I can think of a few, but I haven't heard of any of these ex chapters *ever* accomplishing anything significant since, particularly when compared to, for example, the Washington DC chapter.

Bob H

Thats funny, as the only NRHS Bulletins that I kept from my days as a member are the annual activities issue. History organizations suck at keeping the history of their own activities, and the yearly bulletin at least made sure that some accounting was made of the prior years accomplishments.

On the other hand, there are operations out there that are technically NRHS chapters, but you'd never guess it from their operations, publicity, or websites. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum? Started as an NRHS Chapter. Ditto the Oklahoma Railway Museum (formerly the Central Oklahoma Railfan Club, technically a Chapter), the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum, the North Alabama Railroad Museum, the Arizona Railway Museum, the C.P. Huntington RR Historical Society, The Lake Shore Railway Historical Society and the Bucksgahuda and Western Railroad in Pa., and more.

There's the Fremont & Elkhorn Valley RR, which seems to have splintered off the Eastern Nebraska Chapter.....

EDIT: I've been informed back-channel that one of the above has already formally severed its ties with the NRHS, and that secession has apparently sparked both some of the reactions from the national officers and talk of more secessions to follow.....

Add me to the list of folks who think the annual report type publication was worthwhile. I found it to be an interesting record of all the things various chapters were doing, many of which got little or no coverage in the mainstream press. In fact, it made me realize just how much the NRHS did accomplish, and raises my opinion of the organization.

While it isn't widely know, at one time the NRHS National bylaws required any chapter establishing a museum to incorporate the museum separately from the chapter... ergo....

Bob H

The Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum (formerly Rochester Chapter NRHS) parted from the NRHS a couple years ago. It hasn't hurt us a bit... in fact, we're adding new members every month.

As a chapter, we could never justify a local dues increase because the national dues were always increasing. The local chapter dues were stagnant at $22 per year. Leaving the NRHS allowed us to increase our dues while lowering the cost of membership.

A small group of people re-established the Rochester Chapter shortly after we parted ways. It is a shell of it's former self, but it keeps the "Rochester Chapter" name alive and gives Rochester area folks a local chapter to belong to. (As opposed to being at-large members.)

The Ontario & Western Chapter separated from NRHS a few years ago and is doing very well, preserving the NYO&W's history, operating an archives center, and publishing books and calendars. At the time they separated they were the third largest chapter in NRHS.

Welcome to rypn

I've known about that group for years and know a few of their members, but the point is when does anyone (west of I81) *hear* anything about what they accomplish?

Bob H

[De-lurking at long last!]

I am a member of my local NRHS chapter and the National.
I have my 25-year pin, and am thinking seriously of not staying
with the National. They charge too much and give me no real
benefits. Can't see what good they are doing for my local chapter,
either. From what I have been able to learn, the National has
not really done much to help the chapter lately.

I very much object to the proposed dues increase. I do not
ever recall getting any breakdown of what our dues are spent
on each year. I did hear that most of the money the National
gets in dues is spent on the Bulletin. Is this correct? If so, that
should change. Yes,that magazine is beautiful, but do we really
need yet another magazine, especially if it is costing the members
as much as I think it is?

And shouldn't all publications and letters and all other forms of
communication be sent from the National to the members in
electronic form, as a PDF and HTML? Send paper copies only
to those who request them.
.
The National is so out of touch with reality that they stated in the
otherwise fine letter sent to every NRHS member that the National
should be the lead organization in the rail preservation movement !
The National acts as though they have never heard of ARM and TRAIN
(now merged, quite sensibly)!

I, too, REALLY like the Annual Activities Issue, and eagerly looked
forward to it every year. A LOT of absolutely fascinating info is there.
Add me in as one -- and my son, who also LOVES the Annual --
who VERY much want to see it reappear. In electronic form, of course.
(I am visually impaired now, and would really appreciate it being in
HTML, so I can change the font to suit my needs. Can't do that to a
PDF.)

Centralization is What Should Happen.

