I was for about 8 years and got very discouraged with their magazine which was clearly an HO publication; got very discouraged with their Master Model Railroader program which was nothing but an old boys club and got down right P'd off with the local chapter (Ontario) and their BS attitude at shows as they sit there and build their models, ignore the public; especially the kids and put on their "aires" of being superior....they can all go to H-E-double hockey sticks......... I sent the NMRA a letter detailing why I was leaving and said "bye bye"...they nver responded............
Tudor said it! Agreed all the way. I wish there was a good club here in the valley, one closer than an hour of driving.
I joined the NMRA in the early 1990s. I wrote about why I joined and why I stick with it on my site a while ago.
Ditto for me. I joined in general support of model railroading, but don't know exactly how it supports it past standards. I got involved in the local section when they made a push to be more relevant, by having interesting meetings and conventions. That is what makes it worthwhile. Scale Rails is much better now, and is a nice side benefit. Still not as good as the professional mags. Unlike DRD, I kept my membership, again on general principles. I don't have real heartburn with the N scale bias. I do get bored over long "political" discussions. In the end, they are just little trains, and the guys who do often run for office sometimes (not always) control things a bit too much. The discussions I recall centered on discounting efforts to attract new members (rail pass, I believe) I am in favor of making it easier to join, knowing that those of us who joined paying full fare are supporting those who waited. But, if NMRA is to grow the hobby, that's the kind of sacrifice we must make.
As the rock and roll song says "Never in a hundred, never in a thousand, never in a million years" They are so far behind the times, treat N and Z scales like unwanted children, make stupid decisions, and really violate every thing in my expectation list, and I am one guy who would advocate an NMRA type organization. Consider this....... I have visited the Cromwell NMRA site in Chattanooga many times, even when a member (non-voluntary - it was automatic when I joined a local club) and was treated like dirt. Second, I don't even attend their conventions, as they are a waste of my time - I hate being talked "down to" by HO'ers bragging about their railroad layout and knowledge. For example, there is a regional convention 1/2 mile from my home this upcoming weekend, and I am definitely not attending. NMRA is so antiquated, I am sure the founding father rolls in his grave every day. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
I am an NMRA member. My club decided as a group to achieve 100% membership as a way of obtaining our club insurance. The insurance costs we were facing were quickly ballooning out of control, and buying in a pool gives us a much better rate and better coverage. One of our members has been making extensive use of the library. I would like to, but haven't, yet.
I have been a member since 1994. I used to be more involved especially in the local level (Lone Star Region, Division 8). I dropped Scale Rails a few years ago because I just did not have time to read it. I have used the library extensively in the past, even visited it in Chattanooga a few times. I have attended a number of national conventions and was well on my way to achieving my MMR but kind of backed off in the achievement program when it became too much work and not much fun any more. I guess I don't like structure and would rather do what I want to do, when I want to and not be tied to some program. I have a lot of good friends who are still involved heavily.
Sean, Great write-up. The tours are one thing that really are a great benefit to membership that gets overlooked sometimes....myself included, since I meant to comment on that. I also kinda liked the achievement program. I don't mind the structure and kinda like doing things on a project basis. I must say the NMRA is definitely a "love-hate" thing. There were positives, and some days I really want to get back into it...and other days I'm seeing the dues going toward scenery materials to work on my layout. I recall saying I was gonna wait 10 years and that was almost 4 years ago so I figure I'll wait till the 5 year mark (when they're eligible for parole... hehe) and evaluate it then.
I'm currently a member, but it's over an hour to the next-nearest club (the local club and I have issues, and I prefer to keep my distance from that bunch, but that's another story). I recognize that the standards we have are thanks in part to the NMRA, but I have only been to one convention in all my model railroading career. Were I not constantly working weekends, I'd get more involved in the meeting part. As for modeling, I get more info from the other magazines rather than Scale Rails (and I like its new format, thank you White River Productions). Unless my personal circumstances change (read: I actually get weekends off), I'll let my membership lapse next year.
