The requirements for Model Railroad Engineer - Civil may look long and complicated, but they really are not. The reason that they are so long is to offer you more options for meeting the requirements.
Remember - don't read more into the requirements than is there.
Prepare one original scale drawing of a model railroad track plan, identifying overall size, scale, track elevations, curve radii, and turnout sizes.
Before you start drawing your layout plan, look at requirements 2 & 3 to see what features you are going to want to incorporate in your track plan. Remember: you do not need to build everything on this plan, just the minimum required part of it. The plan should be neat and legible, but it does not have to be in ink or computer generated.
You should also consider the requirements for Model Railroad Engineer - Electrical, and Chief Dispatcher when planning your layout - it is much easier to include the requirements in the planning stage than to go back and add them later.
This plan must include:
Construct and demonstrate, the satisfactory operation of a completed section of the model railroad and track work described in #1. Containing at least 25 linear feet in Z, N, or TT scale, or 50 linear feet in HO or S scale, or seventy five linear feet in O scale, or 100 linear feet in G, F, or #1 scale, or other scales in proportional relationship to HO scale, with appropriate ballast, drainage facilities, and roadbed profile, which may contain spurs, yards, etc.
Notice that last part - 50 feet of track, not 50 feet of main line - all operational track counts. While there is some element of scenery (appearance) to the track work and ballasting, the intent is to demonstrate understanding of what is needed to properly represent operating railroad track. In other words, what you need to show is that you know how to build track following prototype practice.
The track work must have examples of six of the following features:
Commercial frogs are not permitted to be used in any of these items. These models may be built and demonstrated as part of the layout or separately.
Remember that these items do not need to be part of your layout - they don't even need to be the same scale or gauge. They don't even need to be part of a layout at all. You can build them on separate pieces of wood. They just have to be big enough and with enough track on either side to "...demonstrate their satisfactory operation. " This means that a unit of motive power must be able to travel through them (along all the possible routes) under its own power.
It is NOT sufficient to push or pull a car through by hand.
You must earn a Merit Award (there are three pass/fail criteria) with the items in section 3 above.
Notice that you only have to earn a Merit Award with the items in section 3 - the trackwork items in section 2 don't have to be judged at all, except to demonstrate that they work. They must be available for examination by the judges, however.
You must submit a Statement of Qualification (see SOQ below) which includes the following:
Attachment to the SOQ showing the track plan required in Section 1 above. The attachment should include:
(This is just a list of what was used - you don't have to try and figure out how much)
Contact the AP Committee General Manager at achiev [at] nmra.org, or your Region or Division Achievement Program Manager for more information.
Forms available for this category: