After reading all the entries up to this point , I got to thinking about my own experance or lack of it in a model rr club . The only club i ever belonged to had over 600 members and I was the President. I could only get 90 people to agree with me and not all at once ... but I have learned that that those on line here make the best members and the best club short of being able to operate together. A ton of mutual respect and a sharing of ideas and ... we can come a go with out harming the forum. Maybe that's what a good club should have - moderators that keep things on an even keel, a set of rules much like what we have here and a few mentioned earlier , I like the idea of each having their own section to model and leaving empty space for new commers to add a short line link to the main etc. might just work out with afore mentioned rules . Actually the president or chairman is not the one to " rule " the roost , they are supposed to ensure things go smoothly and benifit the clubs reason for being ( like collecting dues to pay the rent and commerical power supplier , a bbq now and then and maybe a scholarship fund for up and comming brainiacks ) . The membership needs to decide which way to go and the Pres or Chair is the one to provide the motive power to " make it so " . Untill virtual operating is available to all , hangin out with our forum buddies and operating at home is pretty cool indeed !!!
I would love to see the Meyer's-Briggs test results for people who enjoy/work well in Railroad clubs vs. those that can't stand the infighting and struggles. I suspect that we'd find out that there were personality type differences between the 2. And no, I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm just saying, I wouldn't be surprised if it has more to do with personality rather than a specific club being worse than another club. Having said that, my current club has about 30 members and while it's fun and I enjoy it and it works out well since I don't have a home layout, I miss my older smaller modular club. It was a tighter nit group. More about friends and since it was modular, we got out and were part of the community more which is important to me. My current club is on the county fairgrounds, so we have some obligations to be open during the Fair and other events, but we don't have the same civic mindedness of my old club.
Where do I start? I'ma to dammed independent to belong to a club and submit to it's vernacular or ways and means of operations aka alleged operational policies and procedures. The turnout crews would drive me nuts. There is a group of us in the Big Bear Valley, So Cal., aka Big Bear Lake, CA., a mountain top arena who (for the most part) enjoy getting together. Pretty much a thing of gathering at CJ's, trips to clubs and swapmeets and visiting each other's layouts. Trouble shooting, shooting the bull and otherwise operating trains. That is if the track work will allow it... GRRRRR! I think that in the group there is only one who really wants a club and I'm thinking it's because he wants to be the El Presidente. No thanks...on both accounts. A group of guys that I've enjoyed hanging with is the RoundHouse Gang, originally out of Redlands, Ca. However, they are to far away and I wouldn't be able to attend most of their functions. Out of the question or realm of reality, at this time. Dues are ok, but even then I pause as I can't afford them. How to kill a club? Easy peasy. 1. Don't get along. 2. Insist on having your way. 3. Politics, politics, politics. 4. Dues that are unrealistically high. 5. Rules, rules, rules. 6. Call a switch a turnout. col 7. When angry and or mad...Walk out and don't come back. 8. Turn it into a job versus FUN! Remember, there are the Left Wing Turnout Gorilla's, Right Wing Switchman, NMRA Ninja's, those Protypers (Driving the price of everything up and up and up)..... and we all have to find a way to get along. Most of the time, it is that one thing and only that one thing that keeps us together. You know the answer: The common love of model railroading and expression of such in our home or club layouts. YoHo, Me thinks I qualifies and is an example of someone who has no desire to be a member of a club. Does that help? On the flip side, I absolutely enjoy visiting other clubs and operating as a visitor. As long as, there is a pilot to guide me through the operational night mares. GRIN! Over and out!
The Club I use to go to was a milti scale group with no offical club home, they meet in the local Depot once a month for meeting, and build an HO module layout. a small group started an N-Scale Module layout too but were looked down on by the HO guys to the point that most all the n-scale guys left the club and the modules got sold off to another group for the most part. They also put on a big show every year, but when it came time to poney up some of those funds for the N-scale guys, they said the was no funds for them. But that had money to sponcer a blowing team that the club president was on????
