model locos and wagons by the members who partecipate to courses for non-skilled modellers, to the possibility of studying and testing new manufacturing tecniques, to contacts with specialised suppliers of hardware and tools, to assistance in purchasing of parts or materials where the search could be difficult or the minimum quantities on the market excessive or too expensive for the individual buyers.
Agreements with selected modelshops have also been set up to grant the members discounts on their purchases and the possibility of taking advantage of promotional sales.

THE LIBRARY

An updated library is available for the regular members and contains books, publications, magazines, catalogues, drawings and other bibliographical material related to both real and model railways, part of which is not on the market or has some historical value.
The setting up of photographic records of trains and other transportation means is a new activity currently in progress.

INFORMATION ABOUT GFMIB ACTIVITY

The official information media of GFMIB are the news letters (circulars) normally issued on a monthly basis and mailed to all members.
A copy is also provided to the main model shops in Milan and to many similar clubs in the north of Italy.
Each news letter reports details about the activities scheduled for the coming month, opportunities, notes on the life of GFMIB as well as significant events of other clubs.
Where appropriate, information is spread out through specialized magazine.
You can also know about our activity by mailing list (Italian language only), where everyone can make questions about trains and models: by our "bollettino" you can also know about activities or others Expos if there's no time to publish on the Web.

MEMBERSHIP AND MEMBERS

GFMIB has a membership of more than 500 people through out all Italy. There are basically two categories of members: regulars (frequentatori) and ordinaries (effettivi) with a few additional variants (juniores, lifes and supporters).
A regular member fully partakes to the life of the Club and has an open access to the Club house and its facilities.
He has voting rights on all issues in the agenda of the general meeting and can be appointed to an office of the Consiglio Direttivo (Board of Directors).
Ordinary members are entitled to receive the news letters at home and to partake to all external activities of the Club (visits, exibitions, and similar), but they have no access to the Club house and clubs facilities; they are entitled to attend the general meeting but have no voting right in relation to the management of the Club house and its assets; they can't be part of the Board of Directors.
The fee for one year for Italy is 10 dollars for ordinary members and 34 dollars for regulars (17 dollars for juniores under 16).
The club is open every Tuesday (from 9 to 12 p.m.) and every Saturday (from 3 to 7 p.m.) and the last Thursday of each month for video slides (from 9 to 12 p.m.)
All other Thursday evenings are dedicated to maintenance of the Club layout.

For any further information please contact us by e-mail or by the President Mr. Giorgio Di Modica - via G.Pastorelli 4/B - 20143 Milan (Italy) - phone and fax number 0039-2-581.000.76.

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