I got to visit Strasburg today for the first time. I am on the east coast for work right now.

Strasburg had a pretty neat event going today in addition to the train ride. The had two baseball games going today utilizing the rules from the 1860's. The ball games with the train ride were pretty fun.

*

P.S. Tomorrow @ 4:00 in Harrisburg, the IMAx @the Whittaker Center, the feature is the CP2816 in the Rockies, if you are still around.

I'm about an hour away, too. Been there many, many times. We ride the train usually once a year. #475 is my favorite.....N&W power is in my blood.

The ice cream shop is excellent. One of my kids' favorites. Lots of stuff to do and look at. A friend of mine has an antique Good Humor truck and he often sets up at the museum on weekends in the summer.

Andy Pullen

1860s B-Ball is a subset of the civil war re-enactor community, the 'ground zero' for which is generally in the area of Strasburg. There's an entire league, I've been told. The rules were pretty spartan back then, so it takes pretty confident players to do that.
I was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in the late 90s, and I think I went to Straburg at least once a month, I never got enough of the place. There were a few book stores that stocked a lot of RR books, too, when I used to go there. There were a couple of halfway decent hobby shops along the way as well. It was always a good trip for me, the only thing was I had to be sure I wasn't in a hurry because I always got caught behind an Amish cart or carriage of some kind.
I don't envy the locals for the winters (been to all 50 states and several countries, PA in the in Winter is the coldest I can recall ever being), but I envy them come spring time for all the things there are in that area!

As I read the posts above of the two people who say they live an hour away about how they love the place and their expectations of when this or that is finished my reaction was that neither said they were volunteers there or across the road at the Museum.

So I went to the Railroad's and Museum's web site. I could not find anything about volunteering on the Railroad's web site. Maybe it's hidden somewhere. On the Museum's you have to know to click on "Friends of" to learn about volunteering.

Just a Sunday morning observation. Maybe I need more coffee.

There were several handlebar mustaches. The one hop rule made the game very intrresting.

I am in Wilmington until June 22. I gotta hit the books today for tomorrow.

Looking at the approach that Strasburg has towards combing a special interest (rail preservation) with another special interest (1860's baseball) is a win/win. While I am not into the steam punk movement, I would like to see how this combination fares for Strasburg. I suspect it will do well for them.

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"As I read the posts above of the two people who say they live an hour away about how they love the place and their expectations of when this or that is finished my reaction was that neither said they were volunteers there or across the road at the Museum."

I volunteer "elsewhere", for the moment. The demands on my time preclude any other associations, so while RRMPA might be more prospecting for additional volunteers, there's basically nothing anybody could do to get my time.

Just because you live close by, that doesn't mean at all you have time to volunteer.
Many train fans are the same as any other working stuff:
-A job that doesn't allow for much time off or any with consistency.
-A wife who feels you should be doing chores or being with the kids on your weekends.
-Kids who you feel you should spend your time on instead of a museum (especially with the way kids are being raised today to have as many activities as humanly possible).
-Museums and groups who don't make it easy to volunteer at all.
I for one am sick to death every time I show any interest in anything, I get a guilt trip on how I should volunteer for whatever group or organization is doing it. I tried volunteering at a non-RR-related museum in the region once, and for all the hoops you had to jump through, it was more like work than a labor of love, and they didn't make it easy to volunteer AT ALL. In the end, I told them to go stuff themsevles as my employer ensures I can rarely ever commit to time off anyway...

At the opposite end of the line - Leaman Place, there will be a new picnic grove opening soon. Also, a new spur has been installed, I'm told as a future lead to hoped for new turntable but likely storage for now.

What's the new building going up by the yard in Strasburg??

A new shop for engine #5 (and 6) or is it for the interchange business?

That video footage was great - they guy knew how to maximize his photo opportunities!

/Mitch

Mitchell's Law of Volunteerism:

The amount of time one has to volunteer for a non-profit organization is inversely proportional to the talent/ability one has to offer to said organization.

So to bring this back towards the intent of my original comments:

What are other groups/museums doing to promote themselves in new and different ways?

In Amarillo, the 5000 bunch is hosting the city's first National Train Day celebration.

In Albuquerque, the 2926 bunch is working in cooperation with Amtrak and Rio Metro Transit District to have the tender on display again this year.

Try being a Volunteer Firefighter / EMS provider. The amount of required training, continuing education, and the ever increasing amount of new "standards" has stressed an already dwindling pool of willing warm bodies.

When I first became a volunteer in 1977 our department carried a roll of 40 active members... now that number is down to 6... and two of us are age 50 or over. Nobody has the time to spare anymore.

It's been over 10 years since I was able to spend anytime working on somebody else's piece of Railroad equipment.

Sorry for the thread drift......

Tim Wilson

[quote=I found a very good video shot yesterday just posted on Youtube. It has the best pacing sequence I’ve seen here at 10:35, and some of the baseball at 13:40. Thanks koasterkidd.[/quote]

He had a pretty good "wheel man" for the pacing too... ;)

My own video to come tonight from the event...with more baseball footage as well...