Welcome to the NER

Welcome to the home page and website of the Northeastern Region of the NMRA. The NER is in the process of completely revamping and updating our website. So please check back here often for new info and updates. If you have any suggestions or ideas to be added to the the website, please contact the by clicking the Webmaster link at the bottom of any page.

Sincerely,

John Doehring

NER President

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Call for nominations of the Robert W. Spate Public Service Award.
The Robert W. Spate Public Service Award was created in the memory of Robert W. Spate. The award is presented annually to an NMRA member person or organization, or other non-NMRA member person or organization, within the area served by the Northeastern Region of the National Model Railroad Association (NER NMRA) who best exemplifies the promotion of the hobby of model railroading. Preference is given to those whose service to the hobby is in a public forum open to young people and/or others who are not usually exposed to the hobby. The recipient receives an engraved plaque and appropriate recognition.

An individual , group or organization may be nominated by the Boards of active NER Divisions or through the cognizant NER Area Director in the case of inactive Divisions. The nomination must be accompanied by the citation that will be used for the award if the nomination is selected. The award is not for service to a specific Division or the Region. It is for exemplary service to the hobby.

Robert W. Spate of New Harbor, Maine, was a Life Member of the National Model Railroad Association and a member of the HUB Division of the NER NMRA. He actively shared his model railroading interests with young people and others who wanted to learn more about the hobby. After he retired, he moved to Maine where he continued to support other model railroaders from his rather remote Pemaquid Point location. The Spate Award honors Bob by recognizing others who share this spirit.

Louise Spate, Bob's widow, donated his 78- by 16-foot layout to the Great Falls Model Railroad Club (GFMRRC) which used bits and pieces of the layout, rolling stock and tools to help create the GFMRRC HO scale layout. Those things not used by the club were sold off at train shows. Since Bob’s primary connection to the hobby was in the Northeastern Region, the GFMRRC decided to make a donation to the NER to create an endowment to fund an annual award in Bob’s memory.

The NER President is responsible to appoint ( subject to BOD approval) an ad hoc panel to review the nominations and make the award. Over the years the award has been presented to the Bedford Boomers and Amherst Society of Model Railroad Engineers as well as Emmons Lancaster, Jack Alexander, Charlie Bettinger, Paul Allard and Thomas Coulombe.

This year, Larry Cannon has graciously volunteered to coordinate receipt of the nominations for the TBD ad hoc panel. Therefore, nominations for this award should be submitted to Larry Cannon by e-mail ( ) or by snail mail ( 516 Pond Rd., Lewiston, Maine 04240 ) AND be accompanied by the proposed citation explaining why the nominee is deserving of this award. The deadline for the submissions is Monday July 31, 2016.

This year's award will be presented at The Pacemaker Convention in Albany in September.