How many Lone Wolves are out there?

[ShadowNix]

HOWWWLWLLLLLL...

  Lone wolf here... Just me and my oldest son (who is 3!) workin on the layout...  We love OUR world and our time together.  Enough said.

Brian

[outdoorsfellar]

Count me in too, though I wouldn't mind having a friend nearby to share layouts & railfanning.

[selector]

I was a lone student, a lone soldier, a lone father, a lone runner, a lone astronomer, a lone classicist, and am now alone in model railroading when I am in my own head and not actively reading, and attempting to understand, what any of you have to say. 

In one important way, though, and you should take this as befits your style, your temperament, your character, your secularism, your faith, your politics, or your understanding, but I am never alone when I am in church.  My wife is with me, as she is at home, and the Big Guy is somewhere close by, too.

Happy railroading, everyone.

[twhite]

Very definitely a Lone Wolf.  I'm a classical musician by profession, so I am always working with other musicians.  Most of my very close friends are musicians.  We're all kind of 'nuts' and we enjoy each other immensely. 

My hobby is for myself to enjoy.  Good, bad or indifferent, I do it myself.  Not interested in clubs, my fellow model railroaders are acquaintances.  I have a specific idea of what I want out of my layout, and I do it my way.  Like I said, good, bad or indifferent, it's MY layout.

I'm a pretty gregarious fellow (and my friends and students will testify to this), but there is time in my life that I take just for MYSELF, and the primary one is my hobby. 

Tom

[tomikawaTT]

By nature, by choice of scale (1:80) and by choice of prototype (Nihon Kokutetsu,) I prefer to be a loner.  I also have a tendency to look at things from a non-mainstream point of view.  That may be the science fiction side coming to the fore.

Am I having fun?  Yup.  (Or, more appropriately, "Hai!!!")

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Jacktal]

I'm not a lone wolf right now but I'm about to be.I have most of my stuff stashed in the basement and am almost through with the preparation of the layout space.

I'm a member of a club in the moment and am encountering the same griefs you people do.It is common occurence that clubs are plagued with an incurable disease that I call "improductive democracy",wich gets worse as the number of members increase.Everyone wants it his way but since they can't reach a common agreement on what should be done and how,nothing gets done.

Although the club isn't very far,about eight kilometers,the travel does turn me off specially in the winter.Another big point in my case is that we are only four modelling N scale at the club,and while this is great when decisions have to be taken,it is quite boring when neither of the other three don't show up.If I'm to operate alone,I might as well do it at home.

[dragenrider]

Count me in the lone wolf group.  I'm currently a member of a club, but it doesn't provide what I'm wanting in a club membership.  I never thought it would be so hard to find an operating session around Kansas City! 

Anyway, I prefer to model alone so I can do it my way and change my mind as much as I want.  Conversely, I'd like to be in a club to do ops sessions, learn, and socialize.  The current club meets once a month but has no working layout except what's in storage between train shows.  No one in the club is interested in operations.  (sigh) 

[3155944]

i'm a lone wolf because the nearest club is an 11/2 hours each way. Also the politics thing I hear enough at the LHS to steer clear of all that. May be I'm a dictator but its my railroad my way. I have fun and satisfaction and thats what its all about

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've been a lone wolf for over 30 years. When I was working, I had little time to work on the layout with the exception of holidays and weekends. However, since my medical "retirement" in 03, I have all the time I want and work on it for an hour or two a day. I'm trying to build a layout like the kind I used to build when I was younger, but it's hard. Being disabled has significant disadvantages and there are some things that I can no longer do. For these, I have a friend who comes in periodically and helps out.

[conagher]

I just quit a club (for the last time) because of too many politics. I also belong to a round-robin group that meets in a differen guy's home every Thursday evening. No politics, dues, rules or problems. We're all actually Lone Wolves by choice who've opted to run with the pack for awhile. You can never have too much help building your layout sometimes.

