Folks as train season approaches many of us plan on having open houses. This is a wonderful and important thing for the growth and perpetuation of our hobby. The key operative word here is “open”. You may be inviting unknown folks into your home, and although over the last three decades, 99.9% of the visitors were top notch, it is that one tenth of 1% that can spoil your whole day and then some with a theft or damage. This has happened to me on a few occasions, so I’d like to share some of the things I now do to help prevent this.
First, I don’t advertise to public, but have the pike open for requests from clubs or groups.
All small kids must be self propelled. A little gizork in someones arms has a strong tendency to grab things. I lost a locomotive and a fragile bridge this way.
Teens must be accompanied by an adult.
All boxes, coats, bags and handbags, loose clothing, and camera bags are not allowed in train area.
Guests must sign a register.
Have as many friends as possible help out.
I’m sure many will think of more forms of security, but these basics have worked well for me during the last 5 or so years.
When you experience a theft, it is devasting as you invited someone into your home, and then they violated you. This is not good!
Still with all of the possible pitfalls, sharing your art is quite rewarding and as I have previously stated…art has little meaning unless it is shared.
Howard,If I was going to have visitors look a my ISL they would be follow modelers all would be welcome above the age of 12 exception being the father/son club members.
On the other hand I been in several clubs that hosted several open houses over a year’s time and never had a issue.
Limit the number of visitors in the layout area at a time. Obviously would vary by layout size and arrangement, as well as number of guides (fellow modelers) on hand to show folks around.
A friend sets his laptop up so it is videoing the layout the whole day. He also post a sign saying smile the room is under video surveillance. I’ll tell ya, it sure has put a damper on my plans to increase my locomotive fleet.[swg]
I would usually invite my train friends and have never had a problem.
When I had only family over for a holiday get together to see the trains and decorations. I lost two steam engines that were on my layout. It was stolen by one of my relatives teenage sons, we know which one but they never admitted to it. They have never been invited since and since then I have had no problems.
I am always surprised when a guest takes advantage of a host (steals). Even worse when it’s a relative. At least, with a bank robber, there’s a certain level of integrity.
Howard, thanks for sharing your layout. I wish I could see it. Your advice is, sadly, very useful. Again, thanks for sharing, even though…
A very good idea is always have at least one assistant who is charged with keeping an eye on things. You as host are often busy and distracted by, well, being the host. Just having another set of eyes on hand helps a lot.
Brent mentioned being obvious that things are being videoed. That’s easy here. Since the layout is in two spaces, separated by a wall, I use video to help operate, with several cameras up by the ceiling. In our state, and many others, you have to post a notice, as Brent’s friend does (probably because Canada has similar laws about such notice), that there is video surveillance in use.
Since the cameras are already rolling here, so to speak, all I need to do is post a notice. For those still thinking about buying a DVR security system, might as well go ahead and put up the sign. When you get around to actually buying the cameras and recorder is your business…[;)]
Mike,You could have 2-3 off duty policemen watching your layout and something can still walk out the door. Even a security camera can miss the theft if the thief is good enough.
If you’re real worried about things like that, then Rich’s option might be best.
Life is sometimes about risk. I think Howard summed it up well. There’s the very tiny chance someone might not mean well. Do we let that spoil our fun? That’s a very personal decision. I agree with Howard’s general idea that you invite people in the hobby and not have the general public in your doors. Even then, like many things in life, there’s no gurantee. And some people just have a mental disease, where they feel they must have some souvenir, even though it’s theft.
But the reality is that many of us do want to share the hobby. It’s what helps keep it healthy, because if we do everything behind closed doors we do cut ourselves short. If even the NSA can’t keep its secrets, it’s obvious that things can still go wrong. My suggestions never argued there’s a foolproof method of making sure nothing bad ever happens. They’re more about practical peace of mind. If that’s not enough for you, then maybe it’s best not to take a risk you’re still uncomfortable with. But then you miss out on finding how much you share with others – and these human relationships are at least as important as the physical realities we recreate with our layouts.
