Recently there have been a variety of quality topics on the future of rail preservation on RyPN and as on top of them as I've tried to stay in lurk-mode, I wonder if there isn't some piece of the puzzle we're over looking. We know museums are struggling, organizations are losing numbers, rolling stock is rolling less and lingering more, but are we fighting to keep a model afloat that has only been sustained by the era that created it? Is there a way to fine tune for a future that doesn't have a first or second hand relationship with our relics?

While Thomas the Tank Engine is frequently invoked as the baptizer of future train lovers and enthusiasts, we know there is much more to the equation of preserving our past for the future.

I believe there is some level of overambitious hope that if we stick our nose to the railhead we will stabilize the dwindling support for our vocation and that things will stay very much the same for all to enjoy the same way we have enjoyed.

For some odd reason, I feel compelled to compare this situation to the evolution of music technology.

The audiophiles who collect music like it were pure gold spends many years amassing a collection of records and 45s--to them vinyl is king! Music on record looks, smells, and sounds like God intended, and in no way can be beaten by the digital disc. However, even these collectors whose album artwork decorates their living room walls have endured the onslaught of the digital revolution. Their entire collection, from Ella to Kingston Trio to Styx and beyond has been given home on the CD or MP3 file. There is still a camp that holds tight to vinyl, but everyone else has packed up their turntables, garage-saled their records, and gotten an iPod. We look back on records (and oh yeah, tapes?) as archaic ornaments. There's no need to return to them, except maybe to caress a virgin Beatles White Album (ahem...)

Railroads preservation movements (museums, societies, NRHS'es) have ebbed and flowed through years of success and stabilization and recessions, but all while under the guise of people who were there to orchestrate the saving of our railroading heritage in the first place; the founding fathers and mothers and uncles, they were the railroaders, or the immediate (and young) relatives, and now they have either passed on or are passing. In the meanwhile, a third generation has caught the tail end of it all, the real end of an era, and we are ebbing and flowing ourselves.

What do we want to be in 20 years? A smattering of museums and third-handed accounts of what once was? Or a vital industry that has transmogrified from rusty hulks in an exposed back yard to organized, cohesive, immersive force? I know this heartening concept is not new, but I think we needn't use our own past as a foundation for the what the heck we're gonna do in the future. It's like being at a revival meeting for a religion that may not be working. When people talk about reaching out to the iPod Generation (a generalized cliché if there was one!), it really means something--they've got their format that works; do we?

tl;dr

We can drum up public visibility and gain as much funding as we need, but may it be for naught if something elementary doesn't change? Is our current model of historic rail preservation going to work in the long term? Do we face relegation to a cute, theme-park attractions? Are we holding onto our outdated LPs while the rest of the world plugs in tomorrow's iPod?

edit: typo

Kelly, you sure hit the heart of the problem with this one, I wonder about this too. Traditionally the railroad history groups tended to be the public face of the history and preservation fields because they were more numerous than the museums and easily accessible. When I look around at their meetings now, I see a group of people mostly older than myself (and I have been working in the railroad industry for almost four decades). Very few young people in any of the groups. It is also disturbing that there is almost a total disconnect between these groups and current generation of railroaders, in many cases I am the only industry person who attends their meetings.

I can tell you that there are a few notable exceptions to this trend. One is the Norfolk County Railroad Club near Boston. It is an independent group not affiliated with NRHS or RLHS that meets at a public library. The typical audience that shows up for their events has an unusually high proportion of current railroad employees, FRA people, and supply industry professionals.

Why do more of the industry people show up for this group? That's easy, they are a railroad club, not a railroad history organization. They are open to hosting topics relating to how things are DONE and how things WORK, presented by people who work in the industry, rather than having every meeting be a tearful nostalgia trip back to the 1940s or a fumbling slide tour of somebody's railfan vacation from three decades ago. And I think there is a lot of wisdom in this, because there are an abundance of pretty picture nostalgia slide shows now available as color railroad books, but competent and highly detailed first hand presentations by industry people about the equipment and systems they work on are much less common.

