It should have been a no brainer!

I was into model trains for pretty much the entire second half of my scouting career.  I even bought the railroading meritbadge book!

However, I suppose I had more Eagle required badges to do,  so I never finished it  (in fact,  I barely have any merit badges for any of the things that were my favorite subjects!)

I like to think that I made up for it though, because for my Eagle Scout Project, I rebuilt an old CNJ wood caboose (#91291)  that was badly deteriorating.  We actually had to replace a good chunk of the interior structure on top of replacing the rotted side panels.    Six years later, the museum that owned it got kicked out of their train station.

If not for my eagle project,  there is a good chance it would have been too far gone to save. 

well

Model Railroading (now named Railroading) was one of the merit badges I earned on my way to a bronze palm, after my Eagle.

JIm Noel

As a retired teacher of 60 years and a 4 years   as  a professional Scouter say Hooray! MOre pople like you need to recognize the value of helping young people learn a skill or set of skills. The time of doing things with your nads and mind are disappearing rapidly in this time of "where canI buy it" or Do it for me".

I hope may readers of this article will follow your lead.

Jim Noel

Follow on

http://www.usscouts.org/mb/mb094.asp- The requirements for the merit badge  I sent the powerpoint to Joe, along with the list of literature.   I am hoping he publishes it with this month's extras.  Otherwise, simple request it and I will e-mail it to you.

We will put it in this months bonus downloads

We will add to this month's bonus downloads.

Thank you

Thanks Joe, It is a large file, I don't have bandwidth limit on my account, but some of the others might.

And don't limit yourselves

In addition to Railroading merit badge, some related merit badges are:  Model Design and Building, Electricity, electronics, and woodworking to name a few.

Cool, James!

Good for you James!!  This

Good for you James!!  This was more important than any "how to" article. Volunteering and possibly making an impact in today's youth, you'll never how how important that session may have been. Great story,

Steve

It is about paying forward

There were adults in my youth that gave of their time and effort on my path to Eagle.  The only way to pay them back is to pay it forward.  I also have 2 nephews currently in the program, one about to cross over from Cubs to Boy Scout later this very week.

Also, this article is about making it easier for others to volunteer (and even to get something for themselves in the form of the AP certificate).  I'm looking forward to May when I run not 1, but 2 more sessions of this merit badge (yup, 1 morning and 1 afternoon, half as many youth in each class).

Railroading Merit Badge

I eventually earned my Eagle Scout, but the railroading badge was my first.  Pleasant to see that there is still an interest and activity with that subject.  James did a nice job on getting things organized and completed.

BSA and Model RR Merit Badge

Great piece James!  You show a way to give back to both the model RR hobby and Scouting.  I'll keep this in my "things to do file" for after our NMRA National Convention out here in Portland next year.

Bill Decker

http://espeecascades.blogspot.com/

Impacting a young man's life

Even if only one of the boys (or none) actually becomes a model railroader thru Jim's efforts, the way he presented the materials, the handouts and hands on, all contribute to a fun experience for the young men who participated and gave them a sense of accomplishment. Breathing life into young men who often get little of it (while being bombarded with so much negativity) is SO important.

And I bet all these guys will have a better attitude toward our hobby even if they don't make it theirs right away or ever. 

More of us should be doing this. BTW, it might not have been clear from Jim's text but you don't have to already be a scout volunteer to do this (it just fast tracks the approval process if you are). There are safeguards in place to protect the youth and MB Councilors of course. 

Oh, and around here we call the MB day activities Merit Badge Universities. Numerous MBs offered at the same place at the same time. 

Thanks for such an important article. 

Bob Courtney

Monett, MO

Thank you

Yes. Merit Badge Academy is called by some similar names in other places.  But the purpose is clear.

As for this article, Joe is posting the presentation materials one of these days, but I have already e-mailed a couple of copies out to interested parties.

For those interested in becoming a volunteer, I did mention the couple of times volunteers were turned down, but the vast majority are accepted.  The requirements are:

1.  Fill out an adult application for BSA (1.5 pages, multi copies)

2.  Fill out a merit badge counselor application (Single page form where you put down which merit badges you want to teach).

