I am pleased to announce that as of February 1, 2017 I am now Master Model Railroader #585. What does that mean? Well, for me, I have set some personal goals to have certain criteria finished by certain dates. Does it make me a better modeler? I hope so, only because I have worked on a variety of topics, some of which I hadn’t thought about doing. In other cases, I was working towards a level of standard I hoped to achieve. Does it make me better than others? Absolutely not! What it does is it has given me an opportunity to have experiences I might not have had otherwise and a chance to interact with others as I might not have done, which I have enjoyed.
Now, as I move forward, I will continue to work on a few of the other certificates but my focus will be helping others as they work on their AP certificates. I am our Division AP Chair and will be able to use what I have learned to better help others.
One of the biggest ideas is I can now say to myself, “I can do it!” because I have! I still have a number of unfinished projects and depending on what I want to work on, I know I can set some goals and finish them! There is no rush. This hobby is there when you want and will wait for you if you need a break or other more important things come up. With goals however, for me, it takes my “train time” from puttering around to getting things done and having more fun!
Share what you are doing or if you have questions and I will try to help. That way we can enjoy the journey together!
You can follow my journey as I share my “Quest for Master Model Railroader” in the NMRA Magazine (starting in the January 2017 issue) as well as pages here on this website.
