Advice for starting a new train club.

Tom M posted:

A friend and I are thinking of starting a train club as there are no clubs here in Juneau, AK. 

Does anyone have any advice for starting a new train club? Any tips or tricks? Any help would be appreciated.

Just some thoughts and opinions:

1) Do you mean a "club" or group of fellow modelers, regardless of scale/gauge, to get together and run trains at each others homes?

2) Are you looking to start a physical club with a layout? If so, then I would think one key point would be to find other modelers with the same goal/goals in your area.

3) If a full club with an operating layout, would it be private or open to the public? Obviously the "club" would need a place to construct such a layout, i.e. building, basement, etc..

4) Plan on recruiting a good "train loving" Attorney, in order to file the necessary Tax Exempt paperwork with the IRS.

Juneau is a very space limited town. Most train enthusiasts I know, own trains but don't have space to build a layout. My idea would be to start a modular club and maybe do a museum layout for one of the museums here in town.

Tom M posted:

Juneau is a very space limited town. Most train enthusiasts I know, own trains but don't have space to build a layout. My idea would be to start a modular club and maybe do a museum layout for one of the museums here in town.

Well, that is a bit different. However, having been a member of the Independent Hi-Railers, Midwest Division modular group, I can tell you that transporting modules to and from "events" or "shows" becomes a major issue. Not to mention the lack of flat surfaces from module to module over time.

There is a housing shortage in Juneau, so most people's spare bedrooms and extra spaces are rented out. Especially in the summer.

Please realize you're off to a great start with a big advantage over most of us - Your own national TV show for publicity!  

Many watch RR Alaska with keen interest. Perhaps you could contact the show's producers and see if you could get yourselves featured in an episode or two...

I doubt it, Anchorage is 600 miles away as the crow flies.

Tom M posted:

A friend and I are thinking of starting a train club as there are no clubs here in Juneau, AK. 

Does anyone have any advice for starting a new train club? Any tips or tricks? Any help would be appreciated.

We started our club with four and almost immediately grew to six members. IMHO, that is likely your bare minimum starting point.

Start working on the bylaws now. In the case of our club, the corners are club property. We all paid in for the construction of these modules. In addition, we built 8 straights. That allowed for 2 straights for each of the original 4 members.

Use the largest curves possible. We have 072/081 on two loops. I wish we had planned for a third up front.

Select a track. Be prepared for accepting a consensus. One potential member walked almost immediately because it was "his way or the highway" when it came to his choice for FasTrack. We ended up using Atlas track w/ Ross switches.

Our modules are 48x32". This allows for three tops to be cut from one 4x8 sheet of plywood.

Storage? Get an enclosed trailer. If you think 5x7 is "enough", go ahead and get the 7x12. Whatever you buy is almost immediately going to be too small.