This is interesting reading. I have been in and out of model airplane clubs for 30 plus years now. Some were great. Others I showed up after 1:00pm when most of the people went home. This sounds just the same as the plane guys. I went from a board member, flight instructor to out cast when I built my first helicopter. They about had kittens. They tried to ban all rotor craft. It did get ugly. I have never been one to copy what others do. I follow the rules, yet I run what I like. I am not prototype guy. If it looks good at 5 feet, I am pretty much good to go. The one model railroad club I was going to join had run what you brung days. To see how the club worked you could bring your trains and run them on the club layout after they checked to make sure your stuff would run well enough. I was a starving student and had mostly Athearn BB locomotives and cars. As I was watching my train run around the layout all I got from one guys was that this box car would never be run with this one, I needed to get better motive power, this tank car is not scale. For the next 25 minutes or so I heard him tell me how bad my stuff was. I was impressed with his knowledge, but his delivery needed a lot of work. I am sure you know the type of person. He has better stuff, has done more then I have and done it better. I was going to join and help out with the bench work for the addition. I was doing construction to pay the bills so I had all of the tools and could build a house so bench work would have been easy. After listening to Mr. know it all, I did not join. Best way to kill a club, drive new member away. Buzz.
Ill never join a club ever,I was a member before and as someone mentioned the old farts,dont wanna talk to the youngsters. YEP! Its really annoying how an older person will act like they know everything about trains,But then has a Gevo in SPS Paint........ With a NYC caboose and 40'' cars mixed in with autracks and BLMA reefers. The biggest thing that piss me off was telling me how fast i should run my train. I spent my hard earned dollars on this. so ill run it whatever speed i want to. "the layout was mine and another persons that day" he had the lower loop mine was on top. Mine is 2 locos pulling a 45 car coal drag with no helpers, damn right its gonna craw...
Politics generally drive most people away. Nothing takes more fun out of the hobby than opressive rules. That and cronyism. I say the heck with clubs, especially in the internet age where you can learn with the volumes of information on line. They may be difficult to find, but having a few friends is better than belonging to a larger group of loosely knit members that don't necessarily share the same interests and vision. I deal with this every day at work. Why would anyone want these headaches in their valuable hobby time? I say go at your own pace and learn independently. If you want to share your work, then post it here.
I've been involved with NTRAK since the San Mateo Convention in '81. Sacramento was the poorest representation of NTRAK I've ever seen. Two of the clubs had nice, finished modules. The third had less than nice looking modules. One under construction is OK, but miles of plywood doesn't cut it.
I figured. I used to belong to the club from the Bay Area and I knew it wasn't them. They always welcome me back when I get a chance to visit. I've gotten away from Ntrak for the past 10 years; no groups where I've lived. I have belonged to two other clubs since then both multi-scale with only a little good natured ribbing about being "small minded". No politics in either. The current club is heavy on operations and in any scale. I've found that to be true when I've gone to Ops weekends in other cities.
Worse than dictators, are people who are just plain disgusting. The local club in this area had one member who was literally filthy, inside and out, to the point that a mention was made in the club minutes of exercising proper hygiene at public appearances. Almost worse than the way he appeared was the way he talked, which at some instances, I felt I should have reported him to the police for some sort of harassment. While having one such rotten apple may not kill the club, being singled out by him as his preferred victim does kill your enjoyment of the club.
I'll try again to add my two cents worth. I've about decided clubs don't work well in a lot of cases.. Not having room for a layout of my own I tried to join a club. Went to their club house, and two younger guys were flat rude and told me I couldn't run trains on the club layout even though the leadership of the club invited me to do so after contacting them. I did join the club, but kept knocking heads with these two idiots, and found out they were a thorn in the club's side, so tried to ignore them. I should've clocked em both but was trying to be nice. The club is an NTRAK club here in the Phoenix, AZ area, and all that ever happened was that I just watched my trains go round and round for four hours for the benifit of the public. When I asked about operating sessions, I hit a brick wall. Only a few of us were interested in operation, so finally I decided the city wasn't paying for my equipment and I can't afford new stuff very often, so I left. I'll be sticking to myself and a few friends from now on, clubs just don't work for this modeler.
Wow , my wife and I have discussed my not particularly fondness of "organizations" many times. Whether it's railroad clubs or any other club. This even has come to include churches. Reading this thread has explained quite well why I am where I am (in my house enjoying my hobbies and my interests).
I guess it all boils down to whether one can work and play well with others. One question I have to all those who left a club is whether anyone played an active role in the club or were you just along for the ride but didn't like the destination?
Not really. Everyone starts off as the outsider. There are those who move on and take on responsibility. Then there are those who do nothing and then wonder why no one pays attention to them. I started by agreeing to sweep the floor and making coffee. I then moved up to the lucrative position of "go-for" on the maintenance crew where I would go for this or go for that and ultimately became president of the club. Quickly found out that the best way to get rid of those who do nothing but expect everything was to nominate them for an officer position where they would have to do something. So they left to go home to their basements where, according to them, they had a fantastic layout. Maybe they did. maybe they didn't but one thing was for sure, no one in the club saw it, ever.
