model railroad clubs

[Anonymous]

I am new to the hobby and enjoy it alot. I was wondering if anyone knew of any Model railroading clubs in nebraska, and if you would recomend becoming a member in a club.

[SP4449]

North Platte, Grand Island, Lincoln, Omaha that come to mind on first blush. Where are you?

[Anonymous]

I live in osceola, between York and Columbus

[SP4449]

The drive to either Grand Island or Lincoln is kind of a toss up. The Lincoln group is pretty good. Don't know much about the Grand Island group. Joining a club or NMRA Division is always good because you can get some face time with persons the have the same interest even if they have wildly varying day jobs. The scale you are interested in modeling may or may not be represented in the group you choose but talent for doing things is really what you can bring to the table, and enthusiasm!

[Anonymous]

thanks

[CBQ_Guy]

Check out . . .

http://www.trains.com/clubs/findaclub.asp

[Pruitt]

Before you join a club, I'd recommend spending a little time getting to know what the club, and the members, are like.

I've belonged to several clubs over the years (I moved around a lot a few years ago), and there were a few others I looked into but didn't join, for a variety of reasons.

A brief, partial rundown -

In 1980 I looked into joining the North Penn club (or something like that) in Soderton, PA, outside of Philly. They were featured in MR a few years later. I didn't join - before you could touch the layout, you had to be "certified" by a committee (scenery, wiring, or whatever) chairman as qualified to do what you were interested in doing. I'm not saying that was necessarily bad, but they took it way too far for my taste. Besides, the commuter line (ex-Reading) was so unreliable that I never got to or back from any of the three or four club meetings I attended on time.

In about 1984 I looked into joining the Lompoc Valley Model Railroad Society in Lompoc CA. Their attitude was, "If you want to try something, dive in!" Any member could try his or her hand at any aspect of layout building, operation, etc., with as much or as little help as they wanted. If someone installed some bad trackwork, someone else would help them fix it, and provide lots of helpful hints and ideas as they did so. The place was fun! I joined.

In Seattle in 1987 I checked into the Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club (I was a Boeing employee). Club heirarchy was about as rigid as the company's management at the time. I didn't join.

Instead I joined a club near Sea-Tac Airport. A new layout was just being started, and anyone could pitch in anywhere. The one basic rule was that if someone re-did your work, you weren't allowed to take offense, and you were encouraged to watch, help and learn as they did it. Another fun club.

The last club I was associated with was the Schuykill Model Railroad Club (or something like that) in Phoenixville, PA in about 1994. They too were a fun group. Before you could run on the layout you had to learn the control system, but that wasn't too hard. If you wanted to work on something you had to have someone supervise you until they were comfortable that you knew what you were doing, but the group wasn't at all heavy-handed about it.

So if you find a club that fits your own needs and interests, I'd recommend it whole-heartedly. You can learn a lot of modeling skills from club members, and seeing their work can inspire you to better modeling yourself, and encourages you to make progress on your own models, just so you'll have something to show the crew, too! Probably the most important thing about the club is it's structure, be it "loosey-goosey," as I tend to like it, or tightly controlled, as others may prefer.