Starting a new thread to focus on this quote from the Engineer for an Hour thread.



What is the path to qualification for regular operating crew (defined as engineer/fireman/motorman/conductor) at your Museum? Is there an hours of service element to the process (i.e. volunteer service for x hours to demonstrate sincere interest, level of commitment, loyalty, etc. as a prerequisite to begin the formal training process)?

Wesley

Nevada Northern has, from my own personal knowledge, the most thorough program to show how one progresses from a brakeman to a conductor, or from a hostler, to a fireman, to an engineer. I used to have the link to the explanation of the process, but it required on the job training and examinations at each step, plus a minimum number of hours. Of course, your operation may vary, but I thought it was a pretty fair way of laying it all out.

IRM also has a pretty well laid out organization plan. First, one has to become rules qualified. To be a steam road equipment conductor, you have to take a separate air brake and tail hose qualification. To operate electrics, you have to start out on K control streetcars, where you operate for a year, before moving up to anything else (like North Shore cars).

Qualifying on museum railroads would vary from line to line, obviously, based on physical characteristics of the line, equipment used, requirements by FRA or other regulations, tradition, incentives to stick around to qualify for higher positions, etc.

In the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, we are non-FRA regulated and operate streetcars only. So, when a newbie completes our training program he/she gets to do everything: Motorman, Conductor, depot agent and crossing guard/people-greeter. Our shifts are relatively short and we rotate the crew through the various positions during a typical shift. This system has worked fine for MSM since the early 1970s and the volunteers seem to like it.

Thanks!

My road (TVRM) did have a well organized training program. Getting qualified on the home road was pretty easy for those who paid attention and could put in the hours.

Our qualification program was a bit more complex than others as we also operated trains over foreign roads via trackage agreements. The trains that ran down to the Chattanooga Choo Choo ran over one foreign road (NS) and the trains that ran to Georgia ran over two foreign roads (NS and C&C). New men had to have one year of service on the home road as a promoted man and pass the NS Rules Exam before they could train on the NS. To qualify on the NS, Conductors had to make three trips over the road under the supervision of a line instructor and be passed as competent by the Training Department Manager. Enginemen had to pass a road test with the NS Road Foreman of Engines. To run on the Georgia trains, the path to promotion was similar but required one year of service on the NS trains.

We always promoted safety and professionalism as being the top priorities which went hand in hand. Mr. Soule and I had our disagreements from time to time regarding train operations, but (old time railroader that he was) he never intervened or criticized me for doing my job. I remember one time that I and another volunteer ended up flagging a crossing with a false activation on the NS main line for a couple of hours on a busy Friday night. Busiest crossing on the district (both train and auto traffic) failed at the busiest time of the evening. I reported to Mr. Soule what we had done-contacted the dispatcher and flagged the crossing at his request until the maintainer arrived. Others in the museum said we shouldn't have done it, but Mr. Soule was emphatic that we had taken the correct action-we saw an unsafe condition, reported it to the proper authority and remained to protect the location until properly relieved.

Wilmington Western RR in Delaware runs some engineer programs, and works with volunteers. Give them a call http://www.wwrr.com/volunteer/default.aspx

Try https://www.funtrainrides.com/ for comprehensive list of train rides and events

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum has a written Railroad Personnel Manual. It lays out the process and the qualifications for every craft.

We always need train crew, and once you clear the intake process (references, interview, sex offender registry check, valid drivers license) you are on the train learning one-on-one with a conductor or trainman. You check references and the sex offender registry, don't you?

Pass the rules exam, do a check ride, and you get qualified as a trainman. Do a check ride as Conductor and you get qualified. Our major distinction between conductor and trainman is the docent/interpretation part of the job.

After being a conductor you can train as an engineer. Again, pass a check ride and you get qualified.

On most days, our two person crew are both qualified as engineer and conductor, and alternate trips in each position. Some days we may also have a trainman or a docent.

We have annual rules training and exams, annual check rides, and a recency requirement. If you have not operated in six months your qualifications are suspended until you read all bulletin orders and successfully complete a check ride with an operating official.

One final thought. I suppose if you only run one or two trains a week you might be able to let Joe and Bob be the permanent engineer and conductor. You can do that sort of stuff at the Old Man's Basement Train Club.

If you are looking for opportunities, look at railroad museums with a heavy schedule - they have a lot of crew slots to fill. In our case, 12 crew slots minimum, 24 ideal.

Our organization does check references but we do not reference the sex offender registry. The issue is that as a private organization, we have no legal authority to access criminal history reports and the information that is listed on the registry is very limited-almost to the point of being useless. Also, in Arizona, not all sex offenders registered with the Department of Public Safety are listed on the registry available to the public. State law prohibits the release of information related to low risk offenders to the public.

