The NMRA and you?


How I look at this is: The NMRA is good for the hobby, it is better for certain members who live in active areas and not so good for those who live in areas where activity is limited. The NMRA magazine is an O.K. publication; but, not worth the price of admission. I have to be a member of the NMRA to be a member of my local region although membership in the local region is not required to be a member of the NMRA. I think it would be nice if membership in the local region was automatic and did not cost extra. Simply put; the benefit of being a member is far less in areas that aren't real active. If I lived in a more metropolitan area, I would likely find activity to be much higher. However, I don't and I don't ever want to live in in a metro area. I guess the fact that I have chosen to live where I live, truly effects the usefulness of membership in the NMRA. It is, what it is! I have done my legwork and found out what I have found out about the NMRA. So, although some will think that I am "Belly Aching" There is reality in what I am saying.
 
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In comparison to another National Hobby organization that I am a member of, the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) membership fee in the NMRA is $72.00 plus $10.00 for my Regional membership.

For the price of $82.00 per year to be a member of the NMRA, I get access to the NMRA website's member's only information: I can participate in the NMRA forum, I can watch 83 videos on the NMRA and Model Railroading, access Data Sheets on 70-100 various projects on all types of information, Attend National and Regional conventions, There are many other bits of information available; however, I don't know what is available to the public and what is available to members only. The NMRA has a Achievement Program wherein projects I build; or, work I do, eventually would lead to me being qualified as a Master Model Railroader, as bestowed upon me by the organization. Both the National and Regional organizations have publications, The NMRA's is monthly and the Regional is quarterly.

I have probably overlooked benefits of being a member of the NMRA, so please help out with any information you might have.

For the price of $75.00 the AMA provides Liability Coverage of $500,000 for accidents related to Model Airplanes, a Publication of around 150 pages in length, covering all aspects of Model Aviation. A Membership Manual covering the same, Scholarships for youth, Access to AMA sanctioned clubs (with additional dues) these clubs become affiliated with the AMA and are automatically provided with Liability Insurance Coverage for the owners of the property where clubs fly from.

Again, I have probably overlooked benefits of being a member of the AMA.

Being a member of both, I feel the AMA provides good "Bang for the Buck", in comparison to the NMRA.
 
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"I would never join a club that would have me as a member." Seriously, I've never see any good reason to join.
 
montanan said:
How about I'm not interested?

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Snicker... Chet: that's as good a reason as any.

What it comes down to is whether or not the NMRA membership is beneficial to the individual. I don't see a benefit so I don't belong.
 
I'm just too far from anything out here and would have to travel hundreds of miles for any activities.

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Gary B said:
"I would never join a club that would have me as a member." Seriously, I've never see any good reason to join.
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"Not one-single-good-reason"? This question was posed to Gary B, not everyone under the Sun and it was really kind of a joke.
 
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Mark, I read this a couple days ago and it has been bugging me ever since.... You have some incorrect and misleading information here. Let me try to answer your statements.

NP2626 said:
I have to be a member of the NMRA to be a member of my local region although membership in the local region is not required to be a member of the NMRA. I think it would be nice if membership in the local region was automatic and did not cost extra.
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Joining the NMRA is just like a boy joining the Boy Scouts of America. When a boy turns in the application and the check, he is joining the the BSA through the unit (Troop) he wants to be in. He is at once becoming a member of National, the Region, the Council, The District, and the Troop. In the NMRA you have to be a member of the NMRA to be a member. When you join the NMRA you are also joining the Region, and a Division. National assigns you your Region and Division based on your address. For instance when I pay my membership I am a member of the NMRA, The NorthEastern region, and the Lakeshores Division. You become a member of all those things at once. As a member you can attend and participate in any and all NMRA sponsored events anywhere in the world! The only restriction is that you can only vote and hold office in your assigned Region and Division. But an NMRA member is a member everywhere except for voting and holding office. No Region or Division (according to NMRA Rules and policy) can charge a separate membership fee! Period! The $10 someone mentions later is not a membership fee. It is only needed to receive a mailed copy of their newsletter. Basically all Regions and most divisions will have their newsletters on line to be downloaded by anyone! If you were told there is an additional fee to join the Region or Division, please report them to National!

