So as of the time of me writing this, the local train club I'm a part of has just finished up our annual module show at the mall for this year. The turnout was great with many people through the door, and the club got quite a bit in donations and/or requests for applications to join the NMRA. This makes 3 years now that we've been setup at this location, and for the most part it's been good. We had a couple setbacks this year in regards to insurance, mainly due to lack of communication between the mall owners and the NMRA. Still, we were able to setup before Black Friday and were open every Friday and Saturday up until December 27th.
That all said though, this year I noticed some concerning issues in regards to the G scale setup, of which I hold the responsibility of running, as all the models are from my own personal collection. I've been reluctant to bring the matter up with the train club, as I'm not exactly sure how to approach the situation, nor do I want to cause any conflict among the members. The issue at hand is unfortunately, young children and/or irresponsible parents. Now I want to make it clear, I'm not one to flip out anytime one of my trains is touched by a child. I'm not that kind of person, but like many modelers out there I'm sure, I've invested a lot of time and money into what I have, and don't want anything getting damaged. In previous years it's always been an issue of the occasional child doing something they're not supposed to be, but I can report the parents have addressed the matter and taken charge. However, this year it honestly seemed like there were more problems than we've had in the last 2 years combined.
Opening weekend we had a situation where I was not present at that moment, and the setup was basically running itself for the time being. Because of that, members running the modular layout nearby were watching the setup for me. A mother came in with 2 toddlers, and basically let them do whatever. Aside from them messing around with the G scale figures/accessories and other trains, the young boy also took the cover off one of my locos that was sitting in a siding, and for whatever reason tried pulling the DCC electronics out. One of the club members shouted when he noticed what was happening, and the mother just grabbed her kids and left without saying or doing anything. Thankfully nothing was damaged and the model still worked, but I honestly can't believe that given the circumstances, someone could be that irresponsible and have little to no respect for someone else's property.
In addition to that one occurrence, there were several other incidents regarding the G scale setup during the past month. I'm not going to go into every little detail, but I'll summarize some of the other issues that occurred. There were a few kids who touched the tracks and got bit by the power system, a number of times kids were stepping on or over the tracks, and there were a couple kids messing with the trains which were off to the inside. There were also a couple cases where the trains that were running got derailed or knocked off because of kids touching them. I can even report that someone (unknown who) apparently messed with the control system at one point.
Because of the number of issues that went down with the G scale setup this year, it honestly got me thinking and trying to come up with a solution on how to rectify these problems. Other members and myself already have signs all around our layouts asking people not to touch the trains, and yet apparently that's not enough to get the point across. In all actuality, it really seems like people just don't care. I understand, it's really not the child's fault, as they're young, and it's the parents responsibility to explain to them that they cannot touch. However, it honestly feels like parents don't want to be parents, and instead just let their kids do whatever they very well please.
As mentioned before, I worry about my models getting damaged by a child who is not properly supervised. My C-19 is a good example of a model that I was fortunate enough to get, and likely cannot replace. It was a $1,700 model that I was lucky to only pay $600 for back in 2018. Yes, if a detail part gets knocked off, a little bit of glue can put it back in place. However, what if a child damages it and breaks something such as the valve gear? I then have to send the model to Bachmann and pay the shipping, plus also pay the $125 service fee, and the additional cost of parts. That's money I really don't want to spend because of someone else's negligence.
Another concerning issue is one that I've already mentioned happening this year. Kids have touched the track and gotten bit by the power running through them. My big worry is the possibility of this happening to where the child bursts out crying, and then momma bear gets angry, throwing all the blame back on the train club for her little darling being hurt. Not to mention that if something happens and depending on the severity of the matter, the mall could potentially prohibit the club from setting up there anymore. Then if something should happen and it's my setup that causes said problem, I really don't want the club to kick me out because I'm seen as a liability.
All things considered, I've been throwing around the idea of trying isolated the G scale setup to where kids and/or the general public have less access to the trains. This is where I have concerns about bringing the matter up with the club, as again, I don't want to cause a disturbance within the division. Looking online I've found that placing barriers around layouts at shows seems to really divide people within and outside of the hobby. Some people say that putting up barriers is necessary to protect layouts from damage, while others see it as discouraging, especially to young children. From what some are saying, kids see barriers around the trains and/or layouts, and to them that sends the message of, "Go away, keep out, you're not welcome." Other people go on to say that this sort of activity is unacceptable, as it's does not help invite others to pursue the hobby. To quote one person, "If model railroad shows continue to display layouts like this, then it's a fantastic way to kill off your so called AMAZING HOBBY". While I can somewhat agree with what people are saying, at the same time I can't really say I blame those who just want to protect their models and/or layouts.
After reading through a lot of back and forth on the subject of putting up barriers around layouts at shows, it honestly feels like more of a Catch 22 situation. Do you have everything out in the open so the public can engage with it, or put up barriers and kill off the hobby? It just seems like a lose/lose either way. I've always displayed G scale on the floor for simplicity sake, and have never bothered with putting up barriers of any kind, but I'm starting to think that just can't be done anymore. People don't pay attention to the signs that are placed all around the layouts, and instead just do whatever they want. Again, I'm not trying to throw the blame on children at these shows, as all the responsibly falls back on the parents who are grown adults and should know better.
