Membership in the North Shore Model RR Club

Join the Club

The North Shore Model Railroad Club is always looking for new members - of any skill level. No need to be intimidated when you see the layout. The club is a place to learn as well as to do.

Membership in the NSMRC is open to anyone 18 years old or older. There is currently no "junior" membership program at the club, although anyone under 18 may come down to the club and participate with their parents if a parent is a member

Anyone wishing to become a member must first fill out a membership application. There is an application form on-line, which must be printed out and the paper copy brought down to the club.

Candidates have full use of the club facilities and layout whenever the club is open (Thursday & Tuesday evenings, some Sunday afternoons). They may participate in all club activities, and use their own or club equipment on the layout. Once the application has been submitted, applicants have 6 months in which to complete requirements. After that time the application is dismissed and the process must begin again.

The membership process includes participating in the following activities. This gives you a chance to experience different aspects of the hobby, and gives us time to get to know you better. All applicants must attend the following:

Three Work Nights - Work nights are the 3rd and 4th Thursday of a month, where members work on the layout itself
One Operating Session - Saturday following the first Thursday; and 2nd Thursday evening; of each month (only 1 day needed for credit). This is where we run the layout as a railroad, with waybills and schedules & the whole 9 yards.
Two Business Meetings - 1st Thursday of a month. Candidates may attend but do not have voting rights.

After all the above are completed, the applicant is voted on at the third business meeting they attend.

Membership benefits include

The ability to work at the club layout
A key to the club for 24 hour access to the club facilities
Ability to store tools and equipment at the club
The privilege of paying dues ($20/month)
10% discount at local hobby shops

You do not have to be a member or applicant to visit the club during club hours.

The NSMRC is open to all and does not discriminate based on age, race, religion, handicap, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or any other adjective used to pigeonhole people.

You can also find out a little on our club philosophy, or scroll down to see member testamonials have to say about the club.

from the Members

I've asked members to submit their anonymous comments for this web. They were free to share their views, thoughts, likes, dislikes, and reasons for joining and staying with the club. Below are these comments.

This layout represents an ideal in many ways. Because each member chooses what he does best, and contributes in that area. So we have the best scenery guy. The best details guy. The best electronics guy. The best operations guy.

It all adds up to what you would get if you were a Master Model Railroader in the perfect sense.

And for those just joining it means finding the area that you want to learn and meeting the guy who just did that amazing track work and asking questions or otherwise learning from him some of the hints & tricks that you would otherwise learn the hard way.

It also mean compromising. It's a *club* layout. And therefore we do vote on various aspects. The initial plan was voted on. Updates have been voted on. Lots of what we do involves working within the membership. So don't get the idea from above that the experts make the choices. They certainly help, but the membership has the last word. [member since '79]

Cool electronics stuff, chance to build and tinker. I don't have the space at home.
Scenery looks great, so much is there to explore visually, and to think about what could be built.
Trains, secondary to others but gaining speed, complexity of engines, rolling stock.
Art, this is creativity pouring in from all sides, a chance to be creative and dream.
I think this is the main reason I joined, it keeps my mind busy, there is so much to ponder, and think about what can be done. It is something to take my mind off work, day to day life. [member since '97]

Operating: [[other club]] did not operate at that time. Running night was just running trains around the layout, again and again ad nauseum.
Learning: I wanted to learn about super-detailing buildings. There was 1 finished building, somewhat detailed, done by a member who worked at home that I never met. Except for that building there were no HO figures on the layout. Without examples to learn from, or the people who created those examples, what can you do.
I was trying to design a layout at the time. It made me realize that unless you know how you want to operate, you don't know how to design a layout to meet that requirement. A club that does not operate doesn't have a clue about layout design.
After going to open houses of many clubs around Boston, what else could I choose. Many clubs that I visited just did not inspire at all. Our designs spend years in the study stage; almost never requiring being redone. ([[other club]] was not expanding, merely rebuilding what was already done; there was very little long term plans.) We run a pretty good operating night. We offer many examples of superior work. [member since '??]

I have been involved in scale model railroading since the 3rd grade and have seen model railroad layouts all over the country (and a couple overseas). I wandered over to the North Shore during their annual open house and was totally blown away by the level of craftsmanship and design in this layout. I joined the next week!
Since I've been a member, I've come to appreciate the layout even more. It is truly greater than the sum of the effort of our talented membership: each new highlight spurs the rest of the builders to even greater achievements.
[The] important part (in my opinion) in creating this layout has been the ability of the membership to remain faithful to the original design concept. By doing so, the layout as a whole "flows" as prototype railroads do, and each new addition has a "philosophical framework" that it fits into. [member since '??]

I joined the NSMRC for one reason: operation. This club has a large and serious operations group. Other clubs have lots of track and/or beautiful scenery, but I wanted someplace where trains ran, and did something more meaningful than run around in circles.
Since joining, I have come to realize exactly what an exceptional club this is. There are other clubs with great layouts, or signal systems, or beautiful scenery, or intricately detailed towns, or exciting operations; the NSMRC is the first club I have ever seen that actively participates in ALL aspects of the hobby, and does them all well. [member since '??]