You know, if you want to really keep them around for a long time... serve some quinoa and a salad...

I do not wish to stir any ill feelings or create a situation here but as a 25 year old member, I find this remark by Mr. Kapuscinski to be a bit troubling. I sense that it was intended to be a snide poke at my generation, and if my intuition is correct, than this may highlight a hostile approach towards passionate young enthusiasts who may want to pick up and carry the torch in the preservation field.

If I'm reading too much into this then please disregard my post, but if I did pick up on some negative sarcasm then I would like members here to understand why this can become a real problem for the industry if left unchecked. We want all members of this community to be on the same page as one another regardless of age or experience.

Again, the intention of my post is not to be inflammatory or stir trouble but to simply highlight something that may become an issue, seen from the perspective of a young member.

Interesting - my take from the other end of the age spectrum was about us old guys trying to eat healthier diets than we would like. I'm not sure living longer would be enjoyable under those circumstances. Let's cut him some slack and call it humor that didn't work as intended.

A nice Caesar salad goes well with pizza. Why not serve both? Quinoa makes a good filler for lightweight spackle.

We have some whose spouses want to get them out of the house..

Comments on the original article from New Zealand.

"An interesting viewpoint from a number of younger people I've talked to in the UK is that all the committees and high level staff are mainly old boys clubs who want to remain in control and have everything done there way. Hence why some of the younger members get lost.

Our railway was like that. But we all voted ourselves onto the committee, all but one are under the age of 42. And two of us in our 20's. We have completely turned our railway around in the last 5 years. Given it new direction and its the most successful it's ever been and looks to have a secure future. But in saying that our youngest active member is 25."

You know Dave, I think I was mistaken. I apologize to Mr. Kapuscinski for misinterpreting his joke, I thought it was directed at the young volunteers of W&W that were originally mentioned.

Perhaps my reaction is just as troubling as the mindset of the very few older preservationists leery of youth. The only age we should concern ourselves with is of the equipment we operate/research/find fascination in.

Craft beer and/or kombucha............ jes' sayin'. >;-)

bigjim4life wrote: "P.S. it's "Mr. Percival" that introduces the skits."

As a frequent Thomas watcher (until Iowa Public TV changed their broadcast schedule) I have to report that Mr. Percival is, I believe, the manager of the narrow gauge operations on Sodor. It is indeed Mr. Perkins, the "engine driver on the Island of Sodor," who introduces the British heritage railway segments.

Oh crap, you're right. Percy, Perkins, Percival, perchance one day I'll get it all right...

This thread assumes that you have different groups based on different ages. This sounds like discrimination to me. Instead what we have in some cases is a click or group that is focusing more on social issues than preservation. This behavior reminds me of high school. My social escape in many ways was the 3420 because I had people who were interested more interested in working on the locomotive than their social status. I have seen divisions develop because of poor leadership. I have seen staff drive volunteers off because of a lack of appreciation of the efforts of volunteers.

Tomgears hit the mark. Show appreciation and teach. I have had older people ask how I learned so much and the answer was working hard on the project. A new volunteer is looking for ways to contribute and needs feedback about how they are doing. Railroading is a world of its own. It is important to make sure that the new volunteers questions are answered. New volunteers come in with different knowledges and abilities. Answering questions not only help the new volunteer better understand things but also reinforces issues to the older volunteers. When I went to the Nevada Northern for their volunteer training in 2004 I sat beside another new volunteer. With my previous experience I had a better understanding of what the presenters were trying to convey and I was able to answer many of her questions. Over the years we have kept in touch and she just recently said that I was one of the few that answered her questions the entire time she volunteered. THe Nevada Northern was the first place I worked with volunteers younger than me. The volunteer I mentioned above is older than I am but it was her desire to learn that brought her to the NN. It should be everyone who is involved job to help each other.

It is a very valuable to pay attention to the new volunteers no matter their age. The volunteer ability to find there comfort zone is important. This is true of both staff and volunteers. I remember at Grand Canyon I was the engineer of record for a Santa Fe engineer (Johnny) who was qualifying on the railroad. He was looking at a ball cap for possible purchase. i told him if he did buy it tell to tell his friend Charlie that the trainmaster Ervin gave him the hat. With that the hat was purchased. The next day Johnny worked hard to get Charlie to notice the hat. When Charlie finally noticed it Johnny said Erivn gave it to him. Charlie turned right around and into the trainmaster's office he went. Charlie asked Ervin about giving Johnny a hat. An unaware Ervin said "What hat?" and at that point Charlie knew he had been had. No matter the age, abilities, and the amount of contribution it is important to show your appreciation.

Robby Peartree

I wonder if anyone has looked into the concept that younger folks now are expected to do much more than the older folks did at that age. Schools demand more of students than ever before, with homework levels that are staggering. Kids are expected to know more and grow up way faster than in the past. Employers are demanding almost total concentration on the job and the idea of 'work-life balance' is becoming more a punchline than anything else now with employers, who intentionally understaff their offices and expect constant overtime as a normal part of the job each week. Then, cell phones have become tethers to the office, from bosses who feel it's their right to have employees at an instant beck and call, any moment of the day.
Kind of hard to get people to volunteer for a museum when they have next to no free time.

OK, so the quality of life support system has been broken for a while now. Why don't we take it back for ourselves? There are a lot of developed Western cultures that value these things more highly than we do, so it isn't reinventing the wheel....... for people with whom we share a common comprehension.

Okay, how do you do that? I can't tell my employer that I won't be working anymore OT and will be taking time off when I want it (most requests where I work are turned down, they even tried to turn me down for jury duty once). And after I'm done with that, I'll have to update my resume because they're gonna fire me soon afterward.
We're routinely told that we should consider ourselves to be lucky to have jobs with the way things are going now. it'll funny to see what happens when the economy starts getting good and people leave in droves for less stressful jobs.
As a culture, we have valued people who are hard workers. The employers are now exploiting that to downright comical ends. the sad part is that this is in the face of a newer generation that values their free time above all else. The immovable object is going to meet the irresistable force in a decade or so and it'll be funny to see the teens and 20-somethings refusing to go along.

If all of us boomers and those in between join them there will be nobody there to overwork. Besides, there's a national election coming up - if you think there's nobody worth voting for, at least vote for the candidates that are most against Wall Street and big business. It's our own fault that we supported the people who were bought and paid for to allow this set of circumstances to be created in the first place.

This is a great topic that I'll be sure to pass along to the several volunteer groups I'm involved with - with the permission of the moderators, of course!

-Jim