I can't figure out which topic this is appropriate to post under, so figured I'd use this. Just wondering if there are any clubs close to say San Antonio, TX. I found one in Austin, which is a little far (about 2.5-3.5 hours away). I've been a member of a large train museum for over two decades, but never been a member of a model train organization and don't know much about them, either. Do most clubs in general have club layouts, or run days?
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Where you be? I live in Harlingen and there is nothing in 'O' down here. The Austin meet is about 6+ hours from the end of the road in the Valley.
I live in Austin. We don't have a permanent setup, but rather set up at events. Our biggest is our Holiday Setup in Round Rock (north of Austin) all of December. There are 40ish members, but not all are active (including me as I have a daughter who plays softball the weekends we have shows).
Most of our events are within an hour or so from Austin. The one in April will be the farthest south we have.
Harlingen is quite a long way South - I agree. There is a TCA chapter in San Antonio and another in Austin.
Their website shows there is one in Houston also as the Gulf Coast Chapter.
Maybe those will have a list of members closer to you.
I hope that helps.
There is a tca section in San Antonio and one just started up in Austin aswell. I am a member of the SA club. No club layout but we do meet almost once a month. Austin tinplate trackers has a club with a good sized modular layout and yes they are at the New Braunfels show. I have been debating about joining that club so I can run my trains.
@C&O Allan posted:I live in Austin. We don't have a permanent setup, but rather set up at events. Our biggest is our Holiday Setup in Round Rock (north of Austin) all of December. There are 40ish members, but not all are active (including me as I have a daughter who plays softball the weekends we have shows).
Most of our events are within an hour or so from Austin. The one in April will be the farthest south we have.
Harlingen is quite a long way South - I agree. There is a TCA chapter in San Antonio and another in Austin.
Their website shows there is one in Houston also as the Gulf Coast Chapter.
Maybe those will have a list of members closer to you.
I hope that helps.
When I lived in Michigan there were shows there and in Ohio. All pretty close. Here not so much. TCA 70-3068
I am also a member of the Austin Tinplate Trackers. We have members all around Central Texas, San Antonio, Bryan / College Station, and even some up in DFW now.
We used to have 3 or 4 shows in San Antonio but they have dropped off due to the cost of renting large venues. The TCA show in May will be back in San Antonio this year. So the TCA and Spring New Braunfels shows are the furthest south we will venture this year.
Please look at our schedule like Allan mentioned above. We would love to have y'all!
@C&O Allan posted:Paul,
I don't know of any (not saying there is one in your area). But the Austin Club is going to be in New Braunfels April 20-21st, so you should come see us.
Our Schedule is here.
New Braunfels isn't terrible. Point to point, it's about 105 miles from me (I'm in Bandera County).
So what role do club members play? Are there required or voluntary volunteer hours? Or meets every month? As I've mentioned in some other posts, I belong to a regular train museum (the largest in the country west of the Mississippi, but as far as volunteering goes, it's VERY disorganized). Besides operating a U boat and an Alco (RS-11 or 13) on diesel service member appreciation night, some of the exciting things were taking apart 40 feet of track, doing mainteinance on wigwags (and two years ago, on my own wigwags), and various small things in diesel service, but I don't know much about what's required with a modeling club. One of my friends in the DFW retro computer club belongs to a modeling club in DFW (I should probably ask him), as he's also a Lionel guy, and suggested I look into a club closer to me. I actually asked him about the Tinplate Trackers club and he commented that Austin was too far from him, let alone San Anton.