I have done op sessions on several On30, HO and N scale layouts, a few of which have been in the model train mags.
Generally, a privately-owned layout should treat newbies well. That's always been my experience. The owners don't want the rep of being a jerk to new people, because it scares off people to share the layout with and in the end, they wouldn't run op sessions at all if they didn't want people to come.
Now, clubs? Totally different. I've gone to a few and have had the, "Hey,howyadoing,juststandinthecorner,anddon'tbugnobody" response. In fact, most treated me like that.
It's the primary reason why I don't take part in club stuff and never will. I've generally had a bad experience with most over the years, as my experience has been it's their club, you're intruding and they want to maintain the status quo.
