I do have both. The main

I do have both. The main reason is I have no space for 300' of mainline at home and others to help do the parts I hate. 

Plus I like arguing with people about trivial topics. Really a requirement for dealing with other humans

"These are the Jokes"

politics

Yoho

Well I agree with the 300 ft mainline and while politics may be a no no here it is not a no no at our club.LOL

                                                                                            Ray

Sort of Both

I belong to a modular club, and while we travel to different areas for train show exhibitions, I still desire to have a home layout. I am building several modules that can perform dual duties as both home and club modules, and fit in with either one. Our club also has loose rules, so anything goes as far as scenery and equipment. We have two rented rooms at a church where the layout resides between shows and can be set up at 16 feet by 30 feet in a "U" shape.

The more rigid rules would actually be on my future home layout where there are specific scenes from my chosen prototype railroads, and strict adherence to the transition era time line. Thanks to belonging to the club, I can receive assistance with the electronics part of the hobby, and weathering and detailing that I was unable to do alone. I also just enjoy hanging out with like minded people, and we all get along quite well and have great enjoyment running our trains. Jim.

Jim Sounds like if you had

Jim

Sounds like if you had the space your modules could do dual service. While our club is 1985 and my home is steam I can't justify some of my steam. I have some large steamers like B&O 2-8-8-4 EM1 and  Clinchfield challenger.The club also allows 30 car trains. My home trains are probably 10-12 cars pulled by consolidations.  The club also allows  me the luxury of more modern diesels like a pair of Conrail C630s.It also allows me to have some large steam fantasy engines at the club. Do you have different era equipment  or stick to the transition era  ?     

 C630s  

Maybe at some point

With my schedule, I'd really have to pick one or the other, but for me it's home at this point.  When I have time I can just go downstairs and do something, especially if that is at 10pm on a Saturday night.  I looked at joining a club this past winter, but I would have only been able to make one of their monthly meetings.  I don't think that is good for the club or for me, so until I can commit time to a club, I won't be joining one.  Maybe in retirement.

Both

I do both and have for many years.  The club is 1958 era and home is 1905.  Thus I get to do some mdeling in both ofmy eras of interest.  In addition, the club provides a social activity for me.

Howard Garner

Dave I  am fortunate  to be

Dave I  am fortunate  to be retired so I have extra time and live only 15 minutes from the club.If I had to choose it would be the home layout, but only if  you have the room. We do have many members  that show up very little.

1985...

You mean there were no steam excursion trains in 1985?

What a sad year for railroading.

I only have a home layout... I haven't joined a club. I would want something like the S Scale guys in my area have, where it's a modular club, and each persons does their own era, or thing (I love going to their museum at the mall, as you will see all these serious modules, and then a couple of modules with super heroes, then serious modules... etc...)

I would want a club where I could do an Old West module in HO, and they would be okay with it, even if they are doing a different era.

If it isn't fun, then it doesn't belong in my model railroading.

Right now, my joy is making my own layout, and running how I like, and then visiting the various model railroad museums in town, and enjoying what they are doing.

Both, but...

I'm in a club, and I'm building a layout at home. I joined the club before I started on the home layout. I thought the club might be enough to scratch my model railroading itch and I didn't have the time or space to build a layout, or so I thought. Turned out the club just helped to rekindle the flames, and I decided to just forge ahead with a layout, space or not, time or not. Now, I'm deep into layout building at home, and its getting harder and harder to dedicate two nights a week and one or two Saturday op sessions a month to model railroading. 

Randy

I am in a club and will be

I am in a club and will be building a home layout as well, might be right after a new house. I plan on both as the guys in the club have become very good friends. It is a compromise layout as it needed to fit the ideas of many. It does allow me to run long trains. So far the longest that I ran reliably was 187 cars in length.

For me eras will be the same and so will equipment. Big difference between club and home will be a generic location vs free lancing a real place. Another difference will be the change from several towns to part of one metro area at home.

