Some of the most interesting work in railway preservation is done in the restoration shop. And most folks nowadays haven't seen anything like it. We tend to use a mix of historic and modern methods, including a lot of tools that are probably as old as some of our equipment. We tend to be "jacks of all trades" in a variety of shop crafts not often performed in the same place - and almost never open to the public eye.

Frankly, I also see it as a recruiting device - "That's amazing. And you say the people doing that work are just like me? I could do that? Really!? Now you've got a volunteer.

So to what extent do you make your shop available to the visiting public?

What would you like to do if liability was not a factor and visitors could be trusted to be safe?

What do you do with your special guests?

Would you have designed your shop differently if you had intended the public to be able to watch what you do?

And if so - HOW would you design your shop differently to let the public see what you do and understand it?

Robert:
I'll address only one of your questions.
At The Valley Railroad, the end (large) doors of our shop are generally wide open with just a chain across. Visitors can see a fair amount of what is going on without going in. If someone asks (or hangs around long enough to be noticed), we let them in and show them around (yes children too). It would be nice to have a balcony (like Steamtown) so people could come and watch without asking/taking up shop time.
The same is true with the cab of our steam locomotive: if someone (young or old) appears interested, we invite them up if we have time, show them the controls and answer questions.
We also allow cab riders, one at a time, at the discretion of the engineer, if they are over 18 and have signed a liability release, etc.
Yes, I know (and am constantly remined by some people in our management and by others in our "industry") that we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to all sorts of liabilities.
I am a dinosaur, I live in the past. I remember what it was that turned me on about steam locomotives and railroading in general and it wasn't being protected from myself. It was being able to get up next to them, feel the heat, smell the coal smoke and hot oil and just groove on looking at the machine.
Should the day come when we (The Valley) doesn't let people in the shop, or up in the cab (including riding) then that will be my cue to turn in my keys and go home and write books.
J.David

Well said, JDC.

Modern railroading is a "wholesale" operation; no more "retail" stores like the old days of open agency stations with friendly agents, local freights with crews ready to answer a kid's questions, etc.

The preservation railroads are the public face of railroading now, and we need to encourage any interest shown by "the public", especially the young ones.

This past Saturday, a stop at our Thomaston station and display track by a grandfather and his 13-year old grandson turned into a guided tour of our Thomaston Shop for them (yes, membership forms were handed out!).

Howard P.

(who still remembers the E-L agents and crews at Pearl River, NY circa 1963-65)

The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum provides a shop tour as part of its local train excursion. Upon arrival at East Chattanooga, passengers are invited to watch the locomotive turn on the turntable while the conductor provides narrative on the PA system. The conductor then leads passengers over to Soule Shops where there is an open bay with sufficient room for everyone to step inside. A safety rope keeps people from wandering off and the conductor or trainman then provides an explanation of the shop and its features, after which there is a opportunity for Q&A before the train returns to Grand Junction. A pitch for memberships and donations is usually worked into the spiel.

Visitors expressing a particular interest in TVRM or the workings of the shop may be accommodated on a more thorough escorted tour, subject to the availability of time and manpower.

Alan Maples

We make a point to have a docent available at the shop track for our spring and fall open house events. We use this as a promotional tool for the event: "go behind the scenes" and see the shop. Otherwise visitors are not permitted in the car house except by invitation. Depending on the time of day and the project at hand the shop crew will often stop at the door to speak visitors and answer questions.

The original plan for our new facilities included a viewing window for the shop for vistors in the display barn. But we had to separate the two buildings and so that feature went away.

Wesley

Branford Electric Rwy., operated by the Shore Line Trolley Museum, has an elevated balcony overlooking the Shop floor, that can be part of the Tour Route. We have heard from a concerned neighbor that this practice, and maybe the whole of having passengers, may be unsafe.

At the Connecticut Trolley Museum we are looking at multiple approaches to exposing the public to what we do while being concerned for their safety as we go through a rebuilding period. We have our private interurban, "NORTHERN", inside the main display hall in our visitor center undergoing a long term public restoration. Parts are made for the car in our shop and then brought into the visitor center and fitted to the car.This will allow the public to get up real close and personal with the restoration process in a safe fashion. They will be able to interact and ask questions of the restorer. They will be able to come back over the years and see the progress unfold. We are also looking at putting a series of live cams into the shop with monitors in the waiting room where people can sit on an old fashioned waiting bench and enjoy the show. We always try to give special attention to people who show an interest and if time allows give them a tour of our shop. Everything we are now doing or planning is aimed at educating the public while attracting new members. We are hoping that this along with other things we are presently setting up will better position us for grant monies in the future.

2008 is the 19th season of Steamtown's operating tours of the Scranton Shops of the Lackawanna RR. The first few years, when interpreters and visitors were considered a danger to themselves, very little access was granted. Those tours were less than satisfying. However, learning how to control a crowd is not difficult. Keeping people, young and old, safe is not a matter of being strict, but reinforcing simple etiquette.

