July/August 2023

President's Message

Gordy Robinson MMR®

Summer is definitely here now, as the mercury climbs even here in Orkney. It'll soon be time for our National Convention in Grapevine TX, with less than two months remaining. You've still got time to register for the convention. The first 1000 who do so in advance will receive a limited edition convention car from ScaleTrains.com. Lots of last minute preparations are going on behind the scenes to make a great convention. The way it is shaping up I think it really will signal the end of the restrictions on activity we have seen even last year in St. Louis, and show just how hard the NMRA is working towards its future.

We'll have new products, concepts and ideas showing the truly innovative nature of our hobby and our organisation. Whilst I and a number of others are feverishly finishing Free-moN modules for the ops roadshow layout, the work at NMRA National doesn't stop. We recently reported that we had a new supplier for standards gauges and these have now started coming off the production lines. We have stock of all scales for the first time in a long while. Our S&C team also found the time to help the S Scale Association with technical drawings for their own gauge, an example of the collaboration that is always happening but rarely talked about.

I hope to see you all in Grapevine TX. Alternatively, if you have a hybrid or virtual Division meeting please consider inviting me. I’m always happy to meet with members and hear your feedback directly.

Gordy

Gordy Robinson MMR®

NMRA President

2023 Texas Express International Convention

Riley Triggs

Publications Department Manager

Howdy, y’all! The thrills, frills, and chills (the air conditioning is fantastic!) of the supercharged 2023 Texas Express are only a couple of months away, so get registered and book your hotel room before the drop-dead date of July 15th when we lock down event registration to make our final head counts and preparations for busses, food, water, and tickets. There may be a few event slots for walk-ins the week of the convention, but don’t count on that. Of special note, the price of the hotel rooms will double after July 15th, so don’t delay a day more!

Speaking of the great accommodations, please stay at the Gaylord Resort convention hotel. Your stay is what makes the convention possible as it significantly reduces our cost of the convention facilities. It is an outstanding price for such a nice hotel at half of their normal rate which makes it comparable to surrounding places.

We are continuing to tweak and expand our offerings and events to make your convention experience as fun and comfortable as possible. A really fun and free item is the specially designed, limited run HO scale convention car by platinum sponsor Scale Trains! That’s right – it is free with each paid registration to the first 1000 people!

This month also brings more layouts to the very popular operating sessions lineup. At the last count we have seventy (that’s 7–0!) operating sessions and 382 operating slots! Over 50% of the slots are already full. We have plenty of spaces available now but expect those to fill up soon as many people are registering for the convention each day.

Don’t forget that we have arranged for NMRA Partnership Program member Miniprints to do a 3D scanning for your very own mini-me on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It takes just a few minutes, and after some cleanup back at the office, a 3D model of you is available in N, HO, S, or O scale. You can also purchase the .stl file to print as many copies of yourself as you want on your own 3D printer. Spots are going fast, so head to miniprints.com/texasexpress today!

Check out previews of our featured model railroad layouts now in your monthly NMRA Magazine at nmra.zinioapps.com. If you are a first-time digital reader, you must first register using the same email address that you use on the NMRA.org website. You may create any password you like. You can then access all NMRA Magazines on both desktop and mobile devices.

Articles are also appearing in Railroad Model Craftsman and the Narrow Gauge and Short Lines Gazette. Keep an eye out for us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and of course the Texas Express webpage for all the latest info. You can also listen to special podcasts dedicated to convention information at A Modeler’s Life and Around the Layout.

So, with all of these fantastic things happening right now, don’t delay and go to 2023TexasExpress.com to register for the supercharged, high-speed 2023 NMRA National Convention today!

Modeling With The Masters®

Michael Hohn®

Education Department Manager

The Modeling With The Masters^® sessions to be held at the 2023 Texas Express NMRA annual convention are:

Building a branch line coaling facility
Building structures with cardstock and paper - Silver City mine shed
Making rock scenery, from making a mold to a finished rock scene
Scratchbuilding a small styrene building
It's so easy with Cora Foam!
Making a creek scene - Parts A and B (two sessions)
Building structures in Hydrocal

Times, descriptions, tools required, and deadlines for signing up are given here: 2023texasexpress.com/masters.html

Note in particular that participants must bring their own tools, even if you sign up on site.

2023 President's Awards for Service to the Division

Rick Coble

NMRA Vice President

The NMRA President's Award for Service to the Division is awarded by the NMRA President to one individual in a Division in each Region per year, who has done outstanding work to make his or her local Division effective, engaging, and welcoming to members. Individuals are recommended to the NMRA President by the NMRA National Board of Directors, National Officers, or Region Presidents, as appropriate, and preferably always with the guidance of the Region Officials.

