I serve on the Board of Directors for the Historic Orient-Santa Fe Railway Museum in San Angelo, Texas. We have several model layouts representing various scales, a railway history museum, and several pieces of rolling stock all located in/at the 1915 KCMO depot in San Angelo. At our Board meeting last night, I suggested one way we could expand our sphere of service to the community would be by establishing a family model railroad organization/club, starting from scratch, in a large room in our museum. Not surprisingly, the Board was enthused, and there appears to be significant interest from parents and kids to community leaders. Great ! Yes, but as I have volunteered to undertake the development of this concept, I am writing your organization for advice, ideas, and suggestions on how to get started.

We do not have any other model railroad club in the community, nor any hobby shops that might assist. We do have the interest of about 25 families and other folks, so that is where we will be starting from.

I would greatly appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible as we would like to plant the seeds for this community centered idea before kids go back to school in the fall.

My sincere thanks for any information you could get to me.

Bruce McLaren
3214 Timber Ridge Drive
San Angelo, TX 76904


bmclarenuwcv@yahoo.com

> I serve on the Board of Directors for the
> Historic Orient-Santa Fe Railway Museum in
> San Angelo, Texas. We have several model
> layouts representing various scales, a
> railway history museum, and several pieces
> of rolling stock all located in/at the 1915
> KCMO depot in San Angelo. At our Board
> meeting last night, I suggested one way we
> could expand our sphere of service to the
> community would be by establishing a family
> model railroad organization/club, starting
> from scratch, in a large room in our museum.
> Not surprisingly, the Board was enthused,
> and there appears to be significant interest
> from parents and kids to community leaders.
> Great !

Bruce,

Being involved in the industry, it sounds like a fine idea to me. You might want to contact the following organizations to see what sort of assistance and/or advice is available:

National Model Railroad Association
http://www.nmra.org/
The NMRA is the dominant organization of participants in the hobby.

Model Railroad Industry Association
http://www.mria.org/
MRIA is the major trade association.

World's Greatest Hobby
http://www.greatesthobby.com/
A hobby promotion group sponsored by some of the major players in the industry.

All three organizations should have materials to help you get the project off the ground, and I believe the WGH has a speakers bureau.

Good Luck

Dennis Storzek

dstorzek@elnet.com