10-27-2010, 09:23 AM
Well I did it. I finally wandered over to the local club http://www.scarborough-model-railroaders.org/index.htmland paid them a visit. Three more free visits before I decide if I want to become a Full Time or Part Time member. I'm leaning towards the P/T Status for now as F/T membership is a bit expensive for me right now.
It seems like a pretty relaxed atmosphere, although I got that impression when I visited them during open houses and in the LHS where some of them work. When I arrived there were a few members in the HO Room, and some of them were working on the layout doing some various bits of maintenance. I was given a tour of the layout and the locations depicted on it, which is based on a fictional Scarborough area. It wasn't long before a loose operating session broke out which was kind interesting and fun to see how they just eased into it. Members starting building trains and running them on the layout. One thing I could not get over was how complex the track work is with its numerous switches, loops, etc. They recently converted the layout to DCC and run NCE, which is convenient for me. They are slowly replacing all their control boards etc. The layout is mix of old and new. The track is mostly hand laid, and uses older style snap type switch machines with a few tortoise machines in some areas.
I was invited back next week Tuesday night when they have their meeting, except, I have to "busy" myself downstairs with the layout. Not sure what that means, but I'm sure I'll find out. :? They were joking that new members have to dig access trenches for the duck-unders. I told them, "No problem, I'll go get my jack hammer."
In all they currently have about 20 members, there was probably a dozen members there last night. Actually, they might let me operate my own train
My wife couldn't figure out how I could spend two hours there and not "do anything".
It seems like a pretty relaxed atmosphere, although I got that impression when I visited them during open houses and in the LHS where some of them work. When I arrived there were a few members in the HO Room, and some of them were working on the layout doing some various bits of maintenance. I was given a tour of the layout and the locations depicted on it, which is based on a fictional Scarborough area. It wasn't long before a loose operating session broke out which was kind interesting and fun to see how they just eased into it. Members starting building trains and running them on the layout. One thing I could not get over was how complex the track work is with its numerous switches, loops, etc. They recently converted the layout to DCC and run NCE, which is convenient for me. They are slowly replacing all their control boards etc. The layout is mix of old and new. The track is mostly hand laid, and uses older style snap type switch machines with a few tortoise machines in some areas.
I was invited back next week Tuesday night when they have their meeting, except, I have to "busy" myself downstairs with the layout. Not sure what that means, but I'm sure I'll find out. :? They were joking that new members have to dig access trenches for the duck-unders. I told them, "No problem, I'll go get my jack hammer."
In all they currently have about 20 members, there was probably a dozen members there last night. Actually, they might let me operate my own train My wife couldn't figure out how I could spend two hours there and not "do anything".