I saw this statement on, er, another forum, and was struck by it. I’ve found all of you guys to be quite welcoming and, given that and your general high experience in the hobby, wanted to know if you agreed or disagreed with the statement:
“-Clubs, are not friendly to young people, and I have to say they intimidate young people. I’ve gone to a few across the US and what separates me from other members is decades, I would be in my 20s or early 30s and I would always be rubbing shoulders with retired or older people. Its difficult to connect under those circumstances. I noticed this especially when I went to YORK. I saw young kids with their fathers or grand fathers, but I really did not see people in their 20s or 30s.”
I would think that most clubs would welcome you with open arms. And the trains are the common bond that links generations.
I can count the number of unfriendly toy train people I’ve ever met on one hand, and still have a finger or 2 left over for other activities. Most are warm, friendly, and eager to share the hobby with others, no matter the age.
^ Thanks! I want to emphasize that I am neither endorsing (nor attacking) the statement, nor trying to create a controversy. I have been mulling the notion of looking at clubs, though, and when I saw this statement I was, as noted, sufficiently struck by it to solicit your opinions on the issue.
First off, I’d need to know the definition of “Train Club”.
Our’s is a modular group with no central meeting/layout/storage space. Each member builds and transports their modules to a show or museum, and is usually there from Friday-Sunday. We usually do 4-6 shows a year. We welcome members of any age, but I don’t think many younger people would be willing or able to bear the costs and time that are involved.
I would guess that a “club” would be ideal, with a centrally located layout that had “work in progress” as a learning experience. I’m not sure if many of these exist in “O” gauge.
In either case, the new/young person would not need to own any trains, far less expensive ones. But in the case of most modular groups, your “membership” requires you to do more than just “show up” for a hour or two to run trains. Joe
^ Thanks. That’s what I thought. I continue to be very impressed by this forum and have recently decided to subscribe to the magazine, which I also enjoy, as a result. I appreciate your taking the collective time to comment on this.
I would say there is some truth to the original statement - when the club is established, and there is a significant age, economic or season-of-life gap between members. They almost always break down along affinity lines - along the perception that one is generally most comfortable with others like oneself. Again, there is also a subset of club members who perceive themselves as doing ‘most’ of the work on a club layout - and thus able to make most of the decisions about changing or operating it. The problem with the statement is it’s tough to generalize because it’s tough to generalize a typical club - there’s modular ones, multi-gauge ones, museum-layout ones, etc. I can also remember countless cartoons in the hobby mags about the difficulty of ‘governing’ clubs.
I think what Doug says is true. At my local club there were maybe four people who’d speak to me after I joined, not counting the times people told me to get lost when I was admiring their stuff (if they didn’t want me to look at it, why’d they bring it to the meeting?). In retrospect, I should have hung out a while before I paid my money, but I was overeager. There were definite cliques, which might be a St. Louis thing more than a club thing, as St. Louis is extremely cliquish. When I went to one of the layout building sessions hoping to learn something, I wasn’t allowed to touch anything. I guess I hadn’t proven myself. Not that I’d had the opportunity, and besides, I’d joined a train club hoping to learn more about trains! Not to mention two guys got into a shoving match at the same session over whether the layout design would allow someone to use a Big Boy as a yard engine.
When my membership expired, I got a terse note a month later saying I would receive one and only one notice. Gee, thanks for the reminder. I figured I had a few dozen better ways to spend the $25.
I’m sure there are great clubs out there. Unfortunately my only experience with one wasn’t at all pleasant. I don’t know if the problem was my age (I was 29 at the time) or if it was because I’m not one to drop $1,400 on a scale Challenger or Big Boy (I have a mortgage payment to make!), but I don’t have much inclination to try to find out, either. It’s a hobby, and hobbies are supposed to be fun, so I found other ways to have fun with it.
“Not to mention two guys got into a shoving match at the same session over whether the layout design would allow someone to use a Big Boy as a yard engine.”
Well, I don’t know what words apply to that. “Pathetically geeky” is a good start but doesn’t quite capture the essence of it.
Like you, I find it amazing that people would tell you to avoid admiring their trains when they have brought them to a club meeting.
I am ten years older than you were at the time, so while I appreciate Underworld’s suggestion, I have probably aged out of the youth division. [(-D]
I belong to the National Capitol Trackers and the Crescent Model Railroaders, both are modular clubs serving the Maryland and Virginia area.
With the trackers there have been two teen-agers involved since I have been a became a member several years ago. Both teens have been embraced by all as regular members and regular guys. I have seen no difference in their treatment by the other members at all.
I am 42, and can tell you when you are sharing a common interest, and working towards a common goal, age becomes irrelevant. We all enjoy running, watching and talking about trains…and we are all young at heart.[angel]
BTW, there are jerks any all age brackets. This would explain the bad behavior above. The best thing to do with jerks in a club, I have seen one, is to ignore them…usually they burn out like a comet streaking across the sky…and either quit or are bounced out. If it continues quit and look for another club, or start your own. I have never seen any physical contact among members. I have seen some raised voices, but these have been extremely limited.
Hello Raleightrainfan! You should get together with the Chief & form some sort of Train Club for your area if you do not feel comfortable with other clubs & over time other folks may want to join your group as has happened here with the OTTS & you can welcome all ages as well. Just a thought. Take Care.
Oh gosh. I wasn’t trying to imply that such was the case with any club in the Raleigh area. In fact, I know absolutely nothing of them other than some casual web site perusals. However, I would gladly sign up for a train club led by the Chief!
Hello Raleigh! If you guys start a club you can have “Microwave Popcorn Night” every other Friday & run your trains on the Chief’s newly off the floor layout as a bonus![;)][:D][:o)] What could be better than that?[;)][;)][:o)] Take Care.[:)]
Well, the way I would handle a ‘picking up and looking’ situation would be to not bring anything that I couldn’t afford to lose, if someone is touching something incorrectly (fingers rubbing along decals, grabbing a steamer by the siderods, pinching the hand rails, etc) you casually say, ‘Hey let me show you how to handle that without causing damage to the engine, or whatever it is the person is holding’. Even though I have been in the hobby for over 15 years I still like to look at things… just like these people at show with the ‘do not touch’ signs on everything… sorry buddy but if you want someone to buy a Postwar Engine you better let them handle it! I’ve seen all to many times an engine that looks really nice because of the shell, but when you turn it over, no siderods, dirty (almost tarred) wheels, damaged pickup rollers, missing frame mounting screws, etc. I don’t buy anything that I am not permitted to touch and inspect.
Shows are different than clubs yes, but the purpose of a club is to learn, and that includes proper handling of equipment.
just like these people at show with the ‘do not touch’ signs on everything… sorry buddy but if you want someone to buy a Postwar Engine you better let them handle it!
There was one vendor at the December train show in Raleigh whose tables were literally festooned with “DO NOT TOUCH” signs. I too wondered how this person expected anyone to purchase any of the - mostly old and fairly dilapidated-looking - PW stuff she had without so much as a close inspection. Her table really didn’t have much traffic, so maybe others had the same feeling.
By contrast, the other vendors - at least, the ones I talked to - were more than happy to let me inspect their stock, though I did ask them first for courtesy’s sake.
Shows are different than clubs yes, but the purpose of a club is to learn, and that includes proper handling of equipment.
Which is one of the main reasons I am considering a club - to learn. I am certain that I do many things wrong, or more accurately could do them a better way, including handling of equipment.