Do any of your museums have any kind of partnership arrangements with local Technical Schools, Community Colleges, etc?

If so, how have these arrangements worked out for the museum and the school?

PC

On Vancouver Island, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), has contracted the Western Vancouver Industrial Heritage Society (operators of the Alberni Pacific Railway) to provide a yard and rolling stock for their conductors training program. This has been a very beneficial arrangement for both parties providing much needed out of season revenue, at least twice a year, to the Alberni Pacific. And BCIT gets a large formerly industrial yard for practical instruction with no interference from other train movements. You may wish to contact them directly for more details.

Pat Hosford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FBM5v7ZHc8

Branford (Conn.) Electric Rwy' Ass'n. - Shore Line Trolley Museum has an arrangement of some sort with Gateway Community College that gives school students some hands on practice. The course and location also help Metro North Commuter Railroad to play Security Theater and avoid having an apprenticeship program. The museum says that the partnership is beneficial.

There's the railway tourism curriculum at Davis & Elkins College which has placed interns at a handful of tourist railroads and museums across the country. https://www.dewv.edu/center-railway-tourism

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg, Pa. has had a number of interns from Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, with their pay funded by a local foundation. Among recent interns, one specialized in automobile body technology and was heavily involved in preparing and painting the PRR E-6 No. 460 and has gone on to work at Steam Into History. Another intern was a hobby blacksmith and made beautiful replicas of PRR firing tools -- clinker hook, fire hoe, slash bar, etc. In addition to the Stevens interns, the museum has also had interns from other colleges working in the archives and in visitor services.

The WW&F Railway Museum in Maine has had a young woman who is an engineering student working in the shop for the past two summers.

Maybe you only mean in regards to actual railroading, but
Shelburne Falls (MA) Trolley Museum has had the local technical high school come and do wiring and plumbing for us. We pay for parts plus a 10% of parts fee, they do all the labor and get some good experience. You have to accept their rather leisurely schedule, and sometimes they need to come back and do things over, which, of course, never happens if you hire a professional.

Sam, that is very much within the scope of what I was looking for when I asked the question. I was thinking of any and all situations where museums have found ways to partner with schools that benefit both the museum and the school, as well as contributing to the educational mission of the museum and its visibility to the public.

I hope that others will share their similar experiences and that maybe the shared stories will help develop more effective public outreach for the museums. Thanks to the other contributors too, please keep adding to the list.

PC

To add on to what Sam said we also used the same schools auto body program to help restore the hump yard signeal I am working on.

The North Carolina Transportation Museum had a partnership with a local NASCAR entity (NASCAR Technical Institute?), but I don't believe it lasted too long (and not sure why).

Old Pueblo Trolley, Inc. partners with the Pima County Joint Technical Education District. JTED is a consortium of all of the technical education departments of every school district in the county. We work with instructors in the automotive programs to provide paid internships for students during the summer break and to provide additional opportunities for the students to obtain experience working on streetcars and diesel transit buses.

Our experience has been quite good with the program, partially because one of our directors is also on the JTED Board. He has recruited two retired auto shop instructors to work for our museum to develop and institute additional vocational training programs that would compliment those currently offered by JTED. Students learn useful trade skills, get to earn some money, are forced to learn history by referring to the technical service manuals and get additional employment references. Much of what is found in buses and streetcars carries over to other vehicles that they will eventually work on. As for us, we get additional semiskilled labor for less than market value and potential future members and volunteers. We also build community relations that can't be bought-participation in the community.