WHAT ABOUT OUR DIVISION?
The hobby of Model Railroading is a fascinating pastime that can be shared by young and old alike. It can be a wonderful family activity that stresses creativity and togetherness. Unlike other leisure-time activities, model railroading doesn’t have a right and wrong way to do things. You can participate in the way that works best for you. Model railroading allows you to exercise your imagination, enhance your knowledge of railroading, and understand the historical importance of railroads in our area. Your model railroad is yours and yours alone!
The Hudson Valley Division is in the Northeastern Region (NER) of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) has been in existence for almost 80 years. Our Division was founded in 1946 in Kingston by members who are now the Kingston Model Railroad Club. We are in New York State’s lower Hudson River valley, which includes Dutchess and Putnam counties (east of the Hudson River) as well as Ulster, Orange, Rockland and Sullivan counties (west of the River). We hold monthly meetings and schedule the meetings in the counties we serve. We also have a planning meeting in December. We usually have a presence at local train shows and railroad historical society banquets. Our members have wide ranging interests including DCC, DC, model building, operations, and prototype information in a variety of scales.
We are railroad modelers who share a common interest in learning how to build realistic models, studying how railroads operated throughout history, getting outside to observe freight and passenger trains, and getting to know one another. Some of us have train layouts, some of us focus on building realistic models of structures, railroad equipment or scenes of interest and others just want to learn more about our fascinating hobby from each other.
We do not model a particular scale. Model railroading encompasses a range of sizes. The smallest commercial size is Z scale, whose locomotives are 220 times smaller than a full-sized locomotive. Regardless of scale, whether it be N, HO, O, etc., the modeling techniques that we learn are useful and can be shared with everyone in the hobby,
About Our Hudson Valley Division Organization
Join our exciting organization, the Hudson Valley Division, and attend hands-on clinics and informational exchange meetings. For less than $20, you sign-up with the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) and if you live in our six county Lower Hudson Valley region, you will automatically become a participant in all Division activities. Our members are a diverse group of individuals. All model train scales (O, HO, N, etc.) are represented. Some of our members focus on scenery, some focus on rolling stock, some are perfectionists, purists, but some are “good enough” modelers. Some model only protype railroads but others stretch their vision and imagination and build their own version of a railroad. We focus on craftsman type kits but for that we also have a mixture of genres. I for one just completed four craftsman type houses (two Campbells, one Alexander Scale Models, one Bar Mills) but I plan on filling out the scene with a Woodland Scenics Built and Ready structure. That is the typical type of person in the Hudson Valley Division. When a member ran out of a certain building material, another jumped in and sent it over to help. Why don’t you test drive our Division and attend a meeting/event just to see for yourself what we are all about. Looking forward to seeing you at one of our events.
Ours is a volunteer organization. The way to join the Hudson Valley Division is to become a member of the NMRA, of which we are one of the chapters.
To learn more about our Division or to obtain additional information about the Hudson Valley Division, please go to the CONTACT US section of our website and send us an email.
HUDSON VALLEY DIVISION BOOK & DVD LIBRARY
The Old Newburgh Model Railroad Club donated their book collection to us. In addition, Bob Earl gave us a box of DVDs of clinics that were presented at a National Convention. Indices of the books and DVDs have been created in Excel spreadsheets. Send an email via CONTACT US if you want a copy either index. Below are listings of both.
CONTACT US
LEADERSHIP
| POSITION | |
| Superintendent | Henry Kramer |
| Director – Hudson West | Earl White |
| Director – Hudson West | Joe Harkins |
| Director – Hudson East | Dennis Colucci |
| Director – Hudson East | Bob Demkowicz |
| Secretary & Treasurer | John Noll |
| Web Administrator & Membership Information | Bob Yustein |
Drop Us a Line
Our Mailing Address is:
Hudson Valley Division/NMRA
680 Route 211 East
Suite 3B 173
Middletown, NY 10941-1757
Or Send an email