Open House

[Mike Dorsch CJ&M r.r.]

My wife and I are having our first open house this year on July 29th . We are new to this so I was wondering is there any thing we should know before the big day ? Do you have any stories you would like to share that happened at yours ?

[dukebasketballer`]

Mike,

Make sure you keep a positive attitude no matter what happens. You dont have control of everything, especially the weather. When we held our last open house, it had rained for the entire week leading up to the event. I was so upset adn frustrated because track connections had gotten messed up and dirt had washed all over the place. I was just mad. But, the club came over, we had a great time and I got many compliments on my layout, even in its worst condidtion. The bottom line, just have fun and dont worry if your layout is no in perfect condition.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Mike,

Sorry don't have any tips from old open houses because I live in the woods and there is no clubs down my way and then I have now ripped up the old track and will lay new track this summer.

I would say 1 week to 4 days before, use M/G fertilize the soil for the plants which some will/might bloom when done this way.

Check and recheck frogs, test them also, have any fuse needed on hand, batteries also, test every train the day before, lube, etc...

Get your wife to get a baseball bat just incase you get mad so she can stightn you out. Remember mad ain't going to get it done. 

[Camaro1967]

I had the same questions three years ago. But now getting for my third open house in June, I have learned a few things.

One piece of advice that a club member gave me was get the trains running, and leave them alone. Don't fool around with them once they are up and running smoothly.

This is excellent advice. Mine will run all day if I leave them alone. 

A big problem is rowdy little kids.  Some of my club buddies post signs for parents to control their kids or you will be asked to leave. This usually works. But sometimes you just get a kid who is out of control, and the parents won't do anything about it. Then, another club guy says, just shut the trains down for a while.  Finally, you can ask them to leave. This issue worries me the most, since I have a friend with an unruly kid, and he won't control him. This kid has terrorized several club layouts during open houses. So I finally confronted the parent directly and told him I was going to ask them to leave. This is really hard if it is someone I know.  

Otherwise just keep the trains running, and talk to the visitors.

Paul 

[Mike Dorsch CJ&M r.r.]

Thanks Paul ,I was wondering about the out of control child event , thats good advice as well as letting the trains just run . Thanks for the reply . Thanks for the reply to William and Duke also .

[MTCarpenter]

Good luck to you.  Don't forget to post some pictures here and let us know how it turns out.