As to the politics in the club we all have our own thoughts on things regarding nearly everything. With this bunch of guys we are able to enter into discussions that folks feel strongly about and have differing opinions but still we are all good friends at the end of the day.

I will list an example with out going into too much detail. One of my friends and I have very different views on some topics and can express very strong opinions regarding those views. If he were to call me in the middle of the night and say Rob I have just had a serious water leak in my house can you come help me, I would be leaving in minutes to come to his aid and bringing the needed tools. I would have no problem with a similar response from him or the other guys if the need were the other way around.

I have always felt that this group was a great bunch of guys that have the ability to be open and honest with each other and not let differences stand in the way of friendship. It seems that we all have embraced the big tent idea and realize that we are a group of individuals that have model railroading in common.

Ray, I think the OP meant...........

................club politics, not national politics, which are just as bad, if not worse!  It's the reason I never joined any club after one or two visits.  Why can't we all just get along?

Home layout for me.  My "club" are forums like these where we share ideas and help without any "politics" (mostly!).

Peter

Home and Club.  The home

Home and Club.  The home layout is a small switcher. So, as with many others, long trains only run on the club layout.  

The club also provides a social activity that is focused around the hobby. 

gs

steam photo

Warfight

What do you think the 4-8-4 is for ? Do you model S gauge at home?  

Rob

Rob

I was thinking of you as I was composed this. Seeing your photos you like me like everything that runs on rails and as you mentioned on another post we have very similar tastes. I also agree while there are many philisophical differences  among my  friends we are good friends and help each other without givin git a second thought.  Making friends is one of the big benifits of club membership especially with the demise of many of the local hobby shops.

                                                                                                                      Ray.

Club - Been there, done that

And I would never do it again.

Too many members only interested in BS'ing, not in working. Too many critics, not enough initiative. Some had no respect for other members tools or equipment. Any progress was due to the efforts of a small core group. I got tired spending my time and money making these clowns look good. When the club lost its lease, most of these jerks were nowhere to be found to dismantle the layouts. After this experience I basically left the hobby for 13 years.

Just so no one thinks this is a case of grumpy old men with no social skills, the demographics of the club were good, with a few members in their 30s and the majority between 40 and 65. There were only a handfull of members over 65. There was no correlation with age when it came to participation.

Stick with a home layout, and choose those who share it wisely.

Jerry

If you go into a club

If you go into a club expecting everyone to want to get out the same things you do, it will be a disappointment. 

Typically, in any reasonably large club, you're going to have your workers, the people that enjoy working on the layout. The runners, the guys that pay the dues just to have a place to reliably run trains and the Jawers. People for whom it is a social club.

Our dues are $20 a month. The attitude we take is that everyone who pays in their dues and shows up for the required number of meetings is a member in good standing and they can spend their time as they see fit.

There are some cases where we push. Cleaning up and being present at shows are 2 where we insist people show up and participate. Our shows are written into the bylaws as commitments and we will push on that. And even the people sitting around talking contribute to filth, so they must all participate in clean up...but beyond that, a love of trains, modelling and $20 a month is all you need.

And sure, those of us that like to work on the layout may grouse...especially if a runner complains about something, but hey, $20 helps pay the rent and we wouldn't have anything to work on if we didn't pay the rent.

I am a lone wolf, not against

I am a lone wolf, not against clubs just never had the experience with one. They are starting a club in my area (Portland, Maine) but they dont have a space yet. I'll wait till things are more solid before diving in.

I like Warfight's thoughts of mixing serious and nonserious. If my kids want to have dinosaurs and aliens on my home layout so be it. As long as they are hangingout with me I dont mind one bit.

Ray you got that right. I was

Ray you got that right. I was referring to any kind of politics, club based or national or local. Same with religion or any of the other topics that many folks are afraid to talk about. Nothing is off limits however thinking adults understand that not everyone needs to agree with them and can have a different view, for what ever reason they choose. No reason not to be friends with those folks.