I would say... 1. Don't have at least some purpose/goal in mind (and properly communicated to the members) 2. Let strong personalities bully everyone away 3. Don't have a financial plan to adequately support the club The only MRR club I ever belonged to was a good one. Very laid-back group that just really wanted to run trains, and that's what they did. I enjoyed it but moved away and then couldn't afford the dues when I ended up moving back to the area. (Dues were very reasonable, but I was going through divorce and just flat couldn't spend any extra dollars per month) Then I was focused on my own layout and haven't made the decision to return although I probably will at some point. I still keep in touch with most of them and they've invited me to run on occasion. Were there things that I didn't particularly like the way they were done....sure. But, in that kind of environment you have to acquiesce and go-with-the-flow sometimes. I have thought of starting a club at some point and I like these types of discussions because you do get good feedback it seems.
It's sure nice when you can get a group of folks together, and this is how they handle everything. Makes for some great memories and friends.
This is somewhat off topic(but related). What ever happened to the group in New York (I think) called "The Model Railroad Club" that Paul Mallory used to write about, using them and their expansion plans as a model example. They had their own modular building set up to expand with their layout plans and I always expected to read more about them in the hobby press, but...? Ernie C
Here is a sure way to break up a club. Get a person(s) in there that think they know how to run things. And when someone suggests something it immediately gets shot down because it wasn't their (the person who thinks they run things) idea. Also another sure way to break up a club is to have someone that plans your annual show and demands deadlines and no excuses are accepted. When a group that is planning certain events for the show fails to meet a deadline (due to no fault of their own) they rip the carpet out from under their feet and give it to another club member (who they are buddy buddy with) and dont give you an appology. People like this live by the motto "its my way or the highway" and I personally HATE those kind of attitudes.
Our club, Topeka N Trak dates from about 1985. I can not count how many clubs have come and gone, just down the road in KC, in this same time. We are still hanging in there. We basicly use the KISS method, but doing so is very hard work. Visit our web site at www.topekantrak.com
I have been a member of a club for over 20 years and we had our ups and downs. One thing that has kept our club together is to have fun and have members in all scales. We have an HO, N permanent and N traveling, O and G. The majority of the members are N, however, us N scalers always pitch in on the other layouts and vica versa. We also have Digitrax N scalers and analog N scalers. We are able to switch between Digitrax and analog by a flick of a switch, so everyone can run trains. We have no formal operating sessions and we just get together to run trains and have fun. We have asked members to leave when they don't get along with others. It does sound a bit arrogant, however, our main goal is to have fun and run trains. The main thing that all of us have learned is that politics and not being flexible can kill a club quickly. We are very fortunate.
The Model Railroad Club, Inc. in Union, New Jersey is alive and well... http://www.tmrci.com/ As long as I'm here... I can't think of any other club killer (or internet forum killer for that matter) that hasn't already been brought up.
I can, stagnate, do nothing. Nothing new in the way of modules or layout. No new members. No new ideas. Same old, same old gets old just the same. Oh and a healthy dose of, "Let George do it" never hurts either.
Favoritism.... or inconsistent rule enforcement.... I joined a local club a couple years back. After a show where I ran some of my equipment on the modular layout, I was approached by club leadership about re-working two modules that weren't claimed by any of the members. At the next meeting I inquired and the club president said that he wanted to wait until I was a member for a year before they let me work on them... ok, fine. fast forward three months later, a new guy joined. I don't think he was any more familiar with other members of the club than I was.... a month later he had both of those modules and a key to the club house! That was the last straw for me. Haven't been back since.
Let's face it politics is pervasive. It is all aroundus whether it be the workplace, church, MRR clubs, school, you name it. Even unions have politics. It is everywhere and the only way you can avoid it is to go the hermit route. But then, you got to come out of the train room some time. There is only one way to deal with politics and that is to expose it. Stand up at a meeting and ask why was this member given preferential treatment and be prepared to accept the reason for it. I was once accused by another member in a club meeting of being the recipient of special treatment for running time in our Ntrak club. This was attributed to "politics". But when I pointed out to my accuser that I hauled the club trailer which no one else was neither equipped to do nor wanted to do and that "prefential treatment" made sense because without that trailer no one ran anything. My accuser left the club. He was a taker, always ready with an excuse why he could not do something. He would arrive late to avoid setup and leave early to avoid taking down the layout. We did not form this club to be of service to such royalty. So my experience is that those who decry politics do not make the effort to be involved in the club as others. The 80/20 principle is entirely applicable whereby 20% of the members do 80% of the work. Our club lost 60% of our members yet today the people who did the work then are still ther same ones doing the work now. We lost the moaners, the takers and the crybabies who would not lift a finger to do anything but would complain when it wasn't done. We got a few more to go and we have also denied readmittance to a few former members. It is nice to have a club where everyone shares the work and the "politics" seems to disappear.
