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Do you belong to the NMRA?

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Do you belong to the NMRA?
Posted by mfifer on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:09 AM

This is an easy one. I am just wonering how many of us support the NMRA and maybe a SHORT why or why not.

Inquiring minds want to know?

Mike

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” -- John Lennon

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Posted by Shopcat on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:32 AM

No. Mostly I think because I really don't know anything about the organization, beyond its existence, and it has certainly never reached out to me.

Secondly, I belonged to a local club for one year. They were supposedly the big spin off from the NMRA division. If that club is what the NMRA is like....well, I am not much interested.

However, I can be persuaded.

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Posted by tcf511 on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:36 AM
I belong and have for several years. I think it is important to have a group that helps set standards for things like modules and DCC. I enjoy the Scale Rails magazine too. If we want to see our hobby grow, I think it is important to have an organization like the NMRA in the picture. So, I put my money where my mouth is and renew every year.

Tim Fahey

Musconetcong Branch of the Lehigh Valley RR

 

 

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Posted by richg1998 on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:45 AM

I use to belong to it some year ago but it got too expensive. I have a big pile of the NMRA bulletins with loads of good information. I also used their library search service a few times and obtained a lot of good data, plus a lot of photos of projects in magazines that are no longer avaialble.

Generally the people who do not like it, just do not like organizations or think they can run it better and use any excuse they can find to justify their dislike.

Rich

.

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by wjstix on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:46 AM

Yup, been a member since 1986 or so. I haven't been able to get to a division meet for a while, but I've enjoyed the ones I've been to. Did get to go the national convention when it was in St.Paul in 1999.

Without the NMRA the hobby would be far behind where it is now. They/we set the standards for everything from wheels to DCC that allowed interchangeability. Think what a mess it would be if everyone who bought a Digitrax DCC system could only used Digitrax decoders, NCE users only NCE decoders etc.

Stix
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Posted by selector on Monday, October 13, 2008 10:57 AM

No, I am not a member, nor have I ever supported it.  However, I do acknowledge that I must be the beneficiary, even if in a small way, of the collective work they have done on behalf of the hobby.  I understand that their work in standards for the various scales has probably forced considerable conformity among the manufacturers over time with its accompanying interchangeability of like-labelled parts...say a #6 turnout.   While there is sure to be variance, I believe it is far less than it would have been.

-Crandell

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Posted by cacole on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:05 AM
This question came up about six months ago --
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Posted by IRONROOSTER on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:13 AM

I have been a member since 1972. 

The standards are very important - just look at the command and control systems that predated DCC - everyone proprietary and not widely used.  The standards are why you can buy DCC equipped locomotives and DCC ready for a plugin decoder.  The other standards are just as important.  It's why your DC locomotive from Bachmann works with your MRC power pack.

In my early days the Bulletin under Whit Towers was a great publication.  It's still pretty good these days as Scale Rails.  Some of the books have been pretty good too.

I also bought the Heritage Car series until they stopped doing them in S.  

I enjoy the division meets I get to. 

While it's a little pricey, I think it's worthwhile.

Enjoy

Paul 

If you're having fun, you're doing it the right way.
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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:17 AM
I was a member back in the early 80's when there was a model railroad club here but not since then.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
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beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by twhite on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:22 AM

No, but pretty much just because I'm a 'lone wolf' who just doesn't join organizations.  However, like Crandell, I admire the work that the NMRA has done to standardize a lot of things.  I think they've saved us a lot of grief in certain aspects of standards and operation. 

Tom

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Posted by howmus on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:33 AM

Card carrying member!  Like any organization there are advantages and disadvantages to membership.  The only disadvantage that I can think of though, is the cost. Personally I feel I get more than my money's worth.  If you haven't, take a look at trhere website: http://www.nmra.org/  You can find many, many reasons to become a member just on the main page.  I am currently working on several of the Acheivment Program Certificates and can honestly say my modeling is much better for my involvment.

 

BTW, I will be a presenter at next weekends Lakeshores Division, NMRA Meet in Oakfield, NY.  If you are nearby, stop in and say hello and enjoy the fun.  http://www.lsdnmra.org/ 

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by pastorbob on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:36 AM

Yes, since the 60's although I generally am not much of a joiner.  As for the NMRA not reaching out to someone, they probably don't know anything about that someone who isn't interested or hasn't made any effort to find out about the NMRA.

I have made some close friends from my membership, and a lot more friends because of my association with NMRA, and I wouldn't think of not belonging.  The new NMRA publication alone is worth the price.

Bob

Bob Miller http://www.atsfmodelrailroads.com/
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Posted by ARTHILL on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:45 AM

Yes

Standards

Scale Rails

Access to Divison and Region events

Layout tours.

