> A couple of stories. Good luck getting to
> the end of this. ;-)

> If anyone is having trouble getting
> volunteers, may I suggest that they visit
> the good folks at Heber City, UT? I have
> done that a couple of times; (and hope to do
> more still) and am totally impressed at
> their professionalism, their openness, and
> the "good vibes" around the place.

> Just go and "help" and watch. Fly
> in to Salt Lake City, rent a car, drive the
> hour to Heber City, and sleep in a caboose.

> They treat everyone with respect, even us
> Canadians. ;-)

Let's see, we've got one from Canada, a couple from Wyoming, one from Alaska, and then there's those Niles Canyon, California guys that have made annual trips out this way... =o)

Actually, our core volunteer group has been put on hold for just a bit due to the transition of CMOs, but the word I'm getting is that they are all anxious and eager to get back to work. If any of our guys are out there reading this, hang in there-- the new boss and I are going to have a big sit-down in a week or so and get things organized again. Watch for a new issue of the "Support Sheet" newsletter. . .

. . . Which reminds me, another thing we've found makes a volunteer group successful is a good newsletter. We've usually been pretty good about including a calendar of dates and times that we will have planned volunteer sessions. In addition to this, we usually spend a good portion of the newsletter talking about projects being planned, in progress, or recently completed, and making sure to give recognition to those who contributed as much as possible. While the Support Sheet has been somewhat dormant over the last several months, we usually publish an issue every other month throughout the year.

- Mike
(Editor-in-Chief, HVRR Support Sheet)

Heber Valley Railroad
dakota97@xmission.com

Thanks so much for your kind comments, Bill! You really put in a lot of time, sweat and effort, and you are missed. You are always welcome at Strasburg!

Kurt Bell

> I read most of the messages on this board,
> but I usually do not respond. You all have
> forgotten more about trains that I know.

> However, I do know something about volunteer
> organizations, having been a part of a cub
> scout troop, a peer counseling organization,
> a fire company and, yes a railroad museum.

> The best of these was my time at the
> Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. I am not
> there anymore, but it remains one of the
> best work experiences of my working life.

> Robert Emerson was museum director for most
> of the time I was there. He never passed me
> without speaking, and several times thanked
> me for volunteering. Not only that , all
> volunteers recieved a letter from him that
> made it sound like the place would fall
> apart without us. It was so nice to be
> appreciated by the boss, and sadly that
> happens so infrequently these days.

> Another plus was the restoration crew boss,
> Al Martin. He told you what he wanted done,
> how he wanted it done, why he wanted it done
> that way and where he would be if you had a
> question. Then, he left you to it. If
> someone showed up unexpectedly, Al had
> something for them to do.It made for a nice
> environment.

> I hope to get back into working around
> trains someday. When I do, I will look for
> an environment like I found in Strasburg in
> the mid 1990's. By the way - I can't forget
> the volunteer co ordinator in those days. He
> always had time to listen to comments and
> made an effort to let volunteers know they
> were appreciated and needed. Guy by the name
> of Kurt Bell. Hi Kurt, one day I'll stop by
> for a visit!

Wonder if it is time to call an organized weekend meeting concerning this issue? Suggest an interesting city:
[1.] with decent weather;
[2.] that is served by Southwest (that keeps most airfares on all carriers affordable);
[3.] that has a good railroad museum capable of hosting a crowd and
[4.] possessing a relatively soundproof meeting room ('cause solving this problem is first going to require thoroughly defining it from psychological and other perspectives).

The attendance of and contributions from some outside experts certainly should be encouraged.

Suggestions??????

> Wonder if it is time to call an organized
> weekend meeting concerning this issue?
> Suggest an interesting city:
> [1.] with decent weather;
> [2.] that is served by Southwest (that keeps
> most airfares on all carriers affordable);
> [3.] that has a good railroad museum capable
> of hosting a crowd and
> [4.] possessing a relatively soundproof
> meeting room ('cause solving this problem is
> first going to require thoroughly defining
> it from psychological and other
> perspectives).

> The attendance of and contributions from
> some outside experts certainly should be
> encouraged.

> Suggestions??????

An excellent topic for one of ARM's regional meetings, methinks.


eledbetter@rypn.org

> Suggest an interesting city:
> [1.] with decent weather;

*Depends on your definition; if you dislike the weather, wait an hour.....

> [2.] that is served by Southwest (that keeps
> most airfares on all carriers affordable);

*Check...... Light Rail comes up from BWI Airport--oh, wait, dammit, they're rebuilding it for double track. Can we wait until October? I don't think so......

As an aside, we also have Amtrak, and a shuttle from the airport to an Amtrak/MARC station that can get you downtown..........

> [3.] that has a good railroad museum capable
> of hosting a crowd and

*B&O Museum temporarily shut down, but how big a crowd? The Baltimore Streetcar Museum has an auditorium capable of seating 100 or so.... and a cool library (Shameless Plug)....

> [4.] possessing a relatively soundproof
> meeting room ('cause solving this problem is
> first going to require thoroughly defining
> it from psychological and other
> perspectives).

*See above....

Alternate suggestions? Maybe we could schedule something (a dinner meeting, pow-wow, whatever) for an event where a lot of us will be there anyway?
I'm thinking Railfan Weekend at the North Carolina Transportation Museum May 1-2, or the OC TrainFest, or..... excuse to go to Roanoke?


LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

Good ideas, ADM; I think this needs a bit longer than a "dinner meeting". A seminar at ARM would be a good use of convention time. And a series of regional ARM meetings with a primary focus on this topic might be a better possibility.

And, I'll vote for Bawl-mor. Don't have to get on great silver bird that way.

Blackriver, you're absolutely right, especially about the old-boys network. I can attest to weeks spent in the bowels of a tender, needle-gunning, hauling out rust-dust, welding, cutting, red-leading, lining with fiberglass, etc-only to have a few pooh-bahs pull seniority when it was time for operations. I understand some level of paying dues, taskwise, and the need for qualifications and experience, but when the old boys (despite their glory days of accomplishments) pulled rank etc, I was ready to pull the pin myself.

> Good ideas, ADM; I think this needs a bit
> longer than a "dinner meeting". A
> seminar at ARM would be a good use of
> convention time.

Also a good topic for a TRAIN convention. I see no need to have yet another "splinter" group when there are already 2 ideal forums for this kind of thing (TRAIN and ARM) and many others within those groups that have the same problem. And maybe some ideas.

Just my 2 cents.

ARM and TRAIN sound like great and existing forums. I did not think of them as, sadly, I've never been to either. Mark Ray, Al Phillips and several other TVRM colleagues are regulars and they regularly speak highly of the meetings' high value.

There is some interesting psychological research into afficianados of inanimate objects that perhaps we need to understand. Read some of it once (in the mid 80s) while struggling through a consumer/buyer behavior course and it struck me as being instructive and uncomfortably "spot on."

If there was interest, I would track down these and more recently published papers, see who wrote them, and perhaps query one or two of the researchers about appearing as a presenter and/or panel participant. Then, an officer of one of these organizations could do the actual panel/symposium setup.

But, I strongly think that involving outside resources would be helpful. We need to understand us and our organizations AND how we relate to the rest of the world -- which is the 99.9995% of the population who are NOT rail preservation organization members. [What is it Pogo once said --- "We have met the enemy, and we are it.] An outside assessment, from someone without organizational bias, would be valuable.

My humble thoughts, respectfully submitted.


amiller@rtms-movieitrains.com