I found this humorous. It's not often that rail museums are recommended for their rest room facilities..

http://www.urinal.net/nv_railroad/
ryarger@rypn.org

I have to ask; how did you ever stumble across a site devoted to urinals? Now I've seen everything.

I believe I just typed "Virginia & Truckee" into Yahoo, and somewhere down the list, it appeared.

> I have to ask; how did you ever stumble
> across a site devoted to urinals? Now I've
> seen everything.


ryarger@rypn.org

> I found this humorous. It's not often that
> rail museums are recommended for their rest
> room facilities..

Poor restroom facilities can turn away visitors faster than anything else. Men will put up with a lot, but women will not.

I can not tell you the number of overwhelming negative comments I personally overheard at a California museum over the years about bad toilets, including porta potties, and especially from women.

The NSRM built a very nice small separate building for bathrooms that meets visitor needs quite well.

Something we all should pay attention to here.

Think this isn't important? Check out the link. If parents look for info like this at a major theme park, why wouldn't they expect the same at other attractions?

The Happiest Potties on Earth
rogerc38@aol.com

"...probably the cleanest urinals in all of Carson City."

Is the museum that good, or is the rest of Carson City that bad?

tr2manz@frontiernet.net

I think there are some serious points to be made, even if we have some fun making them. Wait until we get to a Brief on the new facilites coming at a New England museum. You can bet those guys took the need for proper facilities very, very seriously as a bottom-line issue.

It is something you take for granted until you find the services are lacking. When the Conway Scenic started the Crawford Notch trains, I rode the first public trip. Being that CSRR was a 55-minute out-and-back until that very day, the coaches were not rest room equipped. Thus, the banks of porta-johns installed at Bartlett and Crawford Notch became long station stops (with re-enactments of Pickett's charge each time the train stopped). As I recall, my buddies and I had a quite a night in North Conway the night before and lead the brigade at every stop. ;-)

CSRR has addressed the issue with their CC&F coaches, BTW.

A positive suprise came a few years back when the Reading & Northern sold off some rolling stock and put a heavy investment into the coaches they kept. The on-board rest rooms are among the best in the business. It made a long Jim Thorpe-Scranton trip much easier to enjoy.

Strasburg has made tremendous leaps in their facilities. As a kid, I can remember some hot days there when potty time was not fun. Remember the facilites at Steamtown-Riverside? Whew...

The point to remember is that for every person who is tolerant of "iffy" facilties, there are people, families, tour operators and special needs folks who will not be as able or willing to forgive. And that's not to mention access laws that have come into play, too.

Rob

PS: How did we ever manage on those 12 hour rides with Cass Shays on the Durbin line? No one had NS baggies in those days. ;-)

PPS: When I was a volunteer at Steamtown, we had a glorifed trailer-turned-restroom that was actually quite spacious. On days when I ran the info desk, potty questions and comments were as common as rail-related ones.



trains@robertjohndavis.com

You ain't just kidding! A big chunk of our now not qite four years old Visitor Center at the Western railway Museum is devooted to the bathrooms.

They were designed to be able to meet the needs of a bus load of 45 people who we want to entice into stopping on the way to or from the ganbeling towns to the Northeast.

Modern clean bathrooms are just what the public ex pects.

ted_miles@nps.gov

When TVRM built its stations, a fair amount of space was dedicated to that purpose. East Chattanooga has two spacious restrooms in the wooden depot and a large cinderblock outhouse down near the turntable for use when no ticket agent is on duty. Grand Junction has four restrooms, two on each floor. The passenger cars have some of the best restroom facilities in the industry. The only one that are tight are the facilities in the Jim Crow cars. All of the others have the usual lounges at each end of the car.

awalker2002@comcast.net