Hi, I am a new member and father of a son who loves trains. I was wondering if there were any train clubs for kids and adults in the south jersey area that maybe me and my son can be involved in. He is almost 8 and loves his trains. We have a lot and he goes to his grandparents house and they also have a lot of trains. He is excited about the idea of joining a club and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction and find out where I may be able to join a fun railroading club that we could join and do as a father and son thing. Its a lot of fun and he is soooo excited about the possiblity of joining.
So I was wondering if anyone knew any info that may help ??? Are there clubs for parents and kids to join to go have fun and build layouts and play and share ideas ???
Any info, please email me at blecha_family@yahoo.com or call my cell phone at 609-923-1055. He is the sweetest little boy and I just want to make him happy and when I mentioned the idea of maybe joining a train club, he got so excited, I have never seen him this excited about something so I really would like to learn info and be able to join a club in the south jersey area. We live in Cherry Hill and would be willing to commute to a nice club to meet new friends and share ideas and just have fun!
I don’t know…8 seems a bit young for a club, they’re generally geared towards older people with more experience. There might be a club aimed specifically at younger children in your area, but if there isn’t, I’m pretty sure that he won’t be considered ‘right’ for a club. (There’s no harm in asking, of course)
One other thing, I wouldn’t reccomend posting your phone number on forums.
I cant really give you any names of clubs because I really don’t know where Cherry Hill is. However, I can point you towards www.greatesthobby.com They have listings of Hobby shops, Model RR clubs, and even private layouts that you can visit. You may also try posting this on the Model Railroader forums. I hope that helps! And if you ever come through Rock Springs, Wy. you are always welcome to drop me a line at BCandW@gmail.com and we would be happy to show you our local club layout.
And I also agree with Trainboy. Not a good idea about the phone number.
I was part of a club, and even with a junier membership, it was $15 a month, which for me wasn’t worth it. I beleive there was an 8 year old in it, but he only came because his father was into the trains. I was only let in at age 12. (I’m 13 now.)
You might try an open house, so the members can get to know him, and maybe he can develop a friendship with one of the members there. Good luck!
When I was 14, I joined the model railroad club in my hometown where I grew up. While I learned a lot and there were good times, I doubt I’d ever join a club again.
One of the big rules my club had was that if somebody’s trains aren’t on the layouts, they aren’t to be touched. On one occasion, I had brought in some things to run during our open house at the county fair. A friend of the president of the club was there running trains. I put my boxes under the layout and went elsewhere in the building for a few minutes. Upon returning, the president’s friend was in the processing to taking out my trains and putting them on the layout to run. I was not happy with this as I had no idea who this guy was. I brought it up to the president who downplayed the whole thing, saying that if the guy couldn’t be trusted, he wouldn’t be allowed behind the layout to run trains and just told me to relax about it.
At the time that happened, I was 18 and between high school and college. While I was legally an adult, I was classified as “one of the kids” since the other adults were in their 30s or older.
The final straw for me was when I started college. While not able to attend the meetings when away at school, I had still paid my dues and was still a member of the club, they acted like I’d left the club, even going as far as redoing the scenery I’d done on my section of the layout. When I went to a meeting while at home during one of my breaks, they said that they thought I’d left since I hadn’t been to the meetings for a couple months.
I know there’s more that I’m forgetting, but after leaving the club, I had more time for my own layout and didn’t have to deal with all of the disagreements and everything that went on at the club I belonged to. While I know there are good clubs to belong to, joining a club isn’t for me anymore since I don’t have the time I used to when
Eight is a little young I am afraid. Kids that age are into playing. Most adults join clubs to do some more serious modleing than they can at home in a more realistic setting. I would suggest visiting a local hobby shop and getting a list of clubs in your area that have open houses. Then you could visit and watch trains to his hearts content. There are a couple of model railroads in northern Nnew Jersey that has a railroad that are huge.