Checking out a club.

[tetters]

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".

[Gary S]

Looks like a nice layout, and 1700 square feet! That's big! I'd like to hear more about how your future visits go.

[MasonJar]

I have never eblonged to a layout-based club, so I don't know if that's a good deal or not. Seems steep, but presumably there is a lease or mortgage to pay, as well as a share of whatever work/materials are needed.

My modular club (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotrak.ca">http://www.hotrak.ca</a><!-- m -->) is $80 for the year, which includes the "right" to attend any and all set-ups (usually 6 - 8 per year in a space rented for the weekends in question), the AGM, any clinics put on by the club, insurance, and so on. Members each own sections of the layout in the form of modules - although this is not a requirement to join.

New members now must go through an apprenticeship program to become familiar with the workings of the club as well as train operations.

Interesting (or maybe not) to note, but Ottawa does not seem to have any layout-based clubs. There are lots of round-robin groups that take turns operating each others' home layouts, but I am not aware of any that have a dedicated building with a communally-built layout. Not for lack of model railroaders either - we have an NMRA chapter, a CARM chapter, one of the oldest "dinner clubs" (<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ovar.ca">www.ovar.ca</a><!-- w -->) as well as HOTrak, NTrak, and other modelling and operating groups in virtually every scale in eastern Ontario. I guess the one layout-based group is the live steamers who have permanent trackage at one of the museums.

Andrew

[MountainMan]

Unfortunately, I'm way out in the country and can't belong to a club even if I could find one - it just wouldn't be practical. I think it's a great opportunity for you to participate and learn in the presence of those who share your passion, as long as there is no bias against newbies.

)I'm predicting newbies get to clean track and stuff until the members assess your level of knowledge and experience.)

Enjoy your experience!

[tetters]

Hey Andrew don't forget the property taxes! [rant]Even if the Club outright owned the building the property taxes in my neighbour hood are around $3,000 a year! (You'd need to have four full time members to cover the property taxes alone!) Just so city can pick up the bare minimum of garbage, plow the neighbourhood whenever they feel like it. Mean while you need a 4x4 just to drive (or dental if you bike) to the supermarket as pot hole are big enough to swallow a Smart Car.[/rant]

So, (heavy sigh), I can appreciate the cost of membership running a club like that in Toronto. There is no way I'd even argue the fees. Hydro (kinda need that to run trains), Heating/Cooling, Lease, Taxes, Security... it all adds up. I've recently had a change of heart which is why I decided to check them out and eventually apply. I think its worthwhile to support an organization such as this right here in my neighbourhood. If that means signing up as a member then so be it. I guess you could say that it's one of those things that you take for granted... it's right there and then suddenly, one day you hear they had to move out of the city or close down all together. Then you realize how much you miss it and wish it was still there.

Gary, will do. I'll keep adding to this thread as I progress in the weeks ahead.

MM - I don't mind cleaning track. If that's what I end up doing next Tuesday, I'm okay with it. Clean track makes for happy trains, and if I'm going to be religious about anything it's going to be about shiney rail heads.

[MartyG]

Hey Tetters . You will enjoy being there . I have known Tom, Bill and the guys for about 5 years now . Met them back in 2005 in St Thomas Ontario at the Iron Horse Festival .It was a great 4 days and we had a blast . They have a small traveling layout that they take to shows .They were there with that and the group I was a member of at the time The Dundas Modular club with our 18 X 30 foot layout .Alot of fun went back and forth over the 4 days and we enjoyed ourselves very much .Heck I think we may have even learned something from eachother. If you see Tom or Bill on your next trip over tell em Marty from Dundas says Hi . Enjoy your time with them. There a great group. MartyG

[Ralph]

I like the layouts! Looks like it would be fun to work on them. Nice diversity of structures and industries. The little detailed scenes are fun and well populated with miniature people. Enjoy your participation and membership!

[Brakie]

Nice looking club layouts..

Good luck on your next 3 visits.


Next time some guys whine about our club dues I'll ask 'em how they'll like $60.00/month. hock:


One club that I am a inactive* member of the dues is $10.00/mo the other is $50.00/yr.

*I went inactive so my dues would stop while retaining my membership..All that I would need to do to return to active status is pay the current month's dues on my return.This club is a 70 mile round trip.

