Do they exist? If they do how do you find a club near your home?
I belong to a lot of railroad museums, and originally, that’s how I started playing with 1:1 scale trains.
Associate membership is usually quite reasonable, and they are always looking for volunteer help. You will always find at LEAST one retired engineer or conductor who is more than willing to talk about “the old days” and keeps touch with “the new days.”
TRAINS usually publishes a recreational railroading supplement annually.
Erik
Thanks I belong to the Toy Train club out of Stratsburg Pa. My thought was like to find a club if they exist & then maybe arrange a trip or 2 per year to different RR hot spots thru out the USA. [:o)]
This website also has a list of historical societies and clubs. Just follow the links to your state or area you want to visit.
stay safe
Joe
Sorry the link did not make your post. [:o)]
When you log on to the trains.com website, look down two lines from when you log onto forums. There’s your list!
m
There are unofficial groups of railfans which get together once a month at a restaurant with a meeting room. No dues you just buy your evening meal and drinks and that makes the folks that own the place happy to have the group for the evening. Someone brings a slide projector and, if needed, a screen (our place has a screen in the room). Railfans bring their slides already in a carousel and show them on the projector.
I would suggest asking railfans you bump into while railfanning, you might find an unofficial group in your area.
spbed, where do you live? I’m sure someone on this forum lives near you. I hope you find a club. I have a lot of fun in mine.
m
Thanks for the suggestion. You may find this hard to believe but in the various places I have been rail fanning I have only met 2 rail fans from England. 1 at the T. Loop & the other at Daggett. The 3rd rail fan I bumped into was at Dolton & he was from Germany. Most of the rail fanning I do is quite a distance from where I live so like at the Cajon pass when I met another American rail fan he was the lucky one since he lived there & I live on the Atlantic coast. [:(]
Palm Beach County FL [:D]
Yes now I see thanks. I feel sort of silly not noticing it before. [:(]
I am a member of several clubs and museums,and enjoy them all.The clubs generally have meetings every month.you should try one or more in your area.
I believe that is what the Metra Security Guards refer to their batons as…
One of the largest (and oldest) railfan organizations is the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS), and its chapters are located throughout the country. If you log on to their web site, www.nrhs.com you can find the location of a chapter near you.
Man I wish I could find some railfan clubs close by to me I would most certainly join!!! But, unfortunitly I think that is one luxury Philadelphia doesn’t have 
. I do know of only one model railroad club around my area and thats in Fort Washington called Gatsme Lines. Well I guess I just have to keep on searching huh??// lol
Wow my son lives NE of Philly in Glenside. Will be up there hopefully in May. Maybe we can connect? Were you disappointed with the outcome of the last SB? In my case my team is 36 years & counting & no championship. [:D]
Oops I did some Googling yesterday & found this link.
That website you located is maintained by the AAR. Mostly general information about railroads.
You could also look on yahoo; they have a bunch of “railfan clubs” under Groups. Just do a search, say ‘Florida Railfan’ or something like that. Some have meetups; others are mainly a collection of postings from fans.
Check out the recent messages before you join. A few have been neglected and have turned into weed patches (that is, sites full of cheesy spam messages).
You could also do a Google search and see what shows up.
Thanks for your suggestion. I Googled Florida railfan & came up with zero. I will try Yahoo as you posted as well. Tks again [:)]
RudyRockvilleMD, thanks for the link to the NHRS, i went there and its intresting.