I am by intention and design a lone wolf modeler. I give an extremely wide berth to any kind of club or organisation. I have no personal need for them in my life and this includes such august organisations such as service clubs and hobby groups.
They are not where I feel the most comfortable and none of my friends are members of such organisations either. One exception though; I am a member of a boat club, but that's because I get reduced rates for members using the clubs facilities rather than paying full price for berthage, hardstand and travel-lift fee's and the clubs excellent and recently upgraded toilet facilities which at my age I use on numerous occasions during the day while working on my boat - self interest prevails.
My layout is my home away from home - a focus for my creativity and an outlet for my dreams and a reason to learn more, research if you will, about the road I have chosen to model and its geographical location.
Because I model a town that features a railway rather than a railway that has occompanying scenery to give a back-drop to the main event, I have no need to operate my layout in a prototypical fashion that would include switching movements and train make-ups requiring cards and so forth and operators and operating sessions. I like learning about such things as how railroads work and do stuff but not to nessesarily put them into practice myself.
I do enjoy the company of other people, both men and women, I like to laugh and kid around, but only in a loose social setting - not as part of a club or an organization of some kind.
Mmm, there's a thought: I wonder if us lone wolves should form some kind of club so we can.........., nah, it just wouldn't work, no really it wouldn't
Bruce
I'll go with the others on here. I am by choice a lone wolf, happily married for 35 years, no children, and retired so I can enjoy my hobby all day. Not into clubs (except forums such as this), not keen on my fellow creatures any more than they are keen on me.
When I get my layout built, I'll use switchlists sometimes, sometimes play trains, but my real interest is in building models, especially animated ones.
Lone wolves couldn't form a club could they? Wouldn't it be a pack ?
Dennis
Yep. Lone Wolf. Sounds like me. No time for clubs. Have not found any modeling buddies since moving a year ago that have enough time to split between our layouts. Currently building a small switching layout (the Pike City Belt Line from September 1998 MR) with planning underway to build a larger layout based on the Southern Railway's Asheville Division.
My plans for operations are to use a car card/waybill system for generating traffic. I'm also looking at computer control for through trains and passenger trains to bring more life to an "operating session" than just the one way freight I could operate. "Operating session" will be a fluid definition depending on how much time I want to devote to running trains. Anything from 5-10 minutes to several hours. Obviously, a clocked timetable would not work out very well here. But a sequence of events timetable (as described by David Popp) might be workable.
??? I am reading this with much mirth. I would not think a true lone wolf would have much to say on a community Forum. ???
No elections. No committees. No dues. No meetings. No debates over which DCC system to use, or even whether to go DCC at all. No, "We've always done it that way!" rationalizations. No travel. No building up-keep. No landlords and leases.
Yup, I guess there might be some mirth to an apparent irony, but here I can log in or disappear just like
I wouldn't mind possibly joining a club just so I can get some more ideas on stuff, but at the same time, the closest club is 50+ miles away. Kinda undoable for me. So I sit and draw up the plans for my railroad and bide my time until the house is finished being remodelled (since I've been instructed to finish the house as a first priority). I'll be working on starting to buy up my track that I don't already have, and start buying the rolling stock that "need" to make the railroad work more efficiently, once I buy all that, I should have the house finished and be able to really start in on building the actual railroad. Until then, its planning, plotting, railfanning and ect.
Texas Zepher ??? I am reading this with much mirth. I would not think a true lone wolf would have much to say on a community Forum. ???
While at first blush it may seem ironic, it actually is the perfect way for lone wolves to associate. It's asynchronous plus you can pick and choose which threads to read and which to respond to.
Enjoy
Paul
My "club" is the LHS (MRPO) I frequent!! I go at least once a month for MRC (my excuse to the Mrs) and generally spend an hour or more. I enjoy gabbing with most of the other customers, and the owner & employees in particular. There are a few customers that really tick me off - like the jerk that's always bragging that he got this or that on the net for X$ - what an idiot!! Now if that was a formal club, and he was a member, I'd be stuck with putting up with him for a couple of hours a week!! When I do see him at the LHS, I go to a different aisle, or leave if I've already been there a while & gotten my purchases. This "club" can take!! Selector's comments above are also good reasons for being a "lone wolf"!!
I'm pretty much a lone wolf as far as my layout goes for several reasons.
One is that I'm an Easterner at heart stuck living in Texas. I don't care for BNSF, SP and most of the railroads modeled here especially the UP. This limits me as far as topics of interest,conversation, etc with others.Common ground is difficult to find here.
The clubs in the area are either modular, which I don't care for since most are poorly executed, or snobbish. Then there are all those "political" situations involved with clubs which I care to avoid. My job is fairly stressful so my fun time doesn't need any more of it. Besides the distance to many of the modular clubs is pretty far for the return in time & gas involved getting there.
I was part of an S scale modular layout group here for several years and that was the best it's been here so far. They had a great layout that made many trips to shows, etc and was always a hit with folks. They understood that it was important to have a layout where all the modules fit a common locale, scenery, era, etc as well as operate fluidly. Most modular layouts just really suck. Somehow a wild west module next to a lunar landing beside a circus theme module just sucks to me.
