I was thinking I may find a club in lieu of or until I finish a home layout. Fre-mo lists nothing that's not 3 hours away, I thought I heard of a organization that was like Ntrak but for HO. Any ideas or resources? I'm about 30 minutes south of Chattanooga, 90 minutes north of Atlanta.
Mike
Do you have a train shop that you go to? They will know about clubs in the area.
And, as we say, Google is your friend.
http://www.camrc.org/
Your famous town has a museum with a model railroad, maintained by this club. If that's not exactly what you're looking for, I'm sure they can point you down the right track.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If you go to the top of this page, over on the right hand side, you will find Resources in light gray print. Click on that, then on Model Railroader Groups. Type in your zip code and set the milage you desire, 15, 30, 60 or 100. It will give you all the clubs that have signed on with MR. There are probably others, so keep looking elsewhere also.
You can find Coming Events under the same Resources also. It will list things going on in your area, local shows are usualy run by local clubs. Not only will the host club be there, but usualy several others have layouts set up. I enjoy going to the shows and chatting with the folks there even though I am a bit too far away to join. Shows are a good place to find, learn and just see what is going on in the hobby.
Good luck,
Richard
Thanks-
I should have been more specific.
I'm seeking something modular more than a fixed installation, if possible. You, of course, are right with your link to the Chattanooga Club, located in the Choo-Choo; their website shows several links, 2 of which are (related) outdoor operations (look like large scale), 3 are in or around Nashville TN, and the last is in Huntsville AL.
I see that they list a group in Savannah (http://www.free-mo.org/organizations). I presume that is the one closest to you. You might want to contact them. They might have a couple members that live in your direction who would be willing to exchange thoughts with you.
Just for a test, I used the club locator above for my area. While it did pretty well, I know of at least one club which was not represented on the list. So, while it's a start, it's still better to talk to some people at a show or possibly the museum. There may be groups in your area which are not listed, too.
And, certainly contact the Free-Mo group. While I'm not currently a Free-Mo guy, I think it's a great concept and always consider it when I see a layout set up at a show. (Maybe after retirement....) What I have learned from talking with them, though, is that it's a very loose-knit organization. The Free-Mo group in New England meets all over the place, and the address given may be nothing more than the home of the guy who sends out the e-mails and acts as the secretary.
Take a look in the Layouts & Layout Building threads for the Free-Mo-N discussions by McFunkyMonkey. While most of the postings are devoted to the art of module-building, every now and then there are photos and videos of their assembled creations.
Just for another test, I looked up the clubs in my state, NY. Three of the clubs listed are no longer in existance and my club is listed three times.
I figure you must be somewhere near Dalton, GA. I did a Google search for Modular railroads near Dalton, GA and got a link to this group in Chattanooga.
https://www.facebook.com/ChatModMod
Rob Shilling
Robert H. Shilling II