While doing some looking online, I did find that another neighboring train club in my area has a similar setup with their G scale, however they have everything roped off with Christmas lights. Another thing they do differently is that instead of allowing people to walk all around it, access is limited to only 2 sides. I'm sure this setup could still have issues, but perhaps it would send a clearer message that the area where the trains run is out of bounds? Not only that, I feel it's less of an obstruction compared to something such as clear acrylic panels. I was kind of thinking that if my local club is setup in the same location next year, the best option would be to move everything into the far back corner, with a 10' walkway to the one side. The hope would be that this setup would still allow the public access to view the trains, but at a safe distance without the risk of damage to property or person.
I'm looking for advice from other modelers out there who may have displayed their G scale at events such as this, and how they go about it. Maybe someone also has an idea about how I can bring this topic up with the train club without it causing any trouble. I understand, I'm probably throwing around a lot of "what ifs?" in this post, but these days we live in such a crazy, mixed up world, that anything is possible. Again, I don't want to see any of my models get damaged, anyone get hurt, and/or the division get a bad reputation after something goes wrong. I'm sure there's probably some modelers out there that will say the easiest solution is to just not have the G scale setup at this event anymore, and maybe they're right. Still, I feel like even that approach would have a negative effect to some degree. Anyways, I'm curious to hear what others have to say, and what advice they have to offer. I'm kind of at a loss at this time.
-Mr. Plow
elevate the layouts to childs eye level...
put the floor "posts" and plastic chain or webbing between them, making the layout just out of reach.
Kids don't think about "that is not welcoming", kids are kids and live in the here and now.
Some are well brought up, some are not. If you really feel there is a need for hands on, put a small oval on the floor, buy a few eggliners, let them circulate, you can add some 2 axle aftermarket cars to go with the eggliners...
Plow Bender
It has been a while since I have seen your name pop up in the train forums.
I think you have pretty well listed every pro and con of public display of model railroading. In my opinion there is no single answer to your issues but some things just have to be done no matter what "people say" and those people saying things usually have no horse in the race.
Our local Garden RR Club here in Southern Oregon has put on a Christmas train show for the 3rd year in the local mall. We rent a vacant store front and decorate the whole place for Christmas. Last year we had over 20,000 visitors, don't have the door count yet for this year. WE Open Black Friday and close on New Years Eve, we are open during all Mall open hours, can be a tough schedule to keep.
We have experienced almost everything you mention, but have learned to cope.
We always have a large G scale display on the floor and it is only accessible from one or sometimes two sides. It is ALWAYS roped off with Christmas lights/garland, no matter what. Not only from children but from adults that just have to get that perfect picture.
The modular layout is elevated at about 42 inches high with no barriers of any kind.
All other displays are also unprotected.
We always have 3-4 members in club colors and also couple in plain cloths with name tags circulating and interacting with guests. It keeps problems at a minimum.
Good luck sorting it out
Rick
I would only run club equipment, not personal treasures that cannot be replaced, in a public display. and Barriers are a must IMHO weather it is n scale or g scale. you need to eliminate any possibility of folks being shocked from track voltage.
PB, Since I did 33 years with the Army I have a lot of experience with many clubs. If your club members are not OK with providing locos and rolling stock I think it is basically unfair to you in that your equipment is subject to abuse form the public, and locos and rolling stock get run to death, and may suffer damage from derailments. I sense that you are the one who always does the planning and oversees everything during and after display. I get it that you have frustrations and concerns.
I have seen this with some of my past clubs. So here are what I consider are some of the best practices:
One of the best I was in had co-chairs appointed to oversee the shows allowing some down time and new ones were appointed for the next year before the current show started. The best one set up two hour or as needed windows for members to bring a train. This was good since members were also expected to show up anyway. Some were thus willing to show off one of their best fancy locomotives and rolling stock and do more that one consecutive window. On the floor layouts the best had the area roped off and at least one member outside the roped off area. One of the best had a small oval additional layout with a controller connected to allow kids to run the trains, The control area was marked and provided for a line of kids awaiting a turn to run with a time set based on the length of the line, and the parent had to be with the child. On modular displays with plastic fronts on them one club roped off anyway but fairly close to optimize viewing. This was even true for two of my HO modular club layouts. I was also in some where the onsite members spent their time running others members trains barely paying attention, and mostly sitting around bulls****ing. One of my clubs bought (or members donated) locomotives and rolling stock to use only for shows, To me this was the absolutely best way to do it and still allowed members to bring their fancy item to put on show in a window. There was very little to buy. one of the best had business cards with club info to give to serious inquiries, and also application form for members and collected dues up front allowing checks or cash.
