Very on point. When you consider the percent of population that is in to what we do and the percent of trades people within that population that may be into it, your potential available volunteers is very tiny. Even more so with spouses, kids and a mortgage/rent with the younger generations.

We should consider ourselves very lucky that we get any younger, skilled persons to volunteer and treat them accordingly.

He’s correct though.

Even with young blood, the bulk of people volunteering and heading these organizations are the people who are older, and who have learned the value of work. Because that value of work is not taught in school, it becomes harder to pass on those traits to someone else.

There are two very important things you must learn in life to succeed that they no longer teach in school as mandatory subjects: the value of money, and the value of hard work. People these days have trouble managing both more than ever, and that’s because they’ve never been taught to respect the value of it until there’s a consequence. Self reliance isn’t a goal to many people anymore, and it’s sad to me.

Basic handyman skills, and now even basic home maintenance skills as a trade are becoming less common as we get older. I’m fortunate to have had a father who has done things on his own (and with my help of course), whether it’s cleaning his own gutters, power washing his own house, changing oil, or even restoring his own classic Jeep (twice). When I get to that point, I’ll do that for my future son or daughter, maybe not the exact same way my dad did for me but very similarly.

Respect needs to be given to those who are self reliant in caring for not only themselves, but for their homes, and appliances.

And also to entire institutions.

I have pointed out numerous times that there are sub-sets of the population that completely believe that places like the B&O Railroad Museum, the East Broad Top, the Durango & Silverton, streetcar museums, Age of Steam Museum, Illinois Railway Museum, etc. ALL *have* to be wards of the local/state/etc. governments. They literally are unable to fathom that places like this are NOT suckling on the government teat, at least to the main supporting extent.

There are several reasons for that:
1) some such places, and indeed many of the finest and most prominent such museums, DO. Steamtown, state RR Museums (Pa., California, N.C.), Cumbres & Toltec, Cass, and more. A few more have received, or regularly receive, government grants, either for such things as preservation of a line or for capital things such as car barns or bridge replacement;

2) The calibre and "professionalism" of the places in question (or at least what the public is shown) is so high that this seems the only rational explanation;

3) Some of the population has quite plainly been repeatedly "taught" (either overtly or subconsciously) that the ONLY way historic preservation or other "good things" in society happen is through government or "community organization"--that such good things are WAY beyond the ken of private enterprise and/or a mere small collective of interested beings;

4) Government has, indeed, assumed or been assigned the role of "master curator" in a great deal of such civic/public life as the operator/curator/administrator of museums, public parks, libraries, schools, historic sites, etc., to the point where people have come to assume it can't possibly be done without "the government."

I have literally been called names and had my sanity questioned in profane ways merely for informing "ignorant" people that various museums or excursion operations (primarily in city settings) were NOT wards of government.

It appears that a few of our all-private, independent operations need to do a better job of promoting/informing such status. Or maybe we can chalk this up as another "failing of our educational system," I dunno.

I’ve had similar encounters where my intelligence was questioned.

Once, when I was selling tickets I said “I’m sorry we don’t have a military discount” I was told that I have to honor a military discount because all state museums must give them. When I told him we were privately owned he said that was impossible. Haha.

The opposite occurred over breakfast on VIA Rail’s Canadain. My Canadian table mate was asking me how Amtrak lost so much money on their trains and I said “well it’s not really any different than VIA rail” he refused to believe and asked the waitress if VIA was a crown corporation... he looked completely shocked when she said yes.

I'm a Millennial 32 and I love railroading and reading about it. I would like to join a preservation society but like people that 40 and younger have many problems. I think I have some answers for that.

don't make this personal okay or make anything out of this okay? this not an attack on the older crowd no offense and I DONT want it to make it political

lack of time. many people of my generation don't have the down time to join a group.

If you could find a school that could teach you how to weld, wood working etc. the cost could be too high and available on certain days and time of the week so many people can't afford to leave the job for several hours to go to class. see what I mean?

we're broke. for the past 40+yrs wages have been stagnate since 1978. when Carter signed the Stagger's act it deregulated the rail industry it may saved the industry but in the in the end it kind of killed it. Went from 20 class 1s to just 5 and 2 Canadian and cost a lot of jobs. I look into Economics and read into globalization and the economic system may benefited the baby boomers but my generation and those after me don't. so My generation and those after me work multiple jobs so we(millennials) don't have the time and money to join a preservation society.

