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Post by railmodeltroy14 on Mar 18, 2015 7:31:48 GMT -8
...and this is why I am building my own model railroad with no members...I am going rogue....no more clubs for me!!!
Sure...it takes a much longer time to get things going but you can:
-select your own era...modern for me with two steam excursions
-work at your own pace...whenever I have time
-design it your way...double track mainline with passing sidings, industries, passenger depots
-don't need to be concerned with attendance at meetings or secretary/treasurer's report...it's just me
-set your own standards as to structures, locomotives and rolling stock...best I can afford
-control all aspects of benchwork construction, track laying, wiring...etc...whatever I see fit
-don't have to put up with the different personalities that are part of any model railroad club...but not unlike any civic organization, school board, youth sports league, parent booster club, church, neighborhood watch group, job situation, family...
My latest (and last) layout is being constructed in a large section of my photo studio and more people ask me when the first open house is going to be than if they should buy a Nikon D4s or Canon Rebel or when to schedule their children's senior photos or team photos for baseball.
Nobody has asked if I'm accepting memberships or if they can bring their trains to run...for the most part...they just want to know so they can bring their children or anybody else interested in watching the trains run or other model railroaders looking to see another layout in operation.
My goal is to have the layout up and running by Thanksgiving weekend of 2015. I have first floor access so small children and those with mobility issues will have no issues, ample liability insurance is already in place and all fire code and occupancy rules have been addressed.
I'm setting this up so I can simply hand a Digitrax throttle to someone ( under supervision ) and let them control a train as it moves around on the mainline, blowing the horn/whistle at crossings, ringing the bell...etc...or switching an industry....mainly to get younger folks interested in the hobby or give adults, in the hobby, ideas on what can be accomplished with DCC.
If a train gets derailed or crashes...no big deal...that's railroading and no reason to get upset.
High Ball,
Lee
RailModel Troy
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Post by WP 257 on Mar 18, 2015 12:40:26 GMT -8
Paul--
Seems like your club is a good one, and I'm glad you are happy there.
At this one locally, the President is the dictator and they all went along with him in throwing out the "old guys" who built everything. Then allegedly their DCC layout didn't work very well after they did that.
But in any case if I can't take my son (and by the rules here I could not) and be responsible for him, then I'm not wasting my time.
I only have so much time with my kids before they are gone. The years are passing very quickly and there's so much they need to learn yet. I refuse to ignore my kids and spend my (very limited) free time with a bunch of middle-aged guys who, lets be honest, really don't like children. (Most clubs are afraid they will damage the trains, and locally they will say that as part of their justification).
I'd honestly much rather pay the $30 per 45 minutes for baseball lessons and sit, watch and help the coach with the lesson, and learn how to teach baseball fundamentals to kids, and watch my older son get better on a weekly basis.
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Post by bnsf971 on Mar 18, 2015 14:53:32 GMT -8
Paul, I completely agree that a good club offers more benefits than problems, but from what I have seen at the area open houses I have attended, I do not have a good club nearby. The one local club, in addition to not seeming to ever accomplish very much over a period of several years, has some policies that made it clearly evident I could not be a member there, so I would never waste my time there. 1. They had a lot of bickering over DCC, and after one new president came in, they threw out some long time members who actually did most of the layout work. I later worked with the individuals who were thrown out on a pastor's private layout, which was for outreach to neighborhood children. The guys thrown out of the club were great guys, knowledgeable and hard-working--they get things done. 2. They don't allow kids under age 12, which for me I would consider to be cutting your nose off despite your face. Contrary to some folks' opinions, there actually are responsible kids under 12 who would not damage someone's precious model train. (I could wait on customers in a store and actually be somewhat helpful by age 12). John John, our club officially frowns on kids, but we've found ways around the rules that work. One of our "junior members" is 11, and he joins us for running sessions on Sundays. He has his own (expensive) trains that he runs, and I occasionally let him run my stuff. There are many older (60 years old+) members I don't allow to run my trains. |
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Mar 18, 2015 18:59:52 GMT -8
Over the years, I've concluded that when it comes to having a detailed layout using detailed models, the most satisfying results have been from being involved with privately-owned layouts run as a benevolent dictatorship. In those cases, the vision for the layout and the expectations of the operators are very clear. Of course, in the case of one layout 100 miles west of me, the regulars would all agree that the dictatorship is in no way benevolent, but people regularly drive three to four hours to attend his operating sessions, and most of us put in considerable effort to help him convert to DCC very rapidly a few years ago when his ancient CTC-80 system was failing... Fritz' experience has been mine as well, even to the experiences of the vagaries of dictatorships of a couple of the private layouts he has. Each layout owner has a seniority list of crew members that always provides a full roster of operators for sessions. Their layout, their investment and 99% their equipment. I belong to an NMRA Division that meets monthly and we usually have a tour of a member's layout afterwards. We have young members, working age members and some are, like myself, older. My layout was this past weekend's tour. I chose not to belong to the layout owning club in the area, I am selfish with my time and want to use it on my own layout. I've never been much of one for clubs, either, especially for the politics. |
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Post by umtrrauthor on Apr 14, 2015 11:02:27 GMT -8
I think the net of it is that the experiences run across the spectrum from great to, well, not so great. OK, horrible. My experiences have been more on the "not so good" end of the spectrum in formal club settings, but more towards great for informal gatherings and round-robin type setups. I could consider the readership of my UMTRR as a "club" of sorts, and I'm pretty happy with it  |
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Post by oldmuley on Apr 25, 2015 18:55:42 GMT -8
I would never join a club that would have someone like me as a member.
