Any 3 rail clubs in north central Indiana?

Hi Mike,

When I moved to Indy Metro (Fishers), I was very much surprised that there is not a 3R club here. I had posted awhile back that a club needed to be formed for Indianapolis (Muncie is a little bit too far). I'm sure there are more of us, there's got to be at least 30 in the 2 Million that live in the area, we just have to find them! Maybe if we can gather enough momentum from people on OGR a "Naptown Hi-Railers" could be formed.

Bobby

I know of 2 localy, myself and my friend steve that would be up for building a modular layout. The biggest hurdle I see, beyond more members is a place to store the 4 corner modules.  Like yourself I am space challenged, my train room is 9' by 8' in size.  Steve and I get down to Indy every couple of weeks and hit the major train shops, usualy Train Central, Mr Muffins and Zionsville Train Depot.  I am planning a small 2 rail switching layout at home, but I have a beautiful 3 rail brass PRR M1a mountain that needs 0-72 curves to run, would love to design a layout to suit it.  In my perfect group would be a layout that is set on the PRR main line with position signals and big steam.  Mike

I have the truck to pull a trailer, but in no way shape or form would I buy a trailer to join a club, thats just insane.  

I'm in Indy but in no way have time to establish a club or build modules.  If a club was already established, I'd be interested.  Would be a great way to run trains and meet others with a common interest.

Not everyone would need to build a module, in a perfect set up, the 4 corner modules would belong to the group, then the others belong to members themselves.  Maybe we need to do up some flyers and put them at Mr Muffins and the other Indy and Kokomo shops.  Mike

Mike,

My collection is mostly modern Diesel, in DM&IR, CSX, and BN. Although, I have been slowly getting into steam, plan is to start collecting the passenger service of PRR and NYC around the 40's. Really want to spring for the Lionel ESE, but the fiancée insists we save for a wedding, and the plan to have a Dreyfuss themed wedding complete with Lionel ESE and MTH 20th Century center pieces did not get very far.

I'm interested in getting something going. The first step is getting people's attention. I'm not sure how clubs generally get formed, we would need to reach a critical mass for it to go. Seems that they're either modular or have a facility, but I'm not sure on what the evolution of a 3R club is. I personally lean toward the having a physical place, but there is much more moving parts to that, and the modular route is probably the incremental step toward that.

Bobby

Yes, the modular start is the way toward a physical place. But with that comes taxes, electric/gas bill ect and the higher dues associated with it.  I am more inclined toward the cheaper route with the modular set up to take to shows.  I think we need a core group of guys, doesn't have to be a large number, to build the 4 corner modules and a few straights, maybe 4 to get started.  Then start attending shows to attract attention and bring in new members.  Diesels are cool and you can see pretty much any roadname on the ex-PRR lines out east.  From my experience, clubs usualy start with 3-8 guys to get the ball rolling and go from there. Obviously, having someone in the group with a pole barn or covered trailer would be a huge bonus, but not required to get the initial thing rolling.  Mike