I have held back a bit on this subject as of late, but maybe its time to bring it out again. A couple of months back, a group of us who work in the rail preservation history field in the State of Michigan got together at the Huckleberry Railroad. Brought together by Marty Knox from Huckleberry, we covered a fairly wide range of the field. Those attending included (by order of their association): Steam Railroading Institute - Dennis Braid, Executive Director, and Kevin Mayer, Locomotive Manager; Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village - John Scott, Railroad Supervisor; Huckleberry RR - Marty Knox, Chief Mechanical Officer; John Hewlett, Master Mechanic; Chester Cash, Locomotive Engineer; Kevin Hughes and Ryan Kildee, Locomotive Firemen; and Ricky Sims and Adam Wright, Railroad Shop Workers; and myself from the Port Huron Museum. Specifically, we were all concerned about the future of steam operation. We left with more questions then we answered, but all of us agreed that something needed to be done to encourage youth to come aboard; that it had to be more than just keeping and eye out for those with interests, that we needed to be proactive in getting kids into steam. This meeting was (I hope) more than just a one-time event, and that it will be just the beginning of trying to find some answers to this quandary that seems to be staring a lot of us in the face.
Having said this, one VERY positive outcome was the number of us under-30's that were there, and how many of them were under Marty's employ! All-tolled, there were six us of us between 22 and 28; not bad if you ask me. What WE need to do is hit the next group down, now in high school. Most of these kids, if they have an interest, really don't know where to take the interest they have and apply it; I'd say I would have been amongst that group at that age. I've said this before, but wasn't until I was into my early 20's that I even knew THERE WERE jobs in rail preservation or steam operation. We need to do a better job of advertising this fact, and really begin to listen if someone wants to look at this as a field they want to pursue.
Part and parcel of this would be expanding the training out there for all aspects of these fields. I think Steamtown's camp is a start, but there are more aspects than that; imagine a course on how to become a tourist rail marketer, or a curator of rail history related materials. Obviously courses geared to operation, such as rolling stock maintenance and restoration, track work, would be important as well. There have been many posts which note the increasing age of those us who are doing this kind of work; wouldn't making some real effort to establishing training for those with an interest (maybe headed by both ARM and TRAIN) would be in order to build this base back up?

TJG


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

While it would be wonderful to see a national effort made, there are many things that can be done by individual organizations.

Old news, but a couple years ago, without authorization from above, I offered college age internships at the Roundhouse Railroad Museum in Savannah. I did it in the simplest and stupidest way - anybody who wanted to come down had a job. No resume's, no references required.

6 showed and 2 stayed through the last couple years - one left recently for bigger and much better things. One third retention isn't bad, guys.

Think what you could do with a commitment and support from above and a more intelligent hiring plan.

If that dumbass plan could work, none of you have any excuse not to try something better.

Dave

You want to talk about the future, I belong to the Railroad Museum of Long Island, I am 19 and single handly restoring a HK Porter 0-6-0t, which I have been working on since I was 16. I am one of only a handfull of active members between the age of 28 and 12 and we are the youngest. So I and this other memeber the 12 year old are the future of the museum and that is scary lol

BEDT1@aol.com

Hi TJ,

Thought I would respond with what I hope will encourage your searching for "the next generation". I work at a train museum in Los Angeles, and although we do not have operating steam, we have had "operations" at the museum in the past, and we have found a great resource in local high school students who need to earn "community service hours" in order to graduate from high school. You may want to check with any local school systems to see if the require community service to graduate, as they do out here in L.A. If not, there are lots of volunteerism websites aimed at high school kids and "youth" - you may try registering with them for volunteers.

We have found that some of these kids just want to "do their time" and get out, but others have a great love of trains and really enjoy learning and helping. The other wonderful thing is that because they are young and flexible, you don't have the stubbornness that sometimes accompanies older volunteers and railroad hands when it comes to following safety standards, etc.

Good luck! I'd be interested to see what you develop!
Nancy Gneier, Volunteer Director, Travel Town Museum Foundation

Nancy@traveltown.org

> I have held back a bit on this subject as of
> late, but maybe its time to bring it out
> again. A couple of months back, a group of
> us who work in the rail preservation history
> field in the State of Michigan got together
> at the Huckleberry Railroad. Brought
> together by Marty Knox from Huckleberry, we
> covered a fairly wide range of the field.

