I remember seeing the layout in 1997 - NMRA layout tour. The layout was 'long in the tooth' back then, and I wondered if it was long for the world at that time. I did buy an 'Indianhead Lines' box car at the Madison convention. I had neve heard before or after anything about the club. Seemed sort of strange for a group in a Model Railroading 'hotbed' to be so unknown.
If there wa only 2 active members, and no hope of getting new members/massive rebuild - I think it is time to pull the plug. A club nneds to have open houses for the public(and to ableto put on a good show). Our small club in Grand Meadow, MN has about 10 active members and is located in a small rural community(population is under 1,000). Most of the member drive 25 miles from Rochester, MN and are over 50 years old. We had a 20 something member until his new job conflicted with going to the club. At least the local community has adopted the guys with the 'big train set' and we are an attraction in the the town.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
We received a box car from the Indian Head Lines many years ago when one of our members visited there, when we attempted to correspond with them shortly after and wished to send a special club car in return we were unable to contact them, I thought the club had dissapeared years ago.
It's a shame to see this sort of thing happen, guess the Indian Head Lines lives on in Australia on the Drayton Harbour Railway of the Darling Downs Model Railway Club Inc. in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
Teditor.
Teditor
IVRWThe only time a MRer should make his mr dc is when he really doesn't like himself.
Then there must be thousands of us who "don't like ourselves."
chatanuga BRAKIE A sad report indeed. ----------------------------------- I heard is that there was a lot of problems and frustration with the rather elaborate DC block control system, and often those difficulties would be evident during layout tours - ---------------------------------- If its like some clubs I have visited over the years it will took more then a DC problem... I could go into details about one club that picked and chose members for years till the membership fell to less then 10 after many members pass or quit because of health reasons..Now they are not so dang choosy. For me, I left the club I once belonged to because I got fed up with dealing with the "politics" of the club. At the time, I was 20, and the club still classified me as "a kid". When I was way at college, I came to the club when I was home on breaks and during the summer, and they acted like I'd quit, even though my dues were paid in full. What finally made up my mind for me was the one open house we had during the county fair where our building was located. We had a firm rule in place that if a club member didn't have their equipment on the layout, it was not to be touched. The one day of our open house, I brought in a box with my trains in and put it under the layout while I went to grab lunch. When I came back, a friend of the club president was inside the operator's area of the layout and was going through my box. I confronted the club president about it. He said that there was no problem because it was a friend of his. To me, even if it was somebody the president knew, I didn't know him, and there was also the above rule that I mentioned. I left not long after that. There was a lot more than that, but it's been 15 years since that all happened. For me, I'd rather spend my time and money (both of which are difficult to find anymore) on my own layout. Kevin
BRAKIE A sad report indeed. ----------------------------------- I heard is that there was a lot of problems and frustration with the rather elaborate DC block control system, and often those difficulties would be evident during layout tours - ---------------------------------- If its like some clubs I have visited over the years it will took more then a DC problem... I could go into details about one club that picked and chose members for years till the membership fell to less then 10 after many members pass or quit because of health reasons..Now they are not so dang choosy.
A sad report indeed.
-----------------------------------
I heard is that there was a lot of problems and frustration with the rather elaborate DC block control system, and often those difficulties would be evident during layout tours -
----------------------------------
If its like some clubs I have visited over the years it will took more then a DC problem...
I could go into details about one club that picked and chose members for years till the membership fell to less then 10 after many members pass or quit because of health reasons..Now they are not so dang choosy.
For me, I left the club I once belonged to because I got fed up with dealing with the "politics" of the club. At the time, I was 20, and the club still classified me as "a kid". When I was way at college, I came to the club when I was home on breaks and during the summer, and they acted like I'd quit, even though my dues were paid in full. What finally made up my mind for me was the one open house we had during the county fair where our building was located. We had a firm rule in place that if a club member didn't have their equipment on the layout, it was not to be touched. The one day of our open house, I brought in a box with my trains in and put it under the layout while I went to grab lunch. When I came back, a friend of the club president was inside the operator's area of the layout and was going through my box. I confronted the club president about it. He said that there was no problem because it was a friend of his. To me, even if it was somebody the president knew, I didn't know him, and there was also the above rule that I mentioned. I left not long after that. There was a lot more than that, but it's been 15 years since that all happened. For me, I'd rather spend my time and money (both of which are difficult to find anymore) on my own layout.
