Reminds me of a story my parents tell:

Before I was born, my folks were riding the canal boat in New Hope, PA. A little boy climbed up on the gunwale of the boat. The host/narrator/tour guide/whatever-you-call-him called out, "Please don't sit on the side of the boat!" Nothing happened.

The host repeated his request, a little louder and more forcefully. Nothing continued to happen.

From the middle of the boat, a woman's voice called out, "Michael, come here!" Little Michael continued to sit on the railing.

Then, an anonymous man's voice was heard from the back of the boat. "Poor Michael's deaf!"

The young 'un was forecably removed from the railing with a squeal a moment later by a very embarrased parent.

Back when P&WCT 73 was in good condition, we had a charter tour on SEPTA's Red Arrow Division. These cars were built for the Media and Sharon Hill lines. The trip pulled into Sharon Hill and a local kid said "Hey Dad, that's just like the one they have in Maine!"

Folks,

I will will add a marine one also. People ask at the San francisco Maritime Park if the ships float higher at high tide than low tide.


one of my favorites with railroads is one I witnessed and heard many years ago. The visitor asked the engineer who was oiling around the locomotive if the train was narrow gauge?

He explained no this track was standard gauge. So the visitor asked why not narrow gauge? The railroader replied that it was so the trains would fit the track better!

Ted Miles

Folks,

I too thank you for the stories. I have been in the museum business for more years than I like to think about, both rail and maritime.

People who do not know and ask are to be encouraged.

People who know a little and then become know it alls are dangerous.

The Western Railway Museum is powered by 600 volts DC, recently I saw a parent tell his child why didn't he jump and touch the wire.

You can never tell!

Ted Miles

You're "pulling our legs", we're supposed to believe that the older center door car that Mr. Taylor donated to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine was restored differently!

We've gotten a lot of indignant comments about stuff being unrestored when we're "the State railroad museum."

You could always tell them that your museum only gets the money that the taxpayers request be given, then ask the individual how much he asked his political representative to send to your museum so far that year.

We're sitting in the station in Huntington, West Virginia, having just completed a New River Train trip with the 765. The passengers were getting off the train and I was just sitting in the engineer's seat, relaxing a little during the wait. Everyone else had gotten out of the engine except me and fireman Steve Winicker.

Suddenly, from down on the ground I heard, "Yo! Mr. train dude!" I looked down and there was a teen ager, wearing shorts with a baseball hat on backwards...you know the type. He then said, "Can I come up there?" We always like to be friendly and share the 765 with folks when we can, so I said, "Sure! C'mon up."

The kid scrambles up the ladder and moves to the middle of the cab. Staring in awe at the maze of gauges, valves and levers he said, "Whoa, dude! How many guys does it take to steer this thing?" I responded, "I don't steer it. The rails steer it." I might as well have been speaking a foreign language, because I could tell by the dumbfounded look on his face that he didn't quite grasp the concept. Finally he breaks his stare and says, "OK. Yeah. Whatever." and proceeded to get back down. I'm sure he thought I was just BS-ing him.

Hoooeee.

I learned a lasting and valuable lesson early on about that tiny minority of "purist" foamers who are never happy-when in May of 1969 we pulled into Buffalo NY with the Golden Spike Centennial Limited. Here we had just arrived(on time as I remember) with NKP759 having done a magnificent job pulling us at track speed from Harmon NY(about 450 miles), sporting a beautiful Blue&Gold 15 car long train celebrating the 100th. anniversary of the linking of America by rail,including 3 converted baggage cars which along with the cab of the 759 were opened to the public, and we were greeted upon arrival in Buffalo by a huge crowd(approx. 15,000 people). Up comes this railfan with 2 or 3 cameras hanging around his neck and says to me," how dare you paint that tender blue&gold-the Nickle Plate never ran 'em like that!!!"
I learned right there&then to totally disregard that whole fringe element-a lesson that has served me well ever since!!
Ross Rowland

Actually, it was. Before sending it to Seashore, PST's Llanerch Shop painted 62's wood interior with their then-current green interior paint, such as you see in 80-car.

When SEPTA refurbished 73, they left the interior varnished wood alone.

I once had to spell one of our volunteers in our gift shop car, a job that usually is uneventful. An elderly woman was purchasing some post cards and openly complaining about what she thought was a too exhorbitant price for them. She then requested to use a pen which I supplied, as she wished to write a post card to a friend and mail it later. All the while she complained about how her husband dragged her along to an event that she ( and I also wished) would rather have missed.

