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Our club at Sun City near Charlotte has been searching for six years for a permanent venue on campus so as to have full-time access. We've had to set up, operate, tear down each December. It has been suggested to us (by a hired architect) to utilize a caboose, etc. The problem there is the 10-ft width restriction. Maybe two box cars side-by-side? Maybe a woodside for easier reconstruction (still available?) . Is this even feasible? any ideas out there? We are 75 miles from Spencer's NC Transportation Museum.

Wally D.

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Maybe a 16' x 80' mobile home, or else a double-wide?  Find a really nice used one at a good price.  Have some mobile home movers haul it and set it up on the property.  Tear out everything but the AC/furnace and a restroom (maybe leave a small bedroom as a workshop/storage area).

Instant, nice looking, semi-permanent clubhouse (still movable should the need ever arise).

Around here, Pittsburgh, PA, the Catholic Diocese has been closing schools left and right. There are some large spaces available in some of them.

Our local Catholic School closed a few years ago but is still used for fish fries during Lent. And some of the classrooms are still used, I think. But otherwise, a train club would be perfect in that old building. The corner stone says 1912.

Mixed Freight posted:

Maybe a 16' x 80' mobile home, or else a double-wide?  Find a really nice used one at a good price.  Have some mobile home movers haul it and set it up on the property. 

Nothing like building a model railroad inside a Tornado Magnet!

Tear out everything but the AC/furnace and a restroom (maybe leave a small bedroom as a workshop/storage area).

Instant, nice looking, semi-permanent clubhouse (still movable should the need ever arise).

And the key word is "movable" in high winds.

 

CAMRC (Central Arkansas Model Railroad Club) in Conway, AR struggled with this issue for years, since building, storing, transporting, setting up (and then taking down) a large O-gauge modular train layout several times per year became too much of a challenge to that group of senior members, many of whom had physical limitations.

For several years, CAMRC set up Train Open House events in the Community Room of a municipally-owned sports building in town with NO RENTAL FEE and an arrangement to seek voluntary DONATIONS from visiting families and hobbyists. The donations were enough to offset the costs of the event, but not enough to build up the treasury to the point where the group could afford a permanent building and related costs: rent, utilities, insurance, maintenance, marketing, layout operations, trains, etc. 

The club hoped for a major benefactor, but no one emerged. Every non-profit organization scrambles for funds, so the competition for the attention of a lead donor and associate donors is fierce; especially in the Bible Belt mid-south region where churches "have God on their side" for raising funds. 

That small group of 16 members (at its peak) dwindled over time, and it became clear that a permanent home for the layout and future additions to it was not financially feasible -- no "critical mass." The wishful thinking for a permanent home dissolved. Not long after this reality check, the club dissolved when only 7 members remained -- not enough for a baseball team. 

However, it was fun while it lasted!

Mike Mottler        LCCA 12394
mottlerm@gmail.com

do you have any malls in the area that are hurting?  more than once a modular club i belonged to got into a mall for the Christmas season.  after the holidays one place asked us if we wanted to remain in the store since it was an attraction that was bringing customers to the mall.  after they said we would only have to pay the utility bills and we said no thanks, they let us stay for free... for the next two years.

There is a retirement community near me that has allowed a 3-rail club to build a layout in some unused space in the community club house.  I suspect that you have explored this option without success.  A different retirement community allowed a G gauge club to build a garden railroad in a portion of its gardens.  The husbands work on the trains and wives work on the garden.  It is a win-win project for the community.   You may wand to consider O gauge outdoors.

I am a member of a model railroad club that has built a G and O gauge outdoor layout in unused space behind the club's building.  The building houses a railroad museum and HO layout.  O gauge outdoors works very well for those of us that space challenged.  Here is a link to the G&O Story on this forum:  

 https://ogrforum.com/.../the-gandamp-o-story

NH Joe

 

 

Last edited by New Haven Joe

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