Fritz -

Thanks for posting this photo. It is great! In addition to the question about the screw type reverser, I have some questions of my own about the photo, which is obviously "posed" for the cameraman.

1. The fireman has his foot NEXT to the pedal that opens the firedoors. I assume that the doors were just pried open for the photo and that the fireman didn't have to press the pedal again to close the door. Am I right on this?

2. Coal on the deck. I can understand that there would be some coal laying around from "missed" aims into the firebox, but this seems like quite a lot. Or would a fireman leave some on purpose on the deck like this so that he could get to it in a hurry if need be (rather than turn around and have to get some from the tender).

3. Obviously this is an older engine. Maybe a Ten-Wheeler or something that size. The detail is great right down to the rolled up cab curtain! Anyone have any idea as to the exact series of New York Central locomotive?

Les

I've talked with Linn about this doing research for my Trains article a few years ago. Linn made a number of points which I thought shed an interesting light on his general thinking as a heritage railroad executive.

To answer the question, no, I think Linn would say the public at large neither notices nor cares.

But, the railroad does have a Board-approved mission statement which sets the goal of (I paraphrase from memory) presenting the experience of riding a steam train ca. 1915, plus or minus 10 years. This mission gives the whole staff (passenger carshop, motive power, buildings and grounds) a framework for making decisions as they go about their daily work.

The vintage consist (with a lot of VERY MODERN reconstruction techniques under the sheathing) fits with this goal. And the overall impression of quality and workmanship and authenticity, if not any specific detail, does make an impact on the public. They like it just like they might enjoy the things they see on Antiques Roadshow.

As for the locomotive paint jobs, they were paid for by charters--in short, the decision to do it was driven in every case by a customer willing to bring in additional revenue to cover the changes, plus profit.

But profit isn't everything. Linn always, always, emphasizes that he knows his people, at least in the shop, are also motivated by factors other than mere wages and benefits. He likes doing things that make Strasburg a fun place to be for the employees as well as the patrons. Doing the occasional freight charter is something different, a break from the routine, something fun for the inner preservationist/railfans among the crew (though a long days hard work, too). I know the crew takes a lot of pride not just in the restoration work, but in their train-handling skills and vintage operating techniques when running the freights. Steve Weaver doesn't have to make his caboose on a charter a 100% authentic crummy, with him in a crushed fedora filling out his wheel report by hand, because he has to. He does it because he's a great guy, and he's one of us, and he takes pride in practicing the old ways even down to the details no one but him may notice.

So why did Linn do the retro locomotive paint jobs? Because it brought in additional marginal revenue, it built staff morale to change things up with an extra preservation twist once in a while, and it fit with his mission.

Linn didn't say this, but I'd also add that the overall fidelity of the engine and consist does influence "opinion makers." Those who care for these things do consistently note them, and in positive terms. That creates a halo effect that, however attenuated, does shape the public profile of the road. Think of it this way: a travel writer doing a web search on SRR will encounter nothing but glowing reviews, even from specialists. She may not care WHY the specialists are so happy, but the notes the uniform positive tone, and that impression carries over into her own, non-technical travel piece.

Canal museum: "I don't think these people know the difference between a canal and a river."
Aircraft museum: "No, the SR-71 would be too expensive to keep in flying condition."
Magritte exhibit: "OMG these people come in off the street and know NOTHING about surrealism. No no, it's a picture of a pipe. The point of the label is -- oh good grief. Here's a picture of my yacht. I'm desperate and it's yours for whatever money you got in your wallet right now."

Anyway, yeah. That's our job.

Les, that's correct. Clamshell doors like that can be flipped open by hand without the air piston.



Coal piles up from bailing at speed, no matter how good one is. It's usually not there for convenient use, though, people being what they are, the odd fireman may hoard a little pile for his own special purposes. Let's give the fireman the benefit of the doubt and say that he's in between sweeps.