She was writing on the counter and in turn, this prevented me from waiting on people behind her. But she continued writing and I could see that she was describing the horrible experience on these ugly colored....... and she hesitated then asked me tersely: How do you spell maroon?" To which I replied M-O-R-O-N, and she finished writing and walked away.

Kind of made my day. And also those people behind her who were grinning ear to ear.

Oh well!!!

Ross,
Hey, you can paint it pink if you want as far as I'm concerned. For all you've done for this hobby, you've EARNED that!
I'd be tempted to tell the next person who says that to go buy their OWN steam locomotive and paint it any way they want!
It's not the same thing, but I have gotten the same thing with folks looking at my WW2 Jeep. They find out it was a Navy Jeep during W2 but I have it painted Army colors (I make no excuses, I was an Army officer not too long ago!) and some folks tell me it's wrong not to paint it like it was back then. I counter that they can go find their own Jeep and paint it any way they want. Sure, it's argumentative, but you just get SICK of folks telling you how your own stuff should look. For a museum, it might be different (maybe not), but private property is subject to the whims of those who own it, IMHO.
I can't imagine the crap you must have sustained with the various paint schemes your equipment has carried. Railfans can be such jerks like that, more so than other hobbies I'm into.

What is even worse is when the curators/museum staff give you a misleading or entirely wrong 'fact'.

This unfortunatly has happened several times to me at the California State Railroad Museum (I assume because some voulenteers are not always railfans).

The one I remember the most was a time Andrew Brandon and I were taking photographs of the Sonoma's miller platform, headlight, drivers and other details for a 1:20.3 model I did of it's sister NPC #11 the Marin. ..we had to ask one of the volunteers if we could step in between the M&SV #1 combine and NPC 12's tender to get an above shot of the miller to which he allowed.
After watchinng Andy take the photograph while I write down measurments, out of a clear blue sky he points to the tender trucks on Sonoma's tender and says 'THats a modified arch-bar truck'. To which andrew and I looked at each other for a minute, smiled and noded, then walked away as discretely as we could!

Comment on the 'jungle gym' portion:

This is especially bad at several museums I have been to. At times staff doesnt seem to care or even try very hard.

During my first visit to Travel Town in Los Angeles to get demisions of SPNG's baggage car #12, I went outside to view the equipment not under cover. Of particualr interest to this narrow gauger was the Oahu Railway & Land equipment (1 coach, 1 combine and a caboose). Plain as day and right in front of one of the staff members, a kid, probably about 5, had climbed out of Oahu caboose #1's cupola and on to the roof! from there, he proceeded to climb on the cupola. One staff member looked right up to the child, asked him to 'please come down' - kid didnt respond. Apparntly, the child's father was in the cupola seat and had encouraged him to do so... *sigH*

I seem to remember this was similar (?) to how baggage car #12's roof was caved in..by an adventurous visitor.

I can't resist telling one more.
This one has actually happened twice. The second time to me.
One of our firemen had this happen a number of years ago, so last summer when it happened to me, I could see it coming.
A woman came into the cab for a tour. She had a little boy, maybe 8 or so, with her. She asked some typical questions, and then I gave the obligatory view of the firebox. Of course, sitting there idling there isn't much of a fire, but it's still a pretty impressive sight for most people. I closed the butterfly doors, and she turned to leave, but then turned back and asked if I would open that up again. Deja Vu! I opened it, and she said to the boy, likely her son, "You see that? If you're bad, that's where you go!"
I almost couldn't hold myself from laughing right then and there, after having heard exactly that story from Jim years before.

But, then there was also the woman who asked me, in Kansas City, how did we get that thing there!

Mark D.

Here are a few stories i've heard about those type of people.

While in the station, a father was explaining how steam locomotive worked (of course from what he could make of things), and pointed at the cylinder cocks and said, " and that’s where the spark plugs go..."

This was with a Heisler. Another father was explaining to his kid, rather loudly and obnoxiously, that this steam engine had been converted to internal combustion and was a fake! Now this is while the engine is hissing steam and doing its usual thing. The fireman was getting so irritated with the guy, that he asked him to come up and see something. Now, this isn't that smartest thing to do in the world, but its hilarious. The fireman opened the firedoor, told the guy to look in, and then got up on his seat and said, "Here is your 'fake' steam engine!" and opened the firing valve wide. Flames poured out the door and that guy was out of that cab within a split second.