I have a couple ways... 1) Take yourself WAAAAY to seriously. Almost never pitch in to help at work sessions, but have a ready excuse (aka, the "ace in the hole") such as work, family, health issues, etc. Show up at business meetings and chide those who have been showing up at the regular work sessions for not completing your dream tasks. Continually harp on the same points, as if the failure to achieve your own personal objectives is a reflection of the rejection of those same objectives by the entire club. Continue not helping out with the tasks at hand and continue loudly complaining about same tasks. Forget that this is a club centered around a hobby and it's supposed to be FUN. Bark orders at people who you feel are not towing your line. 2) Bring in stuff that doesn't run well, perhaps because of dirty wheels, terrible decoders or other electrical/electronic issues, screwy couplers. Get upset that it doesn't run right. Start barking at people that try offer help or suggestions. Blame all the problems on the track, even though the previous 9 or 10 locos that ran through the same track had no problems. Bark at people just because you are upset. 3) Be a control freak. Work to prevent other people from implementing their ideas. Belittle their efforts if they do.
I've been in four clubs. Two are still going, two are long gone. The first, when I was a kid, was housed in a Park District building. It had been there 30 years. The Park District claimed they needed the space, and booted us out. The club looked for new spaces, but nothing caught out eye, and interest waned. That room is still vacant (20 plus years now). The second is/was a modular group. It was kind of cutting edge at the time, lossely basing itself off the HO Modutrak set up. We had broad 60" radius curves (HO scale), and an ingenious modular build. The group collectively started getting older (I was the youngest member in my twenties), and decided that the curves were too heavy, and the modules themselves were in need of serious revamping after ten years of three shows a year. We also lost our major show room (again with a different Park District). The club went a new direction with ridiculously lightweight modules, which I didn't think would hold up. They haven't, and they're rebuilt every couple of years. It's still the best group of guys (outside of MiNi) that I've had the pleasure of working with, but they're not my style for modeling, and it's HO. The third was the old Indian Head Lines layout in the back of Walther's. I joined while I was attending UWM, and desperately needed to get out of the dorms a couple nights a week. It wasn't super close, but I had keys and could opo in whenever I wanted too. Which was a lot. Anyone that knew that layout knew it needed some serious updating, so a buddy and I started revamping alot of the electrical and the scenery in our free time. We only had about ten members, three of us which were regulars, so there wasn't much push back. The president gave us a ton of grief all the time, but we'd start stuff without his approval anyway. There was no one to enforce anything. Eventually, membership killed that club. Walther's needed the space, and the club was way behind on rent. Finally, I was a member of a local HO club (must be these stinkin' HO guys...), for two years. It was close, and gave me somewhere to run my HO equipment regularly. That is if the trackwork was worth it. It was a forty year old club with a lot of original hand laid track. It was literally wearing out. The track committee refused to let any "inferior" flex track be laid in it's place, but he was very sick and could never make it in for repairs. He finally relented, and asked the President to appoint me as the new track committe, and at the next meeting the President did exactly the opposite. Appointed a guy that was never around, and didn't follow the by-laws for track (code 100 spliced in with 83...basically what ever was on sale). I quit shortly thereafter.
MONEY is the biggest destructive force. I leads to discontent and contempt between members who can pay dues and those that cannot pay dues. Then... there is the unplanned expenses... MORE MONEY... which adds to the already stressed budgets of members. As members drop-out due to finances... the remaining member have to pick-up the slack by PAYING MORE to maintain the club. Then comes the need to generate MONEY by having functions... like Open House... which most of the time is arranged by the few that do the most... while the many watch and eat the profits that would have helped the club meet its expected and unexpected expenses. All of this leads to more discontent and contempt between members and MORE leave disgruntled because they are not having any FUN... because of all of the MONEY they have to raising to keep the club afloat.
