In another thread there is a rather vigorous discussion about the "demise" of local MRRing clubs" and I had a thought of what could be a solution.
Clubs are in a low due to millennials not wanting to be social in person, but at the same time millennials also aren't buying homes due to things like insecurity of whether they'll need to move for a job, ect. So they could stand to benefit from a club... what if a club was started where the members aren't all able to attend in person, but instead they each complete a project to build the layout then mail it to the physical club and then the structure is added to the layout, basically a semi virtual club.
What do you guys think?
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
I wouldn't want to be in the crew putting all the modules together!
Seriously, I don't quite understand the concept. Why would I build something only to send it away for someone else to use. Am I supposed to show up at the club occassionally?
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Not necessarily module maybe just structures.
Steven:
I edited my post. Have a look.
So the benefit of me being a member of this club is that I get to build something, give it away, and never enjoy it?
.
How much are my annual dues?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
This sounds a bit silly. No way would I go through the effort and expense of building something just to send it somewhere, never to be seen again. Would there be a tax write-off?
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
That's the thing you would basically have all the benefits of a in person member
A benefit for newcomers is they would have a virtual mentor (someone in the club who's more experienced) to help teach them one on one the basics.
It's not a perfect concept. Just an interesting idea.
Well, it could be a club that has a real layout, and a virtual layout that groups could work on. I'm not into this stuff myself but my sons spend a lot of time working on virtual buildings with Minecraft.
Simon
Sounds like somthing only you could come up with.
The rest of us deal with reality
Facts, facts, facts yeah I've heard it, but modeling solely by what was, that's a bit boring so I have a little fun, come up with some crazy ideas, so what? I was just putting the idea out there, I'm not planning to do this, but maybe someone else will... it's not a perfect idea, just as the original versions of a lot of stuff isnt.
Tried a bit of that idea. I had many kits I did not need so I offered a free kit if they built a kit for me (these were wood craftsman kits). Now the people selected were fully screened for skill and dedication. Of the projects sent out, only half returned the other kit and some of those long beyond the timeframe, up to a year and a half latter.
Another item which applies to this as well as clubs in general is that to have any orginization you have to have trust. This was easy for clubs when what was used for the most part was inexpencive, compaired to today. Just look at the items used on a club dating from the 50's. Track was hand laid in many cases, expence was in the tools that could be owned and secured by a member. Many items were hand built. Next came inexpencive plastic cars and Zimac engines with more expencive stuff brought from members homes and secured by them. Lets move all the way to today and I don't know about the rest of you, but my stuff is too fragile to randomly be moved by random people, I have no issues because I know where to grip things, even my trees are more eaisily damaged but are far more relistic that the ones I remember from the clubs I was at. Bacicaly it boils down to trust and the amount of it and that changes with the personal investment you have in an item.
NWP SWPClubs are in a low due to millennial not wanting to be social in person, but at the same time millennials also aren't buying homes due to things like insecurity of whether they'll need to move for a job, ect. So they could stand to benefit from a club.
As I mention in the other topic you will find millennials in clubs that uses DCC and my oldest Grandson fully believes the best thing since peanut butter and jelly is the app that allows him to use his smart phone for a throttle.
I see lots of millennials at train shows,while railfanning and at two DCC clubs I have visited.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
UNCLEBUTCH Sounds like somthing only you could come up with. The rest of us deal with reality
Pretty much ^
People join clubs because they do not have a way to run trains at home and there needs to be a club layout, which is pretty much a must.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
The idea sounded good, until I typed it out now it's not so great.
If it's going to be a 'virtual' club, why not go all the way? Use one of the many train simulation programs so the whole thing is virtual. I don't know that any of the existing programs allow you to make up a full scanario from multiple smaller files, sort of like writing a complex program by having each contributor do a module and then they all get compiled and linked together. If any of them can, then it would be something like assigning each member a section of the railroad, or else the member that is good at drawing the tracks doing the trackwork, someone good at drawing the nature part of the scenery does that, someone who's good at drawing structures does that, etc. The simulator would also have to be multip-user so that on 'operating night' multiple memebers woudl each control their own train over the route the club has created.
I would actually consider being part of something like that, though not as a replacement for my physcial hobby activites. There's definitely possibilities there.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I have thought about that too, it could also not only work for clubs but an individual if you know what you're doing you could mock up a 3d operational version of your layout, I have used Trainz: A New Era but I haven't been able to create routes yet, it a bit complicated.
rrinker If it's going to be a 'virtual' club, why not go all the way?
That's along the line that Simon mentions above about Minecraft. Grandson does this with 4 other players. They help each other.
It's all virtual.
Mike.
My You Tube
NWP SWP In another thread there is a rather vigorous discussion about the "demise" of local MRRing clubs" and I had a thought of what could be a solution. Clubs are in a low due to millennials not wanting to be social in person, but at the same time millennials also aren't buying homes due to things like insecurity of whether they'll need to move for a job, ect. So they could stand to benefit from a club... what if a club was started where the members aren't all able to attend in person, but instead they each complete a project to build the layout then mail it to the physical club and then the structure is added to the layout, basically a semi virtual club. What do you guys think?
Might not be a bad idea. I read this one guy's blog where him and a buddy of his who live a good distance from each other hold virtual ops sessions. How it works is the two of them both own a lot of the same cars and have waybills printed up for different industries on each other's layouts. They exchange email pictures of the cars staged at various indutries on their own layouts thus creating the illusion that a train has hauled the cars from one layout to the other. For example a load of pipes from a steel mill on one layout goes to a pipe fitting plant on the other's layout.
Does it sound strange? Maybe. But if the hobby's on the decline as the prophets of doom and gloom always like to claim, then it's gonna take some outside the box thinking to "save" it from whatever is killing it this week.
NWP SWP Clubs are in a low due to millennials not wanting to be social in person,
Clubs are in a low due to millennials not wanting to be social in person,
That is one of the primary reasons that many modelers are lone wolves. However, if you aren't social and don't want to be at a club in person, funs pretty much over. Not being social and being in a club is well, antithetical, because clubs are by their very nature, social organizations.
but at the same time millennials also aren't buying homes due to things like insecurity of whether they'll need to move for a job, ect.
That isn't what I've been hearding. You move first, get a job and then buy a home - so moving isn't the deal breaker. It's money. According to reports I've been hearing repeatedly over the last couple years is young folk are graduating with big student debt and that makes it difficult to get a home lone and buy a home. They are also putting off having families.
Of course if one is still at home with the parents, they are living under their house rules and that limits what they can do as far as layout building or having space. Many of us have been in that position when we were your age - and simply had to bide our time, and go through the stages of getting out on our own, getting through college, evenrually marrying, and getting established in a home of our own. If we managed to find a train friendly wife, we might even start building a layout in our late 20's or early 30's. Such layouts are often up for only a few years - been their and done that 3 times already. Clubs serve their purpose when you are in a transitionary time.