Reaching – and teaching – newcomers
TL;DR: SIGs are specialized by definition, so their regular publications must appeal mostly to those with particular interests and/or experience, not primarily to newbies. But both the OpSIG and LDSIG reach out to newcomers in additional ways.
==
As a member and contributor to both OpSIG and LDSIG, I have a few thoughts on my friend Joe’s editorial – OpSIG comments in this post; and LDSIG in a second. Reaching and teaching newcomers is an important part of both SIG’s goals.
Hobby institutions, especially those operated by volunteers, are easy targets for criticism – and nobody’s perfect, so it never hurts to consider these comments and suggestions. Fundamentally, all SIGs appeal to specialized audiences by definition – that’s why they exist. In order to stay viable long-term, the OpSIG must keep offering its existing members ideas that stimulate and educate them. And that means that a significant portion of each issue of the Dispatcher’s Office (DO) must include new ideas, techniques, and approaches.
If the magazine catered solely (or even primarily) to newcomers, they would soon know the fundamentals and drop their memberships because the magazine was “too basic.” At one time, the DO included a regular column called “Back to Basics” which was targeted to newcomers. For example, I wrote an article describing staging back in 2012. But I have been told that it wasn’t a popular column among OpSIG members.
I think it’s important to note that most of the authors for the OpSIG (and LDSIG) are SIG members. They are motivated to write on topics that interest themselves – which are less likely to be articles for total beginners. Unlike commercial publications like MRH, SIGs don’t have the budget to pay authors.
To draw a comparison, three skills that almost every model railroader needs to learn are soldering, cutting flextrack to length, and ballasting. But how often do articles describing those tasks for a newcomer appear in MRH (or MR or RMC?). In every issue? In every 12th issue? Probably not … because most of those publications’ target audiences already know those skills.
Instead, there are standalone books published by Kalmbach and others with instruction for the newbie. This is true for operations and layout design, too, with Tony Koester’s Realistic Model Railroad Operation and John Armstrong’s Track Planning for Realistic Operation. The OpSIG’s own Compendium of Model Railroad Operations is a big investment in time and money for the reader, but includes much relatively accessible information (like my own chapter on designing for ops).
It’s important to note that the OpSIG reaches out to newcomers in other ways. There are Primer and "Ops 101" pages on their site – which I think are worth noting in respect to OpSIG resources for beginners. OpSIG members have access to the Callboard program, which offers connections to operating layouts for guest operators to visit. Many of these layout owners open at least some of their sessions to newcomers. The OpSIG also offers clinics at regional and national events: for example, my own Quick and Easy Start to Operations ( slides and handouts for a number of my clinics here).
At many local events, like the upcoming PCR-NMRA/LDSIG Bay Area Meet and the Tulsa Design and Operations Weekend, volunteers open their layouts to guest operators. Many of these sessions welcome newcomers to ops – or are even offered specifically to newbies. I organized many such sessions on Rick Fortin’s fabulous ATSF Fourth District layout over the years. Newbies are paired with an experienced mentor from the regular crew to help them understand the train operating instructions, car-card-and-waybills, etc. Everyone enjoys themselves.
Joe F. has often mentioned that people learn in different ways (paraphrasing): some by watching or reading, some by hearing, and many by doing. I’ll suggest that pairing newcomers with an experienced mentor in actual operating sessions is one of the very best ways to introduce folks to operations.
If Joe and MRH would like to contribute to reaching and teaching newcomers, I think there may be an interesting opportunity over the longer term. See the next post for more.