Good luck with this.    The younger generations are into touch screen hobby pursuits.   They don;t even know that is not a hobby.  Instant communication and internet in your hand is the most powerful tool humankind ever devised for themselves and it is wasted on false information (propaganda) pumped into the system from anyone with the desire to lie for their own nefarious reasons...   and people talking about their mundane lives and things that no one would have ever, nor should ever care about, like what shoes they just bought or what game they are playing. our world has become full of tuned out people who think they are tuned in.... Our history and the bulk of human knowledge is at everyone's fingertips and it has been rendered a mindless, worthless, disgusting, waste of an incredible machine..!     

The real hands on hobby world is hurting from this phenomenon.   Not sure how to change it, but it is happening all over.  There is what my be the country's OLDEST longest running in the same location Club in Kingston NY... those guys are down to five members in their 60 70's and 80's  one guy drives three hours back there to help out because he afraid to see it fold.   A beautiful old school layout... well done and many lifetimes worth of knowledge to pass on and NOT one new member to get involved...!     Scarry..  !   

 I live in upstate closer to Saratoga.  There used to be clubs in every city around here..  We now have on in Glens Falls... and the rest are down the Hudson Valley and out toward Syracuse and Rochester...  I think you can count all in the entire state on two hands.   

Ya got to find a way to get to the 30 and 40 year old's..  the kids are lost....  No ideas... Good luck.    

Thanks for responding.  There are several clubs on Long Island, maybe eight or nine, we are also competing with a large dcc club that has many (80) members.  We find that most people that we meet who are into model railroading prefer all the bells and whistles of the digital world.  I enjoy dcc also but there is something to be said about a well done, hands on, vintage layout.  I sure hope we can lure some members, it would be a real shame to lose this layout.  Thanks again.  - Steve  Fletcher

I grew up on LI in the 70's thru 90's (still go back a number of times a year) and never knew the club existed! I never saw an ad in the magazines or newspapers like Newsday talking about this club. Other clubs on LI always got a write up. Do you have open houses so people can see it operate? Get donations at the door (not manadatory but many will). 

Maybe you can reach out to Newsday and have them do a little local story about the club. With the holidays coming, I am sure it would be a great story!

Good luck!

Neal

open houses in the 70’s,80’s, 90’s, and 00’s, In fact I became a member in the 80’s because of an open house.  We put ads in Newsday events calendar and  MR and the NMRA Sunrise trail division newsletter.  Some were fairly well attended.  The member that organized all that retired and left.  A short local story in the paper is a good idea, thanks.  You are correct with the holidays coming it looks like an open house is the way to go.  Thanks. - Steve

I attended high school for one year (1977-78) in Stony Brook and one weekend I went along with another student to visit a big model railroad club somewhere on LI. I was lost, so I don't really know where it was. Not sure it was so far east as Rockville Centre, probably a bit further out. 

Sad to say it wasn't a very interesting experience. They were more worried I'd be underfoot than anything else, I think. Somebody parked me on a chair in the corner and said "Don't move, stay right in that chair. See that throttle? You're running that train. Don't touch the throttle." Then they left me to sit for an hour while everyone else ran trains. I never even figured out whether the throttle was actually running anything at all. It was a full-sized prototype throttle lever though.