Trainfest, in Milwaukee is at State Fair Park, in a big building called Wisconsin Expo Center. During the state fair, this building is full of exhibits, from agricultrial to models of the state DOT’s proposed projects, that would affect the Milwaukee metro area.
The property is also filled with various cow barns, pig barns, etc, and a race track, and huge grandstand.
Although Trainfest is a once a year event, I can understand how a club, being railroad, cars, horses, or what ever, could rent or lease a space in a county or state fair park.
I believe the county I live in, Walworth County, in SE Wisconsin, leases out a building or two, at the Walworth County Fair grounds.
They never really were like the county fairgrounds we have here in the East, the always were more of expo centers (modern usage slightly different - we’re talking Exposition Centers, as in International Expositions, more like mini World’s Fairs than the county fair), with plenty of permanent buildings and things open all the time, not just during ‘fair season’.
Our fairgrounds indeed are not exactly ideal places to locate a model railroad club. However, youmust admit that if the Maryland State Fair ever went away and the fairgrounds wasn;t being used, you could build one heck of a model railroad if you had use of the entire Cow Palace building.
As for clubs being generic - there are two around here, one being the RCT&HS modular group with no permanent home, that are quite specific in their modeling. RCT&HS is of course purely Reading. Various modules accurately depict locations on various Reading lines. The other big one is the Lehigh & Keystone Valley in Bethlehem. They have more than one prototype, but that’s because the layout depicts ALL of the railroads from the area, so those different roads run on their own tracks. The accuracy of the track plan is such that railroad employees can recognize locations simply by the arrangement of tracks. Very much not the “Generic Eastern”. There are others around here that indeed are fairly generic, two that are almost living museums, at least in their O scale layouts - the Reading Society of Model Engineers has equipment and scenes dating from the 1930’s running alongside the very latest scale O stuff. It’s more a museum of model railroading going bac to the group’s original days when it ran along the fence in the back yard of one of the founders. So we have all types around here, everything from accurate reproductions of the prototype all the way to complete fantasy.
Randy, sure the cow palace would make for an incredable layout. But the big problem with clubs is loosing the lease.
That is why Paul Mallery and company set up The Model Railroad Club, in Union NJ, in a way that would insure a perpetual location and operation as long as interested people kept it going.
In my view, without such safeguards, fixed location clubs are risky at best.
One of the oldest, if not the oldest clubs in the US, is deep in the business district of downtown Baltimore:
Sorry to hear about the Napa club, will miss seeing their layout. Hope they can find a new home.
Sometimes a move can be beneficial, even if forced. Some years ago the Vallejo Model R/R club got booted from their decades old home at the Solano County fairgrounds due to a redevelopment plan that never came to fruition. The club now resides in the nearby town of Crockett with a bigger and better layout, not to mention nearly double the membership.
No our expo centers are just a change of name with grandios plans for the future which will never happen. Fairs of old are dying out here, not even worth going to and the concerts that used to be free all cost and not cheap.
I think one area not being discussed is the club members themselves. I don’t really care about the layout that much but want to enjoy the fellowship of people into what I am into. My local club is not a friendly bunch at all. They don’t have a bunch of benefits either very few to no workshops/how to’s. It seems like when they do they are just repeats of previous one The first time I walked into the building I was in there 30 minutes and not a single member approached I left without a single word being spoken
I have ave run across some friendly guys over the years but more elitist who would rather tell you about themselves thaN listen to anyone. I like my layout but certainly wished some things were different and know areas that can be improved, but apparently they all have pperfect layouts and are superior enough to lecture everyone else
That is my experience only and not meant to throw a blanket over all clubs and their members. I met some great folks at trainfest
Roseville Roundhouse is still alive and well at the Placer County Fairgrounds. We are in fact an anchor in the new remodel. What happened in Napa is a shame, but we’re showing the error of the Napa Expo’s ways.
Also, the big challenge in California has been that a few years back, the state funding for the fairgrounds was cut so they are entirely county financed. This has caused a mad dash to figure out ways to support the infrastructure. Most fairgrounds have smaller rooms suitable for smaller events than the big halls. RRMRC is in a building 40x40.
A look on the wall at my local club shows almost as many deceased members as there are current members, and we’re getting older!
We own our building but while it is on land that was gifted to the city for recreational use, what was a peppercorn lease up to ten years ago is now skyrocketing due to bureaucratic greed.
The insurance for both the Public Liability, and the building is also increasing.
Some of the members as they get older have more disposable income and are now building “the dream layout” at home, and as a consequence are spending very little time at the Club.
But where, I think we, The Club, are missing out is that none of us know how to engage younger possible members, through the use of “social media”. I hope in the New Year to try and understand how it works to try and remedy the situation.
