Greetings all model RR’s…I need ideas about gatting a model RR club started.
I live in Deming New Mexico, with BNSF and UP trains on a regular basis, in fact this city was built by a railroad including many historic buildings, like the old high school.
So far the train depot which is a rebuilt version of the Rio Grande division of AT&SF was taken to a new location in 2004 as part of a deal the county had with UP, “move it or loose it”. The county moved it in the nick of time only to have any historical value lost forever. It is now going to be an annex for the community learning center, minus classes on history of railroads or the famous Harvey House system or much of anything relating to the founding of Deming.
Do you see what is against having a RR club…the list gets longer. I wrote an editorial which was never printed about starting a club if for no other reason than to preserve our history and to set up a modest layout perhaps in the local senior center so that possibly anyong retired form the RRs could enjoy re-living history. Once again, shot down. The train club that did meet there did not even get off the siding, or on track for that matter.
So there goes history folks, right out the caboose window and the last glimmer of hope for a club right with it. Funny that cities like Durango, Dolores, Rico, Ridgway and many others in COLORADO have active clubs that rebuild and support trains like the Galloping Goose ![:(] New Mexico even has a few towns that did that.
And yes I do believe in standing on my soapbox, at least I have an audience here on the forum[:)]… and yes I have mentioned this same idea to many and get the deaf ear. But there is hope, those few, the minority, the bold model RRs would like to start a club here in silent Deming. We just won’t tell the guy who did get his editorial into the paper about the unrelenting Diese
Las Cruces, NM has two HO clubs. One is permanent and the other is modular. The permanent is set up at the Fair Ground west of town on I-10. I don’t know which day they are open but I think maybe Sunday.
Alamogordo, NM has a nice museum that has lots of model trains and a train ride down the park.
I haven’t been to El Paso for a few years to watch trains but the freight house is a good place to watch UP trains. I went to Tucson, AZ this past weekend and the line was busy.
cgrubb80 gave me an idea … if you can find other modelers in the area start up a modular club , with meetings at members houses . at some point if you get enough members you can look for a permanent location . then you’ll have the numbers to go to the city politicians and let them know you want more railroad history preserved and they’ll actually listen instead of thinking you’re a lone nut . good luck !
Hey… thanks to all for answers and great ideas, to both ereimer and cgrubb80 I’ve given strong consideration to both your ideas. The Alamagordo City park has the right idea as the train ride looks popular. That brings to mind the layout in the back room of a stationery store/ copy center in Silver City NM and the owner gave me the grand tour last time. This guy has the train bug… and has ridable trains sitting collecting dust, not to mention HO all over and G scale as well, talk about getting a club going !! Anyway I’ll get things going and get ideas form the train guys in Ridgway, CO who built a working replica of a Galloping Goose for running on track around the Ouray county fair grounds.
I’ll keep this forum updated…
Thanks,
johncpo
you are running into a lot of challenges trying to start a club…first off, you’re going to need a lot of people that are interested in your idea and will probably have to meet in people’s homes at first…the greatest challenge is going to be space for the railroad…it’s going to have to be affordable for everyone to participate…it’s going to cost money to purchase or rent space for a layout of that magnitude…not to mention the time and money involved to build such a layout…maybe you can go “fishing”…put an ad in the local news paper and hand out flyers…see if there is enough people in Deming to participate to make this venture work…by the way…Deming is a really cool place to railfan…thy’ve got a nice yard right off the freeway…chuck
I will ask any of our current members if they know of any body that might be interested.
clubs are good im in one.
Hey … thanks to all of you and those who read the original…113 members if I read correctly, wow that would be a big membership, an internet club, running virtual trains and building virtual layouts.
whoa!!! now back to the real world, I happen to like to crawl under my layout to get out Christmas decorations from the closet we use and especially wiring those turn-outs that have the colored wire and hooking them up to the junction box. But the biggest kick I get out of my around the room, shelf style HO is the look on my grandkid’s faces when they hook up the big SD-40T ( they don’t care about the name ) and pull the train up the big mountain grade and out to the light at the other end of the tunnel.
I’ll keep everyong posted and my thanks to cgrubb80