Starting a modular layout club in Western Pennsylvania

We thought an update to this thread was called for.  In November eight modelers attended kickoff meetings and six participated in building a 'trial run' Christmas event coinciding with the Zelienople, Pa. 'Miracle on Main Street' event this past Thursday, December 4th.  The participants came from various toy and model train backgrounds.  As time was short, we decided to setup as it turned out two layouts using layout tables from members' homes.  We used the Polar Express theme to grab attention with golden tickets, the conductor greeting people at the door, the movie playing in the social hall, served hot chocolate, and ran the Polar Express among other trains both modern and postwar on the layouts.  We were amazed at the response as the photographs show.

Dale is taking the scenery off one of the donated tables.

Wayne is showing Dale his table stored in his garage.

Dale is showing Mark two proposed track plans.

Dale and Mark are removing the last of the old scenery from one of Wayne's two tables.

Nhiem and Wayne laying track.

Dale testing the track and trains while Mark looks on right before show time.

Overall view of the Polar Express/Dickens Village layout.

Overall view of Bryan's layout he moved to the social hall for the event.

We had quite a few visitors as we opened.

At one point, I counted over 40 visitors in the social hall at one time.

Bryan's wife serving hot chocolate to one of the guests.

Unfortunately, we did not get a photograph of Matt dressed as the conductor greeting guests at the door.

We will post more photographs that show closeups of the layouts later.  We had to tear it all down the next day to make way for a wedding reception.   This was certainly a 'one off' setup only because of the time frame.  The tentative plan is to take the time to build some modules of yet-to-be determined design that can be easily setup multiple times.

We plan to meet in January with feedback and kick around ideas for our first real 'modular layout'.  If you have interest and would like more information, the OP Dale's and my contact information are in our profiles.   We are located in Zelienople, Pa north of the I-79/I-76 (Pa Turnpike) interchange.   Thank you for taking a look.

Looks like you accomplished a lot in a short time Mark.

Well done! Congrats!

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Looks like you accomplished a lot in a short time Mark.

Well done! Congrats!

Bob

Thank you, Bob!

Dale and Matt deserve most of the credit.  Wayne, Brian, Nhiem, Elijah, and Bill all did their parts well.  

Great job Mark and all the guys, it looks like fun.

Andy

Thank you from all the gang, Andy!!

All of us were pleased with how well we worked together, the outcome of our layouts, and the crowd that visited.  There were lots of young families and we were pleased with the real interest many had.

Looks like you guys are off to a great start!  I look forward to following your progress.

Andy

Thank you, Andy!  We have already been discussing your suggestions.  Thank you!

Here are the close-up photographs I mentioned the other day.

Mark,

You and your fellow model railroaders are off and running. Your layout is great. Serving hot chocolate is a big plus. Please take care and have a very Merry Christmas.

Jim, Thank you very much from everyone involved. 

Brian suggested the hot chocolate.  He and his wife make real hot chocolate, not the powdered stuff, for wedding receptions and other events.

I missed posting the photograph with Brian in it.  Here he is in the red plaid shirt with his home layout he took down, set it up in the social hall, then moved it all back home.  He is actually fairly new to O gauge trains, having recently inherited a lot of post-war trains, track, accessories, and Dept 56 buildings.  He has really come along.

Guys, that is a strong start.  I'm happy that things went well for you and I look forward to seeing the progress that you make.

Thank you, Tom!  Maybe next time we can get the word out and you can visit in person.

Well done, Mark, Dale and all! You brightened quite a few kid's Christmases. Isn't that what it is all about?

An idea, and I wonder if anyone has tried it: Having modules that convert from summer to winter. It would just take some pre cut white batting and a few well chosen scenic pieces and accessories.

Nice job to everyone involved!  Best wishes for your club as it grows!

@Will posted:

An idea, and I wonder if anyone has tried it: Having modules that convert from summer to winter. It would just take some pre cut white batting and a few well chosen scenic pieces and accessories.

I've been doing it for a while.  The portion of my module behind the road is bare, and I have different 1" pink foam bases that I place over the bare area with the edges and driveways carved down to the road level.  One for my winter scene and one for the rest of the year.  Here is a comparison photo:

This way, I can do different scenes by swapping out the scenery bases or even creating new ones without having to build an entirely new module.

Andy

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...9#157970176336389759

I would like to do that too, Mark!

Thank you, Will, Marty, Andy!  Yes, the concept of different scenery for the same module is a great idea.  I have seen that before, and Andy I didn't realize you were doing that with the 'famous car lot' module!  It looks great in snow!!  I see you have the Lionel house of the hero boy from the Polar Express movie.  I have that house, but it has no snow on the roof.  I experimented with a couple products but didn't like the test results, so we used it with the black shingle roof on the Christmas layout.

I've shared the link to this discussion with the members of our 'yet to be named' club.  That is one of the items we have been kicking around and plan to address in January.  Having a name will help us get the word out, Tom.  The thoughts have been to focus on geographic location, most probably using Zelienople in the name.

The displays look great Mark! Lots of possibilities as mentioned above. Think of all the happiness this will give the local community.

Andy

Thank you Andy.  
I can also report we have an official name.  ‘Model Train Club of Zelienople’

We didn’t want to exclude any scales or gauges of trains, nor exclude any era of trains.  I think the initial modules will be O gauge, but some members have American Flyer, Standard Gauge, and HO.  We can setup static displays of any trains this way.