There is no sensible reason whatsoever for 100 chapters to retain 100 separate business offices.
There is no sensible reason whatsoever for 100 chapters to have 100 separate VISA/MC merchant accounts so they can put dues on credit cards.
There is no reason whatsoever for the 30 chapters that sell tickets and take reservations to spin up 30 different ticketing and reservation systems.
There is no reason whatsoever for 100 chapters to own 100 web hosting accounts at $120/year, when any who want can be bluewater.nrhs.org for instance. There is no reason each chapter should have to climb the steep learning curve of designing their own website from scratch the hard way, when the national can provide a simple CMS like Wordpress complete with integral blogs, Wiki, forum, social media gateways, whatever you want.
There is no reason whatsoever for each chapter to track who wants the newsletter by e-mail and who wants it on paper.

There is no reason any NRHS member, at the renewal screen, shouldn't be able to look at 100 check boxes and join any additional chapters they want with a click of a button. There would be some people who would hit the button marked "select all".

Because of this level of automation, the national office's costs should be dropping, and the individual chapters' costs should be dropping too.

Chapters should be able to focus on being chapters, with all the back-office ennui handled for them by national.

I buy hardware & paint instead of paper

The basic issues that robertmacdowell mentions in the 2nd posting above were presented in a question to the President of the NRHS (during a Q&A session at Tri-State NRHS in NJ about five years ago) about having the national organization serve as a central internet website and services provider for the chapters.

The response basically talked around the question and gave us the impression that the national organization was not prepared to make better use of the internet or provide centrally coordinated services.

PC

That's good, but it's the guys that buy the paper who can tell you the right color to buy ;-)

-Hudson

I agree. My point about the Annual Activities Issue is that it was a waste of paper, since many didn't read it. With a proper web/blog interface that should be provided via National, those interested could access the information online throughout the year. The information could be updated in "real time" instead of the "once per year" of the printed version.

And, it would save money to distribute NRHS News via email .pdf.

Although much, if not most, of what Brother MacDowell says is completely spot on, other points may not be.

Few, if any, individual chapters maintain a "separate business office." At best, there's a post office box, and someone gets the short straw to check it regularly.

Further, the NRHS at its heart has a structure and composition that seemingly defies "standardization"--and some would argue that's central to this entire discussion and somewhat rancorous ongoing discussion between National and Chapters right now. A group of train-watchers that gather at one station (which is exactly how I can characterize at least two chapters of which I am aware) is different from a local group centered around a local station museum with a caboose, which is different from the Arizona Railway Museum or TVRM or "Friends of the GH&I RR Museum," which is different from the "private car club with other stuff" DC, Roanoke, or CP Huntington Chapters. There are chapters whose treasury is probably $300 on a good day, and chapters where the treasury is in six figures, and if assets are included could hit seven or eight figures. I'm positive I can find a couple Chapters where many officers don't even have e-mail (I'm in one--or at least I only know the e-mails of two officers).

Yes, the NRHS needs to offer a "default" web presence and contact. But they still can't force a Chapter to draft a web-savvy member, or devote time to answering queries. We're all supposed to be volunteers, after all. And the reservation system for the New River Train isn't likely to be suitable for the special photo charter over the Nevada Northern or SAM Shortline, the local Fourth of July caboose hops, or the one-off rare-mileage trip over the Punxsutawney and Daguscahounda.

Interesting side anecdote: On the day I spent in the Philadelphia office's library many years ago (before it was put into storage), the most popular query type being submitted to the NRHS online, by perhaps a five-to-one margin, was of the classic type "My great-great grandfather Julius Victor Pappenhouser worked for the Elmira and Williamsport Railroad, which later became the PennCentral Line, and I'm looking for all the information I can get on where he operated out of, what shifts he worked, etc." I recall the volunteers had a copy-and-paste "stock response" saying mostly "we have nothing in the way of employee or employment records here, and for the most part neither does anyone else"...

Unifying such diverse missions is really one of the hardest tasks the NRHS, or indeed ANY unifying "national rail preservation/history movement," faces. Nobody said it would be easy. And if it were easy, the national NRHS would have a LOT more "explaining to do," in my book.