[P5se Camelback]

I, too, am considering joining a local model railroad club. The Scale Rails of Southwest Florida is about a 20 to 25 mile drive (maybe 40 -45 minutes) from my home. They were organized in 1983, for a while made due with an 85' Amtrak Coach but they eventually sold the coach and now have built a multi-level layout in a building (that they call "the Depot") that they purchased in North Fort Myers, Florida.

Theirs is a Digitrax DCC-controlled HO scale layout (one of the reasons I chose Digitrax) which depicts the LA Division 1 of the AT&SF from San Bernardino to Victorville, Ca as well as the Joint Line from Pueblo to Denver, Colorado. It's quite a large layout with some impressive scenery but as with many large club layouts, there is still much to be done. They also have a modular N scale layout.

I made the drive to "the Depot" one Saturday morning around Noon (they meet every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from about 10am to about 2pm) so I arrived in the middle of a club business meeting. I was invited to sit in, and at the completion of the meeting, was asked to introduce myself and speak a moment or two about any history I might have in the hobby. :mrgreen:

They seemed like a real nice bunch of guys. After the meeting, a member offered to give me a tour of the layout which is pretty impressive. He showed me all the Digitrax equipment in a dedicated cabinet (which at the time, I knew nothing about) but when I first started to read through Gary S.'s detailing his Digitrax Control Center, there were many similarities of organization and installation.

I haven't been back, but mostly due to the sudden onslaught of COPD. I'm feeling more confident about getting out and around now though and I will soon be paying them another visit. They are a 100% NMRA Club and I have reinstated my membership in anticipation of taking the membership plunge. I'll probably join as an Associate Member ($20/mo.) as that is an O.K. fit with my budget as an "old retired guy. I have two more visits before I must make the decision to join, but, to have, for the first time in my life, other model railroaders to socialize with (I mean in person, Fellas. You've gotta know I do so enjoy this forum!) the personal face-to-face contact would be great. Plus, who knows, I might need a little help with DCC ... no ... I will need some help with DCC. (I was still needing help with straight DC )

I'll keep you posted.

[dwight77]

Being a member of the Scale Rails of Southwest Florida club ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.scalerails.org/index.shtml">http://www.scalerails.org/index.shtml</a><!-- m --> ), I would like to thank bil (P5se Camelback) for his kind and totally unsolicited remarks about our club. Bad news travels fast and good news is often hard to come by. Being more of a reader than a writer in this forum, I do know that bil has been a big contributor in many forums and I hope that bil will be able to join our club…..it is evident he will have much to offer.

If you are in the Southwest Florida area, we always extend an invitation to any and all model railroaders to visit us at our Depot….10am – 2pm – Tues, Thurs, & Sat (except holidays). We are of course always open to anyone who would like to come by and see what model railroading is all about whether they are a modeler or not. We also have a small “Kids Layout” that children are welcome to run. We love having “retired grandparents” bring their visiting children and grandchildren by to see what model trains are all about and relive some of their childhood memories of their own model train experiences.

From January through April, we hold clinics on various phases of model railroading….10am on Saturday. If you are in the Southwest Florida area, you are always welcome to attend these clinics free of charge and there is no limit on how many you attend.

Having a “Layout Based Club” in Southwest Florida has immediate advantages as we have “NO BASEMENTS” and since many people “retire” to our area, homes often do not have the extra room necessary for a layout. Having a reasonably extensive tool room and three new modeling work stations allows our members to model where they might not be able to do so at home. And doing so with several modelers around often helps answer questions or give tips to improve your modeling skills.

So if you are in the Southwest Florida area, please come by and see us.
dwight77
Dwight Sedgwick, Secretary
Scale Rails of Southwest Florida

[Squidbait]

Tetters,

It does look like a nice club, and it would appear there's some talent in the membership (especially a talented photographer!). But 60 zorts a month is a big chunk of change... especially since you've got your own layout.

I would ask myself "What am I going to get from this club membership that I can't get at home (or for $720/year)?"

Now me, as I get older, I find I play less and less well with others. I'm turning into an opinionated sod. That is, over the many years I've been model railroading, I've developed a set of standards and expectations. My experience with most clubs is that they are defined by the lowest common denominator. The work tends to be set to a moderate or low level so that everyone's comfortable and not overwhelmed by standards. Being the rivet-counting snob that I am, this makes me itch.

For me, the only reasons I'd likely join a club now are to a) run larger trains than my layout could handle; b) operate trains in a prototypical fashion with car-forwarding and rail traffic control, or c) if the group had set standards and practices that met my modelling comfort level.