With reference to the greater thread, one thing that can help the visiting public is to always use the correct nomenclature - trains are made up of railroad cars, pulled by a locomotive; etc.

After interviews with reporters, I try to crib up a vocabulary reference for their write up. Reporters appreciate learning the terms of art - they don't want their article to sound corny either.

Touché , Robert.

I have written several posts here over time...and many have been positively received by some of the more prominent members. So here comes another opinion:

Unfortunately, many transportation museums have not caught up with what brings a crowd in. Steam locomotives only can address some of the momentum of driving ticket numbers. Let us all be realistic, almost EVERY steam locomotive out there running or being displayed has a back story. Most of these operational stories mean NOTHING at all to the average customer. There are many things that drive customers that railroad preservationist just can not grasp. History has to be crafted and package for mass consumption.

First, you have to appeal to EVERYONE! You shouldn't depend on the "average American", conservative church attending, republican, non-smoking, non-drinking family to sustain your museums. This demographic at best is only 45% to 50% of your clientele. I have been standing next to a museum president when he referred to African Americans as, "oh look, here come the darkies!" The same museum negatively referred to the following: non-Christians, democrats, smokers, drinkers, anyone not like themselves. It really was pathetic! I don't associate with that museum anymore due to a whole host of those comments. I mean this is 2012....seriously?

Second, is the entire technology piece. Recently, I was entertaining myself online by looking up several railroad organizations. And, guess what? Many of your favorite museums have sub-standard websites and honestly...even the good ones...don't update their news, pictures, or historical pieces often. My household has 4 LCDTVs, 2 Macs, 1 laptop, 2 iPhones, 2 iPads, Xbox, etc. We are now a technology driven society. Shouldn't there be a way to marry the technology piece with the historical piece? Families love to able to tap their phones and tablets.

Third, all the secrecy BS. What is it with you museum operators? "Oh no, no one can know that we are repairing #1234 for operation." "Don't tell anyone but we are going to be adding the #9876 to our museum. No one can know...shhhhhh" It is ridiculous. Give it a rest guys. You want the public, the photogs, and the rail fans to contribute their hard earned money to your organization....but don't tell anyone...anyone...what we are doing...it's a secret!

Finally, demographics. If you don't live inside a major metroplex, the Chicago/Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, LA Basin, or the Northeast/New England...trains have nothing to do with your life. So that basically means the South, West/Rocky Mountain, and the Heartland parts of the country..don't have clue. I remember just a week ago being with a co-worker and being stopped by an NS coal train. I was in heaven and my co-worker was swearing like a sailor. "This train is so long, it's too slow (it was doing over 40mph). I am hungry and need the bathroom. I don't even know why they run these slow things anymore. They are dangerous." - Another example - My sister-in-law has a 12 yr old daughter and a 14yr old son. They have to check-in with her at the mall once an hour. She asked about riding trains in the cities. She was concerned her children with have to ride with people they don't know...they might be a different race, etc. etc. etc. I explained to her that in Chicago and NYC 12 and 14yr olds know the trains like the back of their hand. They ride the L.I.R.R., the subway, Metra, etc. without their parents ALL THE TIME. Of course, my sister-in-law lives in the deep south. She had no idea that Atlanta ever had commuter trains.

So how can we educate our youth about the importance of maintaining our railroad heritage? You guys know who you are...your over 45, 55, 65...life doesn't go on forever. You have to appeal to many, many types of people in order to see the railroad history live on.

Railroad preservation is a product. You have to know who you can sell the product to. What is their life like and how can we help fit into it? Can we do a better job of educating? Can we partner with more colleges, secondary schools, or community groups than we do now? And, can we attempt to "FIT IN" a bit more with the regulars? I mean let us be fair everyone, railfans don't have great reputations....they come off being arrogant, odd, and behind the times on occasion.

So brush your teeth and hair, retire that vest full of railroad patches, and for goodness sakes, wear some regular clothes. Don't talk about how the "old so & so" used to run 40 mph once upon a time. Tell them how US railroads are running everywhere, running fast, running greener, and investing in both the freight and commuter markets throughout the country. Let's make railroading exciting again!

