I hope this club can remain in its current location. I've been to there layout a few times, and it's very well done. Model Train Club may lose its building GAITHERSBURG -- For nearly a decade, model trains have looped their way around the first floor of the Mills House, a historic home on East Diamond Avenue. Every track was laid, every tree was painted and every building was hand-crafted by Gaithersburg Model Train Society until the platform represented the State of Maryland and the railroad industry -- a more than 10,000-man-hour project. The miniature piece of history, however, could be evicted from its home, victim of a bad economy. "During this difficult budgetary time, the (city) council is looking at various options and looking at all the assets. This is one that we will get an appraisal on and determine its value to see if it makes sense to surplus it," said David Humpton, Gaithersburg city manager. The Mills House is owned by the City of Gaithersburg and has been leased to the society for the past eight years. The society pays utilities and upkeep of the building, and in return offers a free model train museum open to the public Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A tough budget year has the city council looking for ways to balance finances, and the building could be a way to reap some funding, according to Mr. Humpton. "It's tough for the city to support this (free use of a city building) during these economic times," he said. This is the only city-owned building being considered by the council for sale. The council has ordered an appraisal of the building. When that appraisal is completed, the council is expected to decide whether to sell it. Mr. Humpton said if the building goes on the market, the railroad society would have the first chance to buy it. That may be nearly impossible for a group with about 30 members each paying $20 in dues a month. Donations from the public amount to up to $100 a year, according to Railroad Society member Ralph Mohr. He said the group is also trying to get a grant from CSX. "The city has been very good to us here. Trains take up a lot of room. It was good of the city to give us the chance," said Fred Schirrmacher, a society board member. He said model train watching and building is losing its popularity as enthusiasts get older and are not being replaced by a younger generation. "I think we get our fair share of people here, but maybe the city expected we'd have lines of people waiting to get in and we just don't have that," said Ernie Ritter, society vice president. Each year about 300 people visit the display, which takes up 500 square feet in two rooms. Visitors can watch as model trains representing the main line to Gaithersburg travel through the Point of Rocks railroad station. The trains travel through Garrett County and a coal mine and by the Mountain View Motel. Along the line is the Cumberland B&O Railroad servicing facility and roundhouse for steam engines as well as the Port of Baltimore. Brett Egloff of Gaithersburg takes his son Henry, 4, to the society nearly every Saturday. The outing has become a father-son routine prompted by Henry's love of trains. "I was never really interested in trains, but it is something Henry really took to," Mr. Egloff said. "Now, we use the visit as our quality time, looking at the trains and imagining the real ones. Occasionally one will go by across the street and we will all run out and watch it go by." The CSX line runs parallel to East Diamond Avenue. Mr. Egloff and his son also enjoying watching train videos from the society's video library on the second floor of the building. "I think the society gives people of all ages an exposure to people who are enthusiastic about model trains and collecting them and you just don't find that in a lot of areas now a days," Mr. Egloff said. Carl Brown of Germantown also brings his son Alex about once a month to watch the model trains. "The city should find a way to preserve this somehow. This is a little train community and it should be preserved," Mr. Brown said. "It is easy for kids to forget this is a great hobby and easy to fall into just playing video games." Mr. Brown said he also gets advice for society members about building his own layout in his basement. Train enthusiasts also are encouraged to try out their equipment on the society's tracks. The society has survived a previous move. The group lost its lease in its Silver Spring location in 1984 and took until 1995 to find its current location. In between that time, members met at each other's homes and created a Christmas exhibit in 1989. "We have endured one move already. It is traumatic to start over and we may not want to do it a second time," Mr. Schirrmacher said.
Free use of a public building? Paying the utilities and upkeep on the building does not sound like free use to me. But then what do I know ,I'm not a politician.
Happened recently to a club I used to belong to. This stuff happens. In our case, the owner sold the building and the layout went in the dumpster. The club is trying to continue to exist and find a new home, but they can't afford to pay anywhere near market value, need a long lease, and don't want to move to a nearby town, so they're kind of stuck.
It's sad to see any group layout come to an end. Very few clubs have the financial ability to own their facilities. Perhaps the best scenario, would be the club owning a substantial building, leasing out space to other entities. And that income would keep the group with a secure roof overhead. But this is a difficult situation to get going. There are times when it's possible to continue existing via a modular layout. But there's nothing like a permanent empire. Boxcab E50 [ 25. August 2003, 05:37: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
cthippo, I was there on the last day the layout was open to the public in Bellingham. Dave Koch from the Atlas forum was there also. I hope you do find a place for the layout, but almost free rooms for layouts can be tough to find. The Vancouver (BC) club never really has bounced back after it left the train station. It has floated to several locations, but their last location just got shut down.
