I’m Colombian, and I live in Colombia. If I become a member of the NMRA would I receive all the benefits just as if a where an American? or would I just be wasting my money, since there’s no official (not that I’m aware of) representation in Colombia of the NMRA?
I would gladly appreciate if someone could advise me on this one. Thanx
You would get “Scale Rails/Bulletin” and have voting rights. Also the ability to purchase a number of items that are ‘Members Only’ as well as others at a discount including access to the NMRA Kalmbach Library for research and access to the NMRA General and Modeling e-mail discussion lists. I’m sure that there is more, but that is what comes to mind immediately.
I have seen messages to me from members in the Dominican Republic, Peru and I believe, Brazil and have see photos from International membes on the NMRA home page.
You might contact NMRA HQ directly at hq@hq.nmra.org for more details.
Like Roger says you get access to the library - like exactly how often do I get to visit the US - so value for money it is not.
I live in the UK we even have a NMRA regional organisation here and I still don’t reckon its good value for money. The British region newsletter “Roundhouse” is definitely not an incentive to join, voting rights - like what do you vote on thats that important …
Sorry, if anyone thinks I’m NMRA bashing that isn’t intended - they did a lot of good work introducing a DCC format and influencing manufacturers descisions - but they need to think a bit about international membership dues and what international members actual get from the organisation. For the time being I for one will not be joining the NMRA unless the international membership rates drop considerably.
Buenas tardes RojoJefe,
Save your money, forget the NMRA. The fee is big, the benefits are nil. At least for us modelers.
NMRA stands for National Model Rail-road- Association, -not- Model Railroa-ders-. They don’t cater to individuals. All what they do is their own marketing, to get always more members and more money. Nothing else. “Give us your money, and you will be a better modeler”.
The NMRA does two things good: They have this huge library someone else told you about. What he forgets to tell you is that members can get photocopies of any page(s) of any book or magazine they have in the library. Very nice to get an article from a very old magazine. But non-members can get them too, so why bother.
The second thing the NMRA does well, is their sets of standards (what they call “recommended practices”, never mind). As for the DCC, sorry, they did almost nothing. Lenz gave its patents to the NMRA, which has just done Lenz’s marketing. But the Lenz system is very good, so modelers don’t loose on the way. Surprisingly, if one e-mails Lenz, they get an answer from a lady that has the same name as the technical leader of the NMRA DCC group. No, I say nothing more. But don’t tell me that the NMRA is a leader in DCC.
And their “Bulletin” is write in such a pusillanimous way that only “good-public” readers will not recognize what looks like a fear to not unplease any manufacturer or anybody else.
I used to be a member for a year, but I resigned after I quickly realized that my money would be so better used instead on my layout. I have been followed-up for a while by a few guys, like the Mormons do. I even received an injunction to renew my membership, but I stayed put.
Un saludo
Well, there you have it. One for and two against.
One thing that I forgot to mention, I always recommend trying membership for two years as you can’t get a really good feel for the organization in a year. 
Whatever you do, it is a Great hobby!! Enjoy!