As a court employee who is responsible for conducting criminal records investigations, I know what the legal requirements are to obtain real criminal records checks from the state and FBI. Right now, the FBI is actively cracking down on agencies that handle criminal history reports. Under federal law, only certain agencies may request criminal history reports and only designated representatives may view or handle the information. As the Agency Security Contact for my agency, I am responsible for seeing that the designated representatives keep their training current and that our list of designated rerpresentatives on file with the Arizona Department of Public Safety is kept current.

That said, our road does not deal with anything regarding criminal records as there are serious civil and criminal penalties for improper dissemination of said information.

OK, how do we treat very qualified people who move in from other locations and bring with them years of accumulated experience in service from their previous operations? Do we make them start over from the ground up, or recognise they have far more experience than many of our locally qualified staff?

I think a rules test, followed by a few student trips to get to know the line - just as it was done on the "real" railroads - might be all that should be required. Anybody have a policy for this?

dave

That was the general practice at TVRM when I was there and is the general practice at Old Pueblo Trolley. The only other requirements were that the boomers had to be trained on the specifics of various pieces of equipment. At OPT, volunteers who already had the required Commercial Driver's License skipped the general commercial vehicle training and moved right into streetcar training or qualifications in the operating coach fleet.

We did that based on the need to fill operating slots, to avoid losing an interested volunteer and to avoid wasting unnecessary time and resources. As long as I can verify the applicant's prior experience, I'd prefer to move them along in the qualifications process.

Sex Offender Registry Check.

The sex offender registry is free and open to the public. It may be useless or under-inclusive. But you do not want to be in the position of having a complaint filed against a volunteer for improperly touching a child, and then finding out they were a registered sex offender. I bet your insurance company will try to avoid paying the claim because you did not even take the most simple precautionary measures to protect your customers from a sex offender.

We started checking the sex offender registry after having two volunteers convicted for child sex offenses, thankfully not involving the museum in any way.

Quite a wake up call. Then we found another new volunteer with a child sex conviction.

What you do when you find out someone is on the sex offender registry is another matter entirely. But I would lean towards saying "no thank you" to the prospective volunteer.

Every state has different laws, so your mileage may differ.

The first museum I was involved with, the rules qualification went from almost impossibly difficult to as to being so easy, it wasn't credible anymore. I understand the qualification is moving back up the ladder, with the idea of going to a GCOR rulebook and test.

I still hold operating privileges at two traction museums, and had to do the full qualification at both, as both were very different operations. I didn't mind, though at the second museum, they streamlined my qualification on the cars, as I didn't really need a lot of general training, student trips, line training, etc. I just needed to know where the compressor switch was and the other operating quirks of the particular cars.

I note that a lot of museums now use GCOR. The organization I'm slowly becoming involved with uses it. I was told, though by not the rules instructor, so it may be incorrect, that if I held a GCOR card at another museum, I'd just have to pass a test on local characteristics. Of course, may not be accurate.

Wow, I am a boomer.......

United RR Historical Soc of NJ posted this on their FB page -
If you've ever been interested in working on real railroad equipment, this is your chance! We're looking to get some new faces in Boonton yard this weekend to join us in restoring both the Strategic Air Command car and the NYC 4083. Many of our volunteers say that there is no more satisfying hobby than working to restore a historical locomotive or car to is original glory, especially alongside other fun, like-minded people. The best part is, you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor at this years Transportation Heritage Festival as hundreds come to see our hard work. Of course, this offer comes with a guarantee that you will leave dirty, tired, and proud of a job well done. No experience needed. Please message us if you are interested! We are looking forward to seeing you here.

True. However, the fact that information is obtained from a public source does not necessarly provide a defense to improperly disclosing the information to other parties.
Here in Arizona, Level I offenders are registered with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and local sheriff's office, but do not appear on the public registry nor is the community notified as state law prohibits notification regarding Level I offenders. Same goes for certain juvenile offenders and offenders whose registration requirement has been terminated by court order.



True in part. However, there are certain federal laws that prohibit disclosure-specifically secondary dissemination. In other words, a person with clearance in an organization who is authorized to obtain criminal history information cannot disclose the information to other parties unless authorized by law.

Here in Arizona, unlawful release/dissemination of criminal justice information is a felony offense under both state and federal law. In any case, a report of improper dissemination by an agency or individual will result in your organization being audited by the custodian of records for the FBI (in our case, Arizona DPS). In such cases, the directed audit is essentially a criminal investigation. That is a federal requirement.

At any rate, if an organization intends to use information obtained from a sex offender registry website to determine whether to permit someone to volunteer or work for their organization, they would be well advised to consult their attorney to determine what statutes apply so that their practices do not present a liability to them should a legal challenge arise.

I have several friends who are among the working volunteers at the Puffing Billy Railway in Victoria, Australia. According to materials they've sent to me, any volunteer working WITHIN SIGHT of children must have sexual offender clearance.

I've thought about booming over on TVRM, but at most it would be two or three weekends a year. Never tried firing coal, but I would like to add it to my resume one day....