Heritage Railways and the Looming Demographic Bomb

PCook · **Joined:** Sat Jul 02, 2005 7:16 am **Posts:** 2127

Along with demographic and economic factors, declining civility and lack of manners, particularly with respect to internet discussions, has also had a negative impact on participation in this hobby. This is particularly evident in the case of railroad historical groups that host internet discussions on their websites. Reading some of the things that get posted you wonder why anyone would want to join some groups when there are so many other worthwhile things to do that are far less confrontational.

PC

Ed Kapuscinski · **Posted:** Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:32 am

Frank J. DeStefano wrote:

Ed Kapuscinski wrote:

tomgears wrote:

Buy pizza every week for our work sessions

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.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but my joke was that, if we want long-term volunteers (who will be around into retirement age), it might be better to feed them something healthier than pizza.

soups · **Joined:** Sat Feb 09, 2013 11:26 am **Posts:** 57

here are some interesting stats from out 2716 project roll out. We are obviously able to REACH younger people, it's just a matter of engaging them and getting them interested enough in contributing:

Largest Audience: Men 18-24 (20% of people reached)
2nd Largest Audience: Men, 25-34 (18% of people reached)
62% of our page views were on a mobile device
92% of our visitors were men

Clyde Putman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:05 pm **Posts:** 20

I am team leader for a project with the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec. My crew is based in Chama. I announced that on Wednesday we needed to go to Antonito for some work there. I had a MUTINY on my hands, "Wednesday is hamburger day!!". The following session I planned more carefully, we went to Antonito for Antonito Hamburger day, and then back to Chama for Chama Hamburger day.

Eating together and gaining that bond is just as important as turning wrenches.

robertjohndavis · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:10 am **Posts:** 2499

soups wrote:

here are some interesting stats from out 2716 project roll out. We are obviously able to REACH younger people, it's just a matter of engaging them and getting them interested enough in contributing:

Largest Audience: Men 18-24 (20% of people reached)
2nd Largest Audience: Men, 25-34 (18% of people reached)
62% of our page views were on a mobile device
92% of our visitors were men

It will be interesting to see how those demographics compare to the ages of your donors. I would expect a digital rollout to skew younger. My experience thus far has been the younger folks are the most likely to spread your message, while middle age and older are most likely to be donors (which makes sense).

Rob

derail · **Joined:** Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:45 pm **Posts:** 142

It seems like I have a different perspective. This past weekend 12 of us were on hand carrying out winter maintenance on our steam locomotive, at least half of us were under 25 (myself in the under 25 half). When I first joined our organization I was likely the youngest volunteer, now having many younger members working on a project is the norm. Having an antique steam locomotive and a friendly membership chairman has helped but I speculate one of our advantages is being located in New Jersey near populated areas with a great deal of younger railfans to draw from.

People want to join an organization that is already growing and that has opportunities to learn and grow, this applies to young people also. The "thank you for coming" can go a long way in making someone feel appreciated, but that applies to everyone regardless of age. On a side note, we recently voted someone under 25 to our board of directors, if that makes you uncomfortable you should stop wondering why some organizations are having issues.