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Post by jamesbrodie67281 on Apr 27, 2015 22:27:29 GMT -8
I wouldn't let me join either !................Steve Brodie.....Changed my Christian name so as to remain anonymous
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Post by grahamline on Apr 28, 2015 10:27:07 GMT -8
One of the most dangerous things in a club setting -- other than people who don't do well in groups -- is the expert who doesn't know what he doesn't know.
I have seen several clubs with highly dubious wiring because someone has either browbeaten the group into following his lead, or no one knows enough to ask pointed questions. Another was the guy who had appointed himself the structure master -- which was fine, except that all of the vacant sites were "his" and he was lucky to turn out a completed structure within 18 months.
The most frustrating thing in a club is having too large a percentage of followers, and not enough leaders. The experienced people gradually fade away when, every time they start a project, they acquire a crowd of seven or eight people at their elbow questioning every step.
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Post by jamesbrodie67281 on Apr 30, 2015 0:10:56 GMT -8
I think the net of it is that the experiences run across the spectrum from great to, well, not so great. OK, horrible. My experiences have been more on the "not so good" end of the spectrum in formal club settings, but more towards great for informal gatherings and round-robin type setups. I could consider the readership of my UMTRR as a "club" of sorts, and I'm pretty happy with it Wonderful section the pussy cat photos....Thank You....James Brodie... |
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Post by calzephyr on May 1, 2015 11:37:31 GMT -8
Well, I once was a member of a small informal club of brass fans. We called it the "lodge" and met in the attic of a large, historic Victorian mansion that the one guy was rehabilitating, in Muncy, PA. We had a lot of fun, but a few brass freight cars did hit the floor one time. Thankfully it wasn't my fault. However, when I approached other clubs (excepting the Penn State University Model RR Club, of which I once was a member while a student at main campus) some of the people were a bit difficult to get along with, whether oafish or not, some just...didn't make we want to join. So I've never joined an official club since my PSU days. John My last time running a club was interesting. Running a 40 car freight with a nice steam locomotive at scale freight speeds was not acceptable to a member running a train at near medium slot car speed behind my train. My train was overtaken on a single main line after a few minutes and his train coupled on to mine as I was approaching a siding even after telling him I would take the siding to allow him to pass my train. Now we have a very long train and he is trying to uncouple on the fly to my caboose and it is went derailed but stayed upright. The club is a great club normally and is DCC controlled so I have no idea why this happened or what he was thinking. Larry |
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Post by bnsf971 on May 1, 2015 14:58:51 GMT -8
Larry, we have one individual in our club, coincidentally also named Larry, that has the nickname "Launchpad Larry". Everything has to be at warp 8 or faster, and he wanders away from his train while it is hurtling through subspace, err, traveling the rails. He is one of the charter members, so people don't want to honk him off too badly. Recently, he supposedly resigned, we'll see if he remains "gone".
I have mixed feelings about his departure. Other than his tendency to run way too fast and be inattentive, he is a good guy, and a wealth of knowledge. If he does stay gone, my rolling stock will have longer, happier lives.
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Post by grahamline on May 2, 2015 9:57:36 GMT -8
Thinking didn't enter into it.
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Post by calzephyr on May 4, 2015 9:17:06 GMT -8
Larry, we have one individual in our club, coincidentally also named Larry, that has the nickname "Launchpad Larry". Everything has to be at warp 8 or faster, and he wanders away from his train while it is hurtling through subspace, err, traveling the rails. He is one of the charter members, so people don't want to honk him off too badly. Recently, he supposedly resigned, we'll see if he remains "gone". I have mixed feelings about his departure. Other than his tendency to run way too fast and be inattentive, he is a good guy, and a wealth of knowledge. If he does stay gone, my rolling stock will have longer, happier lives. It is a shame that he could not get the idea of running trains at a reasonable speed and enjoy the club. We had this situation at the old Lockheed club in Southern California thirty years ago. One guy which was really a brass collector would bring in the GG1 by AHM and on our non transistor type controls, it would run 0 to 120 immediately with no control. On and off around the layout without any overhead wires!!! That was a long time ago and we just ignored it the best we could. The other thing he liked to do was to unload his brass on the layout filling the passing tracks at both ends of the layout, and then go up to the office for the next two hours and have coffee with the guy in charge of the recreation building. Model railroading has always been run but sometimes it is can be frustrating. Larry |
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jhuteman
New Member
Whut cho doin there Bo?
Posts: 46 
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Post by jhuteman on Apr 28, 2016 7:15:13 GMT -8
LOL! NO WAY! I joined a 'club' one time, it was called the ARMY, kinda put me off 'clubs' if ya know what I mean!
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