Like I stated in the headline, what makes a club dysfunctional? Mine has taken 4 years to renovate an area of the layout that is about 2.5ft by 12ft long. All the while trying to simplfy the wiring of the layout to a more DCC friendly arrangement with the DC folks fighting every step of the way and ending up winning in the name of appeasing them.
If you’re not losing members and people are still having fun, they’re doing something right.
Maybe I should of added in the original post, we’re down two members but its heading for a split if something doesn’t happen. The layout has wiring failing and the DC folks refuse to give up all their wiring and switches to help make the layout as a whole more user friendly and have a simple wiring diagram.
Sounds like a very awkward situation. My club fortunately does not suffer that problem. Our new permanent layout will be DCC exclusively, as is our portable layout, and as was our previous permanent layout. There hasn’t been any argument about it as far as I know even though a couple of members do not have DCC at home.
One young member who has a severe lack of funds does not have any DCC equipment. I’m going to offer to put a decoder in one of his locomotives so he can run on the club layout. He has learning disabilities so he can’t install a decoder himself. I hope that will make him feel more involved in the club. Right now he sits on the sidelines.
Can you run DCC at all? If so, maybe offering to help your DC members install decoders in one or two locomotives might bridge the gap.
Then again, ‘someone’ could accidentally attach a regular 120v wall plug to the DC wiring and plug it into a wall. The club would then have to come to an agreement on how to rewire the layout, that is if it survives the fire![swg][:o)][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Dave
Entire schools of thought, philosophies, religions, and cults have split into two, then four, and more camps for this very reason; new ways of seeing things, new leadership, or competition for recognition, power, and resources. When change is the sensible thing, many won’t welcome it. They won’t even agree that it is sensible. At some point, breaking up, or folding altogether, is the way to go. We tend to ally ourselves with, and to seek the company of, those who feel about living the way we do.
Well said!
Dave
Maybe they know something about the wiring that you don’t know…and they want to keep it that way.
I’ve got a layout that is wired for “standard” two cab DC block control. I have simply changed one of the cabs over to DCC.
Why not have alternating run nights: DC and DCC?
Surely no one is going to get all piggy and say the layout ALWAYS has to be run one way.
This week it’s DC. Next week it’s DCC. If you don’t want to play this week, come back next week.
Ed
Wonder if the resisting members have a large investment in expensive brass that would be awkward to convert. That often leads to the kind of resistance you’re talking about.
The solution of wiring a DCC system to one of the DC “cab” ports is workable, but if you have really bad wiring that causes problems, DCC will not help.
One local club had its DC system of mainline cabs wired up in an elegant “star” pattern (designed and installed by an Intel engineer of some experience). Perfect for a DCC conversion, right? Nope. When they went to DCC, the new generation of members ripped out the hub and spoke wiring and installed a bizarre mish-mash of long feeders . . .
The reason a town of 15 has only 14 churches is because one guy is an atheist.[(-D]
Now you know why so many of us don’t belong to clubs. Oh I know there are many advantages, but the “club of one” has no arguments.
I don’t know how your club operates, but it would seem that this is something you vote on. The smaller side either accepts the result or leaves.
Good luck
Paul
One of the best clubs I ever belong to everything had to be approved by the majority of the vote before any action could be taken.
The biggest problem with DCC is many modelers doesn’t understand how it works and how easy it is to use,instead what they see is the cost of a decoder for all of their locomotives instead of a select few that will be used solely at their club.Of course many fail to realize they can still use their decoder equipped locomotives at home on their DC layout.
I will say this…At first glance a DCC controller does look complicated with all its number buttons so,I can understand some of the resistence…[:^)]
Our club has about 8 fairly active members. Thank God we don’t have any debates about DCC (yes, i’ve installed decoders for free too). We are planning to do a few free workshops on how to install decoders. Apart from doing the chores, the biggest fights are about changes to the layout. I’ve observed that there are two camps: those that like to build nice scenery, and those that build for fun and reliable operations. A few painful votes were made. Some members don’t talk to each other… Seems that some conflicts are unavoidable, even with the best governance structures.
Simon
I belonged to a start-up MRRing club 10+ years ago. We had grandiose plans but implementing a standard and sticking to it (without taking short cuts) was a continual problem.
One of the challenges was our meeting place: The garage of the founder’s business. While it was a nice spacious area, we had to create individual 4 x 8 modules that could be set up and broken down and stored for each meeting.
I tried creating a fixture for cutting all the pieces needed to assemble the layout frames but it wasn’t always followed as closely as it should have. The result: Mismatched and out-of-square sections that didn’t mate well with one another. Other issues stemmed from inconsistent methods of wiring and laying track. Sadly, fewer and fewer members began showing up and the club eventually dissolved after 2 or 3 years.