We have many model railway clubs here in the UK but I have never had any happy experiences visiting my local club. I visited once to give them a complete set of Model Railway Journal magazine (a fine scale publication in the UK). Almost no thanks - “put them down there” was the only thing said to me. I noticed that they had a US outline N Scale DC layout and tried to get chatting. The minute I said that I had a US N Scale layout with DCC - well, their faces dropped and you would have thought that i had said a rude word! Scratch that one.
I then visited a club that meets near Clacton, in Essex. they are one of the few US outline clubs in the UK. They meet on a farm and erect a large DCC/JMRI layout once a month. I turned up. No one asked my name. I ended up sitting in a corner watching. Next thing I knew thay had all left to get their fish and chip lunch, leaving me behind! Scratch that one.
Joined the NMRA and found myself in a group of four local people only one of which had a working layout and all they spoke about was people that they knew and I didn’t. Scratch that one!
I then tried to put my “in progress” layout on the UK NMRA layout list. Sent them an e-mail and never got an answer.
I joined and got involved with a local MRRing club early on in its inception. We had grandiose ideas and plans but the implementation of that was the tricky part. Inconsistent construction practices, cutting corners, abrupt changes in policies, and lack of a permanent home and participation were its eventual doom.
When I was living in western PA, I could and would have joined a well-established MRRing club and museum. However, it was an hour and 15 min. drive each way; a bit far after a long day at work.
While I do enjoy the social aspect of MRRing and clubs, I going to stick with and concentrate on building my own basement empire for now, where I can set the standards that I want to achieve with my modeling.
Here in Southwest Florida, the Model Railroad Club leased space in the Lee County Fairgrounds for $1.00 per year with a 99 year lease.
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Unfortunately, the area was too far out of town, so the club moved. First to property leased from the SCL, then to a permament structure they own.
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Fairgrounds can be good. They had a 40 by 40 space in a pavillion that the only requirement was that the Model Railroad display had to be open and operating for the general public during the two main annual events at the fairgrounds.
Membership in our club actually increased over the last two years. Most got recruited through exhibits in shopping malls. We tend to be a pretty tolerant bunch and the layout is far from perfect. Many just go to chat and see trains go by. And one member loves to run long trains that just goes round and round… The conversations take care of the rest. Oh well.
Good points, Simon and Bear, among the doom-and-gloom. All it takes is people who care enough to make it happen. Doesn’t mean it will, because that’s life, but with any human endeavour it doesnt happen untill people crae to make it happen.
Let’s remember that much of these issues arise because the hobby is swimming upstream against larger challenges to prople working together in society. The aging out of membership is a fact, but we know there are new model railroadrrs out there. They just need to be reached in a way that works to engage them.
The hobby has changed, too. People want prototype, not generic, yet it’s going to take a compromise to come up with a layout concept that can inspire both sorts of members - and those in between. It’s a rare case where there’s enough interest in a specific road that a club can form that is prototype-specific, so that points toward some sort of inclusive solution as the practical one in most cases. Maybe a modular or round-robin group of some sort is the best solution then.
With the right group of people intent on reaching a clear goal, anything is still possible.
Our club is actually doing quite well. One reason is we are a social group who likes running trains. We have a fairly diverse age group, but the majority of us are in their 60s. I would guess because younger people dont have as much disposable income. If people do not like each other it will be hard to have a club. Our layout is not perfect or even done but we all enjoy each other, and have fun with trains.
I agree, completely. Putting together that right group isn’t always easy (or even, in some cases, possible), but it can work very well.
One of our local clubs addressed the matter of varying interests by having two sections and two layouts: a “traditional” anything-goes modular layout, and a group that models a specific prototype and is into operations. It’s worked very well for nearly twenty years, and there’s about 50% overlap in participation.
Having said that, the layouts I’ve run on that were the most consistent in terms of objectives and standards have been home layouts. The larger ones, requiring a number of operators and plenty of volunteer labor, have worked out best when run as benevolent dictatorships* by the owner. One person sets the objectives and the standards; if you don’t like them, you don’t have to participate.
The challenge for clubs is that all involved have to have a shared vision and shared expectations, or at least enough of a shared vision. And often that is tricky.
* In the case of one well-known layout about 90 minutes west of me, describing the dictatorship as “benevolent” might be stretching that word to a breaking point…
Anyone on here know how the Portland, Oregon club is doing? When I lived near Portland in the 1980’s it was going strong with a new building they built looking generally like a depot.
As I remember, they had a huge membership, stringent rules, committes to run various things such as minimum standards for members equipment, etc. Their open house each year was huge.
I was a member of the one at the San Mateo County fairgrounds many years ago and most of the guys in the hobby I know were a member at one time or at the time of the closing, long after they were kicked out I ran into the former head of the fairgrounds (he became a member), he said it was because of the county wanting more revinue, this was many years before the funding cuts. Maybe the fairs attatude is why they cut funding, I know if I had a vote, the changes would have made me vote to cut their funding without even the model railroad being considered in the least, that his how bad they have gotten in the last 15 years.