For
those of
you that are new to the hobby or those just wanting to know more about
the Achievement Program (AP), here is a quick rundown:
Participation
in the AP is strictly voluntary, all NMRA members are welcome and
encouraged to participate. The AP
helps you on your
journey through the world of model railroading. The
AP will provide you an incentive to learn and master the many crafts
and skills necessary in the hobby of model railroading.
With
the completion of each category, you will be issued a certificate
acknowledging your achievement. Complete information can be
found
on the NMRA AP web page.
Awards
The
Golden Spike
award is like a preamble to the AP certificates. If
you have a home layout, you probably are close to meeting the
requirements for this award or may have already met them.
Requirements for Golden Spike award can be found at : http://www.nmra.org/education/achievement/gold.html
There
are 11 categories that can be grouped into 4 broad areas:
building
model railroad equipment, settings, engineering and operations, and
service to the hobby.
The
Master Model
Railroader award is given to those who complete the requirements for 7
of the 11 achievement categories and have received at least one
achievement certificate in each of the 4 groups..
NMRA
Acheivement Program (AP)
Click on images for more
information
| Golden Spike |
 |
| AP
Categories |
|
Model
Railroad Equipment
|
 |
 |
| Master
Builder-Motive Power |
Master
Builder- Cars |
 |
 |
 |
| Master Builder -
Structures |
Master Builder - Scenery |
Master Builder - Prototype
Models |
| Engineering
and
Operation |
 |
 |
 |
| Model Railroad Engineer -
Civil |
Model Railroad Engineer -
Electrical |
Chief Dispatcher |
 |
 |
 |
| Association
Official |
Association
Volumteer |
Model
Railroad Author
(see Special Note below) |
Master Model
Railroader
1.)
|
The
NMRA
Achievement
program ( http://www.nmra.org/education/achievement/reqs.html
) web page provides a discussion of both the achievement
program
and all of the requirements and instructions necessary
to prepare a certificate application package, including all necessary
forms, for each of the eleven certificate categories. |
|
|
2.)
|
The
NMRA
Achievement
web page has a link to a series of articles, called "The Master's
Series". These articles provide practical guidelines on how
to
meet the requirements of the various
achievement categories. Although these articles were
written in the 1991-1993 time frame, much, if not all, of the
information they contain is still relevant. |
|
|
3.)
|
NMRA
designated 2008 as
the "Year of the Master Model Railroader." In recognition of
this,
NMRA's Scale Rails
magazine
published a series of articles written by Master Model
Railroaders that provide up-to-date practical advice on meeting the
requirements of each of the eleven achievement catagories. These
articles are now available on the NMRA Achievement Program Web page.
To access these articles from the NMRA Achievement program web
page, click on the link called "The Masters Articles." The recent
Scale Rails articles have been included along with the original series of articles. |
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|
4.)
|
Acheivement
program
judging is done by an NMRA member that has already earned a certificate
in the area being judged (other judges have to be NMRA members, but
need
not have earned a certificate in the area being judged).
Thus, a
good source of advice for meeting the requirements of a specific
certificate is an NMRA member that has already earned that specific
certificate. The Potomac Division Achievement
Program
coordinators (Brian Sheron [MD] and Ed Price [VA]) want to help members
by getting them answers
to their AP questions. Both have earned certificates, and can
either answer your questions, get answers to your questions, or put you
in contact with person(s) that can answer your
questions! Brian can be reached at 301-349-5754 evenings and
weekends, or at BWSheron@
mac.com
. Ed can be reached at
703-577-7222 or at ewprice@comcast.net
. |
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|
Special Note
concerning publication points for Author Certificate:
The Author achievement certificate is earned when an individual earns a total of
42 points from publishing a combination of materials. In general, an article in
a divisional newsletter, such as the Potomac Flyer, earned 1 point per page.
However, section 1.D of the Author achievement program requirements says that
material published on public electronic forums, such as the internet, earn
credit at the same rate as Region publications. Since the Potomac Flyer is
published electronically and is available on the Potomac Division's web site,
then articles published in the Potomac Flyer earn region publication points, or
two points per page.
However, the articles published are still considered
division publications and section 1.A states that no more than half of the total
required points (21) may be claimed for Division or 100% NMRA club publications.
In addition, section 1.D says that no more than half of he total required
points (21) may be claimed for electronic publications.
An example of
what this means follows:
You are working towards your Author certificate.
You have published a total of 13 pages of articles in the Potomac Flyer, and
all of the Potomac Flyer issues are electronically on the Potomac Division web
site. If an electronically published page is two points, then in theory, the 13
pages would earn 2 x 13 = 26 points. However, since only half of author points
can be earned from divisional publications, then only 21 author points can be
earned for the 13 pages of division publications.
Also note that any
articles published on the web page under Neat, Nifty & Cool (NN&C) would
also earn points at the rate of two points per page, but because thay are
division publications, they would be subject to the point limitation above.
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