As I mention earlier I been through 50-60 or more club open houses over the years and probably 7 county fairs and never had a problem with things being stolen. The most I ever seen is small kids counting freight cars and accidental poking a car causing a derailment.
At this year’s fair a 6 or 7 year old derailed my train while counting cars…The kid apologized 3 or 4 times. His mother(probably in her 20s) looked horrified.
I kinda laugh it off by saying accidents happen since there was no damage to my older BB cars. I felt there was no need to throw a hissy fit about not touching since the child was already scared as it was…
Risk? Wanna talk risk? I can share a lot of stories on the needless risks I have taken…
One of the most important parts of the hobby for me is to share and make connections with my fellow modelers. Our local group has been opening up our layouts on a regular basis for the last 15 years (many of them much longer than that). We pretty much follow the guidelines that you have laid out in your first post. Ironically we are usually concerned with getting enough visitors to make it worth being open for the day.
I have been to many other modelers’ layouts on tours and I find that for me that is the highlight of most conventions. I am always grateful for the opportunity to see others work and to visit with them. The inspiration gained from layout visits keeps me going when certain modeling tasks seem to bog down. Tasks like installing 400 NBWs on a bridge or gluing up 700 pieces of wood for an Icing station model are easier to push through when you have seen that others do this sort of thing and end up with nice models.
There is always the risk that someone will inadvertently damage something. This has happened a few times to my fellow modelers (I’m still waiting my turn) and it is something we accept as part of the deal.
In one infamous instance a visitor took out a large scratch built b
I might add that, while I have never hosted an open house, I often show my layout to visitors, run trains, and let them run trains. I just have no interest in exposing my layout to possible damage or theft by opening up my house and layout to strangers.
I might add that, while I have never hosted an open house, I often show my layout to visitors, run trains, and let them run trains. I just have no interest in exposing my layout to possible damage or theft by opening up my house and layout to strangers.
Rich,
Totally understandable. We each should do what our comfort level tells us. Each of us has unique personal histories, neighborhoods lived in, and personal housing circumstances. There isn’t a one size fits all rule here. No one has a duty to do this, but it’s great when we can and do.
I certainly also share the layout with friends. You never know. And I do extend invites to select non-model rail groups with a potential interest, now that I’m thinking about it. I invited the local Maker Space people over, although they haven’t taken me up on it yet.
In home visits in the past, we have always had the layout owner free to talk to people, someone to watch the entrance/exit, and a couple of people to keep trains running and to circulate in the crowd.
The club I’m in now doesn’t do public open houses – three other groups in the area have them – but we do have organized visits from other clubs and interest groups. We haven’t had a theft problem that I know of.
Security, such as it is, consists having a low ratio of members to guests. At these op sessions and talk sessions there’s a lot of one-to-one contact between the members and guests, and they seem to work out pretty well.
Our operations are probably too complicated to explain to the general public on a “see the trains” walk through, and we have some access issues anyway because of steps and floor space.
Why bother with an open house??? Open houses, good train shows, and what is left of train stores are the only way we’ll get new folks into the hobby. Without new folks, the hobby will eventually go south. Some say video and You tube are exciting new people…I do not buy this as nothing is better than seeing this hobby first hand, and speaking with model rails.
This is a theme that comes up from time to time that I never quite understood. Why is it my (or our) responsibility to insure the future of the hobby? Even if I accept this assumed responsibility, it’s not like there is anything I could do about it anyway.
My guess is that age of the average model railroader has been going up over the last 30 years to the point where the vast majority of us are over 60. When is the last time a club had to come up with an excuse to reject another teenage applicant? Also, as was pointed out above, we’re not exactly the cool kids that everybody wants to hang out with. All the LHS’s are gone. Most of the magazines are gone. The number of manufacturers keeps dwindling. There are many more activities that compete for leisure time. Attrition is going to put an end to the hobby before much longer and there’s nothing a few open houses can do to stop it.