> Was up at Heber as a 'volunteer' today. As
> best as I could tell, I was the only one
> that came in not on the call list.

A few points seemingly are getting crossed up on this thread. For volunteers in general, there are not a lot of rules or restrictions at our place outside of minimum age imposed by our insurance. So you can come out with most any interest from serving hot dogs, to welding, to painting, to lawn mowing, to running trains. Or just come out and visit.

But as the activity grows in complexity, some 'rules' are necessary to insure the safety of the member, safety of the public, and protection of the equipment. In the case of crew for operating trains, they go through rules training, safety training, have a dress code, are 'qualified' on specific equipment and at specific positions, and are scheduled. Few if any object to this degree of 'professionalism' and there should be little room for compromise in regard to safety.

Bob Kutella

68trolley@comcast.net

> But as the activity grows in complexity,
> some 'rules' are necessary to insure the
> safety of the member, safety of the public,
> and protection of the equipment. In the case
> of crew for operating trains, they go
> through rules training, safety training,
> have a dress code, are 'qualified' on
> specific equipment and at specific
> positions, and are scheduled. Few if any
> object to this degree of 'professionalism'
> and there should be little room for
> compromise in regard to safety.

just to clarify my points.

rules training....done it

safety training....done it

dress code....hundreds (if not thousands) of passengers have photographs to prove it.

'qualified' on specific equipment at specific positions....yup -- my 'employee' ID badge says just on what i AM qualified--does yours?

and are scheduled....and that's part of my point. It is getting harder, and harder to schedule the complete crews. If volunteers (with their rules/safety qualifications complete) aren't showing up to "tag along" with the conductor as a brakeman (thereby qualifying eventually for that position), if individuals that are conductor qualified aren't showing up to observe and qualify in engine maintanence/service or engine firing, if light engineer qualifieds aren't showing up for observing in the cab on passenger runs--there is no advancement and nobody to run -- thereby leading to fast, fast burnout for those that are there -- and burnout is not limited to just the old guys -- overload one of your young enthusiastic members and you've lost the war.

I would suggest giving Ohio Central a week or two to complete Trainfest. Then repost the question, specifically asking those volunteers about some of the 'perks' that kept (and is going to keep) them around. I have had the opportunity of working with John Rimmasch and have had discussions with some of you back-channel about the volunteerism he can generate.

that, plus 98 cents will get a coke from our vending machine!

sc 'doc' lewis

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

> Hello railroad museums (or even any other
> groups with volunteers):

> How is your volunteer base holding up? Do
> you have more or less volunteers, or, is it
> just cycling like normal?

We seem to be more or less keeping up with attrition, but just barely. Volunteer hours are up, but the number of people seem to be down to me.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@msmgmt.com

Scanning through the numerous responses in this thread, I see little mention of the fact that as we have moved away from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based (soon to be security-based) economy, the number of volunteer craftsmen out there have dwindled.

Anymore, it seems like the most mechanicly advanced sort of volunteer an outfit like ours can muster are auto mechanics.

Master machinists have been replaced by CNC operators, you know? Pipefitters have no time because there is overtime money to be made so that they can support their families as the cost of living in the metropolitian area continously climbs...

There are many political and economic issues that are wrapped up in this subject, but rather than just talk about theory here, I will simply say that 10 years ago we had master craftsmen volunteering here... electricians, steamfitters, carpenters, you name it.

Everyone had something to bring to the table.

However, in the year 2004 it seems that these sort of folks are gone. The industrial base here has shipped off to Mexico with NAFTA, then, much to the chagrin of the Mexicans, off to Communist China.

We attract mostly younger volunteers that have the time and want to learn stuff, but all they know is programming in C, X-Box, or how to "manufacture" a quarter pounder with cheese.

It's great that they want to learn, but anymore who is left to teach them, especially when you consider these kids don't have the slightest idea how to screw a lightbulb into a socket? But the do know how to code html.

It's a sad state of affairs, it really is, but then again, all of this is most likely just here in NJ. Other parts of the country (hopefully) are still producing goods and training people to work with their hands.

Not here... not when everyone is expected to go to college after HS and earn a degree so they can get a crappy job in some cubicle that will make the car payments on their new toyota camry they bought so they could commute 6 hours of their day to get to aforementioned cubicle.

I dunno... maybe everything i am saying is just naive... or I am some ornery reactionary type, but I don't really see things improving...

Oh, and a final thing... I saw that someone was mentioning the "be an engineer for an hour" thing... that's most likely another "problem".

Before Ricky Gates, this Railroad could promote people to student engineer as it saw fit. With CFR part 240, it's a nightmare of training, documentation, and recordkeeping just to get someone time in the right hand seat. Regulation by the federal government tends to hinder things... and even if it is keeping a volunteer brakeman's interest in volunteering alive by his engineer on a particular day MAYBE giving him throttle time, that's simply not going to happen anymore.

Roderick C. Whitehead
Gen. Superintendent - BR&WRR

rcw7585@njit.edu

Just began a book called BOOMER NATION last night - a study of the effect of the baby boom generation on society, economics, etc. If we can hold out for another 15 years, we will see a very large and relatively affluent population base reach retirement age, and, assuming our economy does not reach critical mass, will seek creative outlets for continued learning and self actualization.

Might be wise to start considering how to plan to attract this segment.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net