Page 6 - NMRA Roundhouse September October 2020

My Achievement Program Journey
David Gunn MMR® #240
On my old layout back in the attic of my home in the UK. The room was approx 11ft square with access to the room by pull down ladder - photos by David Gunn MMR®
ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM
I was born in Ottawa in 1943, attend- and went to many model train shows Now then, Contests are just that! In
ed various schools in Ontario and at the raw age of just turned 18, I went to England to join a British merchant
navy Company “Furness Withy” out of London as an engineer officer cadet and after a 4 1⁄2 year apprenticeship I be- came a junior engineer officer progress- ing through the ranks to Chief Engineer and ending up working for “Manchester Liners”. I spent a total of 13 years trav- eling the world at sea but spent a good few of these plowing the North Atlantic to Canada out of Manchester and just happened to meet my wife Pam during an officer’s party on board my ship in Manchester.We married in 1970 started working ashore in 1973 and had one son Nick in 1975.
I have always had a love of model trains including a Lionel steam freight train (which I still have today) around the Christmas tree at the age of 7. I tinkered with American style model trains for many years not really getting anywhere
in the UK. During one of these shows I heard about a model train convention taking place near to my home in the UK all about North American prototype railroading being hosted by the British Region of the NMRA. I went to this show and was totally sucked into the hobby.What a joy it was for me to find a show all about modelling North Ameri- can style!
After this show I found out about a local group belonging to the British Region of the NMRA and I never looked back.
During the early years of my member- ship we started building a modular layout and I had 5 four-foot modules based on Canadian prototypes. I really enjoyed the freedom to do my own thing includ-
ing scratch building and scenicking on these modules. Of course I looked on everything I did as perfect (as you do) and started entering into contests just for the fun of it.
a contest every entry is up against everyone else who enters. Each entry
is judged on its merits and then COM- PARED to all the other entries in the same group to determine the placing in the contest and no doubt you would be up against the very best of modelling not even getting a placing. It was discouraging to say the least.
It was then that I was introduced to the NMRA Achievement Program (AP) by
a local member of our group, who just happened to be the AP chairman for
the British Region. He introduced me to the Program and explained the judging criteria and how the scoring worked. The AP program is a process of learning supported by fellow modellers; it opened my eyes to the wonderful adventure
to learn from others. I make this very clear—there are no hoops to jump through, just a fantastic way to learn how to improve your own skills and also learn from your mistakes.
6 ROUNDHOUSE - September/October 2020 - 75th Anniversary Issue