Kevin
Kevin,Check your PM box..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
One would think that with all the money Walther's has made off the hobby over the years they would be happy to have an employee's party day to help carefully dismantle and relocate the layout as a goodwill gesture, eh? Maybe the whole deal wasn't thought through? I would hate to think of what a knee-jerk backlash this move could have on Walther's bottom line, especially in these hard times. John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
why I modularized. Interesting Walthers needs more room, sad it had to entrench on the club layout.
2 members...sheeshe.
http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html
http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html
The club I belong to will have the same problem if we do not start recruiting the youths. I am 31 and I am the very youngest beside club member's children. Everyone else is 50+ in age. Some members health is so poor we dont see them anymore. I am under the impression that MRR is losing touch with the generation x and y. Some call it the "net" generation but either way they are more interested in computers and video games.
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Since I don't remember any specific article about the layout, I don't find I have much of an emotional attachment to it. It is hard to fault Walthers decision. It might have been different if this was a thriving club but with only two members left, I can understand why Walthers might decide the space could be better used. From the description, it sounds like the layout had grown a little long in the tooth anyway. With Milwaukee being a hotbed of model railroad activity, I'm sure there are a lot of clubs available in the area. While the old layout may not be able to be saved, I'm sure a lot of the components, structures, locos, rolling stock etc. could be put to good use elsewhere. Nothing last forever.
Im not sure thats true, in that their being evicted b/c of lack of interest. The article stated that Walthers said they need the room. Now obviously it didnt say why they needed the room, but thats what it said. Who knows, maybe Walthers is actually expanding some operation and needs that room.
wm3798 Ironic that the prime sponsor of the World's Greatest Hobby program is evicting a club from it's building due to a lack of interest... Better look a little more closely at how well that strategy is working... Lee
Ironic that the prime sponsor of the World's Greatest Hobby program is evicting a club from it's building due to a lack of interest... Better look a little more closely at how well that strategy is working...
Lee
Wow Dave that's a big lost for the MR commutily I have seen this layout many times and was impressed with it. Its a great lost, I was tempted more then once to join this club when I lived in West Allis. I remember their layout on 16th and Muskego and then next to the old Jerry's Bayview hobby shop (now also gone, but reopened by others then Jerry.
Is the "O" scale layout still open on National Ave?
Are you going to Mad City this weekend?
Dave
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Dave, thanks for sharing. Sad,yes, another labor of love lost. Waxon makes a good point, but getting young folks away from xboxes ,seems easier said than done .
that sucks.
Moral of the story: next time your club meets, look around and think to yourself "How many of these people will still be alive in 30 years?" If the answer is less than enough to keep the club going, maybe now is the time to start recruiting.
dknelson Recently Walthers told the club that it needed the space, and with a huge layout and only two remaining members,
Both parts of that sentence are a real shame.
The Indian Head Lines club layout was housed in the back of the building owned by William K Walthers. Years back it was a popular desination for layout tours and open houses, and is an impressively large layout with many nice scenes. It has been written up in MR more than once.
But for whatever reason, the club started to lose members some years ago -- the rumor I heard is that there was a lot of problems and frustration with the rather elaborate DC block control system, and often those difficulties would be evident during layout tours -- and opportunities to visit the layout became fewer and fewer. Recently Walthers told the club that it needed the space, and with a huge layout and only two remaining members, any thought of moving the layout or starting over somewhere else is pretty much out of the question, so last night was the last of two farewell open houses. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put a large photo and story on the front page of the paper today. There will be one more open house and a possible rummage sale in March.
Unfortunately that means one less layout to tour during the 2010 NMRA convention in Milwaukee.
Assuming this link works ..... http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/39891957.html
Dave Nelson