Contacting Us

Last Update: 2008-01-26

Please Read ALL of the Following Before Contacting Us

(We write this all for a reason!)

Don't intend to sound mean or cranky, but our resources in dealing with all who see us as the answer to "all things railroad" is limited while the requests we get for everything-under-the-sun is overwhelming.

Please realize we have very limited resources, and while we read every e-mail, we may not be able to respond in depth to your question(s). We may respond indirectly by researching the issues and posting them on our site at some later date.

Any information you send may get posted (credited to you, of course), unless you state otherwise in your message.

Please look around our site a little bit BEFORE you e-mail us, as it is frustrating and annoying for us to get a question about information we have already taken the time and trouble to post. (Okay, our site is continuing undergoing revisions as to how to make the information more readily available and not just tucked away in some not-so-obvious spot, but at least do a little poking around.)

Questions regarding information that is posted on the members-only section of our site will NOT be answered if you are not a current member. We may be prompted to do research based on any questions posed to us, and post the answer, but again, this information won't be available to you unless you join the website membership.

We DON'T appraise or buy collections nor can we sell them for you. We really don't have any use for any donated layouts, unless there are specific items you know we want.

We DON'T deal in Lionel.

We DON'T have employment records of railroads or car builders.

We are NOT a temp agency, and we don't supply students or members to do any form of modeling or otherwise work for you. And remember, professional modelers get $75 - 100 an hour.

Our interest is standard gauged equipment of the North American rail system, particularly in the era of steam locos. Our knowledge and interest in the peripheral industries, their processes, etc. is mainly limited to the physical exterior attributes, i.e., that what can be modeled in HO scale.

We CAN accept donations as a not-for-profit institution. Money is always welcome. In terms of railroad or hobby items, please understand our model railroad needs are very specific. We don't have display space or archival storage space for valued items not used on the layout. In accepting any donated items, we reserve the right to sell items we can't use at a nominal price so the items get used and we can raise some funds for the club. (In general, back issues of the hobby magazines - Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman have little resale value. Other more specialized magazines are welcome.)

This is an RPI student club, run for the benefit of the members and RPI students. If you have any complaints, but are not a current member of the club and/or website, and/or an RPI student, frankly, we aren't interested! (Join the club or website, then we will listen.)

If you have email, don't write via surface mail. Any letters without a stamped self-addressed envelope will not be answered, and even if you do include this, we still may not get around to answering you. Our mailing address is:

Our UPS address is:

Visiting The Club

John Nehrich writes a lot of what you see here, so blame him for spelling and/or factual errors, links that don't work, etc. Also, he is the one who normally activates website memberships, so if you are having a problem, contact him first. (John purposely has an unlisted number at home due to the number of calls he got. If you get ahold of his phone number, do NOT call him at home. If you are reading this, you have e-mail (nehrij @ rpi.edu - remove the space on each side of the @ symbol), so use that! Repeat - DO NOT CALL HIM, use e-mail.)