I'd have posted this earlier, but was having trouble logging in.
Last Wednesday we finally got to run up to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, after a couple of years of not being able to get up that way. We took the "behind the scenes" one-hour tour. Now mind you, we've been there probably a dozen times and were members back when we were able to travel more. Would you believe we still learned a lot and had a great time?
We see a lot of complaints on here. Here's what they did right:
1. Everyone we met was friendly. Granted, it was a weekday and they weren't overwhelmed, which can happen easily on weekends, but everyone we met made a real effort to be nice to us.
2. The docents all knew their stuff without sopunding stiff or scripted.
3. We were really lucky to get a conductor and motorman who were in the mood to banter with each other. Not everyone can do that, but they could, and it was a nice extra.
4. Our conductor had time to spare, so he showed us around the shop while we were waiting for the Big Tour.
5. When we went up for the one-hour shop tour, our docent REALLY knew his stuff and had been involved with a lot of the restorations. For what we saw and everything we learned, the tour price was an indecent bargain.

I should refrain from the usual woman comment that the bathrooms were clean, but they were, and that's always a plus. Frank the museum cat wasn't too sure about me, but he did warm up enough to say hi.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a well-run operation, indeed. Good collection of streetcars and interurbans, great development program, great vision for the Museum. A model for all of us to emulate.

Credit should go to their outstanding leadership and obviously well run training program. It's always great to see an outfit like PTM get praise.

Thanks!

We at PTM appreciate hearing from visitors. Good to know that our "product" is being well received. Training is a big part of getting it right, and this applies to more than just knowing how to operate a trolley.

At the same time, if there's something we aren't doing right, we want to know that too.

Thanks again for the reports.

Dave Hamley, PTM volunteer since July 1960.....

I could have just filled out a comment card, but figured since people are always complaining on the Net, the compliments ought to go here, too.

Pet Frank for me. He has no idea how big a sucker I am for cats <grin>

Seriously though, that is really important. You know how I always say own a railroad, own land, build carbarns... clean restrooms are #4.

And I see way too many railroad museums that do not take on the restroom issue directly. Basically their restrooms do not upgrade except as a side-effect of doing something else, like a visitor's center. I'm saying restrooms deserve your DIRECT attention and a specific capital campaign. It's your #1 visitor calling card.

You know, you're right. A lot of the time, not-in-the-club visitor amenities are way down the list, and they shouldn't be. When I belong somewhere, my standards for the facilities drop. I mean...there are people whose bathrooms at home look like House Beautiful, but mine, er, don't. At the gun club, the ladies' was supposed to have a stall surround and grab bars, but one way or another we never got around to more than one grab bar and a lock on the door. Hey, it was clean enough and we were used to it...but would a visitor have seen it that way? It's the same thing with displays and signage. They get a little shopworn, maybe the signs aren't a hundred percent accurate any more, but if you go by them every day you don't really notice. It might be good to invite someone from another museum or club over to your facility every so often and do walk-throughs to see what you notice that could use paint, cleaning, a fresh approach or new sign text.

Another trivial thing that impressed me, and I might have missed it had we been there as much as we wanted this past couple of years: they used to have a Coke machine and candy machine out by the waiting shelter. Now the new machine is inside, probably more secure, easy to get to and near the video room where there are chairs. PTM is only a couple of exits from a lot of food places, but if you want to hang out there for half a day and you have little ones along, having the snack machine handy is a great touch. Everything was fresh--a volunteer was refilling the machine while we were there--reasonably priced, and the hallway where the machine is was brightly lit. Another thing: the water fountains were well maintained *and* the gift shop had stainless steel water bottles on sale.

Having things bright, clean and appealing makes a place look as if it's thriving. Grunge and neglect look as if no one cares because it's going out of business soon. Neither may be true, but in a down economy, anything that might help is worth a try.