> Having said this, one VERY positive outcome
> was the number of us under-30's that were
> there, and how many of them were under
> Marty's employ! All-tolled, there were six
> us of us between 22 and 28; not bad if you
> ask me.
Yes, we do have openings at the Huckleberry RR, during the summer I have a crew of 15 or so. We do hire 2 or 3 new employees every year. BUT, I need to make this real clear, these are seasonal positions. We do have two full time jobs - mine and our Master Mechanic's, but they won't be vacant in the foreseeable future.

Most new employees start out at the bottom, as Railroad Maintenance Workers. We provide training as fireman, and it is up to the individual how quickly they qualify. Most people will fire the mills in the village their first year. It's usually the second year someone works for us that they get to learn how to fire the locomotive. Because of the seasonal nature of the job, many of my employees are college students who just need a summer job. Anyone interested can contact the Genesee County Human Relations Department at (810)257-3034

Martyhuck@aol.com

SCRM has always had 2-3 younger members interested and active. Right now, we've got a 16 year old who's almost as rabid as I am, which is saying a lot. We've had a couple other younger members over the past few years.

The main problem we've encountered with minor volunteers is, what do you allow them to do? We asked our insurance company for advice on "underage" train crews and got a response to the effect "we encourage our policy holders to adopt conservative minimum age requirements." Gee, thanks, guys.

While Adam, who's now in the Navy, was still in high school, we allowed him to operate one of the center-cab diesels (this was also before the FRA effectively removed the engine from service because the brakes are WAY out of date). Based on how he did (with a couple cars, BTW), I'd trust him with a loaded passenger train in a heartbeat, then or now. Adam would have been about 17 at the time.

Last year, I got tired of constantly having to loan Chris, our current "underage" volunteer, my switch key and went ahead and issued him his own (without authorization, but I got away with it). Chris routinely acts as a radio operator and MOW conductor. He's 16 now, and was 15 when I gave him his key. I have absolutely no reservations about trusting him with a key to the switches and tool boxes.

Trouble is, strangers (like insurance agents) don't know how competent younger volunteers can be. And if something WERE to go wrong, even if the underage crewman had nothing to do with it, it could be grounds for the insurance company to refuse to pay.

At 34, I'm no longer in the "youngster" category, but I vividly remember what it was like to be a teenager. It's tough to keep a youngster's interest when they can't do things that both you and they know they are perfectly capable of doing. Chris could pass the test and become a passenger conductor with no problem right now -- but because he's only 16, we'd be fools to let him. So we keep him busy tending switches, working the radio, and setting hand brakes, and are quietly thankful that he's in no hurry to become a "real" conductor.

In an all-volunteer group like SCRM, the difference between the experience level of a teen and a completely green adult is inconsequential. I was 23 when I started in railroad preservation, volunteering at the now-defunct Penns Landing Trolley in Philly. I can't see how my experience level at that point was any different than Chris's experience level now.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@compuzone.net

> Yes, we do have openings at the Huckleberry
> RR, during the summer I have a crew of 15 or
> so. We do hire 2 or 3 new employees every
> year. BUT, I need to make this real clear,
> these are seasonal positions. We do have two
> full time jobs - mine and our Master
> Mechanic's, but they won't be vacant in the
> foreseeable future.

> Most new employees start out at the bottom,
> as Railroad Maintenance Workers. We provide
> training as fireman, and it is up to the
> individual how quickly they qualify. Most
> people will fire the mills in the village
> their first year. It's usually the second
> year someone works for us that they get to
> learn how to fire the locomotive. Because of
> the seasonal nature of the job, many of my
> employees are college students who just need
> a summer job. Anyone interested can contact
> the Genesee County Human Relations
> Department at (810)257-3034

Two points I forgot to mention - you have to ask about the Railroad Maintenance Worker position at Genesee County Parks, and you must be a minimum of 18 years old. Starting pay is $6 an hour. Pay rate for a Village Fireman is $6.75 an hour. Locomotive Firemen make $8 an hour.

Martyhuck@aol.com

I wish this was available in my area,I would love to learn all kinds of aspects on preservation and to learn to run a steamer.

steamtrain90@aol.com