From the Dome Car: Train 12 Track 3 (March-April, 2003)

 

Have you ever had an open house for your layout? I did it a number of times for my previous layout, including for Winnipeg Model Railroad Club layout hops and three national or regional conventions. In this Dome Car, I talk about the benefits of open houses—you have incentive to get things done—and how to do effective crowd control. (Coloured sticks—simple!) It was written with the Maple Leaf NMRA convention in mind; more on that in a future Dome Car. 

There's a lot of frenzied activity going on in the Toronto area these days. Throughout the region, model railroaders who are involved with Maple Leaf 2003 are preparing to welcome hundreds of visitors to their layouts. Suddenly, July, 2003 doesn't seem that far away anymore, considering all the projects they want to get done before the tour buses pull up at their homes. There's scenery to finish, track to lay, wiring to complete and a host of other big and small projects that need to be done. It can seem very intimidating! 

I remember my own experience in 2000, when Winnipeg hosted the NMRA Thousand Lakes region convention. Boy, did I get a lot done in the months preceding that event! At one point, though, it almost ceased to feel like a hobby and more like work as I rushed to complete various scenes before the big day arrived. 

But the end result was well worth it; I suddenly found time to complete tasks that I had been putting off for months. When it was over, I had a better-looking and better-running layout. 

The experience taught me a few lessons about holding an open house. First, I discovered that they are a good way to help me get things done. Every now and then I will call up friends and arrange for them to come over in a week or two. It helps motivate me to clean the track, fix that pesky switch, finish a scene or just get all the junk off the layout. If you've been delaying finishing something on your layout, invite some people over; it's a great motivational tool! 

It also taught me something about crowd control. My layout room can handle about eight people comfortably. What to do when 30 people descend at the same time? 

I used a system of eight coloured sticks; if you had a stick, you could come in. Upon leaving, visitors gave their stick to someone waiting in the rec room. It was a self-regulating way of controlling the number of people who could view the layout, and nobody abused the system by over-staying their visit. 

People waiting to view the layout gathered in the rec room, where they could watch a video, read a photocopied description of my layout or look through an album of my layout photos. 

Finally, I learned to make my layout visitor friendly. Although I asked a friend to run the trains so I would be free to talk to visitors, the fact is I couldn't answer everyone's questions. So I made captions that described various aspects of my layout and taped them to the fascia. 

For example, there were descriptions of my scenery methods, what kinds of weeds I used for trees, the role of the staging yards, how towns are switched, etc.

 

Inside this issue you will find other valuable tips about holding an open house from Ron Bareham—things that can make it go more smoothly for you and for your visitors.

If you haven't held an open house, I encourage you to do so. Your layout doesn't have to big, and it doesn't have to be finished; people like to see works in progress. By seeing what your benchwork looks like, or how you support your mountains, they can learn things they can use on their own layouts. And, as a benefit, you will end up with a shorter 'to do' list! 

Have fun and we'll see you in the next issue!