Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me
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| Construction shots: | Benchwork | Scenery | Finished Scenes |
| Layout: | Trackplan & Specs |
| Misc: | The
Road to MMR | Articles
I've written Durango & Silverton RR Shots |About Me |
Thousand Lakes Region AP Chairman John Hotvet, MMR,
presents me with my MMR plaque at the
2005 TLR Convention in Mason City, IA.
On January 16, 2005 I became Master Model Railroader #346. It's one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.
But until I became a Master Model Railroader, I had never really seen all of the modeling and models needed to get an MMR. What I've done on these pages is to dissect each of the seven certificates I received, and what I did to receive them.
Please understand that I'm not saying that my models and modeling are the greatest. My intent is just to show what needs to be done to receive an MMR. Chances are, you're much better than me in many of the areas. Great!
Background of the NMRA's Achievement Program
The NMRA's Achievement Program (AP) was begun in 1961 as a way to help model railroaders excel in their hobby... to help them raise the bar. Its goal has never really changed. Rather than being a competition among modelers or a way to honor noteworthy modelers, the title of "Master Model Railroader" is awarded to modelers who complete a very specific set of model railroad "tasks" (for want of a better word). Most of these tasks are judged qualitatively.
To receive the MMR certification, it's necessary to receive "Certificates of Achievement" in seven out of 11 possible categories. If you want to see an in-depth explanation of the requirements for each of the 11 certificates, visit the NMRA's website at www.nmra.org, and click on "Achievement Program."
I'll take you through the seven certificates I earned, show you the documentation (including photos) I submitted, and what I did to complete the requirements, and provide you with commentary along the way.
Certificate 1: Model Railroad Author
Certificate 2: Model Railroad Engineer - Civil
Certificate 3: Model Railroad Engineer - Electrical
Certificate 4: Master Builder - Scenery
Certificate 5: Master Builder - Structures
Certificate 6: Master Builder - Cars
Certificate 7: Association Volunteer
My MMR achievement was announced with my "model railroading biography" in the March 2005 issue of Scale Rails. If you're interested (frankly, it's kinda boring), you can see that here.
The April 2005 issue of Scale Rails featured a story I wrote about what I learned from becoming an MMR. You can click here to read that.
In addition, I was asked to write a "you can do it, too!" article for the Pacific Coast Region's newsletter, the January-March 2005 Branch Line. That appeared in the January-March 2005 issue. You can read that by clicking here. (It's a 2-page article which I scanned and saved as a graphic GIF files, so that page may take longer to load.)