Even though we are doing what Rovronr described, it is increasingly difficult to get new blood into the museum. At 55, I am the pup in our regular crew.

This is a major problem all of us are facing. And failing at.

I have noticed that there seems to be an assumption in both the preservation and railroad enthusiast communities that whatever you are doing, "the word will get around" through the grapevine and the various organizations. This works to some degree with enthusiasts, but unfortunately this just is not true in trying to communicate with the general public. Sadly there are too many instances where otherwise excellent events and activities that might provide a valuable public relations opportunity for the sponsoring organization go unnoticed by the public due to less than adequate publicity. A lot of these are for lack of simple things, like posting notices well in advance on a website, getting mailings out in time, and making use of local news media and advantageous locations for posting promotional materials. It is a shame to see opportunities that developed from the hard work of staff and volunteers not being followed up by a determined effort get the word out effectively to the general public about the organization, its projects, and its events.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

"If you have an insurance policy that covers the individual items then they are insured no matter the transportation system."

Unfortunately, all property/casualty policies contain a list of exclusions that will disallow payment often for seemingly innocuous violations and policies vary from state to state. Just as your homeowners has "force majeure" (act of God) exclusions, it also will not cover you for things like termite damage, because that is preventable with normal vigilance.

By way of example, years ago, when I worked for a state insurance department, we reviewed a claim that was denied because an outboard motor was improperly stored, froze and cracked the block (The denial of payment was upheld)-the insured was in a Southern state and an unexpected cold snap caused the damage.

In addition, there is an enormous amount of pressure on insurers to control costs now and sometimes they get "creative" in denying coverage-some companies are worse in this regard than others. They rely on "claimant exhaustion" to cause denials to stand.

As for theft, thats true that there's a chance that anything can be stolen, no matter what the security, but filing a theft report with police and providing proper documentation to the carrier will likely result in payment, (although it may affects rates and/or renewal) but I'm not sure how that impacts the decision as to whether or not to allow accessioned assets to be

I suggest that you consult with your your agent or broker, because if you incur a loss while in a volunteer's custody, -it isn't going to matter what you heard here-the provisions of your policy will be all that matters.

Unfortunately, all property/casualty policies contain a list of exclusions that will disallow payment often for seemingly innocuous violations and policies vary from state to state. Just as your homeowners has "force majeure" (act of God) exclusions, it also will not cover you for things like termite damage, because that is preventable with normal vigilance.

In the insurance world you can buy insurance for a lot more than just the standard policy, you just need to know where to find the agent that has the capabilities you need

What you need to determine that the policy covers your needs and the cash to pay for it. The transportation system is not an uninsureable world.


Robby

We at the PTHT will be re-laying track on the original bed of the C&BC which dates back to 1863. We have the rail, tie plates and spikes but we are in dire need of usable ties. Another notation on the list of things to do.

Later!
Mr. Ed

[quote="Thomas Travis"]Health is basically the question here, people wise.
...We do have some younger
people to take up the slack, but over the years the regulars and people
with the knowledge of doing things have all retired. Sure we have endowment fund to keep the museum going in 20 years, but will it be
a locked shop by then, no people....Who is interested in all that train
equipment then. Why creep along at 15 mph, when 574 km/hr TGV
trains are running."

Tom - that is a good question. Will people be interested in trains in 20-40 years. I think so. They are still interested in wagons and horses, etc from the wild west days.

Folks,

further up this string some comments were made about loaning out museum artifacts for storage or rehab work.

We just got back to the Park an antique Hercules gas engine that was lost for 20 years. It had been lent out to be worked on and no paper work done; people forgot, retired etc and pretty soon no engine!

We were very lucky to find it and get it back after all those years! Do a loan agreement and decide how long, who does what and where the artifact will kept!

Ted Miles

This is true, but there's a caveat to that statement. We didn't start recording volunteer hours until 1997, when one of our volunteers brought in a book to do just that. So the 100,000 hours is over the course of recorded history.

2006 was our peak year so far - the peak before that was 2002 or 2003. However this is in-part because of increasing the opportunities for volunteering. We now have a week-long work session in the summer to clear tall grass alongside the track, which gives people the chance who can't make it other times to pitch in. Additionally we had two dozen high school students participate at Halloween as part of the act. But the number of core volunteers hasn't grown too much since we began recording in 1997.

I think the interesting thing is so far the poll shows that 50% of the Museums are NOT losing volunteers and 40% say their volunteer support is going up. It appears the loss of voluteers as time goes by is NOT inevitable. What are they doing right?

I will add my personal story...

I am 35 and belong to a RR group where nearly everyone else is over the age of 45. There are only two other members younger than me.

In past years my work schedule allowed me a day off every other week. This was used almost exclusively for my hobby and I was able to put many hours of work toward our efforts. I even was able to become President of the group. About two years ago the work schedule changed and I am back to the 9-5, five days per week. Due to an expanding family (three boys 7,5 and 18 months), an old house needing updates and a decision to have my wife stop working so she could watch the kids instead of paying all her wages to a daycare center, I have lost nearly all the time I had previously allotted to the RR activities. The financial hit has also reduced the amount of money I can spend on gas, meals and contributions to the group.

