A recent discussion talked about volunteer requirements, specifically the need to undergo a background check. That reminded me of the requirements to volunteer at a zoo in my region.

Volunteers must undergo 35 hours of training before they can start work. They have to show up 5 Saturdays in a row and go through a fairly intense class that last about 8 hours if you include the break times.

You then have to commit to 88 hours per year of volunteering. That's at least one day per month, probably more. Oh, and once you go through all of the training, it's not like you start out working with the elephants and tigers. Working with the animals requires more training and time commitments.

Compare this to what happens at the typical museum. Yes, I know, tourist railways also offer classes, and you've got to go through many hours of training and put in lots of time before you crack the throttle or work as a brakeman.

But that's not comparable to what this training is for. These are literally the folks who empty garbage cans, pull weeds and work at entry level docent positions like handing out park maps and telling folks where the penguins are. You have to accomplish all this training to get your foot in the door.

Are there any railroad museums with comparable requirements for docents?

Seen how so many volunteers are beating down the doors at our railroad museums begging to volunteer all there time, this sounds like a wonderful idea. Especially with all the younger people flooding in these days, making them take a eight hour class to empty garbage cans. After all by letting them volunteer we're are doing them a favor, with the tons of money pouring in we can easily fill every position on the railroad with payed employees.

Well I know at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum in Versailles the way things are supposed to work are that you take a Conductors/Brakemans training course (which has to be repeated every two years). Then you have to commit your conductor roles over a series of several trips with three seperate already certified conductors. If those three conductors agree to certify you then you are a legitimate conductor.

Once you've served three seasons as a conductor you're supposed to be able to train as an engineer. Of course the part they don't tell you is that after you spend your three years as a conductor you have to spend an undetermined amount of time kissing certain board members butts (including the head mechanic) before your even considered to be taught anything.

Plus the simple fact is if they just don't like you as a person they will make every effort not to teach you anything no matter how much work you do for them. Hence the reason the place is a dilapidated rundown scrap pile with no volunteers.

It amazes me that they get anyone to volunteer for the program with the stiff requirements. I guess the love of animals many people have helps. I think the courses involve some training on animals as well as the basic stuff you'd expect, first aid, emergency procedures, facility familiarization (many zoos are like mazes these days)

> Seen how so many volunteers are beating down
> the doors at our railroad museums begging to
> volunteer all there time, this sounds like a wonderful idea.

So do you send them out with no training at all? I'll be honest, this seems to be a rather stiff requirement. But sending out volunteers with no training at all doesn't seem right either. What's the correct amount? Obviously it will vary from one facility to the next, but how do you determine what's needed?

Since volunteers are hard to come by in the first place, how do we get them to commit to training and learning the skills they need if they're going to do something more than empty trash cans.

After all, while a 5 week training course is a burden, consider the path to getting in the cab at most tourist railways. It takes years, and a significant investment of time and energy. How do we get folks to sign up for that program?

Yeah, it's hard to find new volunteers, but let's remember that these trains and tigers can kill people!

Yeah I always wondered if we should show new volunteers some photos and videos of what happens when you get on the wrong side of railroading.

That's one of the things you should probably cover in a training program. A basic intro to railroad safety, a general history of the operation/museum and general procedures.

Mt Rainier Scenic has occasionally done a special day for candidate volunteers. They get a tour of the shops, visit the storage barns, get an intro to what they can do and what would be expected of them, and if interested fill out volunteer information forms. At the end of the tour they get a ride on one of our excursions and a visit to the cab.

They've worked well, and I suspect they'll do them each year in the spring to help encourage new recruits.

Training for the positions to operate a train for an operating museum is warranted. But as RCD said so eloquently, do we need 8 hours of training to empty garbage cans, dig a ditch, cut the grass?

I am by no means saying that we shouldn't train volunteers in basic safety, but don't go overboard.

Later!
Mr. Ed

At the Travel Town Museum we have to follow Los Angeles Rec and Parks regulations that apply to volunteers for any park facility whether it be the Zoo, railroad museum, a pool or child care facility. All volunteers have to be fingerprinted and agree to a background check. The theory being to weed out the child predators and other undesirables. While it makes sense for volunteers working with children, many think it is overkill for folks driving spikes. But then again, we are often working right next to a families birthday party and have been offered food and asked to have my picture taken way more times than I care to admit.

The biggest complaint we get isn't about the fingerprinting and background, but the time it takes usually during the week to go to an open City live scan facility. And they are getting strict lately about making sure we do this all before we allow them to do any work. That's where the problem comes. Who wants to go through all that before they've played in the dirt and decided they want to keep doing it?

We also require all new volunteers to go through an orientation which I think is about 4 hours. I've never actually taken it. Guess I've been grandfathered in.

That is of course all before they ever start rules class and brakeman training.

Greg

OK, so we agree they should be trained, the question is how much. You feel 8 hours is too much, and probably a lot of folks would agree. But when you put together a list of things they need to know, suddenly it may not seem to be so excessive.

Railroad safety, emergency procedures, general policies, at least an intro to the museums and the equipment (Yes, M'am, it's call the "Big Boy" since it was use to haul cattle cars on the Union Pacific RR to Chicago, where they were made into Burgers for "Bob's Big Boy" resteraunts...")

I would suggest that the training be done in phases, and initially volunteers always be paired with qualified individuals until they've completed the basics.

Hi, and thank you for volunteering to help us in our facility. First we need to train you. Our course is a full 40 hours, and hey, where are you going?

Let's train them for the job that they are volunteering for. Training in stages as they move up through the facility is the way to go. See, right now we are looking for bodies to sand, paint, dig and lay some track. Basic safety training with tools is all that is required. But if you want to go inside to work in the museum or gift shop, then there will be a background check along with fingerprinting. Since we have no operatingrolling stock at this time, we do not need to train for that.

Later!
Mr. Ed