Here’s a thing, often in the UK there’s a lot of emphasis on being in a model railway club or society for all the benefits and experience you can gain. At the moment I’m only a member of one society, I’ve not been a conventional club member for twenty plus years. Quite a few of my close associates are the same. If I take one of my layouts to a show it’s very common to be asked what club are you from?, and I’m not sure why there’s an assumption that a layout or team is from a club.

It may be part historical that UK exhibitions traditionally have been organised by clubs, therefore if exhibiting you’re probably a club layout or personal layout with a show team made up from club members, as thats the convention. I left club membership after the last one I’d joined closed more than a few years back, but realistically the writing was on the wall before that, as I found for me there wasn’t a great deal of benefit of actually being a member. Now thats not to say that clubs are’t excellent places to learn skills, techniques and immerse yourself in the hobby, they are, especially if you’re new to the game. For me however the independent route works.

Independence works for a good number of my friends too, regardless of whether they are making a small layout or like Simon’s monster Heaton Lodge junction. What works for me is the freedom of not being constrained by a ‘requirement’ to build something that works in a club context, I can swap from scale to scale, era to era etc as and when I desire. Thats a good thing the way I work because it gives me the opportunity to do multiple projects, and also contribute to other external projects too.

An area where the indy route has benefits for me, is in trying new techniques. Above you can see some of the trials I did with AK Interactive acrylic gels to get the right water effect I desired for a river side scene on Shelfie 4. This went through many iterations before I settled on the finish I preferred. I think that process in a club environment would be quite tricky, particularly if spread out over several weeks or in this case with the number of trials I did, it would have been months in a club ‘once a week’ context.

Independence also allows me to change direction on a project, it’s all on me, time, costs and frustration. Shelfie 2 above had a significant variation in its gestation, at one stage being a southern region 3rd rail terminus, now its complete as a Northumbrian coal disposal point. Where independence really helps me is in the thought processes behind some of the design concepts I have had. This is very apparent on Shelfie 3, Lower Mill Street.

This is one that hasn’t worked and is in the process of revision, potentially to a completely new presentation. I’ve got a provisional booking next year already so I’ll need to act on this in the foreseeable future. What has been good is pushing the display potential which I have in mind, and it’s really only the type of build you can do for yourself, there’d be too many WTF questions in a club environment! I’ve still learnt from it though, even if what I want isn’t going to work in the current context. So changes are coming and are likely to involve the concept on, and in, a different scale.

Independence then, something to embrace!