Club Membership

MEMBERSHIP OVERVIEW

Membership in the Chesapeake Bay & Western Railroad Club is currently open to prospective members, who are encouraged to stop by during one of the regularly scheduled operating sessions.  The club is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia and operates as a non-profit hobby organization  (501c3).  CB&W derives its income solely from member dues, proceeds from railroad flea markets held in during CB&W Open House events and public donations.

The business meeting is held on the first Thursday of each month while the remaining Thursday nights are reserved for regularly scheduled operating sessions.  Major layout construction, maintenance, scenery and other work activities are normally done on Tuesday nights or other convenient times for the workers involved.  Many members are at the club on weekends running trains, working on their equipment or just hanging out talking shop.  These are very good times to share various techniques for locomotive maintenance, DCC decoder installation, weathering and many other aspects of model railroading.  There are usually 6 to 10 engineers running trains on the layout during the weekends.

Regular CB&W members are given clubhouse keys following the completion of their probation period and are free to work on or operate the layout at any time, provided they have been qualified in the details of its operation.  Trains operated on the layout must be inspected for compliance with National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and club standards such as wheel gauge, weight, and Kadee or Kadee-compatible couplers.