RDGRAILFAN brought up a great point about VOTEC classes for learning trades such as painting. I was actually looking at utilizing my school's free VOTEC program next year and would like to know what trades would be useful to railroad museums and or getting employed by a railroad company for maintenance/operations.

Sheetmetal work, Welding, basic electrical.plumbing to start with.

Any of the skilled crafts. Deductive reasoning, analysis, scientific method, strategic management. Materials science. In the not so far distant future, it might also be good to be able to deal with early digital control systems.

MACHINE SHOP, especially if you're interested in historic preservation. CNC machine shop can make you a nice living, too.

Stationary engineering (boilers, heating plants, etc) programs are getting harder to find because all the kiddies want to be web designers now. Getting a stationary engineer's ticket can earn you a very good living, cities are still full of big buildings, with less and less applicants for good paying engineer jobs. This course of study can also come in handy if you are interested in steam locomotives.

Take Care & WORK SAFE

Any course which gives hands-on experience in working wood or metal is useful. Even my high-school course in Art Metal (jewelry making, etc.) gave good training in working soft metals like copper and brass, and in soldering and brazing.

upholstery

One thing I have seen "exploited" successfully with a couple vo-tech schools is the submission of a restoration project as an advanced training exercise. It's not just "weld this"; it's a start-to-finish "The goal is X; how is this best accomplished given what is on hand, and how much will it cost, and how much of it can we do here?"

Obviously, this is much more useful for an open-ended outcome--like converting a flat car into an open passenger car or adding a PA system, rather than restoring a unique caboose or locomotive. The advantage is that they bring to the shop table a fresh set of brain cells, unfettered by "this is the way they've always done it" mentality.

I teach drafting & Engineering Technology at a high school CTE Center. We are always looking for "real world"/community outreach projects.

As a recent example two of my 2nd year students re-mastered a set of drawings for a Stanley 20 hp. steam engine. This involved modeling each component, assembling a dynamic computer simulation than creating a 16 sheet set of annotated shop drawings which were than donated to the Stanley Museum in Kingfield, Maine.

Other projects have included reverse engineering a set of connecting rods for a 1910 Mitchell automobile and various architectural projects.

One of the most remarkable projects involving students was the Maine Forest & Logging museum's teaming up with the University of Maine at Orono Mechanical engineering students in a successful effort to complete the restoration of the museums Lombard steam Log hauler as part of a senior capstone project.



I had a chance to spend a day throwing wood in the firebox and working the throttle of this remarkable machine and I can assure to the quality of the work performed by the students is remarkable.

Old Pueblo Trolley restores and maintains vintage transit coaches in addition to streetcars, so we work with the local school districts to employ students during the summer break. They get paid and work mostly on the buses, doing body and paint in addition to other repairs. One of our Directors is a Director on the Joint Technical Education Department, which is the body that oversees the vocational programs in the high schools of the local school districts.

The relationship is valuable for all parties as we get work done and the students get to develop their skills and build their work history and work ethic. For the JTED program, we are an additional ally in the ongoing fight to keep the vocational programs from being cut due to budget reductions. Yes, the school board has actually proposed eliminating vocational training due to budget constraints. Having seen what they've done in the past, I am convinced that if we let them, they would eliminate the JTED program (yes they really are that incompetent). Back about five years ago, the Tucson Unified School District reduced their operating costs by terminating all of the non-tenured teachers (about 400 total). One of our members was teaching English at Tucson High at the time. I asked him what impact it had on his school. His reply was that morale was totally gone, along with anyone who had been hired within the last five years.

That said, not only are vocational training classes useful in preservation, we need to continue to support them and fight the elimination of vocational training programs whenever such a threat arises. College is not for everyone-some people are intelligent but just are not suited to that environment. There are others who would be suited towards college, but do not have the financial resources. Having a trade gives them a ways to make a living and perhaps earn enough money to go to a college.