Clubs are great places, and populated by great people. The social aspect of joining a club can be well worth the dues alone. On the other hand, I've found (as I demonstrate my crotchety old man-ed-ness) that in _any_ club, it's a rare case indeed when 10% of the membership isn't doing 90% of the work. Having spent far too much time in that 10%, I now subscribe to Groucho Marx's maxim that I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member.

[tetters]

I hear you Squid can certainly appreciate your point of view.

I've wrestled with the question, "What can I get out of this?"

Last night I dropped in again and hooked up with a couple of different fellows there. I had a good time talking and joking with the guys while they "tried" to have an ops session without a guy running dispatch. They were having fun. Fun is one thing I would like to get out of it. At home, by myself, I can get bored. To be honest, sometimes, its not fun. It feels like work. So one reason I can see for joining a club is to break out of the basement and get out there and have a good time with some like minded individuals. And, while the home layout is for my personal enjoyment, what good is it really if I can't share my work with others who can appreciate and enjoy it as well. I get great personal satisfaction when other people enjoy the work I've put into something.

They called their monthly meeting after 8 and I was left to scrutinize the layout in detail without anyone else in the room for about 45 minutes. Hands in my pockets, (I didn't want to touch anything...feel with your eyes.) I looked around. I did however break my rule if only to pick up small clip boards with switch lists attached to them. It dawned on me how little I really know about operations. At best, I have a vague notion about how a real RR would operate and go about setting out cars, picking up cars, building a train, sending it to a destination, delivering empties/goods to a customer...etc. This is something I sorely need help with. Reading about it puts me to sleep honestly. I need hands on. I think this is where I will most benefit from a membership. I hear these guys talk and I can tell they "know" how to run their railroad. Meanwhile I listen and try to remember which way is "East".

Actually I do, but its a little tricky to explain, so you'll have to believe me when I say that, well... I do.

As for the membership dues, I've decided that if I do join, and they accept my application I will sign up as an Part Time Member to start. The Full Time dues are a little hard to justify and I have too much going on in my life right now where one night a month is more then enough for me to handle.

So until next week...

[Russ Bellinis]

Tetters, I would encourage you in the direction that you are going. I have learned a lot form fellow club members in the modular club. We have begun to have operating sessions at our set ups using car cards, and I must say that it is a lot more fun with a bunch of people operating. I don't know about you, but I don't multitask well. I can run one train at a time. An operating session with a bunch of trains running and working around each other to simulate moving freight is really a lot more fun for me than either running trains in circles or switching alone.

[P5se Camelback]

Well ... I took the plunge yesterday!

I got tired of always doing everything alone and never having another model railroader to actually speak with (no offense ... I do truely love your company, but c'mon ... it IS virtual company!

So I drove into Ft. Myers and across the Caloosahatchie River to North Ft. Myers and paid the "Scale Rails of Southwest Florida" a second visit. I took the bare chassis of the OMI GP39-2 with me to possibly do some "group troubleshooting" if things went well. Well, things went better than well, they went great!

Every one was very friendly, there were a couple fellas taking advantage of the well-lit workbenches fixing a a coupler on a box car and scratch-building a small "company house," a couple sitting around a table "chewing the fat," a few having an "impromptu operating session" to identify trackwork problem areas to be sorted out prior to an up-coming Open House and the guys around that table jumped right in to help me with the GP39-2 (turns out it has a continuity problem.)

I had a great time, filled out an application, clipped an "Andy Jackson" to it and gave it to the Treasurer (an NMRA MMR) who shook my hand and said, "Welcome aboard." The club secretary then filled out a work card for me and asked if I'd be available to be an engineer and run a train around the layour for a couple hours during the Open House. (Oh, Geez! Do I have to? I mean, run trains on a very large double deck layout with a wireless throttle for a couple of hours after not having turned a throttle knob for over twenty years! Now that's got to be some kind of punishment!) I did pitch in and grab a "Bright Boy" and cleaned about 30 feet of track, especially frogs (which is where they seemed to be having the most problems with stalling.)

I have a good feeling about this! And I'm sure that being around other people, especially other people with like interests, will be a lot healthier for me than always being alone in my house, left to my own solitary model building! God knows it was good to get out and have a good time with other guys! (And unlike guys I am acquainted with here in this little "burg," they didn't try to see how many times they could use the "F" word in a sentence! That in itself was refreshing!

I look forward to going back over there ... soon!

[tetters]

Fantastic BiL!

Thanks for sharing your story. Looking forward to hearing more.

S.