2023 Honorees

Australasian Region: Wayne Eagle

British Region: Mike Arnold

Lone Star Region: Betty Mitchell

Mid-Continent Region: Ryan Moats, MMR®

Midwest Region: Jim Osborn, MMR®

North Central Region: Marshall Stull

Northeastern Region: Harold Russell, MMR®

Pacific Coast Region: Dave Putnam

Pacific Northwest Region: Russ Segner

Pacific Southwest Region: Kevin Spady

Rocky Mountain Region: Al Hovey

Southeastern Region: Sally Bando

Sunshine Region: Bob Leonard

Thousand Lakes Region: Marion Manning

St. Louis Convention Cars

Brad Joseph

Gateway 2022 Committee

While many of you are scheduling your trip to Texas, those of us that ran the St. Louis Gateway 2022 convention wanted to remind you how much we enjoyed hosting you! We had lots of obstacles and issues and humidity, but we also had lots of fun thanks to our fellow NMRA members, volunteers, and attendees.

Thank you for your confidence, attendance, and participation!

Remember "supply chain issues"? Most of our Convention Car orders didn't arrive until well after the convention was over. We wanted those of you who would like those cars to know we have some available but only in HO. Celebrating the "stillborn" 2020 convention the extremely collectible 2020 Redi Kilowatt Hoppers are in very short supply, but we still have some in multiple numbers. The tank cars are all the same number but that number was never commercially available and they include a decal sheet with convention logos and some other details.

If you would like to buy some, email me at clinics.gateway2022@gmail.com and we will send a link for you to use PayPal to keep all your information secure.

Check out this Facebook link for more photos and information on the cars and again thank you for celebrating with all of us in St. Louis!

John Schinder

Jim Ables

Bob Amsler

Brad Joseph

Board Meeting and AGM

Mike Cummings

NMRA Secretary

The Annual NMRA Board of Directors meeting will be held on Saturday, August 19 at the convention hotel. All members are welcome to attend. The meeting is scheduled from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Please let the Secretary know if you are planning on attending at secy@nmra.org.

The Annual General Meeting is historically held on the Thursday evening during the convention. The meeting room and time for the AGM on August 24th is TBD, and will be communicated as soon as possible. All members are welcome to attend.

Volunteers Needed

Gordy Robinson MMR®

NMRA President

The NMRA is run by volunteers. Get involved by contributing your expertise and time. All NMRA Departments are actively recruiting new volunteers year-round, so if you want to share your experience and skills and help the NMRA deliver something you are really passionate about, then please reach out to me at president@nmra.org

Estate Planning

We all reach the end of track eventually. All too often, those left behind have no idea what to do with model railroads. For good advice, check out the Estate Planning article by Past President Charlie Getz on the NMRA website.

Marketing Department Update

Christina Zambri

NMRA Marketing Consultant

The Marketing Department has been busy with projects that will assist

the NMRA, as well as its Regions and Divisions, achieve marketing success.

Proper marketing throughout the organization helps to ensure that both

recruitment and retention continue to grow. Here are a few highlights of the

main projects:

1) Finalizing and launching the Division Success Kit, which will provide Divisions with everything they need, from templates to clinics to free outside resources.

2) Preparing to launch updated branding guidelines to bring cohesiveness in order to grow our brand awareness worldwide.

3) Finalizing and launching the Northern Utah Division's very successful "Pizza Box Program" to all of the Divisions who choose to introduce the program locally. The Pizza Box Program is aimed at bringing families into the hobby by hosting a series of family workshops

which result in a working, pizza box-sized layout. Check out intermountaintrainexpo.com/pizza-box-layouts

4) Growing and improving our current digital advertising strategy through

consistent social media posting, advertising, and partnerships.

Lastly, I encourage all members to register for the NMRA website and take a peek at all the available resources, as well as sign up for the NMRA Interchange to connect with National, Regions, Divisions and other members. There is a wealth of information and tools available on our server at nmra.org/nmra-interchange

Please feel free to contact me at marketing@nmra.org if you have

questions or need assistance.

Newest Master Model Railroader® recipients

The Board of Directors and Executive of the NMRA would like to extend our sincere congratulations to the following members who have completed their MMR®. Well done!

736. James Fairbanks (NER)

737. George Landow (NER)

738. Robert Jekel (PNR)

739. Warren Smith (PNR)

740. Don Winn (LSR)

"Master Model Railroader" and "MMR" are registered trademarks of the NMRA. A list of all MMRs can be found at nmra.org/master-model-railroaders

We're Looking for a Few Good Layouts...

Photography and HO scale modeling by Richard Walz, Northampton, Massachusetts.

...12 to be exact! You’re proud of your model railroad. Why not share it by submitting a photo or two for the 2024 edition of the NMRA Model Railroad Calendar? The calendar is distributed to every U.S. member as a fundraising project. To have your layout photo considered for inclusion, just follow these easy steps:

Take a horizontal (landscape) photo of your layout.
Submit your photo as a digital file. Files must be at least 300 pixels per inch and 8” x 12” (minimum size of 8.6 megapixels – larger is better). Accepted file types are tiff (preferred) or jpg (highest quality only).
Write a caption describing the action in your shot, the scale, the builder, and the photographer. Include that information as a text or .doc file.
Include your name, address, phone number and email with your submission.
Please limit your entries to no more than your four best scenes.