While I wrote this novel....NS had a commercial playing tonight on CNN. It highlighted all the great things going on across their network. That is exciting...and that is what I know.

Thank you........

Again: what is the STORY YOU ARE TELLING? How do you tell it in a way that engages all the senses and at the same time has personal appeal and relevance to your visitors?

I worked at a museum that held a Gay Pride event - and we made a lot of friends as well as money. We also held a Barbecue contest and basically got the site crapped up. We held a Native American event and it was left cleaner than before they arrived. I worked for a tourist railroad that ran a train of open cars in a snowstorm with 2 groups on board: a little old ladies knitting society, and a group of British railfans on a US tour. The Brits shared their thermoses of hot tea with the knitters and everybody had fun despite the weather, and the steam in snow was magnificent!

I think the demographic description 382 uses as a picture of the "majority" doesn't accurately reflect the high numbers he ascribes to it in society at large, but it does to way too many of us. We already have captured us as a market - it's everybody not like us that we need aboard, and there are WAY more of them out there. I'd be ashamed to work with the museum director he quotes.

One market that is growing and needs special attention is the disabled - us boomers are not gaining in energy and physical grace as the years go by, so find ways to make your place accessable for people of any physical ability and market that directly to their societies and support organizations.

It's our choice - we live or die by the way we make ourselves interesting and available to anybody looking for something that will impact them personally and provide them with a nice afternoon's diversion at the same time. Appealing to our own interests instead of working for their benefit is a sure way to be less and less relevant and successful until there's nothing left, and we are scrapping our possessions to stay afloat - but that's another thread.

dave

One of the good things about hosting "Day out with Thomas [the Tank Engine]" is that it brings out young families of diverse ethnic backgrounds. At my "home road" museum, we do our best to make sure everyone has a good time and has a chance to absorb some railway history in the process.

That photo looks like it was taken in the cab of an I series NYC locomotive.

I’m a bad personal example, but when I go to a museum, I’m ALREADY there because I have an interest. I would assume that anyone else there was in the same position or was drug there by someone else and they couldn’t care less. It’s going to be one way or another for most people.
Something else that needs to be taken into account is how do you handle the return visitor? That person is probably there to take a photo of a specific locomotive or car. He’s been there before and doesn’t need to take your tour. How do you handle him?
I take issue with the “you have to go on this tour if you’re going to come” mentality that some museums push. Many years ago, a friend of mine and I went to an agricultural museum with a shot train ride. We took the ride which was to an area that showed sap extraction from trees. Afterward, we returned and we were walking away, not realizing we were only halfway done. We then were told all about the other processes, none of which were why we’d gone there. I’ve never forgotten that experience.
Last September I happened upon an airplane museum on a trip my wife and parents took with me to Kennedy Space Center. I’d forgotten it was there and was surprised to come across it on our way out of there. None of the rest of them wanted to go in with me, so my plan was to go in, look at my own pace and get back to them. I got caught into a “one size fits all” tour that was the only way to see one of the planes I wanted to look at. I knew as much about that plane as the docent did and while I kept my trap shut, I kept looking at my watch. I even made a couple of comments about how I had a “patient wife but two not so patient elderly parents” waiting for me, but it made no impact. The guy had a script and by the time I realized it, I was stuck. I had to apologize a lot to them on the way back to our rental house. If I had to do it over again, I would have just kept on driving, even though it was a neat museum with lots to see.
Before that we did the RR tour at Disney World. This was a classic example of a tour that wasn’t tailored to the audience. You show up at the entrance to the park before it opens, are given a talk about Walt Disney the man while walking around the Main Street area (totally alone), then take the first train to the shop. Everyone seemed to be interested and engaged until we got back to the station, where a VERY long lecture on Walt’s personal history went on. And on. And ON…. One guy on the tour fell dead asleep during the grueling lecture. There were only one of two hard core Disney fans on the tour, the rest wanted to see the trains and the shop. I suggest it only for the serious hard-core fan of Disney history. Otherwise, ditch the group as soon as you get off the train after it gets back from the shop. It put such a damper on the day, we never recovered from it (my folks were wrung out and we never really did much else, we left around 1 PM without ever getting out of the Main Street area, making it the most expensive tour of anything I’ve ever been on). I still feel awful about putting my family though it to this day.
Tours are good, but they should NEVER be the only option to see something on display, with the exceptions of dangerous areas like shop or yard tours.