In the last year or two this group hosted programs that included topics like railroad communications, and programs that were technical overviews of specific types of equipment. I have occasionally seen museums host these kind of presentations, but many railroad historical groups would not welcome these programs because they are not "historical" enough, or at least that is a common and convenient excuse to keep from disturbing the steady diet of nostalgia programs provided by a their own members.

One big attraction of this group that helps them to frequently attract railroad people as speakers, is that the gentleman who runs it gets the business meeting and announcements done in the first ten minutes, so you actually get to see a full program rather than sitting all evening in a business meeting. One of the repeat comments I get from professional railroaders regarding railfan events, whether they are speakers or just attending, is that too many railfan groups waste too much of their meeting time by allowing the business meeting to become the entire meeting.

There is another highly successful group in Massachusetts, the Amherst Railway Society (a sponsor of this site). Their program mix is similar to Norfolk County but a little less technical, in part because they meet in a large auditorium (it is a large group) and it is harder to do "chalk talks" and demonstrations with equipment. Amherst is not a convenient location, it is a long drive for almost everyone who attends, but they have an impressive turnout for their meetings.

Neither of these groups is exclusively a "historical" society, although history is a part of their scope of interests. They are successful in part because they hold their meetings to celebrate a shared interest in the railroad industry, not to hold a depressing monthly memorial service for the industry as it was in the "old days". They are groups that get together to have fun and learn rather than parade their biases and complain about how much has been lost. This is the distinction my friends in the industry clearly see between them and the "historical" groups. I am sure the general public would see it similarly.

So there it is for what it is worth. Undoubtedly some folks will want to argue with this, that is their priviledge. It is their groups and industry's future that is on the line in the next few years. If they don't start making an effort to reach a wider audience soon, a lot of the equipment standing out back waiting for restoration is likely to end up being recycled into raw materials for the next generation of consumer products from China. The stuff I work on will still be out there doing eighty or better long after I retire.

MX (Obviously not My Real Name)

I believe what you have voiced is evident in museum movement as a whole. many museums are suffering low attendance. We suffer from the 30 second thrill requirements of many from the younger generation. At CTM we have seen all but 3 first and even second generation members pass away in the last few years. We are at a point of deciding a direction for our museum once again. The vision of the original members may have passed with them and with changes in society. We are looking at how to fit the learning aspect of the history in with a way adding the excitement needed to attract the next generation. its something that keeps us up at night worrying about the decisions we make in the next couple years will make or break us , as it will for many of the groups.

Maybe this forum can start a topic or two on the subject that stay at the top. A discussion about what people are trying and what works and doesn't may lead to success for us all.

LPs will last nearly forever. With proper care a record from 1925, 1984 and 2006 still play today. Even with proper care digital files corrupt or the software to read the digital files is lost.

Seeing a steam locomotive run as it was designed in 1885, 1907 or 1941 today is way more impressive and immediate than a flashy simulator or wizz-bang interactive kiosk.

Which I asked some friends in PMs recently: How many of us offer the general public what we want to offer them or what it is easy for us to offer them instead of finding out if it is what they would prefer to be offered? If what we want to offer isn't marketable broadly enough we won't be around to continue this discussion for long. A little comparsion and market research through the entertainment industry as a whole wouldn't do us any harm.

dave

I suspect many of our museums have already made it past the founders stage (we need to save this (railroad car, railroad locomotive, trolley) which I grew up with) driven by nostalgia and personal memory. Steam ended in most of the US by the late 1950’s, now 50+ years ago… Most street car lines ended about the same time, so if you see a enthusiastic visitor without grey hair, you are seeing someone who never saw this equipment outside a museum. This transition begs the question, how do we continue to attract volunteers with the interest and KNOWLAGE to continue…

There is a second transition also mentioned in the earlier postings… Its more of a generic museum and education issue, What should a museum do to keep relevant, i.e. how do we speak to the new wave of visitors. This is may not be an issue… our iron dinosaurs may if available speak for themselves. The days when we could simply save something and expect our visitors to be satisfied with our efforts are gone. We need a museum which the visitors understands as a museum. Alternately it may be an issue none of us are equipped to understand. Lines of old streetcars parked in a pole barn probably won’t do it. Operating cars and locomotives help. Good displays help.

