At the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish B.C. we are working toward setting up some guidelines for members who want to come to the site and stay overnight. This is very desireable from our standpoint and we have had requests for setting up tents,parking motorhomes,and bunking out in one of several passenger cars and cabooses. We would appreciate it if some of you out there coud share your experiences and let us know what works and what does not. Thanks,and we look forward to hearing from you.<br>



grantf@apexmail.com

<br> I can think of many rules for your museum to lay down concerning on-site living quarters,but the ones that are most needed are also the smplest.<br> 1. Don't be a slob.<br> 2. No permanent residents.(this causes a lot of bickering behind ones back about being favored)<br> 3. No night owls.<br> 4. repect other members.<br> 5. Don't be a slob.<p> I know there are many others,but these few will keep the peace between members,especially #2.<p>Good luck,Brian<br> <br>



btamper@hotmail.com

Yes, I would reinforce the no permanent residents. Set one of your rules to only allow accomodations for members doing work for the musuem. And do something to make sure it is current work--not what was done 6 months ago.<p>If you allow tents, RV's, trailers, etc. find a place for them away from the center of the public part of the museum. You don't want to appear to be a campground to you visitors.<p>And if you allow RV and trailers you may be asked about providing hook-ups for power and water. <p>Brian Norden<br>Orange Empire Ry Museum<br>

I also think that you don't want to let the caboose areas looking like flop houses, but if they are kept up, perhaps it is OK. On the other hand, I think that if there is space available, RVs and trailers that are kept in a specific area is a good idea. It could even be extended to visitors and could be a way of increasing revenue as well as providing a service to the guests. I would think that providing a camping area would be a great draw especially if you are having a weekend event. <br>



SACarlso@scj.com

The Pacific Southwest Ry Museum in Campo, CA has five basic RV spots but with full hookups for Workampers (see video link below). I stayed in one of them for four months two winters ago. All six were full. Workampers work 20 hours a week in return for the space and utilities (water, electricity, sewage, and a nearby dumpster). Three spots had people who were basically doing renovation. One was occupied by the depot agent and the last by the docent for the display building. Most were members, but not the typical long-term museum member. Most stayed for only a few months and moved on. But the museum gained a lot of help for marginal cost.

Last winter when I volunteered at Orange Empire I asked about and looked at their RV spots. As I was told they were zero stars. They were. I opted to stay at a local RV park for $350/mo. This summer at Northwest Ry Museum I'm staying at an RV Park for $720/mo. (which doesn't help my retirement budget at all) because the museum has no facilities.

This site presents the workamper concept in general: www.workamper.com/

Marty Bernard

Not everybody has acquired a taste for "camper lifestyle" but for those of us who do like to use a camper or trailer, it is definitely a very convenient way to stay close to the project, and is especially versatile if you help out a number of organizations at different locations.

As far as hookups are concerned, the need for them can be avoided with a little resource management. For stays less that a week many rigs don't need them. For example if you have a trailer or a class "C" motorhome (the small truck chassis type) with a generator, a good set of "house" batteries, and an inverter, you can meet all your electricity needs while only putting an hour or so on the generator each day to keep the batteries charged. Most of these vehicles have enough fresh water and gray and black tank capacity to allow you to be on the road four or five days, so even a long holiday weekend is easy without hookups.

Yes, I have heard occasional gripes about how it is "unfair" to let some members stay in their own accomodations they bring to the site while other members do not have a trailer or a camper to bring. It is all a bunch of sour grapes, seems to be a common diet among railroad enthusiasts. There are plenty of trailers and campers for sale real cheap right now for anybody who needs one, provided they are willing to spend the money. And if they don't like camper lifestyle there are motels.

PC

At the Western Railway Museum there is a bunkhouse, basically a 1910-era house in its original location near the location of the SN depot. All household amenities are maintained including a new bathroom and washer-dryer. The latter is nominally for overalls and other shop garb soiled at WRM, but if "a few" regular items get thrown in by an active volunteer, a blind eye is turned. The bunkhouse sleeps 6 comfortably and about 11 in crush mode, and typically sleeps 1-2 on any given Saturday night. It is kept in very good shape, no "flophousyness". People often park RV's adjacent to it, and run 120V power off the upgraded circuits in the bunkhouse. Nobody has any gripes with the RV faction, except for land use - they want more RV parking on the site of historic buildings and others want restored.