If you think you have it right, your standards are too low. my photos http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a235/ARTHILL/ Art
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Posted by wedudler on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:56 AM

Though I can't participate in the meetings I support the NMRA as a member. They do a great job with our hobby and that's worth it.

 Wolfgang

Pueblo & Salt Lake RR

Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de          my videos        my blog

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Posted by Loco on Monday, October 13, 2008 11:58 AM
No, not a member.  Don't know much about it other than everyone slinging or advertising "NMRA Compatable"  Thought it was a corporate thing.
LAte Loco
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Posted by kbaker329 on Monday, October 13, 2008 12:28 PM

I'm not a member, but have been seriously thinking about it.  Especially with their 6-month rail pass tryout for $9.95!  My problem is time, I don't have much free time as it is.  But we'll see.

Keith Baker 

HO scale modeling N&W and Union Pacific, somewhere in Missouri between 1940 & 1990!
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Posted by Texas Zepher on Monday, October 13, 2008 1:32 PM

I had been putting it off forever (since like 1973).  Then a couple years ago I decided it was time.  I called up to join and was told the "lifetime" membership option had been discontinued, so I still haven't joined. Sigh [sigh]  The new membership process is so confusing, I don't want to take the time to figure it out.  Start a simple lifetime option again and I'll probably join.

Another issue with the NMRA is how hard current members are on new members trying to get their achievment certificates.  If the "judging" for the achivements 50-30 years ago would have been as hard as it is now, there would be zero master modelers.

As a prior posted noted, there have been recent threads on this forum related to both who is a member of NMRA and why, and their Master Modeler program.

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Posted by shayfan84325 on Monday, October 13, 2008 1:33 PM

No, I'm not a member.  I would be if the cost were less (same reason I don't subscribe to Model Railroader).

I'm grateful for the standardization.

I'm not sure I agree with the concept of certifications, but right now they seem to have no real effect on me.  If we start seeing products labeled as "only available to NMRA certified track layers, scenery gurus, figure painters, etc." then I'll become concerned.  If my income reaches the point that $55 per year doesn't raise my blood pressure, I'll be signing up.

Phil,
I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.

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Posted by gandydancer19 on Monday, October 13, 2008 1:33 PM
 twhite wrote:

No, but pretty much just because I'm a 'lone wolf' who just doesn't join organizations.  However, like Crandell, I admire the work that the NMRA has done to standardize a lot of things.  I think they've saved us a lot of grief in certain aspects of standards and operation. 

Tom

Me too!

However, I was a member for a year "way back when" until "NMRA someone" started telling me my cars had to be a certain weight, and other things that I saw as optional for my home RR.  I didn't need that.  OK, so it may have been one bad egg, but it had an infuence on me at that time.

Elmer.

The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.

(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.

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Posted by R. T. POTEET on Monday, October 13, 2008 1:34 PM

You betchum, Red Ryder!

I have had a Life Membership since 1974. The NMRA's Standards and/or Recommended Practices means that: my track works; if wired correctly and some idiot hasn't either reversed the wheel pickup or the motor connections--I encountered that one time--my locomotives will all run in the same direction; that if I ever get around to getting into DCC my controllers and decoders are going to work properly; my membership allows me to attend the national conventions and brush shoulders with fellow model railroaders from all over the country--and the world too, for that matter--and indulge in entertaining and useful clinics and free admission to the National Train Show; etc; etc; etc!

This is only a partial rationale for my membership in the NMRA; I feel that any organization which has done so much for the enjoyment of this hobby is worthy of my support!!!

From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet

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Posted by R. T. POTEET on Monday, October 13, 2008 2:00 PM
 gandydancer19 wrote:
 twhite wrote:

No, but pretty much just because I'm a 'lone wolf' who just doesn't join organizations.  However, like Crandell, I admire the work that the NMRA has done to standardize a lot of things.  I think they've saved us a lot of grief in certain aspects of standards and operation. 

Tom

Me too!

However, I was a member for a year "way back when" until "NMRA someone" started telling me my cars had to be a certain weight, and other things that I saw as optional for my home RR.  I didn't need that.  OK, so it may have been one bad egg, but it had an infuence on me at that time.

I don't remember anyone ever telling me that my cars

had to be a certain weight;

that is a Recomended Practice and it is a good one because it works; those recommended car weights means that my trains tend to operate with a certain measure of reliability. Nobody says that you have to comply with that practice but if you have a (light) car that tends to derail during a "shove" through a switch you might understand why a particular weight is recommended.

