While my focus is N scale, I appreciate any and all model trains! My LHS is in Billings, a mere 220 miles from home, and it is there that I gather a lot of fun times and stuff from the guys there. The gang formed a new HO club a few years back, and have rented a nice large venue for the club downtown near the depot in a basement. The current layout room is 40 x 40 feet! With hints at room for an expansion into a second room of the same size! So, here's a couple of quick videos,
Thanks for the nice videos. Unfortunately I turned up the volume on the first to hear the conversations. So, with the start of the second that steamer sounded REAL CLOSE!
Heard a lot about it when I've been at MY LHS ( same shop, but 150 miles east vs your 220 miles west), but never seen it. Thanks for posting. Always makes me nervous when clubs rent space......too many times the landlord decides pastures are greener with another renter or sell the building. I believe something along those lines happened to the previous layout in Billings.
The previous club was renting an empty store in a strip mall, the rent got jacked up and then the members started fighting or something like that. This time, the new club is a Non-Profit that I believe owns or is invested in the building? Or a long term lease on their space? I just ordered and picked up an SB-5 booster by NCE from the LHS, and NOBODY could beat his price. Always worth the drive for the conversations, train stuff and now a club to check out!
I can relate, Oklahoma passed Medical Pot and everyone wanted to jump into the grow/dispensary industry. Even crap places (like our club had)...... Our rent went from 500.00 a month which we could support to 1800.00 a month. This was after they started renovations on the building and covered our layout with concrete dust from floor grinding. Hind site, I wish we had called OSHA on them. So we are now back in a place we can almost afford by doing some creative financing. Members are dwindling due to age and other factors. We were able to take our insurance settlement and purchase commercial built modules for a new layout and get it up and running. We also earmarked 3 years worth of rent out of that settlement. By careful repurpose of materials we owned and things that were donated to the club over the years we were able to get our new layout operational. You can check us out on Facebook at Green Country Model Railroaders. We always appreciate visitors! Dale
@badlandnp Thank you for sharing the club videos Alan ... Looks like plenty of nice modeling going on in this, ah-hem, "horrible over-sized" club layout. Makes one want to switch from n scale (just kidding Alan!)...
Sometimes!? That 2670 sure is a purty loco! And he was surely tempting me for it! The price was way low, so maybe.........
Moose say, Go for it! Moose no gonna tell any n-scalers about yer indiscretion ... Then again, it is April 1st... Bwaaa! (insert evil moose laugh here)
The member responsible for the scene was there, and he is particularly proud of it AND really likes bridges!
Crazy loud DCC loco. I see that all the time. I carry a pair of ear plugs to DCC sessions, and try to tell them that the loco should not be as loud 40 cars away from the locale of recording.
He had just gotten it installed and that was the first run of the unit. I turn mine down to a pleasant volume so the cacophony of more units hissing away doesn't become overwhelming.