Manufacturer's Club Members?

I joined the Lionel club to go to the red carpet event. It was only $20 to join for the year and I got all the new catalogs right after the dealers got theirs. All in all not a bad deal.

I've joined various mfg's clubs and received their current cars, but in all cases I have let my membership lapse.  My problem was that each club, in trying to please more people, would offer different cars from  different eras, each year.  Since my layout is strictly 1950, no newer car was of interest to me.  So in each case, when the later era car was announced, I just didn't renew for that year.  If, during the following years, a new car of interest to me appeared, I would simply renew my membership.  Unless, of course, I didn't figure that I "needed" that particular car for my roster.

 

Paul Fischer

None anymore. But Lionel, K-Line and MTH, in the past.

In the past I have belonged to Lionel, MTH, K-line and Atlas.  Currently only Atlas.

I belonged to K-Line's collector club about six years ago, also belonged to Williams club and got their club car each year(wasn't a member every year as I didn't like the car offered) I was a member.

With WBB going to $45.00 I have to carefully think about becoming a club member again. My train budget has shrunk very much in the past year, so I have to carefully weigh each purchase anymore.

 

Lee Fritz

I'm a member of the Lionel club. The magazines and catalogues are a great benefit to me, and are worth the annual membership dues all on their own. The options to purchase special club items, and the discount at the Lionel store are added bonuses. 

Weaver & MTH. I wouldn't join Weaver again but will renew MTH. Lots of deals for members.

I've joined the Weaver, Atlas, K-Line, and MTH clubs at various times, always because I wanted the specific club car (or engine, in the case of K-Line) for that year. I also once joined LCCA for the same reason. I currently don't hold any of those memberships, because none of the current offerings appeal to me (some are downright repulsive). As Fisch330 pointed out, the offerings vary in era and type of car. I'm almost entirely steam/transition era and seldom buy anything modern.

  

What gets me to spring for a membership? Usually wooden reefers, especially beer cars. Anything interesting or unusual from the steam era. Anything Milwaukee Road. Occasionally other Midwestern or Western roads. 

 

What repels me? Anything that is an ad for the manufacturer, rather than something that looks like it belongs on a railroad. (You listening, MTH?) Flag color schemes. Yet another NYC, PRR, or UP item. 

 

Whenever MTH finally comes out with PS/3 kits, I will likely rejoin their club to get the discount on the kits, and resell the car if I don't like it.

 

The only club cars I get consistently every year are the ore cars from the Gadsden Pacific Toy Train Museum (where I am a member) and the Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club (because I am a Milwaukee Road fan). TCA hasn't had anything in years that I thought was worth the money (in fact, I wouldn't waste storage space on most of their offerings if they were free), and I get LCCA cars through a friend if they have something I want. 

I have a basic membership in the MTH RR Club, I don't get a car.  However, for $25 I get $30 off each PS/2 upgrade kit I order, so it's a worthwhile investment anyway.  I can't buy them through distribution for the price I get them direct being a club member.

 

I'm in Lionel and MTH. For catalogs and product discounts. With MTH I get either the Railking or Premier car depending on the one I like the best that year. Have considered Atlas and Weaver, but have yet to sign up for either of those.

I am sure for some, there is value in manufacturer clubs. But for me, since I am not into freight cars, a club car would not mean much to me. I get catalogs from various sources so that would not be an added value.

I am in the MTH Premier. It is nice, you get a Layout Design software, catalogs, a quarterly magazine, and the Pillsbury car is very nicely detailed.

 

Michael

At one time or another I was in LRRC, LOTS, KCC and MTHRRC. 

I don't recall the reasons I let LRRC and LOTS lapse. I rode KCC to the very end, and picked up on MTHRRC when it started (how many are "charter" members?).

 

I thought about the Williams, RMT Weaver and Atlas clubs, but I think my roster of club cars is pretty full.

 

---PCJ

I have belonged to all of at one time or another but have stayed with the MTH Premier Club because of the scale car and the PS-2 upgrade discount.

This is the only Train Club I’m a Member of…..Not that there is anything wrong with the other Clubs mentioned above!!   
I’m also an honorary  member of the Belly Club… Anybody want to see my Button…lol



K.C.

I'm a member of the Lionel club. The catalogs and magazine are nice, but the main reason is to be able to purchase the annual Christmas car.

All these years without a membership in any of the, "clubs". I do not feel as if I have missed anything. I've not lived a sheltered life by any means. I came to learn about the OGR Forum by subscribing to the magazine.

 

I agree with others about the pitiful fantasy cars made by each maker. Even the tinplate cars offered by Lionel and MTH leave much to be desired.

I have been a member of the Lionel Club since it began in 1976. I like getting the catalogs and the discounts on the Lionel store. I have been a member of the Atlas club since it began. I like the membership cars. I was also a K-Line club member from the beginning to the end. I joined the MTH club when it was formed but I was not that interested the annual cars and I had to cut back on membership money I spent when I retired. I also belong to LCCA and LOTS (20+ years each). I was a TCA member for a while but with big dues increase and a limited budget, I had to drop out. 

I have been a MTH club member several years, and yes I bought PS2 upgrades with it. I have several of the Railking cars and Yes, the All have the Colors and the logo on them.

I don't have a problem with that.

I really wish I could find the Steam engine from the Club, It was done before I got into the hobby. I agree, some of the cars are too modern for my layout, I'll end up selling them I expect.

