Has anyone been involved in a co-op type partnership with a trade school whereby the students spend some time helping out in your shops. I would think this would be a low-cost option for labour shortages saving some money for the railway and providing valuable work experience for the students. It may help places like Steamtown with their labour shortages and limited funds. Any thoughts on the general idea?

That's a good thought. Steamtown has had three partnerships over the years. The National Park Service is a control oriented organization and the word "partner" assumes an equality. This was not compatible with the way things are done at Steamtown. In the last few years the National Park Service has dissolved partnerships with:

A). University of Scranton.
B). Johnson Technical Institute
C). Steamtown Volunteer Association

The last entry involved the NPS completely dissolving the quasi-independent volunteer organization. People continue to volunteer at Steamtown, but there is no organized group to speak of now.

Dave Crosby


bing@epix.net

we have taught high schol students from the local school railroad preservation - with great success. If I remember correctly, it was their last class of the day, got credit for the course.

I've thought about summer camps also.

JimLundquist55@yahoo.com

Our summer college age program is looking very good after a couple weeks now, and if things proceed as well through the summer it may be possible to try younger people in the future.

Just how many trade schools offering such things as operating century old machine tools are still around?

Dave


irondave@bellsouth.net

> Just how many trade schools offering such
> things as operating century old machine
> tools are still around?

It's true that old-fashioned machine-shop classes are going away. Schools won't want to form partnerships with the museum if the kids don't learn anything marketable. (Although even the newest computer-controlled machine tools still cut metal the same old way. They just do it a lot faster, safer, and more precisely. Every machinist still needs to know the basics, and maybe that is where your musueum can contribute, giving the kids something that isn't too boring to work on before they're turned loose on expensive, new stuff).

But you don't need to focus on obsolete techniques. How about back-engineering an old part, drawing it up on CAD, and making a pattern for new castings using laser-cut paper? Then casting and machining the parts. Could be a good way to teach manufacturing while getting that new injector body or headlight you've always wanted. Where else would a high-school or community college kid get to take a project from drawing to production, and see it in use?

If you have to draw your boiler for a new Form 4, there's lots of measuring that could be done by a mechanical engineer of the future, as an assistant to your P.E. Let them help in the calculations, and learn that "per drawing" and "as built" aren't necessarily the same.

Maybe it's time for some beginning mechanics to overhaul the engine and hydraulics of that junk tamper you were given. Or for someone to catalog all that stuff you've been given on new museum-collections software.

There's lots of projects that are more sophisticated than turning 120 brake pins and bushings. You may be surprised at what teenage and college-age kids are willing and able to take on.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665


froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

I am a shop teacher in a vo-tech high school and our school is a stones throw from the shop of a non-profit steam railroad. Starting a program is a good idea but it takes much planning and many hoops to jump through.

First of all the most of your vo-tech schools are run by the state. There are state laws, OSHA, school district rules, and child labor laws. The project must be turned into a lesson and there must be clear objectives of what the students will learn. A lesson plan must be in place that lists the objectives, activities, and a way to measure what the students have learned. This takes a lot of planning and adds much burden to the instructor. Next if only some of the students go on location to work now the instructor needs to be in two places at once. I could go on and on but just figure on as much red tape as any one person can handle and then times it by 5 and you have an idea what you are up against.

Now an easy way around a lot of the red tape is to hire the students in a Co-Op job but many places do have the budget to hire these kids even a low wages.

I hope on day to get something going with my local steam railroad but it is going to take a lot of doing.

Tom Gears

Steam Railroading Message Board

At Orange Empire, we have hooked up with a local Community College. A graphic communications professor there became a member and centered his classes around museum projects. Several of his students have become involved here apart from school. His next step is to look for some grant money to enhance the program. The classes are currently working on a promotional video and several PR print pieces.

wyld@oc-net.com