I have a small 9x17 HO layout in my train room. It's a small 1950's eastern shortline that is operable by one to three people with the capability of having 2 trains on the mainline and a yard operator. It's not big and isn't my dream layout but I can have all the fun I ever expected in model railroading without all the negative things that go along with a club.My layout was built to be run by me alone as getting people in my area to visit and operate turned out to be a bummer. No one seemed to ever be able to make it over for an operating session or visits.
I'm not totally against clubs as I've seen several that truly work well. I was living in Norfolk, VA and was a club member there in a great club with super ideas and a smooth-running and fun layout. They knew how to get along and eliminated many of the problems I've seen with clubs.A couple friends and I started a round-robin group when I lived in the DFW area and that was fun and I understand it's still functioning well.
My 2ยข
Roger
Not sure if this applies to me or not. As I am brand new to the hobby, I will more than likely be a lone wolf for several reasons:
1. My layout is still in the planning stages.
2. Both my wife and I work 3rd shift. I donโt foresee too many people over at two or three in the morning to run trains with me once I have a layout done.
3. I work weekends.
4. No clubs in my area that is close.
Not that I would be opposed to being in a club. I think that it would be a great learning experience for me. I just wouldnโt want to join a club and not be able to give 100% to it due to me working weekends or not being awake when they have meetings. So if anyone reads this in the Muskegon, Mi area and you know of a club, let me know!
Didn't know there was a name for individual modellers, most of the responses are very interesting as are their reasons. I think this forum adds a lot to modelling as Lone Wolfers can communicate with others. excellent forum.
I wouldn't be where I'm at without my local club. I had sooo many questions at first and I was hesitant to ask them all the time. Figured I'd get on the collective nerve of the bunch but I didn't. It was almost to the point where they were disappointed when I didn't have a bunch of questions for them. :)
They have operating sessions and the like which is fine. I don't care for that sort of thing, (car cards, schedules, etc.), but I still go and watch. The same 3 original members from the club's initial meeting 25 years ago still show up regularly without fail. 3 of the nicest guys I have ever met too. I've never felt like a heel, been belittled, or smirked at with anything I've ever asked of them no matter how silly it might be.
I must say that had they taken the opposite approach to me and treated me like the flu, my interest would have faded.
Having said all that, I am a lone wolf if only for the fact that I spend so much time learning the basics on my own either here or in books and magazines. I have "help" anytime from the group whenever they ask what I'm up to and can lean on them when I get stuck. Sort of my own cheering section really.
Tex - I don't think that being a Lone Wolf modeler or model train enthusiast can be equated with being anti-social or an introvert. I am sure that most of us like being with people in a loose kind of social situation that is not structered by club rules and regulations. Committing your time, energy and often recourses to a club is taking our hobby or interest just a step too far for some and so a Forum such as this one is ideal for Lone Wolf modelers to participate in. Perhaps I can go a bit further and say that perhaps a Forum is a Lone Wolves natural territory.
OMGosh, I am a society member - I've just remembered - it's the ACL, SAL, Historical Society - am I still a Lone Wolf? I pay my dues, get the Society magazine - "Lines South" and buy from them modeling products that are specific to these roads and support the Society in this way.
I, too, am a lone wolf. After a couple of attempts at joining clubs it soon became evident that no one has the same interests in modeling as I do. So, it's off to the basement where my slice of the Ozark Mountains exist, complete with a small hill hugging, creek following, valley climbing shortline, puttering along on old track with worn out diesels and no agenda.
"This button makes it go faster, this one slows it down. This is the emergency stop. Don't run over 20 miles per hour and please don't run off the end of the layout. Have fun!" And with that, I run a separate train or tag along to answer questions, tell stories, or enjoy the layout through someone else's eyes.
The Cedar Branch & Western--The Hillbilly Line!
Just remember that John Allen was basicly a lone wolf, but when it came to opps he would invite others over to operate his way.
It seems like we have enough lone wolves here to form a club.
Would the Lone Wolf Club be the ultimate oxymoron?
Being a lone wolf just works better for me. I get tired really fast of having to compromise and the struggle to come to a concensus of what to do and how to do it on every little detail. It goes for non-model RR stuff too; I was in a couple of bands when I was in school but I got sick of the bickering and stuff and eventually just got a good 4 track and started doing my own recordings, playing all the instruments myself.
That being said, I do belong to one model railroad club (I'm an alumni member of the U of MN railroad club) but other than going to the annual "Gopher Rail" get together each January I don't do any of the day-to-day work on their layout or anything. I belong to several historical societies and the NMRA and will go to their convention if it's nearby, but that's about it. I like getting their magazines/newsletters to learn about RR history etc. (Well, and I have bowled in bowling leagues for 37 years, so I guess I'm not totally anti-social!!)
As far as your questions....
