Introducing the NMRA Interchange

As discussed at our July 2026 division meeting.

CALLING NMRA MEMBERS of DSED & DIVISIONS NATIONWIDE!

The NMRA Interchange is a new place to ask questions, provide answers, post events, share ideas and make friends.

It is implemented as a Discord server and contains categories for welcoming members, a help area, the NMRA worldwide community, the NMRA Board of Directors, each of the Departments, the Achievement Program, Special Interest Groups, the basics (of modeling), the prototype (railroads), general interest groups and then each of the 17 regions. Discord also provides, free of charge, the ability to have online meetings with up to 100 people in a “room”, sharing screens and up to 25 people showing their camera feeds. 

When you join the Interchange Server, the “Automated Bot” will greet you with a message and some instructions on how to get your roles assigned.  Without roles, you will only see #the-lobby, #rules and #how-to-guides.  Please spend some time in the #rules and #how-to-guides during the /onboard process while your are waiting for the email with your personal command and code to paste in.

Familiarize yourself with the process of gaining access to the NMRA Interchange here:

NMRA National Convention 2026 – Chattanooga, TN

2026 Scenic City Express Chattanooga TN – NMRA National Convention and T-Trak World Record Attempt

The NMRA National Convention is coming to Chattanooga, TN, for the first time in 2026! The Southeastern Region is excited to host NMRA members from around the world in the Scenic City. We have a week full of fun activities planned, including:

  • Layout Tours
  • Prototype Tours
  • Steam-Powered Excursions and Dinner Train
  • Non-Rail Tours and other Activities
  • Operating Sessions
  • Special Interest Groups
  • Railroad Historical Societies
  • Modeling with the Masters(r)
  • Celebration of Models
  • Train Show

Click here for more info: https://www.nmra2026.org/

Dates: July 27 to August 2 2026

Summer 2026 Thousand Lakes Region Fusee

Summer 2026 Thousand Lakes Region Fusee

The Fusee is a quarterly publication of the Thousand Lakes Region of the NMRA. DSED is a proud member of the TLR and a regular contributor to its pages. See inside this issue for a report from the Thousand Lakes Region convention in Thunder Bay Ontario, a good discussion on adhesives, an update from the Twin Cities Division and an introduction to DSED member Eric Carlson’s HO scale Black Hills & Eastern Railroad.

Click here for the Summer 2026 Fusee.

Model Railroad Community Education

Each spring (April) and fall (November) we host a community education class on ‘Model Railroad Module Building’. Each registrant has the opportunity to add track to a 2-foot T-Trak module, add some scenery and then run trains on the completed modules. We had a great time building the scenery on the modules and made some new friends of model railroading.

Our next class is scheduled for the four Tuesdays in November 2026.  Classes are from 6-8pm each evening. One of the classes is a tour of two of the instructor’s home model train layouts. Information and registration will be available sometime in August 2026 through the Sioux Falls Community Education program at https://sfsdcomed.myrec.com.

See our ComEd page for more photos.