HOW DO CLUBS HANDLE REQUESTS FOR MEMBERSHIP FOR UNDER AGE PARTICIPANTS
SPECIFICALLY, DO YOU HAVE A "JUNIOR LEVEL OF MEMBERSHIP" (REDUCED $)
ANY ISSUES WITH INSURANCE, ETC
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS
j
Original Post
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We ( National Capital Trackers ) have a junior member level, free until age 18 with paying adult. The parent is expected to be with the junior member at all events. We have several junior members (father son/grandpa son type teams). I even got started as a Junior Member in the Trackers, over a decade ago. Of course, I'm no "junior" now! 
JPC
CHECK THE LCCA WEB SITE FOR OUR JUNIOR MEMBERSHIP(LIONEL KIDS CLUB) PROGRAM.
WWW,LIONELCOLLECTORS.ORG
SAL GAMBINO
DIRECTOR/LCCA
the San Diego 3 railers runs a kids club.
they meet once a month and go over safe operating of trains, learn how to take care of trains, set up a small layout and then after "class" they get to run on the 3-railers layout for an about hour.
also on Monday holidays the club has a kids fun run. we have 4 lines and we put two children/trains on each track and the kids learn to control trains without crashing.
we have been running this program for over 15 years and many children have turned 18 and joined the club as full members.
oh and it is all free!
bigdodgetrain posted:the San Diego 3 railers runs a kids club.
they meet once a month and go over safe operating of trains, learn how to take care of trains, set up a small layout and then after "class" they get to run on the 3-railers layout for an about hour.
also on Monday holidays the club has a kids fun run. we have 4 lines and we put two children/trains on each track and the kids learn to control trains without crashing.
we have been running this program for over 15 years and many children have turned 18 and joined the club as full members.
oh and it is all free!
What a great idea.......having a permanent set up really does help!
Peter
Last year my club created a junior member category. Since we are a modular club, and we don't have dues, the junior membership just spells out some rules, such as parental supervision at club events.
Andy
Putnam Division posted:bigdodgetrain posted:the San Diego 3 railers runs a kids club.
they meet once a month and go over safe operating of trains, learn how to take care of trains, set up a small layout and then after "class" they get to run on the 3-railers layout for an about hour.
also on Monday holidays the club has a kids fun run. we have 4 lines and we put two children/trains on each track and the kids learn to control trains without crashing.
we have been running this program for over 15 years and many children have turned 18 and joined the club as full members.
oh and it is all free!
What a great idea.......having a permanent set up really does help!
Peter
I was one of the few that turned 18 and became a Regular Member.
oh, tim, ,,, HOMEWORK!
I'm a member of the North Atlanta O Gauge Railroad Club. Our youth membership policy is similar to the National Capitol Trackers as noted above. Youth members under 18 pay no dues when they join with a paid adult member of the club.
Curt
Our memberships are family memberships. If anybody under 18 wants to join their parent or guardian needs to join and accompany the under age person We got some great members now that didn't have any interest in trains but joined because their sons wanted to.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions
I have been out of town and was remiss in thanking you in a timely manner
j
Like NJ Hi Railers, our membership is also family memberships. We have had many of the young ones make some very important contributions to the club. That is the future of our hobby. Encouraging families to join.
To add to Jeff's post ,basically, the adult is the member of record and the minor is associated in under the supervision of the parent. This allows very young children (we have a seven-year-old who is very good) to be operators on the layout. So far, it has worked very well. The kids are also eager to learn things like scenery work (we keep them away from anything toxic). We had two of them help on the scenery re-work of the farmhouse area.
Sadly, there are some clubs that don't allow kid members at all.
Years ago, I knew of one and I warned them it was a bad idea. One of these jerks actually said, "Model railroading is not a kid's game!"
I stood there stunned and said, "Uhhhhh.... yeah, it is. How can you not see that?"
That club went under when the membership started dying off in the early 2000s and amazingly, there were no members under the age of about 60 at the end...
Our youngest member is 10 or 12 I can't remember which and the next youngest is 16.