To submit your files for free go to wetransfer.com.

If you don’t see the “Upload files” box (shown below) click on the “I just want to send files” link at

the bottom of the page.

Click (+) Upload files. Locate and add your files.
Email to: scwd.email@gmail.com
Add your email address.
Add the title: 2024 Calendar .
Add your name, address & phone number.
Click the transfer button.
You will receive a confirmation email.

Note: By submitting images for the 2024 NMRA Calendar, you are giving permission to the editors to alter them as needed (cropping, smoke and lighting effects, etc.). Please indicate specifically if you do not give permission to alter your images.

Photos must be submitted by July 15, 2023 for consideration.

Questions? Contact Mike Brestel at 513-481-0185 or mbrestel@zoomtown.com

Partnership Program

The companies listed below give discounts to NMRA members when orders are placed using a special discount code. Newly added companies are in bold red. Check them out! You can find descriptions of these companies and their products, links to their websites, and the discount codes on our Partnership Page at nmra.org/partnerships . Remember you need to be logged into our site as a member to see the codes! Go to nmra.org/user/register to register your name on the website.

CatzPaw Innovations

Clever Models

CMR Products

Coastmans Scenic Products

Composite Designs

Conowingo Models

Daylight Sales

Deepwoods Software

Deluxe Materials

Digikeijs

Dwarvin Enterprises

East Coast Circuits

Enterprise&National Car Rentals

Evan Designs

Feight Studios

Fusion Scale Graphics

Gatorfoam

Great Decals!

Green Frog Productions

Hot Wire Foam Factory

K.I.S.S. Method

LaBelle Woodworking

LARC Products

Logic Rail Technologies

MAC Rail

Micro-Mark

Mine Mount Models

Miniprints

Model Rectifier Corp (MRC)

Model Train Catalogue

Modelers Decals & Paint

Motrak Models

N Scale Architect

New Creations Victorian Railroad Building

Nick and Nora Designs

Northlandz

NScaleWorks

Old Depot Gallery

Old West Scenery

Ram Track

RR-CirKits

Scale Model Plans

Scenery Solutions

Showcase Miniatures

Team Track Models

Tichy Train Group

Touch of the Brush Weathering

Train Installations

Train Show, Inc.

Trainmasters TV/MRH Store

Trainz

TSG Multimedia

UGEARS

USA Airbrush Supplies/Badger

WiFi Model Railroad

Upcoming Conventions

Jul. 27-29 Kansas City Flyer, Overland Park, KS (MCoR)
Aug. 20-26 Texas Express, Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (2023 International Convention)
Sep. 14-17 Cartersville Express, Cartersville, GA (SER)
Sep. 29-Oct. 2 Rails @ Rosehill, Rosehill, NSW, Australia (AR)
Oct. 5-8 Cannonball Express, Uniondale, NY (NER)
Oct. 12-14 High Speed Rail Special, Plant City, FL (SSR)
Oct. 19-22 Round the Curve to Altoona, Altoona, PA (MER)
Oct. 19-22 Fort Wayne Rails, Fort Wayne, IN (NCR)
Oct. 20-22 NMRA BR Convention 2023, Derby, UK (BR)
Nov. 9-12 Rails Along the Rio Grande, Albuquerque, NM (RMR)

Coming soon to all members

Build Realistic Parking Lots
Destination MMR Part 6 (continued)
USMRR Aquia Line: Potomac Creek
Trackin' with NTRAK
Mini Diorama Contest

Did you miss?

Thanks to volunteer Tom Bensberg, all NMRA eBulletins and NMRA Dispatches are archived on the NMRA website. Here are a few links to items you may have missed.

Dispatches

Announcing the NMRA Interchange! 2023-01

eBulletin articles

Instructions for joining the Interchange March/April issue
Have an event coming up? Let the NMRA calendar(s) know! Jan/Feb 2021 issue
NMRA Digital Magazine FAQs Jan/Feb 2022 issue
New Beginner's Guide July/August 2022 issue
Detroit Selected for 2025 Convention November/December 2022 issue

Editor: John Bate, Canadian District Director

The NMRA eBulletin is an official bi-monthly production of the National Model Railroad Association, Inc. Publishing Department (Riley Triggs, Manager). Its purpose is to keep every NMRA member informed about organization news and events. If you know of an NMRA member who is not receiving this mailing, please direct them to nmra.org/members to update their email address. If you no longer wish to receive these mailings, please don't mark them as spam. Instead, click the safe Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. ©2021 National Model Railroad Association, Inc., P.O. Box 1328, Soddy Daisy TN 37384.

National Model Railroad Association nmra.org