As for the reasons that trolleys disappeared, my belief has been more that it had to do with the requirement of utilities to divest themselves of their electric railway operations. The profit that was generated by the utility side of the house allowed the companies to improve the transit side.

And possibly one reason why this law was enacted was the fear by East Coast financial interests in the quick rise to wealth and control that was achieved by Insull and other electric power magnates. There seems to be more behind the story.

Hard to get decent docents. Some of them are just somebody looking for something to do and to be relevant. Others fancy themselves to be the ultimate experts.
The curators should occasionally go with the groups and listen and either unload them or train them better. These guys are the exception.
During my 18 years with 1522, I heard the whole gamut of world class authorities bloviating about our engine. You just have to sigh and move on.

NJ's Public Service converted almost completely to bus (Newark City Subway excepted) and ran one of the most efficient and reliable transit operations around.

It appears to me the triad of lightweight monocoque carbody, 471/671 diesel and Spicer hydraulic transmission led to a vehicle that was simple and efficient enough to pay its acquisition and operating costs and make a profit for the company.

Sorry to be the iconoclast.

Phil Mulligan

I would have to agree with that. I've been working on our TGH-3102 for the last five years making various repairs (including repainting) as we have had funds become available. The bus was built in October 1960 and delivered new to Old Pueblo Transit Company here in Tucson, Arizona. I am the primary driver and love how the coach handles. It is also very easy to maintain due to the design of the vehicle (plus we have the service and parts manuals).

Okay, I guess it's time to get the paddles ready to give some juice to this thread...
In this era of COVID, and knowing it's going to be a while before we all have the interactions we were used to prior to 2020 (I'm betting on late 2022 or most likely well into 2023 at this rate), have any museums given thought to how they're going to have docent interactions with the public once things get back to normal?

The same way they’ve been doing it for the last several months?

With masks and social distancing.

*sigh*…
Go back and read my question again:

*sigh* what’s your question then? When things are fully back to normal docents can interact without masks and without socially distancing?

I think what he was asking is will things get fully back to normal or will some of the changes be kept permanently? Will we get back to fully full cars and will all the plexiglas come back down?

No, I meant are docents still going to run amok?
We've all had a lot of time to contemplate this during the pandemic.

We are planning to reign in our freelance docents when we reopen.

Ah! That is a good question. I think the plexi will come down but honestly it’s probably a better guest experience not to sell every single seat. If it’s a railfan Special we don’t mind so much (especially if there are open vestibules or an open air viewing car!) but the general public probably doesn’t want to be seated with strangers.

I think we're all misunderstanding the meaning of the question. This thread is about irresponsible, uneducated or socially inept docents who either treat your visitors poorly or provide misinformation.

If I understand the question in context of the thread correctly, here is an example I experienced recently. I wear a mask when entering buildings because I work with an immunocompromised individual who contracts pneumonia from the common cold. I was traveling to a rural location in the west where state mask mandates had recently ended, and visited a non-railroad tourist attraction. I walked in to hear the person at the front desk mocking people who continued to wear a mask. "They're so stupid! It does nothing! They're just brainwashed! The government doesn't force them to but they do it anyway like good little sheeple!" they ranted to a receptive local.

I walked right out and did not give them any money. I don't care what you think about wearing a mask, or whether or not governments abused their power in requiring them, and in ways we may agree to some extent, but I will not tolerate a business or service that mocks their customers for their own personal choices.

DO NOT allow your docents to do this kind of thing.

Yes. I’ve seen current employees of tourist railroads and museums mock people wearing masks on social media. The railroad I worked at made us sign a social media policy... this should be standard and should be strictly enforced.