My wife and I joined our local club a few months ago and have become very active with them. It is just 5 miles from our home. How far away from your local club are you and are you a member and active?
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I 'commute' to a club 45 miles away almost every week. If it were closer I'd be one of the group that works on the railroad twice a week.
Grinnell
Supposedly there is one 126 miles from me. I am not a member nor have I ever been to the club.
Robert H. Shilling II
My local club is about a 10 mile drive from my house. I've been an active member and officer for many years now.
Robert Beaty
The Laughing Hippie
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The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the
end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming
your way. -Metallica, No Leaf Clover
25 miles away and I am not a member.
Enjoy
Paul
No idea how many "miles" it is (what are those?) but it's about 5-6 minutes away. I am not a member because I still have hair that didn't turn gray yet, and feel too young. This Christmas I drug my family to the display, and I swear the youngest operator was a spry 105 or so.
There's another club on the other side of the river from me that seems to have members who still have hair (plus bonus points for having dark hair), but it's farther away and I haven't gotten around to scoping it out since moving into the area a few years ago.
I'm fortunate that the Pacific Southern Railway is only 12 miles away. It's been around since the early 60s and is pretty casual.
Lately I've missed quite a few operating sessions because of work. I found the construction (scenery) cycle leading up to several open houses more interesting.
I wish other responders would identify their clubs and provide links if available.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Less then a mile and I'm active during the warmer months since the building is cold and damp during the winter even with the fuel oil stove lit.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The club I belong to is 45 miles from where I live. HO, N and O gauges. Easy going, laid back club, meets once a week. Around 30 members of all ages and occupations. Two permanent layouts at the club in HO and N, two modular layouts for shows in HO and N-T-Trak. The club appears at 9-10 shows during the year with the modular layouts.
5 minutes, and a very active member of the Mid Mon Valley Model Railroad Club in New Eagle PA.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
This will be my third full year of membership in my club The "Grand River Valley RR club.We are about 5years old have both N and HO layouts with roughly 20 members.
There are 4 clubs in the Grand Rapids,MI. area with memberships ranging from the very low teens to upwards of 30 plus.
My club is about 20 miles from the house, I am active and an officer these past 5 years. My old job kept me from joining as I traveled a lot and the normal meeting day was a travel day for me.
When I lived in Anchorage belonged to a club there and made all the meetings and was very active as there were few home layouts as there were few basements.
Rick Jesionowski
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
One mile away and another is 10 miles. Too busy with work to join.
Jim
When I belonged to a startup club several years ago it was a 25 min. drive from my house. I have moved since then and the only club I'm aware of near me is more than an hour's drive away.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Here in the west burbs of Chicago there are quite a few clubs, I go to one about 25 miles away.
Nearest club is about 1:30 (1.5 hrs) away, not a member.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Great idea Greg.
Our club is the Crescent City Model Railroad Club in Metairie, LA just outside of New Orleans.
Here is a link to our club: http://www.ccmrc.com/
We have about 20 members and our layout is HO and is 24 feet x 128 feet with 400 feet of mainline.
Our club was founded in 1956 and we are turning 60 years old this year.
The Crescent Lines is a fictional railroad that connects the Crescent City (New Orleans) to Shreveport via the Alexandria Line and to Vicksburg via Natchez.
Club is 12 miles from the house. It's full up at 30 members. There are two clubs closer but they mostly do roundy-round running and open houses. Knew lots of the members but didn't join until I got off of working nights, weekends and holidays, and raising kids.
There are a lot of people of different ages at my local club, and they are nice guys, but I just like doing my own thing.
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
The closest one for me is on the cover of MR right now! I have no idea how many miles it is to Vienna from Alexandria. Never bothered to look. I don't belong because their layout and my interests don't align.
There's a few modular clubs around, one of which I'm debating on joining. Their distance is, uh, less definite by their very nature.
I am a founding member of our local MR club, and have been the President off and on for over 25 years of the clubs 35 year history. I live about 14 miles from the club and am very active in all phases of it. We started it in 1981 in a second floor 60x16' room with a 16x16' back room. We have gone from DC to early DCC to Digitrax currently. Anyone in the Greenville Ohio area is welcome to join or stop by for an operating session on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 1:30pm. The Op sessions are usually over by 4:30, with a meeting following afterwards.
We also have a model train flea market on the 1st Sunday of March at the Darke Co. Fairgrounds in Greenville, Ohio
Around here they are going the way of the hobby shop, closest is like 25 miles away now, many used to be closer.
I'm active in a club ~75 mi. away (was there this morning).
There are no local clubs. The closest is probably in Atlanta which is a two hour drive. We do have a local Hobbytown with 1/2 an aisle of model RR stuff. But in the three years that I've been back at it I've never run into anyone at the store that was actually working on a layout. So I learn about the latest tech and methods, and get all of the advice and feedback on my ideas here. And except for basic supplies I order everything off the internet.
The good news is that there is nobody around to tell me that I am doing anything wrong
Huntington Junction - Freelance based on the B&O and C&O in coal country before the merger... doing it my way. Now working on phase 3. - Walt
For photos and more: http://www.wkhobbies.com/model-railroad/
My club is 30 miles away. I've been a full member since 1993, and my father's been a member since 1990 (I was a youth member back then). I'm currently the Layout Design Chairman, the Operations Chairman, and the Registration Chairman. I'm also the Vice Chairman of the Auction Committee. I currently go over the club twice a week, and it can take anywhere from 35 to 65 minutes, depending on traffic.www.ssmrc.org
Paul A. Cutler III
There are actually quite a few model railroading clubs in my not so close neighborhood - the nearest one being 15 miles away from my place and the farthest one about 50 miles. None of them caters to my specific interest in model railroading and memberships dues usually amount to my annual hobby budget, so I am not a member of any one at all.
80 miles. They meet on Thursday evenings. The Abbot is not about to let me take Thursday evenings off to drive 160 miles round trip (That is $80+ carfare) to attend such a club. One Thursday I was in Bismarck and went calling on them, but nobody was there. Go Figure.
One Sunday there was an open house for the entire Buckboard Junction (a recreated town) and I went there, and they still were not open. GFo Figure.
LION is done Figuring. Let them come to my house if the want to see trains.!
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS