03-25-2010, 10:02 AM
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.