EVERY family and EVERY organization is “dysfunctional” to a lesser or greater degree. Why? Because human beings are involved and they all have their individual likes, passions, preferences, and quirks. If members are continually butting heads over changes in your current situation then it’s probably inevitable that a split or a closing might not be too far in the future.
In any well-run organization not everyone has to agree on everything - i.e. crossing their i’s and dotting their t’s exactly the same way. However, there should be a like-mindedness towards goals. What those “goals” are is what needs to be determined and agreed-upon by everyone in that organization.
In re: to Simon’s statement above, I guess I’m the camp of reliable operations first then scenery. While I love scenery and am a very detailed person: If a layout/locomotive doesn’t run reliably or realistically then all the scenery/sound/cool lighting-effects means dittley-squat. I want to see a train run. Imagine if the prototype only ran operations when everything looked
We have a board of directors that have the final say on structural decisions, and sub working groups that make recommendations to the board. The board tries to get unanimous decisions, but splits have occured. I’ve had to tell folks that we should get the president’s approval on every decision - or we may have to find a replacement…
I have heard it said that there are people who have a pile of DC only locomotives complaining that they’d:
Have to convert all there locos to DCC–much too expensive and difficult
Not be able to run trains when the layout was set to DCC (see my earlier comment)
I’ve STILL got a pile of DC only locomotives, some of which will likely never be converted. But. I also have some old Atlas locos that came with a decoder whether you wanted it or not. All you really need to play with DCC is “one” good locomotive. Maybe a nice switcher. Or a GP9, like the one I just converted to DCC/sound. It works great all by itself.
It surely looks like someone’s bein’ a big selfish baby when they complain that they can’t ALWAYS run their trains because the layout’s DCC today. Looks really piggy to me. Myself, I’ve made it a point to pick up a kupla locomotives for roads I don’t model (SP, ATSF…) just against the day when someone suggests we do an all-one-road operating session. Again, buy ONE DCC loco and give it a try. Or maybe, just maybe, ask one of the guys who has one if you can try his out.
I would suggest to model railroad club members that they show up at the next meeting looking for someone who could use help on THEIR project. Either that, or fixing the defective DC wiring.
Ed
rockymidlandrr,
When does a club because dysfunctional? It’s when the majority of members believe that their personal egos are more important than the club.
I’ve been a member of a large club for 25 years. You’ll always have conflicts, big or small, but conflicts do not equal dysfunction. It’s when these conflicts cannot be resolved that it becomes dysfunctional. The members have to learn how to lose gracefully; they aren’t going to be able to get their way all the time. At some point, one has to realize this and live with less than ideal results for the benefit of all. Sure, one can fight (and fight) until one wins…but what good is winning if the rest of the club members walk out the door, never to return?
One should always think about the good of the club first. This is a cooperative effort; one needs to learn how to cooperate in order to flourish as a club.
Something I would suggest for any club is to do non-club things together for the purpose of building friendships. For example, at my club we have an annual pool party every summer and an annual X-Mas party every December, both held at member’s houses. We have club trips on Amtrak or to railroad museums. We have had banquets at the club with families, we travel together to big train shows like Springfield, and so on. All clubs should have activities in order to build a fellowship between the members, which is actually Rule #1 at our club. Rule #2 is to build a model railroad, but that’s only after we obey Rule #1.
As for DC vs. DCC, the club should really have a vote to resolve the issue. It’s what my club did; the final tally was 41 to 10 for DCC-only. Of the 10 members that didn’t vote for DCC, only one quit because of it (mainly because he’s cheap). The rest either coped, became DCC users themselves, or don’t run trains (not a big deal…these guy
I dunno, I argue with myself all the time…
[(-D]
–Randy
When I was in High School, I was an original “Charter Member” of the local model railroad club. For fifteen years we welcomed everybody and really had a great time.
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Then… some members got “serious”, to the point now, 35 years later, they have a beautiful layout that was actually featured in Great Model Railroads recently.
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The price… well… Now you MUST be a member of the NMRA working towards your MMR just to join the club. They are doing everything that can be done to keep people out of the club. Membership is a mere fraction of what it once was, and they are very elitist. All the old members left as this change took place.
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Is this dysfunctional, or was it the right thing to do? That is all a matter of opinnion.
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-Kevin
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Glad that I’m a lone wolf that has a large enough layout at home that’s fun to operate. It’s at the edge of manageable by myself, what with maintenance and upkeep. I run a cleaning car once a month over the entire layout, and I’m good to go. Sure, I’d love to convert to DCC just for the flexibility it offers, but the costs would be a little much.
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I could not have said that any better. That is exactly the way I feel.
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-Kevin
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