I joined the hobby at the tail-end of the brouhaha over couplers. Now, the X2F coupler, as unprototypical in appearance as it might be, at least established a measure of compatability to the hobby which previously had been missing. Manufacturers conformed to the recommendation and when I got in the hobby I could remove a car from its box, place it on the track, and it coupled to every car on my track. When I joined a club in '65 I encountered a myriad of Mantua Couplers, and Baker Couplers, and I can't remember all of the other names; these were namesakes from the forties and fifties. All were out of production by that time and if you didn't go with Kadees then the X2F was what you had to go with. The club was trying to mandate Kadees as mandatory but were getting considerable opposition from those who opposed the additional expense; I remember buying Athearn cars for $1.29 in those days. I'm not sure just what the cost of Kadees were in those far off days of yesteryear but I do know that they were just a little beyond my budget and that was true with a majority of this club's membership.

Just because somebody makes a recommendation--I once bought a 1978 Dodge Aspen based upon somebody's recommendation; they hated me--it doesn't follow that they are twisting your arm; every language in the world has a word 'no' in it! 

From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet

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Posted by tomikawaTT on Monday, October 13, 2008 2:14 PM

I joined the NMRA during the Whit Towers era, and remained a member for about ten years.  During that period, the NMRA would publish a Members' Roster - very handy for meeting model railroaders when moving to new locations.

Well, the Members' Roster went away, and the infighting in the old NMRA Bulletin started getting a bit too acerbic for this laid-back modeler, so I let the membership lapse.

Several years ago, I happened to be passing through Chattanooga, so I stopped at NMRA headquarters.  While there I paid for a 2-year membership.  It has since lapsed.

The NMRA is a useful organization which has done much to advance the hobby.  It just doesn't meet the social or modeling needs of a confirmed lone wolf whose prototype operated on the far side of a rather wide ocean.  If this be heresy, so be it.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

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Posted by howmus on Monday, October 13, 2008 2:28 PM
 tomikawaTT wrote:

Well, the Pike Registry went away, and the infighting in the old NMRA Bulletin started getting a bit to acerbic for this laid-back modeler, so I let the membership lapse.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

Chuck, I don't know if it disapeared at some time, but it is very much in existance now....

http://www.nmra.org/membership/pikes/index.html 

 

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by Bob Hayes on Monday, October 13, 2008 2:53 PM

Joined in 1962, and attended my first conventions in 1963.  Became a  Life Member when they kept increasing the dues.  Probably would have dropped out when the PCR split, if is wasn't for the Life Membership.  The original Bulletin was an 11x17 sheet folded into quarters and not worth much.   When Whit took over, it greatly improved and became worth reading. Course, there was some controversy in it; something about outhouses and ALP operators going out on strike.  But when he quit, the Bulletin became just another throw-away newsletter, not worth keeping, and changing the name didn't help either.  However, since Stephen & Cinthia Priest  have come on board, it has become very good, although I don't have any interest in becoming a MMR.  In fact if Scale Rails & MR come at the same time, I read Scale Rails first. 

Bob Hayes 

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Posted by Jim2903 on Monday, October 13, 2008 3:01 PM

I joined around 2000 and had full membership for a few years. Then when the cost started rising, I first dropped the Bulletin and eventually let my membership lapse completely during a round of household budget cuts. The Bulletin did have some good content, but as a professional journalist, I must say it's an editing nightmare. My local division (Fox Valley) is a good group and runs a nice annual show at a local junior college.

Jim Dudlicek

Hoffman Estates, IL

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Posted by jbinkley60 on Monday, October 13, 2008 3:02 PM
 ARTHILL wrote:

Yes

Standards

Scale Rails

Access to Divison and Region events

Layout tours.

Ditto on all answers.

 

Engineer Jeff NS Nut
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Posted by ndbprr on Monday, October 13, 2008 3:09 PM
Not now and won't be joining. I did one year in the late 70's.  I got no informatioon onthe local chapter and a crappy half tone magazine every month that had electronics articles over the head of the resident electrical engineer where I worked and a year long discussion about outhouses.  One article was how to make a strip club with a nude dancer on stage.  Just what I wanted my child to see.  That was the only model rail publication I ever had to hide. I agree that standards are important but there is very little left to standaridze at this point.  I have better use for my money than what I got from the organization.  
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Posted by Weighmaster on Monday, October 13, 2008 3:18 PM
Like R.T.Poteet, life member since 1974 (just after it doubled to $200).  Never very active due to work schedules and myriad other circumstances, but it has been VERY much worth it.  Gary
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Posted by Mike B on Monday, October 13, 2008 3:21 PM

Yes, I am a member.  Best feature are the regional conventions - most of the clinics are really excellant and the silent auctions are fun and a good way to turn unusable kits into cash.  I have also used the research service a couple of times and I often find magazine interesting but I would not join just for the magazine.

Mike B.

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Posted by el-capitan on Monday, October 13, 2008 4:14 PM
No. Aside from the standards and RP's, I can't really see a use for this organization.

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