My brother and I have decided to start a new railroad club with a few of our friends/relatives. If you guys have any comments or advice, It would be greatly appreciated. Our new website is http://sites.google.com/site/centralnebraskarailroaders/, stop on in and say hi.
Well, the best thing I can think of, from past experiences, is keep it simple. From that point, be sure that everyone is open and excepting of those who model in the various scales. You can miss a lot of talented, potential contributors, if you close minds to everyone who does not share your love of scale "X". Boxcab E50
I agree with Boxcab. Keep it simple, especially at the beginning. Let the club's interests develop and see what comes of it. Welcome pretty much anyone who is willing to make decisions as a member of the group. I find that the team players who are working on their modeling skills tend to be better clubmates than the superstars who just want to pick fights. We generally ask that anyone wishing to join come and pitch in on a few work nights first and see how we are and see if we're a club that they'd be interested in joining, and if they apply for membership they are proposed for membership at the next business meeting. We have business meetings once a month. We find that this helps keep people communicating and keep things operating smoothly. To go too long without having things out in the open for discussion can lead to a lot of resentment. I don't have much difficulty expressing a difference of opinion and asking for a change or a different course at non-business meeting settings, but you'd be surprised how many people feel safer making their points in such an intentional setting. People need to have a say in the decisions or else the club will become fragmented. We're fortunate in that we have a group of team players who want to get along and are fine with a live and let live attitude. The biggest "fights" are U of O vs. OSU or UP fans vs. SP fans, and are all in good fun. I just recently picked up a UO Ducks themed woodchip car and I cannot WAIT to run it in a consist pulled by my WPRR 1801 (SP black widow themed paint job) just to see what our hard-core OSU fans will say.
What the OSU guys should do is pick up the Beaver themed woodchip car that goes along with the Ducks car and have at it. Personally, I'd just sit in the corner and drop bombs like, Oh you and your silly Pac10 teams that aren't USC.
Haha! I went to U of O because that's where Oregon's architecture school is. I am not much of a football fan, but I do like getting under the skin of the OSU guys. One of them actually has the N scale OSU woodchip car, and has been running it to try to get to me for years, so this will be a little payback.
