My train club here in Roseville is getting the boot, but at least the SacBee thought we were worth writing about (Note, I am not in the article.) https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/a...pszD8chN5LFe5DFbifTun_MlulmFj_CJgdkEN2cDTCQ7c
Sad. “@the Grounds.” Ick. Who came up with that "name"? Sorry. It just fails when I see it. This is a good topic for discussion. How too many clubs do not have contingency plans, is case of. Nor do they plan the layout such that it can be moved or decently salvaged. Incidents such as this have happened too many times. Lesson just not learned as it should be.
WE all, including the reporter cringe at the name. IRF is going on for sure this year. That's in fact why we're staying till December. They would have gotten their butts sued for negotiating the IRF contract in bad faith otherwise. We're actually going to do clinics this year. (more than bragdon) However, IRF will go on after this year...we may not stay at the fairgrounds where we've been for 42 years. They have been a challenge to work with the past few years and While we'd love to grow large enough to fit into the new building, there's a chicken and egg problem there...and with the club gone, the biggest incentive goes with it. as for contingency plans. We had a long term lease originally. But more to the point, there was a set of club officers about a decade ago that was quite short sighted when they built this layout. It's a beautiful layout, but not well thought out...that's the challenge with groups like this. A blessing and a curse, the nature of community. Everyone gets to have a voice...and sometime that voice leads you into the wilderness.
Too bad the Bee waited for bad news to give the club some love. I wonder how many people knew it was there? Gives new meaning to you don't know what you've got until it's gone.
GOOD LUCK!!!! We were looking for a place for our semi-annual Train Show & Swap Meet. Like to never found a decent place, just happened to be in the right place, at the right time and lucked into a a renovated Church Building. YEAH BUDDY!! We will be ale to add about 20+ new tables for Vendors/Sellers. Hang in there, you might have something work out.
Glad to hear that IRF will be on this year. I could not find anything about it on the internet so thought it was not being held. I don't go every year but will plan to make the trip this year as locally (Bay Area) we have NO shows scheduled until next year.
I don't know what to add here that hasn't already been said. Hate to see any club evicted. You aren't the first and you won't be the last. Keep the faith other clubs have found quarters for their layouts.
Yeah, our eviction was because of the booming Mary Jane business in OK. 15 years in one spot and the new owner decides we are in the way of progress. Not to mention he managed to ruin our layout in the process of renovations in other parts of the building. It was easier to triple our rent than make things right. Oh he was nice enough to give us an extended time to vacate. It’s gratifying to drive by there and still see it unfinished after 7 months......
Just an update. Green Country Model Railroaders in Tulsa Ok. The club was formed formally in the early 1980’s. Over the years we had various homes in the metro area. Our last home was in near West Tulsa for about 15 years. The club when it moved in decided to take its modular layout, build it in and add some custom areas to it. It was a great layout with 2 decks, a helix and about 400 feet of mainline. We added a branch line to increase operations capability last year. We were able to utilize modules from our present traveling layout for the branch by modifying the trackage to add running for operations. January of this year, the new building owner starts renovations on the front part of the building we are in. Part of the work was to remove the old carpet and grind the floors to expose bare concrete. During the work, our layout room was inundated with concrete dust covering the layout and everything on it. We were shutdown. The process of trying to find someone to clean it was impossible. At that time we were informed that since the property was suitable for the new medical marijuana businesses in the state, our space was ideal for part of a growing operation. Hence it was more valuable than what a bunch of old guys and a small RR Club could afford. The rent was going to triple. We had a bit of extended time to gather our toys and get out. We moved out with everything we could salvage and went into storage. We have now found a new space in West Tulsa and are in the process of getting a lease going. The space is about half of what we had but it is affordable and way nicer than what we had. And no medical Mary Jane! The owner is acting like they are excited about having us. This is a shopping center setting. We are in the planning stages to take the lessons we learned in the process, we will no longer build a permanent layout. We are going to use commercially made modules to construct our new layout designed for operations and allowing for loop running. The KISS Principle is going to rule the design process. We are not planning to use electronic turnout control just hand throws. The system will be DCC and is what we had at the old club. Also no reverse loops. We plan to have a layout we can breakdown, move and save should the need arise to move again. Is it costly, yes but we have the funds to support it currently. We want to ensure that we have something that can endure for future members of our club. We also have quite a bit of raw materials from saving what we could of the old layout. We are surviving, and I hope by being able to put our efforts into a new layout and having a presence at shows we will grow again. It’s hard to compete these days with video games and other things, but we are not giving up. If you’ve read this far, thanks! And if you are ever in Tulsa, look us up on the web. Hopefully this winter we will have trains running again and the doors open and a welcome mat out for visitors! Thanks, Dale
Glad to hear IRF is still going to happen but really sad to hear that the layout is getting the boot. I'll definitely be trying to make it up there for IRF.
