Thursday, October 30, 2008

How Model Railroading Clubs Can Help With Your New Hobby

By Bill Murphy

If you're familiar with any hobbies, you likely know that many hobbies have associated clubs at which you can meet people interested in the same thing. This is also the case with model railroading. Around the world, there are hundreds of clubs where train hobbyists can learn from each other and share.

Many of the clubs specialize in various things, as well. Some focus on certain scales while others focus on prototyping real life railroads with their layouts. Regardless of their focus, however, they all have one thing in common - their love for the hobby, and the desire to share it and improve it.

Most experienced and inexperienced model railroad enthusiasts will find they will learn a lot by joining a club. Likewise, if you are experienced, newer members would be happy to learn a lot from you.

There are many sources online for model railraods, and many popular railroading clubs, some of which include:

www.tfs.net/~jashaw/rrclubs/clubs.html rcsource.hobbypeople.net/link/train001.htm www.archaeolink.com/model_railroads.htm

Whether you're interested in protoyping real-world railway lines, collecting antique or hard-to-find equipment, or just setting up a simple layout to enjoy with your kids, you'll find a club that will suit your needs.

Many clubs set up displays at county fairs and other exhibitions, so if you're interested in learning more, check with your local club to see if they're going to be doing a demonstration soon.

You'll be able to talk to some of the members in person, and you'll most likely be hooked by the quality of their demonstration layout!

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