As a result, the only limits we have now are on time. The average visitor fades in interest after about an hour... less time if less is happening. Regarding liability, you should look more at how to keep a workplace safe rather than gripe about the upcoming lawsuit. What I mean by this is that if a shop is safe for workers, with all proper precautions and screens in place, it should be safe for your docents and visitors, without shutting down all operations.

I know that this answer doesn't fit all work areas, since many of you are cramped in a space where you are squeezing by a hot engine or rail, but if you plan on how a group can make it through, you can give your guests a fuller appreciation of what you do.

By the way, Steamtown shop tours are offered at 10:45 and 1:45 daily. The walkway Dave Conrad mentioned is in the Roundhouse, open 9-5 daily. See you trackside.

While it is not “my shop”, I know that the Jackson Street Roundhouse at the MTM, has a guide available upon request to tour the shop and I have found this very informative and enjoyable. It made me give them a donation without them even asking.

Steve Black

The B&O Railroad Museum has made at least PART OF its Restoration Facility open to the public, in a sense of "step off the train and look into the fishbowl". The facility is a new building out on the "First Mile" and requires a stopover during selected excursions out and back on the "First Mile." As with a lot of such tours, it's very much "self-limiting;" if you're determined to find/see the shop, it's there, but not on what's considered the "public tour."

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum has its Car Barn closed off to "unescorted" visitors. The rationale is clear: If you're really geeky or determined enough, you can score an escorted tour. In my own experience, anyone interested in a "behind the scenes" tour is usually knowledgeable enough that we're "talking shop" within ten minutes, and trading addresses of parts suppliers, etc., or drafting folks that in a year or two will be painting or refinishing the restoration projects. The actual "shop" of the BSM is contained within the Ma & Pa Freight House, and consists of a multitude of machine tools and whatnot. The projects within can be fascinating to the ultimate geeks of traction or vintage machine tooling, but we spare the majority of even specialty visitors a tour, unless it appears they foam at the idea of how to re-gauge truck frames or cut from scratch various metal parts. And you never know when that bozo in a flannel shirt and blue jeans might be sitting on a barn full of traction motors or steam parts that he's looking to donate for the common good.

Yes, insurance and liability plays a role. But if you have a steamship guy who may be looking for a place to cut a new valve stem or a steam fire engine guy looking to find a place to fabricate a new connecting rod, you DON'T exclude him. It's been my experience that those "in the know" can tell a real hands-on guy, or even a wannabe, from an idiot poseur inside of a minute. Once the wheat is separated from the chaff, screw the rules--you have more to gain from each other, on average and in communal knowledge, than you lose in potential lawsuits.

If your shop is too dangerous for guided tours, what will your Workers' Compensation Insurance company and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration think about allowing your own employees and volunteers in the place?

The big difference between the public and volunteers is the presence of small children. It is impossible to convince mommy that a place where welding, etc. is taking place is ok for adults and even teenagers but not for a rambunctious 5 year old.

When they restored the Roundhouse here, they constructed a ramp that runs at the rear of the shop area. There is a block wall topped with glass to protect the public but gives them a good view of the shop activities. It levels off at the diesel shop and there the public is seperated from the work by a post and chain fence.

JohnB

Oh, you bet! And that's the way it seems to be handled at most shops. Which is fine with me.

Now if you were building a shop from scratch, how would you build it to provide maximum access for the public?

Within reason. For instance they don't need to see the paint storage room or the drawers of airbrake parts. Turning wheels on the big lathe would be the tourist spectacle of the day - when you turn them - but how often is that?

I remember getting a tour of Conrail's rail welding facility in Harrisburg. You could get "up close and personal" to that! It was set up to be tourable, with viewing areas and shielded windows near all the interesting parts.

And the points about small children are spot-on I think. If you bar kids you bar the adults with em. And then there's ADA.

As essentially a "living museum" of railroading, we have few limits on what folks can see when they visit, either on operating days or at other times. The key for us is to make our volunteers aware of the need to be especially careful when working with an audience. Areas where the public should not go are blocked off in various ways, usually by temporary barriers we can move around as needed. While this may not work for all, it works for us, demonstrated by the fact we have never had a serious injury to any visitor.

Having said that, bear in mind no barrier is perfect. The human mind can conceive ways around anything, and many people will do just that. For example, last year we had to escort a self-professed "railfan" our of our spare parts area, and he was quite indignant over not being allowed to take something from it for his personal collection. I am also amazed at the number of parents willing to stand by while their child climbs the ladder to the top of a boxcar, clambering over the "No Climbing" signs and around the barrier.

The answer to this for all of us may be simply watchfulness. We are unlikely to create a perfect solution to these issues. We can only do what is best for our own situations and keep watch for those attempting to circumvent our efforts.