3.  Take the online youth protection course from the BSA.  (Powerpoint like, takes 1/2 hour or so).  (Short course - promise never to be alone with any youth that is not your blood relative, everything else is window dressing)

4.  Take the short course on teaching merit badges. (You promise to teach the requirements as they are in the book, omitting none, adding none - That's the short course)

5.  Turn in your paper work (Did I mention that merit badge counselors are signed up FREE?).

Council will get around to doing a background check, but 99+% of volunteers are accepted.

Immaterial

Whether any of those kids becomes a model railroader is immaterial. What matters is that someone took the time to show them they can create something with their own hands. Kids of scouting age shouldn't be on any specific career or hobby path. It's time to explore and learn.

Railroading Merit Badge

As a Merit Badge Counselor who has had the opportunity to work on several Camporees (Boone, Iowa, Edaville, Massachusetts, Troop 964 Manassas, VA) three of the past four National Jamborees ( I missed 2013 due to my father's passing) I earned that AP certificate. I thought James article was thorough and appropriate. I include a switching layout in my presentation ( not quite a Timesaver) to show the youth what model railroaders can do on a budget. I think the hardest thing about the process is the narrowing down of what we present, as there is a ton of material available. James is absolutely correct in that the MB can be presented in three hours. It can be a one day deal.. All around good job!

Brewster Bird, Unit Commissioner Live Oak District, Sequoia Council, Merit Badge Counselor, Cub Pack Cubmaster Emeritus Pack 3300., NMRA member since 1993.

And today

Registration opened for the May 10 occurrence of Merit Badge Academy.

I have the extra decks taped down to the cardboard, the replacement couplers bought and put into envelopes, and placed the order for the car kits.  I even fixed the spelling error Joe found in the power point. Already received permission from the club to borrow the 2 larger box cars as demos (G and O scale)

Still have to go buy a batch of CDs and burn them, but that can wait a couple weeks yet, just like printing off the 2 handouts can.

Wow

Registration opened for the merit badge at 9 am yesterday.  As of a few minutes ago, 25 out of the 30 slots are already filled.  (The afternoon class is full, the morning class is at 10 out of 15 signed up.)  I thought there was a  problem because I only got to the event registration page today and it was not showing the afternoon class available.  That was because it is already FULL.

There is apparently a pent up demand for this merit badge out there.  Now I have to consider if there is enough demand for November again. 

And there you go

Just checked registration again.  There are Merit badges available in both times slots, but as of 3 days after registration opened, all 30 of the Railroading Merit badge Academy slots are filled.  And out of council youth have not even gotten the opportunity to sign up yet!

And another Merit Badge Academy is done.

This time I added a test track, so we ran all the cars right there at the end of class (each session).  The staff fouled up and sent me 32 students, and I had set up for 30 kits!  What to do?  Well, the last 2 were brothers and had been told there might not be enough kits.  And I told the staff a little white lie.  I had 1 more kit squirreled away as my last resort.  So the brothers shared  a kit and I had them do an additional item from the last requirement list.  The demand is there.  Why don't some of you jump in to your councils and lend a hand?

We need to get after them

All this discussion just goes to show the interest in model trains is there - we, the current rank-and-file, need to go give the next generation the guidance and the encouragement they need.

I think there's sufficient evidence that the hobby has a bright future if WE are willing to think beyond ourselves and our own gratification ... in other words, rather than wringing our hands and endlessly posting about our concerns over the hobby's future - how can we become part of the solution?

Some more follow up.

My volunteer Ap cert has been approved and sent up the chain.  We even have 16 of 60 points for  a volunteer AP cert for my wife. 

I did check and yes, there were some Scouts wait listed who did not get to take the class.  I am presently talking to the staff of the next Academy about numbers and which classes to teach.  I am also in discussion with the scout leader from out of council who brought the wait listed Scouts to my attention.  We are discussing a special session one council over to serve her troops and some more around them.  Her council does not do a Merit Badge Academy or equivalent ( I used to serve that council, so I have ties there).

Also, I opened a dialog with the Kadee company.  Turns out the president and GM is also an Eagle Scout himself.  Maybe we can cut the cost of the couplers per boy, allowing me to serve more scouts for the same outlay from me.

Also, is this something we might like to see a snippet of on trainmasters TV? I'm willing to try.

Have you thought of contacting other Manufacturers?

such as Accurail or Bowser to see if they would be willing to sell you a set of cars at cost for each of your "classes"? 

Ken L.

As I recall from his story a

As I recall from his story a couple months ago, Accurail is cutting a pretty reasonable deal on the car kits.