I'm a member and am glad I joined. The Garden State Division of which I am a member has regularly scheduled meets and the members are pretty active with opening their layouts and giving clinics, etc. Great opportunity to also meet other model railroaders. As I recall there is a very inexpensive 6 month trial membership that you can use to evaluate the value to you including the magazine.
Gary,
I feel a lot of the benefits of an NMRA membership is the activities of the local division. When I lived in Dayton, Ohio I was a member for many years. Mid Centarl Division 3 was and is a very active division with easy to attend monthly meeting and many activities. When I moved to western Colorado in 1998 I maintained my membership for a few years, but there is nothing NMRA related happening out here. Closest meetings and activitites involve hours of driving to attend. I do believe the NMRA deserves support for what the do for the hobby, but I need more than a magazine.
I was looking at the NMRA site and the membership with magazine fee of $72 for ONE year. Anyone have this? Is it worth it? If so why?
Gary