Wow, take a look at this! A chance to find out about the upcoming dues increases!

NRHS President Greg Molloy is to address Tri-State Chapter, Thursday, July 12 at 7:10 PM at the Morris County Cultural Center on Route 510, Mendham Road west of Morristown, New Jersey.

Here is the meeting notice. I believe this is replaced on a month by month basis, so the link will probably show a different event after the July 12 meeting is over.

http://tristaterail.org/meetingcultural.html

This meeting is coming up on Thursday evening the 12th. The Tri-State Chapter NRHS now has the full driving directions listed on the website at the link I mentioned in the previous posting.

I have heard that there will be an open discussion period. There is quite a bit of discussion of this meeting presently among the NYC area railroad historical groups and on some other sites.

MX

I can't speak for the other chapters, but at the two NRHS Chapters I am with, there has been much discussion by the National Directors regarding the proposed dues increase AND what that dues increase will buy (quality, timely publications and membership services that aren't at the whim of volunteer staffers).

It's not as if Molloy & Co. are attempting to execute these proposals in secret, and it's not as if this meeting will be the only place where this can be addressed--I believe there is time planned for this at the National Convention meeting coming up in Chattanooga.

But, really, if you're not a member or thinking of becoming a member, isn't this pretty much an internal affair?

I look at the preservation field as having several public "faces", one being the museums and operators of historic equipment, another being the national historical societies, and more recently the single railroad and special interest historical societies.

With the NRHS running two years behind on their publications, with many of their chapters very difficult to locate or find information about, and with other chapters hosting websites that are three to five years out of date, one of the public faces of the preservation field is presently dysfunctional.

I believe the NRHS situation is a matter for some concern, but this is just my perspective personally and as a member. Over the years I have offered a number of times to help them, in some cases the offer was accepted and it was possible to do so, in other cases it became clear that the "powers that be" were just looking for free labor to help them continue to do tasks that were ineffective or just plain silly. In the latter case I have to make a decision whether it is worth volunteering my time to engage in activities that make little sense, when there are other equally worthy organizations that make more effective use of your assistance.

If the NRHS went "belly up" tomorrow, I don't think it would have much long term effect on either preservation or the study of railroad history. There are plenty of other groups out there doing a good job of convering the field, some of them are expanding the scope of their interests and influence into areas the NRHS has neglected.

The bad thing is that they have the words "National" and "Historical" in their title, and if the general public judges others in the field by their performance, then it is indeed something to be concerned about.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

Mxdata makes a very valid point. I agree that if the NRHS ceased to exist tomorrow it would have little,if any,meaningful impact on the rail preservation "industry" particularly the operating side.
However, it does appear to me that it's got value in that it is the only organization with national reach (however tennuos) and I hope that improved leadership will find the formula to get it back on its feet and growing again??
Let's hope so!

IMHO-I think the NRHS is beginning to realize that it is dysfunctional. The only problem is I'm not sure they know what to do about it. I am sure no member, myself included, would be adverse to increased dues if you get something for it.

I think NRHS has to decide what it wants to be as an organization and do away with ineffective missions. It has to provide some benefit if it expects to grow.

It was an interesting meeting, as much for what was not said as for what was said. In many ways it was sad to see the problems the organization faces, but on the other hand a lot of them were self inflicted. What was unique is to see the President of NRHS give a PowerPoint presentation about how much of a mess the situation is.

Based on my experience with managing business projects, and the numbers provided on the slides that were shown, the $11 dues increase is not nearly enough and will need to be followed shortly by another increase of the same magnitude.

Several high cost items were notable for not being mentioned at all: the rental cost for the offices in downtown Philadelphia, and the costs related to managing an organization with 175 directors.

There seemed to be a lack of understanding of the potential for using the internet for communication, Greg seemed off balance when any question about the internet or websites was posed.

Other than that, he did a reasonably good job in a difficult situation.

MX

Membership is already declining. If the numbers are as bad as you say (and I have no reason to doubt it) and it will take another large increase to keep the thing afloat, then I can see a massive loss of members. The Chapter meeting I attended where the dues increase was discussed indicated that the officers of that specific Chapter expected to lose about 10% of their members.