The Houston area NMRA folks are a good mix of modelers in many scales. The contests always seemed to be judged fairly without any pronounced scale bias, at least when I was involved. Many of the judges were typically N Scalers. Not to sound boastfull or anything but when I was competing at the national level I did OK with N scale contest entries. I never got any first place ribbons but I did get a few 2nd and 3rd. I was suprised and was not really sure I deserved those as there was some pretty awesome stuff I placed ahead of.
I joined last year and think the info they send is great. I am always traveling and enjoy the info when I get it (my son gets my mail and send it to my location).
I was a member back in the early 90's for 2-3 years. I was in my mid 20's and at the few meets I did attend nobody was very friendly to me. Maybe it was because I was too young to remember steam or something. Thankfully there's a local club that I recently became a member of where everyone's pretty friendly. Maybe it's because they're all N scalers.
I think like with many things it really depends on how one gets along with the local group. I am not so sure the local chapter of the NMRA is really active - and part of that is, of course, my fault since I have also not helped make it active. I have been throwing myself into my N scale club instead. I really appreciate what the NMRA has done for standardization. This would be a real mess if it weren't for some sort of standardization. Can you imagine having to keep, say, three sets of DCC locomotives - one in Atlas/Lenz standard, and one in say NCE, and the other Digitrax? It'd be a disaster, and that's not even imagining what a mess it would be if there were different gauges for track. I am actually quite interested in the MMR program, as it seems to get at what I think a lot of model railroading is missing for me - scratchbuilding and craft. I have actually gotten a lot of good ideas for model-building and such from Scale Rails. A lot of that stuff is scale independent. It seems like we've had a lot of threads turn into complaints about a perceived lack of respect for N scale. I think the best way for us to get respect is to demand it through our modeling efforts and not worry about whether we have enough E7's in a particular roadname with a factory installed sound decoder chips. Just my $.02. Adam
"If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen" ... ...or open a window. aka "If you don't vote you can't complain" aka ... Reading through this thread a few of things have become apparent. The NMRA has assisted in useful standards including: DCC - Required for manufacturers Vocabulary - for everyone Car weights - to help keep cars on track A few others which I'm uncertain on There is a prevailing feelling among "N Scalers" at Trainboard, (and by inferance), in general that the NMRA does not - in general - promote / care about / < insert position of your choise > N Scale In the 60s and 70s one of the arguments was that to change the system you needed to work from within it. Others said if you joined the system you "sold out". //Phew. Not an easy choice. The truth is this paradigm goes back to day one in human civilization. There will always be those who stand outside the forest and point to the issues within it. Then again there will be those within trying to correct / change / develop and grow the forrest. Who is right? Who is wrong? I am, well, wait, no, ok, maybe, well, um, shoot, I hate being open minded. Have I conveyed the concept?
Yes I am a member , but if I didn't want to know the new special cars when offered I probably wouldn't bother . The other side of the coin is , If I wasn't a member then I wouldn't have the right to complain of lack / limited amount of N support from them . My membership is my vote for N scale .
The results look pretty lopsided so far, I wonder how they would come out if you polled a group of predominately HO scalers.
I do not belong to the NMRA, and the reason is one not limited to that particular group. Whenever I have attended an NMRA event, being that I am relatively young, I am often, how shall I say it, treated with a bit of incredulity. This happens at other events, as well; it has gotten better as I have gotten older, but when I was in my late teens/early 20s it was quite pronounced. It was as if everyone there assumed that I had gotten lost and was in the wrong venue. Of course, vendors never had a problem interacting with me, but modelers, even if I initiated conversation, seemed less than interested in promoting the hobby. That is something I like about message boards--they are so much more ecumenical when it comes to demographics. Edit: Traindork--I just read your post. It's comforting, yet disappointing, that I am not the only one that had that type of experience.