There are generational differences in values, the way we perceive things, and gain knowledge… Somehow we grey beards need to gain that understanding, or at least gain the assistance of someone who does.

I suspect our founders were not creating museums for moms with babies in strollers… They were saving objects which were important to them. We need to figure out how to make them important to the mom’s and babies…

Change is the hardest, and perhaps the most necessary, thing to embrace. As a teacher, I am always looking for the most positive and valuable investment of experience for my students. I am very much aware of the real difference between education and "edu-tainment". There is an air museum near where I am that features dusty uniforms, photos, and disassociated bits of hardware from ex-soldiers collections. I do recall one donor giving a mission cap and telling us, "This cap belonged to 'so and so', and it's exactly like the cap that Jimmy Doolittle wore on 'thus and such' raid". It is less interesting than window shopping, and about as useful. With this in mind, I would have to offer that museums must have real equipment, they must be hands on, they must have "please touch" activities that actively involve manipulation. A live steam locomotive is worth eight cold ones. A motorized locomotive, such as the cylinder and valve gear in Chicago, or #60,000 at Philly, is second best. Sitting in the simulator is better than nothing, but don't expect kids to get hopped up on looking and telling dull stories about the glory days.
Suggestions: Have a live signal garden, electrically activated with push button panels; Have a compressed air whistle and horn area (sound baffles if required); Have a walk through car body Diesel if you have one; Have service pit for observation; Develop student guides for several levels of understanding, including a coloring book type for K-3 students; something well illustrated for 4-6th; more sophisticated for 7th-8th; technical for 9th- 12th; Have switch and tower levers connected to a switch off the running main. Your docents must be kid-worthy and knowledgeable. Display of passes, tickets, timetables, uniforms, etc. are almost worthless to school aged kids. Your focus must be how trains work, how they are changing, what they accomplish, and why it is real and worthy.
The local "Challenger Center" gets $650/35 kids or any portion of 35 kids. There is no reason - none- why every active railroad museum with something for kids to do other than look couldn't garner the same or better. You need to get real teachers into you museum to tell you what they want to see and provide for their students. Teachers are your best advertisers, and make no mistake about it.

Chris,

As a steam punk, I would never think of replacing the locomotive with some new do-dad to only sucker in today's audience. I doubt any modern contraption could ever rival the blood-pumping iron horse.

My comparison between LPs and digital files is meant to correlate between museums/preservation efforts as they were versus what they will be. What's the next step in our evolution? Are we keeping our needles and turntables in our methods and practices while the world pops in earbuds and MP3s?




Randy, you better copyright that phrase ;)

I agree that we need to concentrate on things that attract kids, and give them things to do. Kids are not interested in the importance of railroads to the development of the United States in the nineteenth century. They want to have fun and do interesting things.

I think we need to start thinking of railway museums as not just local or regional history museums. They should be more than just specialized historic house museums with the houses on wheels. Locomotives and trains are awesome, particularly ones that are moving. They are big and noisy. Maybe that can break a few younger people away from their computer games and get them outdoors to their local railway museum.

The Preservation column in the March, 2006 TRAINS magazine, written by Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the Atlanta History Center, lays out the issues. He points out that attendance at history museums in general is down 30% since 1976. History museums are fighting back with "... the creation of highly interactive exhibits, which engage the visitor as never before."