As to some guys doing more work than others we have that. There is also a good reason for that, not everyone can do the work! I for one do not mind that myself and my friend Paul do most of the construction work. Many of the other guys do not have the skill set to do these tasks so it is better to do it right than twice. We have an electrical engineer in the club and an electrician and in their field we follow their lead.

Not everyone can do plumbing or roofing or carpentry just to name a few things. We try and have folks work to their strengths and comfort levels. We also try to share and teach skills to others so they may get more out of the hobby.

One of our members made the comment in a meeting that for some guys all they could do was pay dues. If that is the case we are glad to have them as members and will not expect more out of them than that and good manners.

Dinosaurs!

Pugatch, I couldn't agree more.  One of my best memories is of my kids running trains around on a 7' x 7' front porch layout.  My 6-year-old son ran the trains, and my 4-year-old daughter filled the hopper cars with her plastic dinosaurs!  We had such fun with that little layout.

Later I joined the NMRA, took that layout down, made it mobile, and set it up at NMRA shows with my kids.  We still ran the dinosaurs.  Through that we joined a modular club and built two modules.  I later left the club to focus on my home layout, but my son is still an active member.  We also run trains monthly on one of the member's layouts.

For everything, there is a season. 

S Gauge

No... I model HO. I just like going to the S Gauge museum, talking to those guys, and watching their stuff run.

I thought of modeling S Gauge once, but then realized that my sanity is on a precarious edge as it is, so why push it? S Gauge modeler are made of sterner stuff than I... and I can freely admit that.

Era

Ray, I stick to the transition era for my own use, but I did end up with an Athearn GP38-2 in Union Pacific paint scheme, similar to the 1:1 scale locomotives I operate on the job at U.P., and it was too good of a deal to leave on the shelf at a thrift store, $20.00  for the locomotive and five cars, three of the cars were also too modern for my transition era.

I also have some of the modern cars I have received as gifts, so the more modern equipment can be operated at the club. If I would have to pick an era for the club layout, I would set it around the 1970-1985 Era, since there are no brand new modern type structures, and with tight curves, four axle diesels are the most prevalent models operating on the layout.

I would like to run most of my big steam models like Mountain types and EM-1s  and 2-10-2 models, but it's more of a hassle than it's worth on the club layout, because of derailment issues with the big steamers. I even sold two 2-10-2 models, and two 4-8-2 heavy mountain models, because they couldn't get around the club layout even once without derailing. So I only run small 2-8-2, or 2-8-0 or 2-6-0 models on the club modular layout to avoid derailment issues.

Rob Amen

Rob

Amen

BOTH and for different reasons

I graduated college in 1982 and moved to a pretty small town.  Very soon after moving there I was lucky enough to cross paths with a group of guys that were talking about starting up a model railroad club (we met at a yard sale that had model trains on the sign!).  As with the usual story I had put the trains away sometime in high school and hadn't even thought about model railroading for years, but the yard sale sign caught my eye and I stopped.  Almost 36 years later I am still in the club and we are still going strong.

We have a nice large layout; probably don't run it as much as we should, and many weeks we just shoot the bull and then go eat pizza.  But at this point its the friendships and common interests that I find appealing.  I have recently moved into a new house and will be starting my 4th home layout so my desire to build and model is covered at home and my desire to be involved with others in the hobby is covered at the club.  I was very involved in the building of the club layout years ago, but I don't much on the layout at the club anymore, I leave that to others that are still eager to work there, mostly because they don't have a layout at home.

One thing you have to understand to be able to enjoy any club is that not everyone will have the same modeling skills but they deserve the right to work on the layout and will hopefully get better over time.  We have everything from the modeler who custom details, paints and weathers awesome looking models to the modeler who thinks cotton wads coming out of the smokestacks on a steam locomotive look awesome.  And they both get run at open houses.

Craig

well said

Craig

Well said

I think that most of the posts identified many of the same reasons. Thanks all