Sad story on the closing of a Milwaukee Railroad club

[Dave Schneider]

Here is a link to a story on the closing of the Milwaukee Model Railroad Engineers club hosted by Walthers for the past 32 years.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/39891957.html

I remember visiting this club as a child growing up in Milwaukee, and am sad to see them go.  I realize that Walthers and another longtime Milwaukee company, Kalmbach has taken its fair (and deserved) share of criticism over the years, but I still respect the contributions that these pioneering companies have made to the hobby. 

Best wishes, Dave

[tom mann]

I visited them too.

The club, founded in 1947, is down to two members.

Ok, so tell me how an historic, Milwaukee-based train club in the Walthers building can only retain two members?!!

[LV A95089]

So none of the Walther's employees are model railroaders?

I'd be interested in how they ran their club. It could be a great example to existing and future clubs on how NOT to run a club.

[Dave Schneider]

So none of the Walther's employees are model railroaders?

I'd be interested in how they ran their club. It could be a great example to existing and future clubs on how NOT to run a club.

I don't think that you can assume from this story that Walther's employees are not modelers. There are many modelers (most?) in the world who do not belong to a formal club.  Nor can you assume that anyone did anything wrong in running their club. I am just saddened by the thought of these mostly elderly men who spent all this time building something, watching it all come to an end. There really is no need to take a shot at Walthers or this club.

Best wishes, Dave

[LV A95089]

Actually, you might want to re-read my post. I didn't assume anything from the article. My question(s) were a follow-up to Tom's question on how a layout based in the Walther's building of all places could only retain two members.

This particular situation sounds quite different from other recent model railroad club events, particularly the recent dismantling of the Garden State Central Model Railroad Club layout.

If a club were ever to have a perfect home, I wouldn't think it gets much better than this. Talk about the potential for discounts and/or donations, promotion possibilities, and on and on.

Evidently, there were no plans or provisions in the bylaws to protect the club's assets and members' investments over all those years. The article states they intend to sell off the assets instead of donating to another area club. That is most disappointing.

[wm3798]

It struck me as kind of ironic that one of the major sponsors of the World's Greatest Hobby program lets a story like this even happen...  Maybe the hobby is dying? says an inquisitive public...  On the other hand, if Walther's needs the space to expand their catalog business, things might not be so bad, but my guess is they're just tired of waiting for the club to do something.

I read over on the MR board that one of the problems that drove members away and disappointed many visitors was an overly cumbersome DC cab control system...  I wonder how open minded to DCC those two surviving members are?  Nothing can ruin a club faster than to have a couple of entrenched dictators...

I also found it interesting that one of the photo captions states that the guy in the picture was "one of a few dozen visitors" at one of the last open houses.  WTF?  Did they piss off the entire model railroading community?  Hell, even at its worst, the BSME in Baltimore had standing room only! 

This has more to do with club management than with the state of the hobby, but for it to happen right under Walthers' nose is pathetic.

Meanwhile in N scale land,


my club keeps getting bigger (in girth as well as in numbers!) and seems to be getting younger, on average!  Maybe the Walthers club should have tried beer!  It is the Great Motivator, afterall...

Lee

[asciibaron]

of the several clubs i have belonged to, only 1 encouraged the use of alcohol - the club keeps a stocked fridge!  all the other clubs seemed to have been filled with AA members as well.

[DKS]

A club that has existed in Long Branch NJ for 45 years is being forced to move out or close. They used to operate in the basement of a doctor's office. The new owner of the building refuses to allow them to stay, citing some policy that they can't have non-medical equipment in the basement. I hope they find a new space--the club looks like a nice one.

http://www.app.com/article/200902180410/NEWS01/902180365

[asciibaron]

A club that has existed in Long Branch NJ for 45 years is being forced to move out or close. They used to operate in the basement of a doctor's office. The new owner of the building refuses to allow them to stay, citing some policy that they can't have non-medical equipment in the basement. I hope they find a new space--the club looks like a nice one.

http://www.app.com/article/200902180410/NEWS01/902180365

i used to be a member of that club when i lived in Neptune City - they are located in Asbury Park.  the club was just starting to get the layout back together after a decade or so of a members passing away.  great group of guys, they are the one's that got me interested in the Allentown area.  yesterday was an open house for the last run.  i will be up in Manahawkin on Friday and will see if they will be taking things apart and need help.

i hope they can find a place to go...

in the article picture is Jules and the McMyler dumper he built - it is 100% functional!

