I just got back from a recent vacation which included a visit to the Fort Erie Railway Museum here in Ontario, home of ex-CNR 6218. It's a nice museum and I recommend it to anyone when in the area.However, I have one complaint and it is not unique to this museum but applies to every static museum I've visited. The tours tend to be self guided (which is fine) with sometimes a sheet of paper telling you some basics about the collection and where to find what. As the locomotive is usually the centrepiece, and the cab usually open for visitors, why don't they ever label the appliances (assuming they haven't all been stolen!) and provide a description of what each thing does? I like to think I can identify maybe 75% of the valves etc in a steam locomotive cab and know what it does but I'm always looking to learn more and what more logical place to go than a museum? Unfortunately, I have found that unless I can figure it out by climbing around and seeing what this is connected to, I'm out of luck. Staffing is often students or volunteers with little knowledge beyond FAQs. Why doesn't someone teach them a few things about their collection? I ran into a similar situation when visiting the Welland Canal information centre. There for 4 people working there and after reviewing their book of FAQs, not one person could answer my questions which were based on their displays.Now don't get me wrong. I'm not out to slam these places or any others. I recommend them and will visit them again, but I am finding that one of the few places I can get answers to questions is this board and that local museums offer little in the way of education to someone that may know a little to begin with. I imagine that most museums have a board comprising of some knowledgeable people. Why doesn't someone put something together to hand out to people or stick a label on cab appliances saying what it is and what it does? It seems like a very basic thing to do to me. I offered to do something along those lines for one place to at least give them something and they weren't interested. Am I missing something here?

Well, not everybody.The St. Louis Museum of Transportation is probably one of the best 'tagged' ones I've been to, with everything on-site labelled, and where the locomotive cabs are open (like the ATSF 2-10-4) everything pretty well marked. If you're looking for an example of what it should be, there's one that sticks in my mind.Some object to that because it's visual clutter that distracts from the display. I understand that too, but the signs don't have to be permanent, either.As far as for the other 85%..... I was in a community museum in June that has a wonderful, nearly-unique preserved steam locomotive on display (and lots of non-railroad stuff), with only a one-paragraph, yellowed, and typewritten note on the footboard. No information about it at all, really, really sad. Three volunteers in the museum, and nobody knew anything about it. I led my teenage boys around it, and showed them them stuff like the valve gear, lubricators, injector system, etc. Turned around and found the volunteers listening intently as well. Gave em' my card. Moral of the story? Sometimes the museums really don't know, and we need to pitch in. They don't always mean to be so ignorant - it's just always 'been that way'.

Randy, I had a similar experience several yars ago way up north in Duluth or somewhere like that. An old whaleback steam freighter had been landlocked and opened as a museum. We were on the last tour of the day, and the guide was a young girl in a hurry to get home and who didn't know beans about old iron anyhow - just a summer paycheck. Another guy on the tour was interested in the engine room, and he and i got into a conversation about steam technology that lasted for ten minutes - while the guide just fumed. I tried to send her home, telling her we would lock up to no avail. No guide is better than this kind of guide. dave

Come visit the state of Pennsylvania. At the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania located in Strasburg, Pa. We have almost the whole collection of PRR steam. and we have the locomotive`s labeled all over . The H-6 is labeled on every part of the locomotive. from the drivers to the bell. We also have plaques standing next to each locomotive or rolling stock with it`s history of opration. We have tons of displays set up all over the museum too. Len.Railroad Museum of Pennsylvaniahttp://www.rrmuseumpa.org

You were aboard the Meteor; the last existing whaleback freighter.you were lucky to see her as she has major problems from being buried up to the water line in wet sand. That museum has not dollar one and they have a major preservation problem on their hands.It goes a lot deeper than one poorly trained tour guide!But you are right! They are the bane of the whole preservation field. One poor one will get remembered over three knowledgeable ones!Ted Miles

Sometimes I work the "Skally" pool off of the extra board from St. Paul - Superior, and we stay at Barkers Island Inn near the Meteor. I have visited the whaleback more times that I care to admit, since it is just a short walk from the hotel. They are making some progress, but most in charge don't seem to have much interest. They had a unique dredge on display until last year. Yes, it wasn't in the best shape, but a new coat of paint would have gone along way. I came into town one night to find that it had been scrapped over the weekend - nothing was saved. Oh well. Jeff Terry

The exact opposite of the Meteor is the USS SLATER in Albany, NY. Most of the tour guides are either former Navy personnel or their children, and they are all superbly professional and function together as if they were on a mission. Although there is a substantial amount of information displayed close by and available on the weapons systems and machinery, it usually isn't needed during a tour as most of the tour guides can explain or even demonstrate the operation of equipment directly. And their website is really excellent, with tremendous detail on the ship, its history, and its equipment. Also a wonderful collection of Cleveland Diesel (former Winton Engine Company) engines, some being restored for operation. Folks interested in the diesels should made advance arrangements by calling the ship, as new access is being built for the engine rooms and motor rooms.http://www.ussslater.org

Actually, most of that old dredge (the 1916-vintage U.S. Army Corps of Engineers steam dipper D.D. Gaillard) is still intact. The hull was sold to a local marine contractor who had planned to cut her down for use as a barge, but this has yet to happen. The dipper itself was scrapped before the boat was removed from the park, but the hull, cabins, and steam machinery are still there, currently moored over by the old NP ore dock in Superior.During my college years I spent three summers on the other side of the harbor as a tour guide on the William A. Irvin in Duluth. I'd say about half of us were knowledgeable enthusiasts or former sailors, and the other half were high school kids looking for an alternative to flipping burgers for the summer. It seemed to be about the same ratio over on the Meteor too. On the other hand, the people who came to take the tours were about 95% tourists who were setting foot aboard a ship for the first time, and didn't really care about the history so much as just the experience of being there. For me it was always refreshing when an old sailor would come aboard and listen intently to what I had to say, or better yet start telling his own stories.Richard Jenkins

I was aboard the Irvin last month, and got one of the student guides. I judged him to have had about half the preparation he should have had to give lectures to tourists. Not bad, but it could have been a better deal for people never exposed to this technology and history before. As Edwards Deming was fond of pointing out, it's the beginners who need the best teachers, not the advanced students. I was especially disappointed to be rushed through the engine room. The Irvin is a turbine ship, and it was startling to see that dinky engine at the bottom of a huge space designed for a vertical engine. (I'm always surprised at the small size of steam turbines, about the same size as my Chrysler engine in this case.)At Owosso, we've learned that the single biggest recruiter of supporters and volunteers is a patient, knowledgable tour guide.And a travel note: when in Duluth, DO NOT MISS the harbor tour on the boat that leaves from next to the stuffed-and-mounted ships. They get you up close and personal with the DM&IR ore dock and GN grain elevators. Even in the degraded state of these plants, this was like seeing the pictures in my David Plowden books come to life.