I have thought about joining a couple of the groups, but have never felt the advantages were worth it.  I already get all the catalogs and I haven't seen any club cars that I really wanted.

 

Art

Im a member of the Old cheapskates toy train society. Which coincidentally is the same membership for Bargain hunters anonymous and The Repair old cheap MARX club. Both were founded by me in my backyard, after I learned that I there was not a single money tree or goldmine in the backyard. I have submitted my application to the train show-aholics coalition. Still trying to avoid the E-bay auction sniper fraternity. 

 

I am a member of the LCCA and many other train clubs.  I found the LCCA to be very friendly and family oriented.   Personally, I became involved with the LCCA because I found it to be the most kid friendly and accommodating when my two sons were young and in the stroller stage of their  development. 

I was a member of K line, Lionel, Atlas, and MTH now only Lionel,. Why because they make what I want, new items most of the time in there catalogs to choose from. The others are not making anything new, yes I know K line is dead. Atlas had the scale Zephyr cars and where great but what have you done for me lately. MTH???Nein, wir haben amerikanische neuen Züge nicht mehr machen,

When it comes to the manufacturere's "clubs", I only join when they make something I want and let my "membership" lapse in between.  They just don't offer enough extras that are of value to me other than the exclusive club cars, and not all of the cars are of interest.

 

Andy

 

I belong to MTH, Lionel, Williams and Weaver.

Soooo Let me say that I am not intentionally wishing to hurt anyones' feelings but..

Here is a rough approximation of the costs of these clubs.

 

Atlas $70 per yr

Lionel $20 per yr

MTH $50 per yr

Williams $75 per yr

Weaver $70 per yr

TCA $55 per yr plus my local region is extra $25

LOTS $35 per yr

TTOS $35 per yr

NASG $25 per yr

LCCA $35 per yr

 

I don't really need new catalogs. If and when I want to buy new items, then I look at the websites for new offerings. My LHS offers new Lionel and MTH catalogs for sale at $5 each (which he gets for free btw). I have approx 100 older catalogs from various manufacturers stored in boxes. I have 20 yrs worth of CTT mags in storage. I do not buy anything new or newer really. I pretty much only run old postwar and MPC. I dont run anything scale. I have nothing but trouble in the past with the preorder system (my LHS is forgetful and wont order for you)

I prefer 027. I have 4 scales/sizes of trains plus tinplate. No I am not a hoarder really. I just buy items from my childhood that I could not have then. Or something that really catches my eye. 

 

So basically why would I join any of these groups? Why would I need to? Why does everybody else do it? 

I totally agree.

I read S.W. Hiawatha's comment twice, because it was both amusing and relevant to

me.  Since by the "handle" I use on here you can presume I am not into buying cars

with the mfr's. name in big block letters anywhere on it (except on the frame if you

turn it over, which I try not to do while running it), or some wild color scheme seen

on circus posters but not protoype railcars.  I also am into an era that knew few

diesels and no modern, high cube cars, so none are allowed.  One major club I belonged to in the past, but abandoned when they got into some kind of political hassle, and the local group became less active, produced a convention car that I had to have, and I glommed it.  I worry about missing some other good renderings, but mostly what I see offered ain't that and aren't allowed on the property. That was a club car....I can't recall a manufacturer's car that wasn't offensive, but I kind of think

they are too modern, or comic book, and I just ignore them and might have missed

something.  The upper Mich. club has done some defunct and obscure RR cars that

were passable models, and I wish other clubs might do that for regional, vanished

roads, preferably scale models.  But something with "Billy's Trains" on it, etc., will be ignored.

Colorado

 

Sounds like we are on the same wavelength. I'm a little less strict about what goes on my layout (I have three sets of automobiles to change the appearance for different eras, and I do own some semi-modern (70's and 80's) diesels and rolling stock) but the underlying philosophy is similar. 

 

Did you catch the Atlas Pacific Northwest jackpot a few years ago? Atlas put out a Bellingham Bay Brewery woodside reefer as the club car. Right around the same time, Andy Peterson and a collectors' club in Canada collaborated on a Bellingham Bay & British Columbia  double sheathed boxcar, and Peterson did a Rainier Beer woodside reefer. The two by Peterson were also built by Atlas. The BB&BC was a Milwaukee Road subsidiary, and I collect beer cars, so needless to say I was a happy camper!

SW:  I collect beer cars but just for four states including Colorado, and I have tried to

research other breweries there that might have had the cars including one in Denver,

and several in Pueblo, including one in Pueblo that was a subsidiary of a Wisconsin

brewery (while I don't collect Wisconsin cars, I have been to the brewery museum

there, but already knew Wisconsin seems to have had dozens of little breweries, some

of which may have had still unidentified and modeled cars)  The club car I got was

for the Marble, Colorado marble quarry, and came with a load of real marble.  The

quarry operated its own railroad for years (at least two books have been done on it),

so it and the car were a piece of Colorado history.  The car has no garish, distracting

markings.  The marble plant is in ruins, the track is gone, and the town of Marble is

similar to other Colorado mining camps in that it'd be a ghost town except for the

people with summer cabins.  They ARE, I think sporatically, quarrying marble and

shipping it out in trucks.  There was a coal mine operation there fairly recently and

discussion about relaying the railroad to haul out coal.  Mining management killed the

idea when they were told it would have to be a common carrier and they would have

to also ship out cattle and sheep.  Getting cars from your area of interest is really good luck.