Often there is a fee to attend NMRA Events. That can occur at the local (Division), Region, and National levels. It does cost money to put on events and the $$$ has to come from somewhere. My Division generally charges $3 to attend (Whoppie!) or holds an internal raffle or other fund raiser to pay our costs. In another post someone talks about insurance. All NMRA sanctioned events are covered by National insurance ($1,000,000 I believe). If we have layouts opened for our events, the owner is covered by that insurance at no additional fee. That is only for Member Layouts. If a non-member is open, I have to have them sign a statement that they realize and accept that NMRA Insurance will not cover them and they hold the Division (and National) Safe-Harmless for the event.

I could list at least 20 good reasons for someone to join the NMRA, but I won't take up the space here. If you aren't interested, that's fine. Don't join. But there are some great reasons to become active in the organization. I can honestly say that being a member has increased my modeling skills a hundred fold. I have met and become friends with some fantastic modelers that have set the standard for modeling quality in our hobby.

Thanks for reading!

Ray H, Superintendent, LakeShores Division, NorthEast Region, National Model Railroad Association (I only had to join the NMRA... Didn't have to pay extra to join the Region or the Division. That happens automatically!)
 
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RHoward, I will assume you are 100% correct in that, when I join the NMRA, I become a member of my Region and Division. Therefore, it must be that to subscribe to "The Fusee", costs me $10.00 more per year. I have never seen a link that would take me to where I can read the Fusee for free, at the NMRA's website. If such a link exists, it seems to be very well hidden.

You've made me look over "The Fusee's" Subscription Information, which states that the Spring of the year issue is sent to all members of the "Thousand Lakes Region" and that as a member of the NMRA, I get this one issue sent to me "Free" as a member of the TLR. This means that it cost $10.00 for the three extra issues, for a subscription to the TLR's news letter. Whether the cost of the three extra "The Fusee's" is worth that price, is for each members to decide. My opinion is that I shouldn't have to pay for news letters to the Region I belong to!

So, you are correct! I become a member of the Thousand Lakes Region, when I join the NMRA. In my case, if I want to access all the information put out by the TLR, I must pay an additional $10.00 more per year. I was wrong about what the extra $10.00 per year goes to; but, not wrong about my need to pay it!

My confusion over what money goes where, to fund what, doesn't obscure the fact that for me, living in Rural America, in a fairly inactive Region/Division, the dues/costs of being a member of the NMRA, seems to exceed the benefits. I have no doubts that others will see it differently and that's just great!
 
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Hi Mark,

You are correct that if you live in an inactive Division and your Region doesn't offer their Newsletter online as a service to all its members, there may not be a whole lot of benefit for you to be a member. I do know that National is very aware of these things and is working to overcome them.

Can't believe that there is a region that only still mails out the newsletters. $10 doesn't even begin to cover the costs involved and putting on the website is very inexpensive. My Division is in the process of creating a new website (that will be hosted for free to us from the Region). When finished and up online the newsletter will be via a link on our front page. We encourage everyone to download and read it. There are no secrets in there that should be kept away from non-members, and we may gain a few people by letting them know who we are and what we do. Show up at a meeting as a non-member, and we will hand you a railpass form (6 month membership for $10) and try to get you signed up.