I have a distinct feeling this will happen to the other younger guys in the group when their careers and families start to grow.

My hope now is that as the kids get older, I will have more time to put toward RR activities, but that might not be for another 10 years or more. And my distant dream is to volunteer as many hours as possible once retired to a local RR museum. But in 20-30 years I wonder where the hobby will be?

Someone mentioned people are still interested in horse drawn wagons. I will use that as an example. 100 years ago wagons were all over the place. Now they are a novelty. I would think there are just XX number of people involved with that hobby, but it isn't growing, its probably still dwindling. Eventually the number will decrease to some point and then remain somewhat constant.

I fear the same will be true of Volunteerism at RR museums. RRs are just not included in our everyday culture like than had been 50+ years ago when they employed many and supplied the Country. In my eyes, younger people are just not drawn to it as easily as it had been in the past. I became a railfan because my father is. His grandfather was a railfan before that and got him interested. Many people my age have not even ridden a train. How do you get them interested? I just don't know.

Focusing on the many new "Adult living communities" in the area may be a good source for new blood.

CV the civil E in NJ

I guess if I look at all of the special projects done by high school kids for Eagle Scouts and Community service hours, then things aren't too bad. But those one time efforts do not translate into any significant committment of time once the project is done.

I have found that our two local Adult Living Communities are not a good source of volunteers. And we've tried a number of ideas to attract their attention. The residents seem to be generally involved in a host of activities on site and do not respond to outside opportunities.

Our greatest successes have been personal contacts with walk-in visitors. Unfortunately we have recently lost the services of our most successful "evangelist" and have already noticed a downturn in membership applications.

Wesley

Wesley makes an excellent point. How do preservation and historical organizations look to outsiders who just "walk in the door" thinking they might have some interest in the preservation of railroad equipment or the study of railroad history. Is the first staff member or volunteer they encounter likely to be someone who is knowledgable of the museum's collection and railroad history, or someone who has only been trained to collect ticket money and operate the cash register?

Do you make an effort to enhance your staff members and volunteers knowledge of railroad history? I know a few museums that do, and some of them turn those sessions into very nice group activities for their members and staff.

Do you provide your people with any training in how to behave around visitors?

Keep in mind here that there is a "flip" side to the presentation of railroad history that sometimes plants a less than memorable image of the hobby. There are unfortunately quite a few "historical" societies that usually start their monthly meetings with a business session that ranges from a clown show to open warfare, and they subject visitors (and guest speakers) to an hour or more of this foolishness before they ever get around to the showing of the program that is supposed to be the reason for the meeting (or is it really the business session that has priority and the program doesn't matter any more, in some groups it often seems that way). The kind of impression this gives visitors and guest speakers alike is obvious. One thing that could greatly improve the image of the hobby is if these groups had their programs first, thus releasing the visitors from being held captive during the business meeting.

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

The fundamental flaw is assuming that railroad history and preservation is a hobby and not an educational endavour. Whilst the individuals, officers, and even paid staff may be involved because it is their hobby - if the organization is to gain any credibility with the outside world/general public (i.e. - those that lack an a priori interest in whatever said organization does) then it must take education and outreach seriously. Simply being a 503c and emblazoning statements about education on your brochure or calendars is far from adequate.

Those organizations that do not have little more respect among the outside world/general public than the basement model railroader.

Tom Cornillie

A good point, Tom.

Many years ago when I took a job as a training instructor at a very large corporation, my boss, who was a highly decorated hero of the submarine service in World War Two and a guy who "told it as it is", called me into his office. He gave me a very frank talk about the importance of the job I was about to take on. In his view the people who worked in the training center were the public face of the corporation. He told me to forget about the sales force representing the company, I was going to be the person that most recently hired customer employees would see first, and the experience in the training center when they walked into our plant would stay with them for many years. He also told me that the customers I would meet in that job would be people who I would encounter over and over through the years that followed, and he was absolutely right about that, it has happened in just that way.

So if this is going to be an educational endeavor, what sort of an impression are we giving people who walk in the door for the first time? Part of this endeavor is the museums, and the experience is often positive, but part of this endeavor is the historical societies, and in a far to large proportion of them the initial impression is likely to be that they are running a circus.

By the way, how much luck is everyone having with trying to get their local railroad historical societies to open up to programs and presentations that actually have a serious historical and educational content? Have you been able to get them to accept programs that actually convey information and have some educational value, or are they hung up on a steady diet of "pretty picture" slide (and music) shows?

MX (Obviously Not My Real Name)

Has anyone thought of the ramifications of our nation's population having increasing numbers of people who do not share our heritage or an appreciation of our heritage?

What will the end result be of the influx of mexicans/latinos into the country? Do they as a group share the same appreciation of American history that native born Americans have? In all my years attending museums the vast majority of museum patrons, at least in this part of the country, are white families. Particularly middle class and upper middle class and usually one family member has worked in the industry. Most minority groups do not feel to be a part of the common experiences and traditions that have woven our country together for 200 years and thus have no interest or appreciation for a history that is not their own.

How can you market to a target audience that couldn't care less about industrial heritage? Heck we are having enough trouble getting people in the doors who do have a connection to American industrial heritage.