The train show topic got me thinking about this. About 2 years ago I was approached by a man who wanted to start a MRR club. I said sure its not like I don't have the time to help with it and I do know lot of modelers in our area as I used to help with the annual open house schedule. We got about 4 or 5 guys together to talk about it. First thing that came up was officers and dues. I spoke up and asked if they were a necessity, to which I was told yes. At that point I began to loose interest. Then someone suggested building a modular layout. I got somewhat interested. After 3 meetings there was no progress in any thing. So I just faded away. I am not looking to start a club. But if I were to do it, what would be some do's & don'ts? Also why?
I think you are better of joining an established club, if one exists in your area. The problem is, people will be reluctant to give time or money towards something new that may quickly fade or end. I think the best way to start a new club is to begin things on an informal basis for a year or two. Take turns meeting at each others' houses or common areas, perhaps plan field trips or activities like going to swap meets together. Then perhaps after everyone gets to know one another and friendships form, perhaps people will feel comfortable building their own modules with their own money. I would be reluctant to pay dues towards anything that does not have regular expenses, such as utilities, rent, or a permanent layout. Without those permanent expenses, it is probably better to expect members to pay their own way.
Some thoughts:
1.As far as dues they are a necessary evil for a fix club that needs to pay rent,utilities,insurance,buy supplies etc.
2.Modular clubs that doesn't have a permanent location doesn't need dues just a place to meet once or twice a month.
3.Officers..They're like rules..You can't be a unorganized mob without leadership.
4.Rules..You gotta have some type of control or some members could run wild and do as they please.
5.The layout is community property and any changes must be voted on.Even a modular layout would look better it all modulars carried the same basic theme in sections.
(Personal observation)Nothing looks funnier then a farm scene between 2 city modulars.Best put city/city modular together then,industrial modulars then the farm scene/small town modulars.
6.Take time to discuss realistic goals for the club such as DC or DCC,open houses,operation or general running,open or closed (invitation only) membership,number of members,when visitors will be allowed,setting the monthly/yearly dues?
All of this should be discussed in your formative meetings...I'll guarantee you it will weed out the undesirables and will leave a solid founding membership..
And yes I help start a club and help reorganized a club from the ground up after a big blow up and split.
In Ottawa, we have at least three options to the traditional "layout-based" club.
1. Modular Club
Has officers and dues to cover rental space. Members build modules that conform to minimum specs (mostly to ensure they can be joined). Standards and operations governed by a committee of those interested in such things.
Example: <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotrak.ca">www.hotrak.ca</a><!-- w -->
2. Round Robin Club
There are several groups that take turns meeting at each others' home layouts. No formal rules - rules are those of the layout being visited. One person takes it upon himself to make up a schedule for 3 months at a time.
Example: <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fridaynightgroup.blogspot.com">www.fridaynightgroup.blogspot.com</a><!-- w -->
3. Dinner Club
This is one of the oldest clubs in Ottawa and in Canada. They purposely do not have a club layout, and I think this has contributed to their success. They meet once a month for a catered dinner, have club news (many other clubs use this meeting as an excuse to get together), a display table, and then a feature presentation after dinner. Topics covered have ranged from local modeller talks to well known authors to industry experts. Officers are required for organizational purposes, and minimal dues cover hall rental and a newsletter. Dinner is $25/plate.
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ovar.ca">www.ovar.ca</a><!-- w -->
Hope that gives you some food for thought.
Andrew
Brakie Wrote:Some thoughts:
And yes I help start a club and help reorganized a club from the ground up after a big blow up and split.
I think you should pay particular attention to what Brakie's last words were.....have an exit plan in the event things don't go well. You don't want to be arguing over who gets the kids....
Personally, I like the "club without a layout" approach. Meeting with members and talking shop, participating in learning experiences, workshops, railfan slide shows and trips to members' layouts with dinner and drinks sounds like a good plan.
Actually, there is one other "non-layout" type club in Ottawa. It's the local chapter of the NMRA (and has a parallel in the local chapter of CARM). <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www3.sympatico.ca/gd.knowles/sld/sld_index.htm">http://www3.sympatico.ca/gd.knowles/sld/sld_index.htm</a><!-- m -->
They are a "modellers' club", and it was Richard's note above about "learning experiences" that triggered my memory. The local NMRA group meets monthly for a couple of presentations, a display table, and club news. They then choose a spot for lunch, followed by a couple or three layout tours in the afternoon. They also run separate workshops for the chosen project of the year (example: building and finishing plaster structures), and a "kitbusters" workshop for stalled projects or other things where members would like to draw on one another for help.
Andrew
Join a club or don't join club - the eternal question.
There are a lot of pros and cons for both positions, but in he end it depends entirely on the individual and what his goals are. do you want to do something specific, or accept the common goal?
Do you ant to explore new options, or stick to the established parameters?
Do you want something that is entirely yours, or do you enjoy being part of a group effort?
Some can manage to do both. Geographically, I am isolated and cannot easily join a club, nor would I want to join the one I know of in Colorado Springs, somewhat hide-bound and not at all receptive of new ideas, which rules me out because I am going outside of the normal rules and parameters of accepted modeling with my layout. I want to enjoy my hobby, not argue about it.
The answers are different for each of us.
Recently I attended an NMRA 'Clinic' at a local library office meeting room. I was pleased to see models on a contest table (popular vote for door prizes, not official contest work). There was a presentation by a fellow from a local tourist line about their latest loco project and washouts. There was also a presentation by a fellow who is building his own live steam engine. He passed around side rods he had built. Both were enjoyable and informative.