I also share your observation about all of the directors. I made a suggestion years ago that the decision making be done only via the regional VP's with each VP holding meetings say quarterly with that region's chapter directors. Needless to say that idea never made it beyond the regional VP that I suggested it to.

In addition to a loss of members, there may also be a loss of chapters. A number of questions posed during the session asked directly what value there was to the local chapters as a result of their being part of the NRHS.

I caught one response to this that was kind of amusing (I hope I have it right, there was no speaker system and it was difficult to hear at times, so anyone else who attended, correct me if I am wrong). In answering one of the questions there was a comment that without their being a part of the national, some chapters would be nothing but slide showing clubs. Probably what was meant here is there would be no national convention, etc.

I found this kind of amusing, since "with" their association with the national, some of the chapters have really never risen above the level of being slide showing clubs. Meanwhile some other railroad enthusiast groups that have never had any association with the NRHS at all, have succeeded spectacularly where the NRHS has failed, both through effective management and through an understanding of the interests of modern railroad enthusiasts. One such group that contributes toward the operation of this forum:

http://www.amherstrail.org/calendar.html

MX

One Chapter that might consider going out on its own would be the Ontario & Western Chapter in Middletown, NY. In fact, there once was a standalone O&W Technical & Historical Society that merged with the NRHS Chapter in Middletown. I suspect most of their members do not live in the area, let alone go to their meetings. The O&W could do very well as a stand-alone single railroad historical society.

Speaking of which, what group was the first single railroad historical society? I am guessing the NKP Historical & Technical Society?

First stand-alone, one-road group was probably the New Haven group, originally the New Haven Technical Information Group, founded in 1962 or 63 by Paul Boivin. There was a working relationship with the New Haven's PR rep, Bob Mc Kernan, right from the start. They started putting out a publication by 1964 or so. The railroad steered many "buff" inquiries to the new group, for them to handle (what color to paint the HO boxcars, for example).

The group soon incorporated, got a tax exemption, and is now the NHRHTA, New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Association.

The single railroad historical societies like NHRHTA have contributed greatly to the situation presently confronting the NRHS through the success of their publications and activities. Many railroad enthusiasts would now rather pay the dues to join several of these groups for access to a concentrated immersion in the history of railroads that interest them, rather than be in the NRHS with its "pretty picture" approach to railroad history. The NRHS has wandered so far into the world of expensive fantrip oriented conventions with staged photo ops that the use of the word "historical" in their title has questionable relevance at this point.

One impression I got from the Tri-State meeting was that the NRHS management believes it is their inability to produce their publications on schedule that is their biggest problem. Frankly their prevailing attitude that "quantity is quality" in their publications is an equal problem. Just compare the publications of the New Haven group or the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society with the NRHS and it is immediately apparent where the real professors and students of railroad history now reside (and it isn't in Philadelphia).

MX

Errrrrr..........

Just in the interest of fairness, I should point out that, at this time, a great many of those now-very-slick-and-professional-looking T&HS journals being produced out there are assembled and produced by..........

.............. paid professionals.

Specifically, White River Productions, the team also re-introducing/reviving Passenger Train Journal.........

http://www.whiteriverproductions.com/ Go to that home page and look over the periodicals they now produce for groups like the IC, Milwaukee, C&NW, EL, and SAL/ACL societies, and other groups. Schafer and EuDaly are a class act--EuDaly has produced some of the only books I purchased for quality presentation and publication quality alone, not the subject matter.

I have no idea whether WRP has approached the NRHS or vice versa, but that would be one hellishly fine relationship, should it happen. Hell, yeah, I'd pay for THAT Bulletin!

And as a member of and contributor to several of those groups I can vividly recall that there were sizeable contingents in some of them that complained loudly about the production of the publications being taken over by paid professionals, even when it had been evident for long periods of time that volunteer efforts were just not able to keep up with the needs.

And having written for several of them I can assure you that the authors still do write the articles and provide the supporting materials.

But there is one other big difference between these groups and the NRHS. A very high percentage of the published content in these single railroad groups is new material on historical topics, not just a rehash of everything the organization and the officers are doing, or recycled information from other groups and magazines.

As an NRHS Member-At-Large, I'm curious to know how centralized the organization is in the conduct of its national operations.

Could some of the activities [other than hosting the annual conventions] be delegated to willing Chapters on a periodic/rotating basis?