[edit] Just reread your post. Go to your regions website and check there. Your Region has the Fusee electronically on the website. (Type in Fusee in the search area.) Our newsletters in my division, are sent (by notification) to every member and a few other people that have a reason to get it (LHS and some businesses such as those who make models, etc.) and they can download it. We have about 10 members without email and who don't use computers. They get the newsletter mailed to them at no cost. We also give out old issues (printed) at Train Shows and make sure a couple LHS have counter copies. A Division isn't going to grow by being a secret. On the other hand giving everything out for free and having people be able to just show up at events and activities doesn't grow the membership either. The NMRA allows a person to "Visit" local meets 3 times and after that they have to be a member to attend. Those divisions that follow that (If they don't they may lose the insurance. That policy is required by our insurance carrier.) are actually the ones that are growing. Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free, so to speak.

My Region is working on becoming much more visible and is already growing in membership. Nobody is going to join a group that doesn't make a case for why they should! We have a group of the Division Presidents/Superintendents that are working on these issues and have already put together some great materials!

73
 
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rhoward, I didn't join the NMRA so I could bad mouth the association. I joined hoping that it would increase my enjoyment of this hobby. I wanted to get around people who operated per the real railroads. The club I was in 20 years ago did not operated that way, they considered themselves an attraction for the town they operated in and ran trains on Fridays and Saturdays in the summer for the public. The guy who was the mover and shaker in the club died and now the club has folded! Certainly the NMRA must know that for people like me, out in the rural areas of the country, the association really has little to offer. Probably this is more a problem for the Regions, than for the National to figure out what to do.
 
I think the NMRA deserves some credit, especially for their hard work with Standards that have made things better over the years for all of us and especially for standardizing DCC so that all manufacturer's products can work togather. Also, the fact that they provide the organization for the Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Do you need to be a member to enjoy this hobby: no. However, I do think that the NMRA deserves some appreciation from all model railroaders!
 
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Mark, I also agree with you, when I was a member in the 80's you got a membership list so you KNEW who was a member in your area. I drifted away for a number of years and came back in 2010 (to model railroading) to find that the membership did --well nothing in my area because the older members died or moved and the local club was asked to vacate the premises they were in. Now I am a member for 4 years again but the first thing I asked was "who in my area is a NMRA member"?
" we can't tell you because of privacy laws"
so the only way i know someone was a member was at the convention in 2015.
The other "members" in the area are VERY tight group and if your not in that group your NOT in the group!
So a number of us have started a small MRR club at a local business backroom and have started a layout, when we did this a couple of guys from the area invited some of us to OP's sessions and we are slowly being accepted in the circle but we still are building what we want and our group is open to everyone who's interested and not necessarily NMRA members
It's about the hobby
Don H - former Kashbowie sub TLR region of the NMRA
(Thunder Bay)
PS - Mark I'm 3.5 hours from the nearest NMRA club IF their is one in Duluth and about 5 hours from you in PR
 
Doneuald, I do not see any reference to clubs in either Duluth; or, Superior Wisconsin. This is strange as I should think there would be. All I see is the Number 1 Northern Division which shows Manitoba as it's location. I don't see any reference to Thunder Bay in the TLR, which is also strange!
 
I guess one of the other reasons I left the NMRA is the lack of activity. The bigger attendance was at the quaterly meetings held in the Richmond area. Not much in the area of interesting things to do though. The last meeting I attended had the main feature of an hour long slide show of a members maple syrup harvesting process.
I stepped up to host one of the meetings in the Stafford area and had a nice lineup of open houses a modeling contest and a tour of the Possum Point Power Plant in Dumfries. Very little participation in the modeling contest. Only 6 people attended the plant tour and several of the open houses had no visitors. A lot of effort for such an apathetic turnout.
 
Mark , the Kashabowie sub in the TLR region was active in the late 90's early 2000's but as the group was kicked out of the building they were in the group fell apart and basically disbanded. Now the NMRA for me is it's basically supporting the organization that created the standards for the model railroad industry, that a good thing for us as a group.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
The last meeting I attended had the main feature of an hour long slide show of a members maple syrup harvesting process.
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Sweet Angel of Death take me. Take me now!

I say that as a former Vermonter.



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