A new season is upon us. What are the best practices in place at your organization?

Recommend Practices developed by the former Association of Railway Museums in cooperation with the American Association of Museums.

http://www.atrrm.org/images/Recommended_Practices.pdf

Wesley

I should have been more specific. I'm interested in best practices in softer things. Stuff like, we have a member of the engine crew available to answer questions and pose for photos between trips or perhaps someone who floats around the museum or train platform to and engages people one-on-one to enhance their experience. Maybe complimentary water on the train.

What does your organization do that is that one little extra thing that enhances the experience or adds an educational element beyond riding the train or walking around looking at exhibits. Maybe not even your organization. Maybe it's just you, your one thing that you do to make it special for your patrons?

Spotless washrooms. Nothing turns off clientele quicker than dirty disgusting bathrooms
which would make a gas station look good by comparison. It may seem like
a trivial thing, but it might mean the difference to whether your clientele returns,
recommends it to others, or brings their kids or spouse back again.

ATRRM is currently updating the Recommended Practices document originally created by ARM. The goal is to have the document complete and copies printed for distribution at the 2015 Fall Conference to be held this September at the Illinois Railway Museum.

G. Mark
President - ATRRM

If you want to get answers to this question, attendance at the ATRRM annual spring and fall meetings would be the best place to get them. The workshops and seminars at these meetings are designed to be in-depth presentations on various aspects of tourist railroad and railroad/railway museum best practices.

Our up-coming fall meeting will be held at Illinois Railway Museum September 16-19, 2015. Go to ATRRM's website for details that will be posted soon: http://www.atrrm.org/index.php/conferences

Thanks!

Clean bathrooms, yes. I have been a mom with a kid in tow and a really dirty bathroom makes me wonder whether the operation is cutting corners elsewhere, too.

When it gets boiling hot, water bottles on the train are more than nice extras; they can prevent heat-related emergencies among your passengers. Also, if there's any way to keep the bathrooms on your passenger cars open, consider it and let people know. A lot of middle-aged men will stop drinking water on trips if they think they can't dispose of it later, and when the temperature goes up that means they'll fall over from the heat. (Trust me. This is how husband and I got to see the Steam Railroading Institute basement in 2009. Even a nagging wife can't get guys to drink enough to keep cool.)

If your operation is far from town, having pre-packaged snacks and drinks in the gift shop or machines is really helpful. For families with small children or people who have some health problems, being able to grab something to eat or drink along with medication will make the difference between a quick visit and a chance at a good look around. It also prevents the hungry-cranky toddler problem.

Keeping an eye on guests is always a good idea, but quietly offering help to someone who might need assistance to use some features is golden. A lot of people with special needs won't ask for help, so use all the signage you can manage without getting in the way of something historic. If you run into someone who is deaf or can't speak, having a pen and notebook in your pocket can make things much easier.

Consider, if you can, a morning or evening (or one of each) during the summer when you reach out to people with autism and other sensory disorders. While it's best to talk to the head of groups and find out what their people need, the general idea is to use a time when your staff would be around, but not many other guests, to minimize crowds and unpredictable noise. A lot of people with autism or Asperger's are serious railfans, but don't always go around museums because of the confusion and chaos that can reign on busy days. If you encourage them to come in on a Sunday morning or a mid-week afternoon to look around when most of the other people there are staff or people they know well, you may get some darned good volunteers.

When I worked for Texas State RR, we had plenty of opportunity to put my Spanish to use in ways that we never thought about beforehand.

The first time we found out that there was a need for it, I heard two guys speaking Spanish when I was hostling in Palestine, so I went up to them and started answering their questions in Spanish. It turned out that these fellas were not visiting from abroad, they instead worked for the East Texas Spanish language newspaper, La Opinion, and that shop tour turned into a big interview and story on the TSRR in their paper. Then, they took it on themselves to lay out a nice ad for us, and ran it free of charge all summer, just because they were happy that we actually talked to them.

This example just happened by accident, but after that we tried to accmodate folks that otherwise might have gone elsewhere due to the olanguage barrier. It brought us a good spike in business, just in case any of you all out there would like to increase your attendance.

QJdriver - nice work!

Wesley

I think we could all do a lot to outreach foreign language communities. It may not be who you think.

Suburban Detroit is the automotive engineering capital of the world, even companies that don't actually sell in the US market. Not surprisingly there's a dense Japanese community (with good food!) and a Chinese contingent too. Dearborn is also a huge center for Arabian expats. But to my surprise, Indians are our best customers. Because they bring family. And family is often zero-generation elders who don't speak English. I'd love to have materials to assist them to enjoy the museum, but I wouldn't know which language to even use.