So what to do:
Prepare a proposal to present to the club officers based on the above best practices to the maximum extent possible. They will no doubt have suggestions and opinions. Strongly support the best practices they accept but do not agree to accept responsibility for running the show every year. If they refuse then let them know that you just cant do it alone anymore and walk away. If they agree to it put it to the members as the new way of doing things or put it to a vote of the members if bylaws or procedures require. Then step away and donate and participate. If nobody steps up to do the show the just accept that your club no longer wants to do a show.
I am a strong believer in doing shows and promoting the hobby. If you decide to do a proposal just send me a PM and I will be glad to review it before you present it.
Many of our forum members will have great suggestions, so be sure to check them all out before acting on anything.
So best of luck to you with your club.
Happy New Year and Cheers and Beers to all forum members.
Bill
Post signs "YOU BREAK IT. YOU BOUGHT IT"
Greg is right. Put the railroad on some kind of elevation (tables) and put up some kind of barrier (ropes) to keep people a arms length. The San Diego Garden Railway has done the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar, CA for a number of years and we have had very little problem with doing this. The Fair is more than happy to have us there and keeps making sure we come back.
The people that come to the Fair love the display and some of them come back several time. I remember one young kid came back almost ever day.
James
Before I get to my post, I do want to take a moment to apologize, as it's damn near 2 months later that I'm getting back to this. That said though, some things have gone on since then, and I have taken the time to read through everyone's replies. I wrote down notes from everyone's contributions and presented them at the January train club meeting, which was well received. Our superintendent and treasure reported that the 2025 show generated a lot of traffic through the door and donations were good as well. That said, we are looking at possibly setting up next year, if the mall can find room for us. I'll talk about this more in a bit.
Getting back to everyone's posts, I liked a lot of ideas people brought up. One of the biggest ones was roping things off, which is something that while I was unsure about at first, I feel more confident about this decision now. Rick brought up about using Christmas lights and garland to rope off the area, and only having it accessible from one or two sides. One of the neighboring train club's in my area actually does something similar, and from what one of the members has told me, it seems to do the job. This is something I'm definitely taking into consideration. While some people brought up about putting everything on tables, I don't necessarily want to go that route. I've always set up on the floor for convenience sake, and don't really want to mess with folding tables, as that's more stuff I have to drag in and out during setup and tear down, not to mention the cost of buying however many I need for a large setup.
I noticed Greg also mentioned that if there is really a need for hands on, he recommended putting a small oval of track out and have something running on it. One of the club members actually did something similar to that with an older O gauge train set that he picked up at a yard sale. He just had a simple oval running around in one of the corners, which was popular with the kids. Perhaps this is something the club should look into doing for 2026 as well. The setup doesn't necessarily need to be G scale I don't think, but an inexpensive O gauge set that the kids can interact with might be the way to go. I certainly wouldn't try any scale smaller than that for what should be obvious reasons.
With all that said, I presented the information I wrote down to the club at the January meeting, and members agreed that considering the circumstances, the G scale setup should be partially isolated from the public. Our treasurer made the point too that being I provide my own track and equipment, and other members have the "privilege" to run their models on my setup as well, that I should have the final say in how the G scale is managed. No one was opposed to this, and some members also brought up that they feel the show itself needs to be managed a little better by the club. One of the members was very blunt with our superintendent that he felt there was not enough help with this year's show. We had a couple times where only about 3 people were present to run everything. To explain, our setup for 2025 consisted of the HO scale modular layout, N scale modular layout, an N scale loop, G Scale loop, and the O gauge which was previously mentioned.
With the HO modular, you can easily have at least 2-3 people running the main line, with a couple others switching at the industries. Both N scale setups basically run themselves, same could be said for O gauge, but that doesn't mean they should be unattended. G scale is also setup where multiple people can run, but can also be operated by a single person if necessary. Most times however, only 2 people were really running the modular layout, N scale and O gauge were on their own, and either myself or someone else was running G scale. Like one of the members brought up, we were short handed this year. The club talked about wanting to have at least one person running each layout, along with a couple other members walking around and talking to the public. Unfortunately, the problem we have with making that happen is that some of our members only want to show up when it's convenient for them. It's understandable that everyone has a life outside of model railroading (depending who you ask), but if you're going to be part of a club, then you need to be willing to assist your fellow club members.
Later on in the meeting, our Treasure shifted the discussion to whether the club wanted to setup at the mall again this year or not. Both he and the one member mentioned earlier were very clear that if we do setup, everyone needs to be on board and can work around their schedules to help. All members voted yes, though whether that actually happens is yet to be seen. As I mentioned before, no one is opposed to the measures which are to be put in place with the G scale setup, and I've got several ideas in mind, depending what happens. I'm already aware that we will not be in the same location for 2026, as the store is now in the process of being occupied by another retailer.
All things considered, I think we're on the right track as it pertains to the G scale setup and the matter of this years show. The mall has stated that they want us to come back, and if the club can coordinate and make that happen, then I think we're golden. I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and also, Bill for given his advice on how to present the matter to the club. At the time of writing this, the February meeting is almost upon us.
-Mr. Plow
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