Railway museums, as least those that offer rides, are ahead of that curve. We've been doing interactive exhibits for years, even when the mainstream history museum crowd viewed such activiites with suspicion.

As Mr MCQuigg says: "... operating raoiroad museums can claim title to having some of public history's earliest and best interactive exhibits."

Similarly, the recent ARM Convention in Washington, PA, featured a series of excellent seminars on publicity, presented by an experienced professional in the museum business. He stressed throughout that a good museum brouchure, for example, should show visitors enjoying DOING something as the site, not what they will see there.

Lets keep on giving our visitors lots fo things to DO, not just look at.

I am probably painting with too broad a brush here, and certainly the railway preservation movement has accomplished a great deal, but in my mind there is a clear difference between the museums that have benefited from professional design and management versus those that have not.

PJS said,

While this is true, and altogether a terrific thing, I would suggest that the success of the "train ride" at most railroad museums has made it easier for such organizations to forgo crucial improvements in management, planning, outreach, and educational programs. Basically, many organizations are able to sustain themselves on the revenue generated by the ride without needing to broaden their appeal the way other museums have been forced to.

Another factor that has counter-intuitively hampered the evolution of railroad museums, is the volume of passionate volunteers the movement continues to attract. There are still a lot of people that love to spend time working with old railroad equipment. With their participation, there is no need for paid staff. The rest of the non-profit universe is filled with experienced professionals that know how to raise funds, market, and put exhibits together.

To a large extent, the railway preservation movement has been dependent on these two factors. I would argue that this has prevented many individual museums from evolving to be better capable of serving the needs of their collections and the public. Many groups have done reasonably well for decades now, and Mr. Hees is correct that most organizations have survived long enough to have a second, or even third generation of contributers but, given the numerous problems our movement faces, is this sustainable, and shouldn't we be doing more?

Where almost nothing today is restorable, I wonder if there will even be any working devices to play these various digital formats in say 30 or 40 years.

Great thread, Kelly, but such a can of worms!

Stephen

I suggest that the first step in this process is to encourage your museum participate in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP). It was very helpful for us at National Capital Trolley Museum.

http://www.aam-us.org/museumresources/map/index.cfm



Kelly - it would be curious to see how MAP would consider your situation with NKP 765, essentially a one-artifact museum?

Wesley

One "formalistic" way to do this is to see what schools are required to teach. In California, definite standards are published for each grade level.

The Solano County Museums Consortium, of which the Western Railway Museum is a member, developed a publication showing how each of the member museums' programs relate to these specific standards. This was developed in cooperation with the Solano County Office of Education, and distributed to every K-12 teacher in the county.

It isn't perfect, or a "magic bullet", but it is an attempt to fulfill our educational mission.

http://www.wrm.org/about/SCMC_Matrix_05.pdf

Wes,

After reading the Code of Ethics and Description of What Is a Museum, we are also lacking at least one paid staff person. The NKP 765 is the most prolific of our collection, which consist of several cabooses, a N&W crane, and a former Wabash 0-6-0, and we have endeavored to preserve and restore what we can. Our most recent accomplishment is the restoration of NKP caboose 141.



While the focus is getting the 765 on the road, there are forces at work to acquire more pertinent pieces and establish a true, physical museum building and car shop (indoor plumbing and all!)

--

It seems like the days of summer volunteering are coming to a close; the work to save our preservation movement is becoming a full time affair (or a profession rather than a hobby.)

Perhaps instead of just seeking nuts and bolts volunteers, museums could be looking for PR people, media gurus, educators, strategic planners, etc that are interested in volunteering.

Kelly,

Thanks for the update on your collection and efforts in Ft. Wayne. After I wrote the question I realized that it might have seemed presumptive on my part and/or taken the wrong way.

When we did MAP we did not (and still do not) have a paid FT staff member. I believe we were able to demonstrate the "full time equivalent" option. Perhaps this could be done in your case as time and resources would permit.

Wesley