At Boone Scenic I thought I saw a neighborhood residence in use as a bunkhouse.

The Southern Michigan Railroad Society received cabooses in basically serviceable condition from Conrail including all workaday affixments such as bunks and mattresses. As a 50 mile away member, I spent many a night in those cabooses, and had to leave them impeccable as they were revenue cars. However two things changed: First, the museum discontinued Sunday work sessions; and second, there were issues that arose, notably with the Village about people staying overnight.

Which segways me into a common issue: squatters, cribbers and abusers.

Squatters are, simply put, homeless. That fraction of our railfan society that is unusually low social functioning and can't create wealth. They may be a low-involvement volunteer who way overextends his welcome, or he may be the hardest working volunteer at the place (but that won't last). Usually, these folks are fairly neat because they want to defer as long as possible that inevitable, distasteful confrontation all parties know is coming, but choose to be unrealistic about.

Then there's the cribber. As a female friend says, "Every man has got to have his man-cave." They live and sleep with others, but for lack of personal space there, they make it at your museum with their stuff, their projects, their clutter, their level of cleanliness. Hey, humans may not pee on things, but we do mark personal territory. You know it when you're in it, and it's not comfortable, right? (The concept is most vivid in public bathrooms, those that say "your business is appreciated" vs. "this is really for the employees".) Anyway, the answer here is far more situational, as this person will surely be a longtime and important volunteer, and they and their "personal stuff" may be propping up the museum.

Lastly we have the abuser. This person exploits the available privacy to do things unspeakable. The only upside to managing this noxious threat is that he is likely to be a newer member; he's very unlikely to build years of trust before misbehaving, and he may have a reputation already. Get rid of them fast.

What happens when members start equipping there RV's with hy-rail equipment, and want to go for joy rides?

You charge them!

Revenue is revenue.

I believe that Seashore Trolley Museum has a formal written policy on overnight stays on Museum grounds. Probably many of the points mentioned by Brian Herbert are in the policy.

I'd contact Seashore and ask for a copy for starters. You'd be on much firmer ground if, after some deliberation amongst the leadership, you formalized your policy.

Thanks!

At Southern Forest Heritage Museum, we have added (using donated materials and labor) a four bedroom bunkhouse-hotel for the use of volunteers, as well as museum guests. On normal weekends, it sleeps 4-6 but can accomodate 12. It has bathrooms, a kitchen-meeting room and a small laundry.

It has been a great convenience to us, as the closest accomodations are 20 miles away and cost $100 per night on average.

The museum director controls who is allowed to stay and use the facility, and the rules are simply that when you get there it is clean, and you better leave it the way that you found it.

We were fortunate in that we could put the structure inside a large lumber storage shed that was already on the property, thus it does not change any historic fabric of the site, and provides a large covered area for parking and working if it rains on a weekend (which it never does in Louisiana).

My guess is that it saves our average volunteer about $2000 per year in motel and food bills, and that is a big deal, as much of that money manages to be donated to the museum rather than being spent off site.

We have a CP caboose and a Via baggage-dorm with roomettes for active members. This has been a big advantage for our members coming from longer distances and for night operations and late night movie shoots were people are too tired to drive home.

The accomodations are pretty bare bones, no air conditioning in the Via car for example, showers and washrooms are in the gift shop, 60 feet away. Due to heating costs, we generally do not use these cars after the end of our operating season.

Cleanliness has been somewhat difficult to enforce, everybody wants to work in their chosen areas, few want to clean. The other consideration nobody has mentioned is having a policy regarding the consumption of personal alcohol, after operating hours being the primary concern. Presumably all operations strictly enforce rule G while operations are underway.

Gord McOuat
OERHA / Halton County