My NMRA Master Model Railroader Effort
The NMRA Achievement Program (AP) provides incentive to learn and master the many crafts and skills necessary in the hobby of model railroading. With the completion of each category, a certificate acknowledging the achievement of a particular category of the program. In the end, after completing all of the requirements, an individual can become a Master Model Railroader (MMR).
The AP has several standards that require the demonstration a superior level of skill in various aspects of the model railroad hobby. It covers not only building various types of models, but also building other things which are important to the hobby, such as scenery, structures, track work, and wiring. The AP takes a personal commitment to share one's knowledge with others and to encourage them as they also proceed along the AP journey.
I started participating in the NMRA AP in 2008. I was, and still am, fortunate to have several model railroad friends that were interested in the program to provide me the drive to become a Master Model Railroader (MMR #647) in October, 2019.
ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
NMRA CHIEF DISPATCHER Completed 4/1/09 MER 869
NMRA ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEER Completed 10/1/10 MER 942
NMRA GOLDEN SPIKE Completed 2/28/13
NMRA MODEL RAILROAD ENGINEER ELECTRICAL Completed 3/1/13 MER 1044
NMRA MODEL RAILROAD ENGINEER CIVIL Completed 2/1/15 MER 1095
NMRA MASTER BUILDER - SCENERY Completed 10/1/16 MER 1212
NMRA MODEL RAILROAD - AUTHOR Completed 4/16/19 MER 1326
NMRA MASTER BUILDER CARS Completed 10/21/19 MER 1365
MASTER MODEL RAILROADER (MMR) Completed 10/21/19 MMR 647
I have provided a description of the work done for each of certificates below. (Follow the links provided)
Model Railroad Electrical AP: nmra_electrical_ap_submission_2013_amended_3-1-13.pdf
Model Railroad Civil AP: achievement_program_civil_submission_1-3-15.pdf
Master Builder - Scenery AP: scenery_ap_8-6-16.pdf
Model Railroad Author: author_ap_submission_3-16-2019.pdf The points were for this AP were earned through writing articles for the NMRA- Local and NMRA-MER- Potomac Division's newsletters which were printed documents and the posting of various other materials on this website.
Master Builder - Cars AP: 2019-soq-cars_for_ap_9-26-2019_reduced.pdf This submission also included the individual build documents that are available below under the car descriptions.
For the Car AP, I started by scratch building three cars and building one kit. These first four cars were judged in February, 2018 by a team from the NMRA- Mid Eastern-Potomac Division. The cars submitted consisted of one HO scale wooden tank car, one HO scale gondola car, one HO scale stock car, and one passenger car kit. The scratch built cars were based upon articles I found in a Kalmbach book "Easy to Build Model Railroad Freight Cars", that was published in 1973 and is now out of print. The kit was made by Bethlehem Car Works and was purchased from a model railroad shop in Pennsylvania.
The judges determined all four of the cars met the requirements of being "super detailed" but not merit reward quality. So I now had four of the eight cars that have to be built for the Car AP certificate. I felt this was a good start and consulted with my local AP chair to seek guidance how to move forward with my quest.
At his suggestion , and reworking the wooden tank and gondola cars to address the judging deficiencies, I then resubmitted three of the cars for judging at the NMRA- MER Crossroads Convention in October, 2018. The wooden tank car received a merit award (91 points) making it the first of the required four merit award cars toward the Car AP certificate. The gondola car won the President's award but failed to receive a merit award. The passenger car was found to be super detailed but did not receive a merit award. The gondola car then was resubmitted for judging for the third time at the Potomac/Chesapeake Divisions minicon on March 16, 2019, after addressing the judge's comments at the NMRA- MER Crossroads Convention. The gondola car earned a merit award (score of 90 points. So with this I now had four cars built and judged, two being merit score and the other two being super detailed. I still had to build four more cars to complete the eight required and two of them would have to be of merit award quality.
The fifth car was a cylindrical hopper car in which I started in December, 2018. It was an HO Ambroid wood kit, complete with plans, I had found at the NMRA-MER Convention white elephant sale and used the scale plans to construct the car using wood and styrene plastic. This car was judged on September 24, 2019 and received a score of 102 points making it my third merit score car.
The sixth car was a Southern Railway Tobacco Hogshead Car which I started in July of 2019 and finished in September. Another HO Ambroid wood kit, complete with plans, which I had found at another NMRA event. I used the scale plans and constructed the car using styrene plastic. This car was judged on September 24, 2019 and received a score of 105 points making it my fourth merit score car.
Having all four of the merit score cars needed I proceeded on cars 7 and 8 which had to be highly detailed cars. These cars were Proto 2000, Mather 40 foot single deck stock car kits. I constructed the kits and installed bulk heads on one but not the other making them different cars. I also scratch built some of the brake parts as they were not in one of the kits.
Having completed all eight of the required cars for this AP I submitted my paperwork to the at the end of September, 2019 and received the certificate on October 21, 2019.
This also completed the requirements for NMRA Master Model Railroader (MMR) so I also submitted the required paperwork for the MMR at the same time. 2019-soq-cars_for_ap_9-26-2019.pdf
Wooden Tank Car
Merit Award number 1
For construction details click on the icon below.
Merit Award number 1
For construction details click on the icon below.
build_document_refurbed_tank_car.pdf | |
File Size: | 1495 kb |
File Type: |
Gondola Car
Merit Award number 2
For construction details click the link: gondola_car_build_document_refurb_3-13-2019.pdf
Merit Award number 2
For construction details click the link: gondola_car_build_document_refurb_3-13-2019.pdf
3 Bay Cylindrical Hopper
Merit Reward number 3
For construction details click on the link: 2006-soq-mbc_build_document_cylindrical_hopper_8-11-19.pdf
Merit Reward number 3
For construction details click on the link: 2006-soq-mbc_build_document_cylindrical_hopper_8-11-19.pdf
Southern Tobacco Hogshead Car
Merit Reward number 4
For construction details click on the link: 2006-soq-mbc_build_document_hogshead_hopper__9-14-19.pdf
Merit Reward number 4
For construction details click on the link: 2006-soq-mbc_build_document_hogshead_hopper__9-14-19.pdf
Proto 2000, Mathers 40 foot single level stock cars- Cars 7 and 8
Highly detailed
For construction details click on the link:
car_7_build_document.pdf
car_8_build_document.pdf
Highly detailed
For construction details click on the link:
car_7_build_document.pdf
car_8_build_document.pdf