[ondrek]

Looks like there are quite a few lone wolves out there.  more than i though there were.

I can be counted in that pack.  

I am not sure if i would like a club or not, if the club was built up of people who built sectional layouts that all connected together, that would be ok i suppose, but to work on a layout that wasnt mine, not sure if i would like that.  

the other thing i see a lot of is people with layout so big they need a dispatcher's desk, I like running trains, i like making them do something, but to have to follow real life rules such as waybills and such just isnt my cup of tea.  just let me run the train, dont make me answer to the man, I have to do that enough at work.

so i figure i will be alone for a while.  the kids will run trains with me, but they arnt into building anything.

Kevin 

[cchnguage]

I am both. I am a lone wolf, I have my own layout and am the only one working on it. I have been working on this layout for about 4 years. I model N Scale. I average about 4 hours a week. Although there are weeks I don't work on the layout.

I am also a member of a club. We meet weekly. The club models HO. There are only 5 current members in the club. There aren't any politics. Everything that is done is agreed upon by most of the members. Everyone gets along great. I am the only one with an operating layout at home. The others don't seem to have time. Most of us in the club have a speciality working with the layout. One does electrical well. Another does painting, another bench work. Since I am the only one with an active layout I have furnished a lot of ideas on doing different things to make the club layout better in different areas.

[on30francisco]

OOWWOOO! As Wolman Jack would go. I'm definitely a lone wolf. I don't know anyone in real life, as opposed to people on these forums, into model railroading. I was disappointed in the few modeling events and conventions I've been to as the people seemed very cliquish, grumpy, and aloof to anyone whose scale, gauge, prototype, politics, or concepts of modeling differed from theirs. Although I'm mostly a loner and non-rigid with my modeling, I'd like to meet other modelers who sincerely want to help others in their modeling regardless of their scale, prototype etc as there are a lot of "hands on" techniques I'd like to learn that are very difficult to obtain from books, magazines, or online. 

Like douglast, I model narrow gauge Large Scale indoors but it is just about impossible to find anyone out of the 10 million people that live in the San Francisco Bay Area who are into any scale or gauge.

[CSX_road_slug]

With four kids still at home, I grab any few minutes that I can and go up to my train room above the garage and may only do something for 20 or 30 minutes sometime.  It seems that the "lone wolf" is frowned upon, but I don't feel that I have a choice if I want to participate in this hobby...

Your situation is nearly identical to mine. Except I live in MD, not MA and my trainroom isn't over the garage, it is the garage!  But I know exactly what you mean about having to 'steal' quality time with the layout.

I'm a lonewolf, but not really by choice; my trainroom is too much of a wreck at the moment, it's like a construction zone.  I want to get my DCC installed and eliminate some of the clutter before I can start receiving mrr visitors.  I'm creeping a little closer to that goal every week...

[New Haven Railfan]

I joined a club because of a lack of knowledge, you can only get so much from reading magazines, nothing beats hands on with someone that has done it before to show you how. It really helps with a steep learning curve. I also am "spacially challanged" so it is nice to have place to go and work on layout. I was a lone wolf for most of my early years and my pratical knowlege suffered as a result. I would say that my modeling knowledge has grown exponetially since I joined the club. Definitly a club is the way to go when you are just starting out. I can see that later on there will be a desire to build my own layout so I can have it my way. As for now I still have a lot to learn.

    NHRF 

[UNIONPACIFIC4018]

Lone wolf here. I was a member of a club for a while but all the old guys owned all the modules and there was no room for exspansion. Also I never saw it but this club seemed to have a lot of guys who would get mad and take their toys home including modules so no one could runs trains. My house is for sale so I have no real layout now just trying to figure out what to do and I have been putting hand drawings of rail road structures into CAD.

