Why I joined, and stay in, the NMRA

There have been quite a few letters written to various publications about the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and its value to the average modeler. Many of the letters that I've seen boil down to the question "what's in it for me?" For me, personally, there's quite a lot in it. So why did I join the NMRA and why do I stay a member? Read more to find out...

Supporting standardization in the hobby

One of the core responsibilities of the NMRA is to develop standards for the hobby. The most visible result (although not an official standard) is probably also the most put-down, the HO scale X2F (the "horn-hook") coupler. Yeah, the horn-hooks are wildly out of scale and look pretty bad when compared to some of the more modern knuckle couplers, but what if this standard didn't exist? Without the X2F, model manufacturers could each build their own style of couplers for the models that they create in an effort to "lock-in" hobbyists to their particular couplers. The couplers from competing manufacturers very likely would not be interoperable, and don't even think about converting them because every item of rolling stock would have its own method of attaching the couplers. You'd have to maintain a fleet of coupler conversion cars in order to operate all your equipment at any time. With all these conversion cars, you wouldn't be able to have anything remotely similar to prototype switching in operating sessions. What's happening today is that so many HO scale modelers have chosen to use Kadee's coupler for any of a number of reasons, and now that Kadee's patent has expired, the coupler market is beginning to resemble the hobby before the X2F. Some brands of knuckle couplers do not mate well or do not mate at all with other brands. We're also starting to see the same issue appear in N scale models with so many modelers opting for MicroTrains' couplers. I've spoken with a couple NMRA officials at various levels about this (among other topics); the NMRA sees the potential for a fractured market and has begun the process of re-taming the new coupler market. For a more recent example of the NMRA's standardization work, take a look at the current DCC market. While it's not perfect, and there are some brands of decoders that work best with the same brand of base station; but as a new DCC user myself, I can purchase the base system that best fits my needs and add decoders from almost any manufacturer. It wasn't very long ago that this was not the case, but again, thanks to the work of the NMRA, I can more easily and affordably convert my own home layout to DCC.

Research on anything to do with railroads

The NMRA's Kalmbach Memorial Library, in a wing of the national headquarters building in Chattanooga, is a world-class specialist library. In the library's collection are more than 7,000 books, more than 100,000 photos and a huge amount of magazines, plans, videos, timetables and other reference material of railroad and model railroad subjects. As an NMRA member, I get expedited answers to any research requests that I make. My requests are also at a significant discount off other research requests. I also get discounts on books published by the library, and if I'm at the National Train Show, I can usually pick up a copy right there at the NMRA Company Store to save the shipping cost.

Travel to places I might not have visited

Through my own membership in the NMRA, I've had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the US that I might not have visited on my own. Call me a convention junkie, but I always have a great time at every NMRA convention that I go to, be they regional or national. Sure, there are incidents like the shuttle bus that my wife and I rode back to our hotel from the convention hotel where the driver almost took us the wrong way on the Pennsylvania Turnpike because he wanted to give us a shortcut to our hotel (not to mention the infamous Pink Tour at the same convention or the bus that destroyed its oil pan while driving into an open pit mine on another convention tour five years later, both tours that we were fortunate enough to miss). The first convention I attended was the 1991 regional convention in Sacramento, California, which was held in conjunction with Railfair '91. On that trip we got to see so much more of the rail scene in northern California than we would have otherwise known about or been able to see. Since then, on the national convention level, we've been to Valley Forge, Long Beach, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Toronto, Seattle and the last weekend of Cincinnati, as well as Madison where we were able to participate as part of the host division. My wife and I are currently planning our visit to Detroit in 2007, where we'll also launch a second vacation to celebrate our 15th anniversary (already!). Looking further ahead, we're planning to attend the Anaheim and Milwaukee conventions (and I was already asked two years ago if I would present a couple clinics in 2010), and I'd love to go to Sacramento in 2011 as this would be 20 years after our first convention experience and in the same city, no less! If I didn't go to these conventions, I wouldn't have been able to see as many home layouts as I have, and I would never have been able to gain the access to industrial areas at anywhere near the same quantity or quality as the tours I've been on. I might have made a vacation to the DelMarVa area if I wasn't attending the conventions, but I don't think I would have selected some of the other locations we've been to without the conventions.

The challenge to improve my own modeling

One of the more visible modeler programs of the NMRA is the Achievement Program. Through it, modelers are given a challenge to produce a number of exceptional quality models, which, if enough certificates are earned, leads to the Master Model Railroader achievement level. At the 2006 Midwest Region spring convention in Schaumburg, I officially took the role of Region Model Contest Co-Chairman. As a direct result of this, I get to look at and judge many more models than I would have been able to view before. I can see examples of all the flaws that modelers get knocked for when they submit models for judging.

An instant group of friends

When we moved to the Midwest, my wife and I joined the NMRA. We were invited to attend the monthly meetings of the Rock River Valley Division. We were very warmly welcomed and very soon found ourselves involved in operating sessions, railfanning events and a number of other outings. Getting this involved in the local model railroad scene would have taken an extreme amount of time longer than it did had we not joined the NMRA. The events listing in the back of the national magazines really doesn't do much more than scratch the protective plastic lining off the plexiglass surface of the hobby. Sure, attending the events listed there can show you some of the portable layouts in an area, but you really don't know an area's modelers until you get involved.

Is it worth it?

In my own experience, joining the NMRA is the most absolutely worthwhile investment that I have made in model railroading to date, and it continues to pay off in rewards that I wouldn't have known about without it. It's expanded my own knowlege of railroad history and modeling techniques and helped enliven a lifelong passion that I'm more than happy to share with my family. So, on my rating scale of 0 to 5 spikes, with five being best, NMRA membership for me rates a full five spikes. Happy modeling, and see you at the conventions!