[Ian MacMillan]

For me personally, clubs just dont do it for me. I belonged to a modular club, and a large club layout years back. The fact that a majority of the the time the scenery was not constant, and the modeling skills ranged from poor to excellent drove me batty. For me I need everything to flow consistently in layout scenery, detail, skill level, locale, time frame, railroad, cars, locomotives, and operations wise. I'm not an elitist, I just have an OCD complex where it just has to be a certain way. So in my opinion, the longer main line run that a club layout offered, did not cancel out my other stronger desires, so I left.

[wcfn100]

I don't think I would even consider joining a club that didn't own their own space.  I always enjoy the Twin Cities O scale setup at Bandana Square but they too have had issues with their space.  Everything was converted into commercial space from retail several years ago so not only is their no real public traffic, but last I heard, the rent was around $40,000 a year and have only been able to stay with the help of some generous donations.

If you are ever in the TC area, check them out.

http://tcmrm.org/layout.php


Jason

[mcjaco]

I'm a little late to this party, but I was a member in this club about ten years ago.  Even back then we only had about fifteen members in the books, and about seven us that paid dues regularly. 

Seeing the montly rental on more than one occasion, we never had enough to even cover that.  Walther's was more than accomodating in letting us stay there pretty much rent free.  They also didn't do us a ton of favors if/when we requested ideas for incorporating their newest structures into the layout.  We almost always got turned down. 

The cab system was a pretty ingenius system back when it was conceived.  You basically had four cabs (red, yellow, blue, and green), that plugged into the fascia via a RCA plug.  That connected to the actual power pack in the CTC room and was run by a pulley like system.  The dispatcher set the routes via cab color. 

A couple of us younger guys started to push for DCC in around 1998, and rewired the little used branch line for either DC or DCC use.  We were met with great resistance with the President.  In fact, he was the club's greatest resistance in just about everything.  He and Bob Sherman (pictured) are probably the two members that are the remaining ones. Myself and one of the other guys would go in on Saturdays and Sundays, to retouch the scenery, re-wire, put in new structures, etc., just to avoid confrontation.  We saw the writing on wall even back then if the club didn't turn it around quickly.  Some of that scenery is seen in the first picture of that article, which is kind of nice to know wasn't removed after I left.

It was a nice club that kept me in the hobby through college, and I wish I had been able to get up there for the "going away" party.  Unfortunately, the club didn't advertise itself enough, and politics kind of killed it.

[JDouglasFisher]

Lets put it this way, my experience with a club started out well, but ended in a witch hunt centered around me. Ever since then, I've decided that I'll never join a club ever again, despite some good friends trying to encourage me otherwise.

My opinion (and I know its not fair to paint all clubs like this) is that clubs are run by people who seek power but cannot make it in the real world of politics.

When I own a home, will I participate in a round robin group? absolutely.... but in terms of joining a group, paying dues, and surrendering my rights to that of an agreed to mafiocracy? That will never happen again.

I get very bitter when the topic of clubs comes about because of my past experience. The only exception to the idea would be some sort of modular group where the members take home their modules after a day of operating, and they themselves decide the level of their involvement.

What I went through was nothing short of McCarthyism and although the experience prepared me very well for later experiences in the political world, the fact remains, this is supposed to be a hobby, not some secret order of the specially ordained.

Don't look to me for sympathy in regards to another failed club. I don't feel sorry.

J.