I serve on the Board of Directors for a Railway Museum in West Texas. We have several model layouts representing various scales, a railway history museum, and several pieces of rolling stock all located in/at the depot. At our Board meeting last night, I suggested one way we could expand our sphere of service to the community would be by establishing a family model railroad club, starting from scratch, in a large room in our museum. Not surprisingly, the Board is enthused, and there appears to be significant interest from parents and kids to community leaders. Great ! Yes, but as I have volunteered to undertake the development of this concept, I am writing your organization for advice, ideas, and suggestions on how to get started.
I would greatly appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible as we would like to plant the seeds for this community centered idea before kids go back to school in the fall.
My sincere thanks for any information you could get to me.
Posted by MPALMER (Member # 125) on :
Bruce,
Would it be possible to invite an existing RR club in the area to assist in building a club layout? Or are your board members experienced modelers? I mention this because folks may underestimate the time and dedication it takes to get a new set-up going.
MP
[This message has been edited by MPALMER (edited 07-17-2004).]
Posted by Bruce (Member # 3357) on :
Thanks for your response. There are no other model rr clubs in the area (we are about 200 miles from the next largest city- Abilene, San Antonio, Midland, etc) There is interest but no skill in building model rr layouts on our Board. Most of those folks are interested inthe museum aspects, i.e. displays, old photos, tours of the depot, etc. My interest, right now, would be to replicate a minature version of the San Angelo yard, roundhouse, etc., at some interesting point in its history. Then it becomes an actual historical exhibit, not just people playing with trains, requiring substantial historical research.