1. Not really. I don't know that operating or not has that much to do with whether someone is a lone wolf or not?? My layouts have all had the ability to do continuous running, and it's nice to watch a train just run sometimes, but I usually "operate" in the sense of having passenger trains that stop at certain stations, or freights that drop off and pick up cars at industries.
2. I'm not completly sure what you're asking here?? I do sometimes move an industry from one place to another to see if it works better there while building the layout. I like to get so far along and then stop and operate for a while and make any adjustments before continuing. As noted in one, I do operate the layout realistically, running way freights and ore trains etc. Again, I think there may be an idea that you have to have 10 guys crammed in a basement in order to "operate" a model railroad, and that's not the case.
3. No, I tried it years back but it wasn't really necessary. One advantage of just having to keep myself busy is I don't need to try to cram industries into every nook and cranny of the layout to be able to keep a whole crew busy. A few industries here and there, with plenty of scenery in between, works fine for me. With only say 5-6 businesses, it's pretty easy to keep track of what goes where - hey, those tank cars must be going to the oil dealer, and the hopper cars with coal must go to the coal dealer. Plus I 'block' my wayfreights in staging so the cars are in the order they'll be switched in.
4. I don't really have any other model railroaders "drop by". I don't have any close friends who are model railroaders. I know guys through going to different train things over the years, NMRA conventions and train shows etc. that I'll talk to when I see them, but other than that I don't really see them socially.
Most time I operate my layout by myself. I run the scheduled trains (without passengers )
I like switching. When I go to the basement for an hour I often switch only. Switching at Third Street District takes time!
I write even a train sheet. One session takes weeks! But sometimes with friends we have a session in one night.
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
I have to excercise my independence, many years ago I became dis-enchanted with the "club" scene, and the NMRA thing. That was then, today, my proto-freelanced branchline is in the process of being converted to overhead wire for electric freight/steam road operations, refelecting my revolving interest, additional stagging will be squeezed in for the SP/SF connection. Along the way I discovered that being 80% of the MR population was not for me as well, so I chose the challenges of S scale.
My modest point-to-point pike is designed for one person operations, no DCC needed, no dispatcher need apply, no fast clocks and no complicated signal systems, though a car routing system is in the works, wiring was so designed that DCC COULD be installed, heck I even eliminated the traditional yard, creating space for a massive packing house. All makeup/breakup will occure on the interchange lead as required.The yard police would hang me from the yardarm at high noon for my decision, but it's mine to do with as I please.
A good session for me is getting those reefers off the interchage track to their respective destinations, hoping the last switch crew shoved that lumber load for Hammond into the spur far enough to clear the main! If all goes will there won't be any surprises for the crew, maybe a hot load to the Santa Fe or Southern Pacific, heck we'll have pull more power out of the barn and run an extra!
Enjoy the hobby
Dave
Check out the Deming Sub by clicking on the pics:
Hi Everyone!
I am quite pleasantly surprised at the number of responses my query generated. I had no idea there were so many of us who feel we might be considered a Lone Wolf.
I found it extremely interesting that so many of us share many, if not most, of the same reasons (aside from no time, or no clubs close by) for leaning towards the lone route. Most of us don't consider ourselves anti-social and welcome contact with others and participate in our forums and user groups, when we wish to -- we just don't feel we must have a club environment to do so. For many reasons, we are also content with building and operating our layouts by ourselves, in our way, in our time and with our decisions.
Quite frankly, I expected more than a little ridicule/bashing by asking for this information. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that there was virtually none, something quite unheard of these days in almost any forum.
I thought it was refreshing that people freely and unashamedly offered their inward thoughts on describing their actions and leanings. I appreciated learning that I share so many of the likes and dislikes with other modelers, and in fact welcome this hobby as many others do.
I too, like many of you indicated, learn so much from the freely offered sharing in these MR forums and the multitudinous Yahoo user groups. I love being able to ask a question and get a response from someone who has the right answer or a good suggestion. I thoroughly enjoy and learn from reading other modeler questions and the answers they get as well! I can join in and do so from time to time, or not, but as I choose.
This was a feel-good exercise for me. I really enjoyed all of your candid answers and want to thank each of you for responding as you did. Far exceeded my expectations. Nice to know I'm probably not completely abnormal in this hobby.
Take care, all! Ken
No Ken, you are not abnormal, any more than the other "Lone Wolves" on here. Look at it this way, this is our online club, where we socialise, albeit at a distance.
DON'T YOU DARE CALL US NUTS!!!
SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH OR I'LL KILL YOU!!!!
lvanhen DON'T YOU DARE CALL US NUTS!!! SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH OR I'LL KILL YOU!!!!
Reminds me of my neighbor's teenage girl...a couple of young guys are getting in their car in front of her house to leave and she comes out of the house with a shovel and starts whapping their car with it yelling "I'M NOT CRAZY !! I'M NOT CRAZY!!". Then just to emphasize the point, she went up to her room and threw her TV out the second story window.
Even tho' I am a member of 3 clubs I am a lone wolf operator on my ISLs...I perfer it that way.
So,if that qualifies me I will add my 6 pence.
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Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"