But the evening began with an update on coming events, a reminder that various videos are available to NMRA members to check out, and a 'what's new' from a local hobby shop owner. These segments, while interesting, were just repeating what's already available online. I know many folks there may not be internet savvy so that's okay.
Visitors were asked to introduce ourselves, which I did along with one other fellow. Apart from that brief introduction, NOBODY introduced themselves to me. I attempted to make conversation but nothing came of it. I recognized a few folks from the recent layout tours I had attended.
I will go again, and will probably join the NMRA in order to access the video library. The upcoming events are available online through the division newsletter, as well as a list of the videos available, so I really don't even have to attend the meetings except for the clinics & contests, which were enjoyable. It was only a few miles from home and happens every month. This seems like a good format, but I've only attended once so we'll see how it goes in the future.
Galen
Richard wrote
ersonally, I like the "club without a layout" approach. Meeting with members and talking shop, participating in learning experiences, workshops, railfan slide shows and trips to members' layouts with dinner and drinks sounds like a good plan.
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I was in a small(14 of us) group like that once..We would met twice a month and discuss layout design to the prototype.I enjoyed the slide shows more then the clinics..The biggest thing was most restaurants gave us a very nice flat rate(IIRC $12.50 per person) if rented their banquet room.That worked out very well for us..Of course some times it was pizza at trackside.
Sorry no alcoholic beverages was allowed.
If you think about it, we already are an international club without a layout. I've never met any of you guys but feel like I know you...
...It would be kind of cool to have a yearly Big Blue Convention somewhere, (Brakie's house) where we could have the opportunity to have a beer together....
You asked for do's, dont's and whys.
Why? Don't do it! Why do it? Don't!
The answer is, "On account of because". The because will be answered in some by the rest of the thread posts here.
Mark
I keep telling myself, I'm going to go to the local club and check it out and if its right for me. But, I never get around to it.
If anything, I'd like to learn operations and participate in an ops session with the local guys to see how its "done". The impression that I get from these local fellows is a pretty relaxed atmosphere, and nothing too serious. Which is pretty much up my alley.
WOW!!! That was a lot of replies in a short time. Like I said I am not going to start one. I tried operating sessions, went well for about 6 months. Then it began to die out,2 of the last 3 one guy showed up. The last one was just me so I let it die gracefully. I truly enjoyed it while it lasted. I have seen my layout run like a real R.R. I mean trains having to wait before entering a yard because trains leaving were still waiting orders to leave and no room to come in. That was great and I have thought about trying it again. My experience with clubs is not good. There are 3 that I know of in Delaware. One in each of the 3 counties. The one north of me is to far in my opinion as one of the clubs south. One club south of me is close enough, I know all of the members, I think. I have been to several meetings, nothing clicked. All of the guys are great but not for me. I guess I need to forget clubs. Well I guess I will get back to my scratch build project now.
I guess what I found out was- there were a couple- and I mean a couple of guys who wanted to run trains, out of 75. With me plus the couple I mentioned, it meant three. Mostly it was two of us that really wanted to operate and run trains. Not watch trains run in circles, discusss politics, women, work, past triumphs, recent disappointments, kids, pets, TYCO buys on ohboy- but operate trains. Most operating sessions took place Friday nights long after the "core" members left. 12 Midnight 'till 4AM. Then a jaunt to the local diner for a Cheese Burger DeLux w/fries for breakfast and home to sleep.
Let me not get started on the maintanence we did and scenery and...
'course I was a younger man with no responsibilities except my priorities. Those other fellows had their priorities too- married, etc. But if I belonged to a train club, I'd wanna be running trains as well as discussing politics, women. work, past triumphs, defeats, etc. Because that's what we did while we worked on the model railroad. Remember the song- "I've been working on the railroad, all the live, long day"? Most club I observed just talked "to pass the time of day", complained, or told you how to do something they read from a magazine while you were doing it.
Funny thing is, now that I remember, most started leaving when we started to assemble trains in the yard and placing pick ups and checking switches for set outs etc. Getting under the layout to make sure the switches were working. Hmmmmph. I am glad we had our opportunity on a club sized layout. It's 4 AM here in my mind. Sunset Valley HO RR makes me think about guys who do or don't- clubbers or run trainsers<---coining new language.
Anonymous.
Mark
I tried to join two different modular clubs. In the first case, I was told when and where the meeting was held, showed up and was the only one there. I don't know if they canceled the meeting and didn't announce it or what. It was a bit of a drive and I never tried to go again. The second club was set up at a local shopping mall, and I inquired about joining, was invited into the layout and to bring along some trains to run if I wanted to. It is a great bunch of guys, and I'm still a member 10 years later. I had decided to join a modular club because I just wasn't able to find the time or space to build a home layout and I wanted to operate. Joining the modular club also let me experiment with various aspects of the hobby to see what I liked best. I discovered that I preferred to switch out industries rather than run long trains around in circles, which changed the direction of plans for a home layout completely. The dues for a modular club will tend to be lower than a club with a permanent layout. In the case of our modular club, the dues are very reasonable at $36.00 per year. The money is used to pay for the use of a meeting room at a local library once a month, a storage unit where club stuff is stored between operating sessions, and maintenance and repairs to the club dcc operating system and the 8 club owned corner modules. Added to the cost is that we became a 100% NMRA member club to get the NMRA insurance when liability coverage from other sources became difficult to source here in So. Cal. Any venue where we set up a display wants proof of insurance before they will allow us to set up and operate in public. Being a 100% NMRA member club adds the cost of NMRA membership to the dues, and the club secretary has a record of when NMRA membership expires for each member, and checks membership cards for proof of renewal as needed.