[floridaflyer]

 I belong to a club in Sebring that has about 25 members, includes every thing from live steam to N scale. Dues are low and we meet monthly. We have a modular layout and do some shows each year. seems like a good bunch of guys. I am in the process of building a layout and envision it as a "lone wolf" operation. May pick up some pointers from the group, but look to do all the work and operation by myself. Like a lot of guys a full service LHS is 75/80 miles away and that's a bummer.

[Midnight Railroader]

Count me as a lone wolf, too. Tried clubs, and they just weren't for me. Maybe it's because I like to do things my way, without having to satisfy anyone else.

[joseph2]

I am  loner because I don't have time to attend club meetings and I prefer to model things my way (rather unprotypical).Sometimes I meet with area railfans though.

[fiatfan]

I'm a lone wolf also but that's more due to my nature.  I'm not really into clubs and socializing and definitely don't want to deal with the politics.

Tom 

[lvanhen]

I'm a lone wolf for 2 reasons.  1. Not enough time for regular club attendance.  2.  Politics - get enough of that at work!!

[jsoderq]

I see you live in Ma which is pretty populated. I have a suggestion for you to try. Some years ago, I was part of a round-robin club with no dues, no officers and a great bunch of guys. We had about 15 members, only about half had layouts in varying degrees of completion. We would go from house to house at whoever was willing to host a meeting. We worked on the layout if the host was willing, otherwise we did slide shows, somebody did  a modeling project etc. We also used meeting times to go rail fanning(CSX mainline). Light refreshments were often served by the hosts wife or girlfriend. We ranged about 20 miles in order to encompass enough members. I took care of any mailing requirements for meeting notices etc. Each year we had a Xmas party for members and their wives/girlfriends. All in all, vary successful with none of the politics and stress of a more conventional club. We located members through notices in the local hobby shop. Usually one person will know other hobbyists.

[oleirish]

I'am an lone wolf modeler,I've tryed the club thing on and off for 50 years an found the same old thing "politics" I know a few modelers but that is all!I have built a bunch of railroads,at present I'am tinkering with "N" scale,my "HO" is packed up right now!

JIM

[Anonymous]

I am a lone wolf because I have not found another model railroader in any scale, in my area for the past 7 years. I model G scale indoors and fill 3/4's of my basement. I switched to G scale to use my other hobby woodworking to build all my models for my layout.

I'm retired and have the time but find I am not spending much time on the layout or building any buildings. After living in the greater Milwaukee area for 14 years, to change to this is a real adjustment. While I prefer to build my layout, the association with others helps to keep the interest going.

[beegle55]

I don't model with anyone, my dad thinks it is now a waste of money and I have already spent enough (haha, hes crazy, riiight??). A couple of my friends love my layout and would like to help me out, but they don't want to contribute any financial aide or don't want to study up on anything, so until my niece gets around 10-12 years old, which is a long way away, I think Ill be at it alone. Those females get contrary around that age, so I doubt she'll even be interested then. Oh yea, I might belong to a club in a year or two, but my clubs are 1 hr away both ways. So for now, I'm a lone wolve as well, and pround of it. As far as time, I can do what I want usually when I want if I have something to do (but there's always something to do, right?) Just my

 -beegle55 

[csmith9474]

I am a "lone wolf" myself. I have seen too much BS going on in a couple of different clubs to want to deal with that. I like to go to the basement and swill cold beer while working on my layout, and things have worked out pretty well that way thus far. I wouldn't mind having a couple of buddies that are into model railroading, but get along pretty well by myself.

[WilmJunc]

Do you have your own layout in your home and primarily work on it by yourself or with a family member or two?  I'd like to work with other folks on a layout but I don't have the time to drive over to a club layout and work for a few hours.  I don't think that I could afford the club dues either. 

With four kids still at home, I grab any few minutes that I can and go up to my train room above the garage and may only do something for 20 or 30 minutes sometime.  It seems that the "lone wolf" is frowned upon, but I don't feel that I have a choice if I want to participate in this hobby.  I'm just curious how many contributors to this page are also in the same situation, and how many belong to clubs.