I would like to create a non-profit organization and build a new steam locomotive which would be a 4-6-2 from the ERIE I have a good location to build it and have the design changes that's needed to make it more fuel efficient and maintenance friendly. I found a number of companies that could build the parts. The thing that keeps me from going for it is time and money. A project like that would take decades to do and don't have the time to make such a commitment. see what I mean?

plus interests changes from generation to generation like the generation of my grandparents were into going into outer space and while my parents generation were into going into cyberspace.

And you wonder why organizations you frequent don't have young volunteers?

I think we can place part of this on the safety culture that has scared people away from the idea that anybody of average intelligence and ability can learn to do common household repairs such as replacing plugs on lamps, unclogging drains under sinks etc. without killing themselves or destroying their home in the process. OTOH YouTube has many good videos that can teach those not too scared to check them out. If they tried it they would learn that most of these jobs aren't hard work in actuality.

Exactly.

This absolutely relates to railroad preservation and is appropriate here. This forum is not only about what paint is correct to use or what the Strasburg Railroad is up to, it is also about discussions of the trends of society that affect what we do. The various projects that we work on are accomplished by the very same type of person that Leno discusses. Those people do skilled and talented work which deserves to be recognized and appreciated. To fail to appreciate the work done by restorers and volunteers will lead to them dropping out, and nobody benefits from that.

We don't just talk about a narrow range of issues here. We broaden our perspectives with topics that link us to the world around us.

What would you like to talk about? Start a thread and create a conversation around some aspect of rail preservation that appeals to you.

I think I disagree with everything you said. You just sound like an old guy complaining about “kids these days.”

You’re free to disagree. But I should’ve clarified something.

It isn’t the fault of young people, rather the fault of our education and just modernizing society that encourages people to get someone else to do it, rather than doing it for yourself. I should’ve clarified that it’s a societal problem rather than a “young people don’t have the drive”. It’s our society’s fault for putting convenience as the only option, and this making people dependent on others services because of what they aren’t taught.

Another "societal" cause:
Outsourcing production of things to places with cheaper (and, at times, criminal) labor costs--or, for that matter, robotic assembly machines.

SHOULD it be cheaper for me to buy a newer washer (or car, or furnace, or TV, or.....) than it is for me to pay someone to fix it? That's an entirely separate (and massively complicated) socio-political-economic debate that would never be resolved here, so don't even start.

The ONLY reason I'm disassembling this *&#@!^& washing machine to install parts that, according to the packaging, come from Korea, Malaysia, and China (I haven't found a claim of origin on the washer itself yet) is that I'm a danged stubborn cheapskate b*stard that doesn't believe in scrapping an entire device for one or three stupid worn-out parts. Also, I took wood and metal shop in middle and high school and enjoyed it--and, as a result, have done such things as casting and foundry work for railroad restoration, professional painting of heavy equipment and locomotives, repairs on my cars and others, etc.

I've told landlords "I come with toolboxes and I'm not afraid to use them." Though it's been technically illegal for me to do work on a landlord's property myself, I've done so routinely--sometimes correcting their mistakes. I even changed out defective circuit breakers for one while he was on the other side of the country--and I had him deduct the cost of a service call to an electrician from the next month's rent.

I turned my washer repair project into a lateral-thinking puzzle on my Facebook page:
In order to repair the washer by removing a big nut, I was forced to eventually go to a tobacconist/"smoke shop" for something I couldn't get at hardware or appliance stores.......... What?

Alexander... you need to start documenting your washing machine repairs and put them up on YouTube - I think many would find them entertaining and you may build an online fan base! Haha.

Not YouTube, but.....

https://www.facebook.com/alexander.mitc ... 6538747094

I beg to add 2021 reality to your rant! Young Bloods have a huge understanding of work because they AND their spouses need to work 80 or a hundred hours a week just to survive.

What is a weekend?

Brian