I think every pme pf us has experienced that story. Don Lancaster has a small business rule: "Give them something extra - and leave them wanting more!" In his haste to cover the first part of the rule, our dullard docent violates the second.

Visitors are generally given the run of WRM, except for Barn 2, a cold storage barn for the worst artifacts; and Barn 3, which because of live trolley wire in the barn and some (last I counted) 26 roof ladders, we do not allow visitors in unescorted. Someone who wants to see something specific in Barn 3 tends to have no trouble rallying the necessary volunteer escort.

If you have a building at a museum that is open to the public, you will have vandalism problems unless a member (docent or whatever) is in the building to keep an eye on things. Would you believe visitors have scratched their initials into car windows? Many museums do not have enough members available to use one as a full time watchman in a building. Also railfans have been known to steal things.

Often volunteer docents pay little attention to their audience response during tours. Unfortunately many people today are very poor public speakers. Some are still saying the same things they said twenty years ago that may or may not be appropriate today. What do you do with a volunteer docent who speaks softly or otherwise cannot be understood by most tour members? What about the volunteer who's tours are totally boring to all except perhaps for the most enthusiastic fan?

The biggest group of visitors at most operating rail museums today is family goups who are bringing kids for a ride. You don't want to herd family groups with noisy small children into tour groups unless the tour is extremely short and specifically designed for small children. So you need to devise some method of tactfully segregating participants of tours by age. I have been trying to find a way to lead tours that are interesting for small children and adults at the same time for over fifty yers without success.

The best you can do is try to evaluate tour groups and provide appropriate information about rail transportation. Keep it as general as possible. For example, the fact that the streetcar was the family automobile of its day and the public used them exactly as we use autos today usually works well. Talks about the different types of streetcars usually don't get as much interest.

A few months ago I was standing with a group of volunteer railroaders before the operations had begun for the day. Like all such gatherings, the topics ranged far and wide, from sports to model railroading to the weather. The group began talking about the correct position of the railroad logo pins/badges worn on their uniforms. Some thought the pins should be worn on the lapels of the jacket, while others thought (correctly, as was shown by a copy of a vintage photograph of a passenger train service employee posted in the crew room) the logos should be worn on the collar of the uniform jacket.

After some discussion, one of the volunteers said "Who cares? The public doesn't know."

Well, we should care. The fact the public doesn't know much about railroading, either contemporary or historic, demands we strive to present our exhibits, tours and train rides as accurately as possible. Someone will learn something, and what this individual learns should be factual.

Now, as many other posters have written, I do not advocate boring visitors with so much railroad minutia they never go to another railroad venue. I do believe it is our responsibility to be as accurate and honest as possible when interpreting the railroad story. For example, while few recreational train rides offer a genuine passenger locomotive, briefly explaining or providing written information indicating a diesel switcher wouldn't haul a revenue passenger train would go a long way towards accuracy and truthfulness.

Sadly, I have seen posts by railroad museums on sites such as Facebook that were grossly inaccurate. One post identified a yard tower as where mainline trains were dispatched from. As time passes and fewer people have any connection to the railroad, it is incumbent upon the railroad preservation community to make sure we get it right. Does the public care? Maybe not. But perhaps we should care for them.

I wish they would.....but they decide all railroad venues are boring and go to another kind of entertainment industry's venue instead. What hurts any of us hurts us all......

dave