Layout Work Sessions

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I am primarily a “Lone Wolf” model railroader because of my location (rural Kansas). when I constructed my previous layout I lived in an urban area (Topeak KS pop 125,000) and belonged to a modular HO club. In addition to club activities, several club members also had large basement layouts. One hosted a weekly work session to assist with the construction of his layout. I participated several times as he had an open invitation to club members and the sessions were regularly scheduled. Payment for work was pizza and soft drinks. The drive to his home for most members was 60 mi round trip. There was good participation and these sessions were on a week night!

On my previous HO layout, I hosted two work sessions with marginal participation. I did have several club members who assembed, custom painted and detailed rolling stock and structures for my layout. I moved before getting things going. I have recently moved back near this area, have maintaind contact with some of the club members. I am not active in the club because it is 75 mi round trip. I am considering sceduling some layout work sessions, maybe Saturday afternoons, some pizza followed by an operating session.

For those of you constructing and/or maintaining home layouts; do you have group layout work sessions? How often and how are they structured?

2

I have a crew of 3. Me, myself and I. We fight and argue too much and don’t get a lot done.[:P]

3

I resemble that! [(-D]

Since I use some very non-standard techniques (all-steel benchwork is only the beginning…[alien]) and insist on rather stringent standards (the result of YEARS in aircraft maintenance…[|(]) my home layout would be a poor venue for volunteer help, no matter how willing.[sigh]

Add that I am married to a paranoid who won’t even open the door to anyone but family…[:-^]

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - when not howling at the moon)

4

Where I live, we have about 3-4 HO modelers that I feel would be good ‘work crew’ members. This is only because of their experience in the hobby. The problem is that all but one of them is building a layout of their own. We are also members of a club and spend one evening away from our layouts to help with projects on the club layout. I think if we did not have the club layout, we might spend more time assisting each other on our own layouts.

I used to live in a large metro area, and I would get too many guys over on a Saturday evening. Most just ‘talked’, and watched slides/video tapes of trains out in the family room. I tended to get a lot of work done Friday evening and Saturday afternoon(on my own). The real helpers assisted in getting what ever project finished and then the rest arrived late in the evening and nothing else got done.

Any work session needs to be ‘structured’ with clear goals before you get folks released to do work. Without an assignment to keep them busy, they start freelancing/changing things or get into ‘BS’ Sessions. I spent too many Sunday afternoons ‘fixing’ things that were not done right the first time. With good labor, you can get a lot done. Maybe after we get the club layout a little further along, we will have time to get together in a ‘round robbin’ work session format. My problem is time - I still work, and the other guys are retired now. Only 4 more years and I can join them…

Jim

5

this is just like having a band. For a band to be successful, your practices need to be organized with specific things to do and work on. This is why Phish and the Grateful Dead got so monumentally popular as a result of their immense talent. In the early days, the Dead would have whole practices working just on playing in odd time signatures. Trey from Phish even set up improvisation exercises for his band. Its no small wonder they are the greatest live jamming band in the history of ever…

but yeah. i had a band and learned from those ideas, and we got somewhere. Right now, I’m having problems scheduling specific projects for my layout; I just wish I had more time. I guess thats what summer vacation will be for… right now i’ve been putting off ballasting my diorama and finally starting to lay some permanent roadbed on my actual layout (damn you planning!!!)

alright i’m done i really don’t have a point anymore, haha

6

Wow, since I’m new to the hobby I didn’t know such things were done, thats cool!

I live out in the woods of Nowhere NH and I do not know any other MRRers in my area, wish we had a MRR club here that would be great.

Anyone from NH who would like to start a club or just get together to exchange ideas let me know, I’m in Ossipee NH in the white Mountain area.

If it were not for this site I’d be doing this with out any support system and probably be wasting a lot of money making a lot of mistakes.

Happy Rails.

Jess Red Horse.

7

Super MEGA [#ditto] on that one! I’ve learned more from this site and the Internet in the last 4 years than in the previous 30.

8

When I had a large layout, I hosted work sessions once per month. The up side is that you can get a significant amount done IF the folks who attend are, or are managed by, people you trust. Construction can move right along and it is an easy way to get things up and running quickly.

The down side is that, in many instances you have little or no quality control until the session is over, and if you are extremely picky about such things as countersinking, mitr cutting, etc. and do not have people you can trust to do these things, you are in trouble. I spent many evenings undoing something that just didn’t meet my specifications, which by the way, were in writing for all to work by. I provided all hand and some specialized tools, but asked everyone to bring a cordless drill and appropriate bits if possible. Very close friends and a relative or two provided the balance of the specialized tools needed for that given session.

Most of my sessions went well, as I had people with experience doing things in their areas of expertise, such as electricians doing lighting, fussbudgets laying track, my son in law, who is a carpenter by trade, supervised the benchwork construction and so on. I had very few standees, as I call them; those folks who do little or nothing and stand around while everyone else works.

Sessions were limited to a maximum of 7 hours, as most participants had a better half to report to, and the rewards were pizza and soft drinks, or deli sandwiches and such, and railroad videos on the big screen. Everyone was usually out of the house and things back to normal by 6PM or so. Once the railroad was running, the entertainment turned to operations, and the work sessions shrank in duration, and the participants seemed to hang around longer.

One final note: work sessions, unlike operating sessions are very much a “Little Red Hen” proposition, with you asking "Who will help me build the layou

9

My work sesssion are limited to occasional help from my wife (who will help more as scenery gets going), and a Saturday a couple times a year where a modeling friend will come over and help with some of the heavier work, like benchwork and subroadbed construction.

10

My work sessions are held every time when I want them. And I’m the only participant.

That’s also the case for the op sessions. Most time I’m alone. But sometimes I get a crew:

http://www.westportterminal.de/friday080222_e.html

Wolfgang

11

I prefer to work on my layout myself. I enjoy having the goon squad over to run trains, but I’m pretty particular about how things should look and work, so I don’t ask for help on construction.

I don’t mind lending a hand when asked, though.

Lee

12

[#ditto] what WM3798 says.