[PRCo] Railfans Running Museums

[Fred W. Schneider III]

This has been sitting in the draft file while I think about it.  And I
think it still has relevance.  

Jim Holland makes some interesting points ... including

1.  All people at museums are railfans. He claims that denying it
doesn't change the facts.

  Jim, I strongly protests.  At one time they were all railfans.  As you
stated, they were the ones who felt it was worthwhile to save the
equipment to create a museum, or at least to create a place where they
could go and play on Saturdays away from their wives.  

Today? At some museums, yes.  At others, no.  In
those which have worked hardest to get new blood, the answer is more
commonly no.  I can go through the members at PTM and in complete truth
say this isn't true.  We have people whose hobbies include museums ...
any kind of museums.  We have one member who is a former school teacher
who is there because a friend gave him a membership ... he is running
for the board this year.  He is an educator, not a railfan.   We have
some young people whose interest is in
making something work ... they're not railfans, but they feel welcome
rebuilding a streetcar. We run a scout program at the museum.  Some work
a year, some leave immediately, some find it fund and stay ... but they
didn't come as railfans.   We have political types who want to leave a
legacy to themselves, and, if that serves the museum and the public, I
can't suggest that it is wrong.  We have a half-time paid educator who
is as far from being a railfan as you can get, but she is making a great
contribution to the program.  

If, on the other hand, I were to try to evaluate the people at the
Baltimore Streetcar Museum, I would probably
agree that there are very few people whose hobby is not that of your
definition of railfan although many have more than one hobby.  

The former museum, i.e. PTM, has developed a strong survival instinct.
The latter
has not.  People at the latter create reasons why something doesn't
work. I think that 50 years from now PTM will still be educating the
public, but there won't be many railfans left.  I don't have the same
warm fuzzy feelings about BSM.  As you suggested, Jim, everything has a
life expectancy. I would hate to see BSM's grand collection of cars from
that city going back to 1896 cut up but that could happen.  Certainly
the number of workers has declined starkly in the last 15 years.  

2.  Jim has stated that they were all railfans when the museum's were
formed.

That should come as no surprise. John Q. Public wasn't interested.  He
was simply happy that that damn trolley wasn't tying up traffic (even if
the reality was it was being slowed by autos in front of it).  It took
full blown railfans to be crazy enough (and I didn't say dumb enough) to
by a fleet of thoroughly worn out trolley cars, track, copper, real
estate, and then try to turn it into their play pen.  That was then,
this is now. 


3.  Railfans started museums "and now they seem to be denigrated as
barriers to serving the public."  Then he supported this with John
Swindler's remarks about church ministrations ending at the coffee
table. 

I've had conversations with the older people at PTM on this subject. 
The conclusion seems to be that some of the deceased older members would
be very pleased with the direction we are going. Others would be sad. 
Two commonly repeated names are those of raving railfans, foams,
whatever you want to call them.   We think one of them would be very
upset with the direction we are going. He wanted the play pen without
the public.  Another would be very pleased. I knew both of them from the
time I was 12 years old.  Apparently, most
of the others who survive have no problem with the direction we are
going.  Ed sent out a list of names last week of old time members. 
McGrew still does Trolley Fare.  I've worked with Art Elise on car crews
many times.  I'll probably be with him in another two weeks because he
traditionally carries a Polaroid camera on the Santa Trolley to make
money.  Obviously Art has no objection, and he is a railfan.  CAPITALS
FOR EMPHASIS: PERHAPS IT IS OK TO SAY WE ACCEPT RAILFANS AS LONG AS THEY
ARE WITH THE PROGRAM.  If they want to foam about their favorite car and
drive the public away, then we really don't need them.



Jim, you pasted in John Swindler's remarks: 
> > .......The speaker also mentioned that the club mentality creates
> > barriers to reaching out to the public, with the result that the museum is
> > stuck with a declining, aging membership.
> > Then about a month later attended a northeast region church conference in
> > which the theme was reaching out to the public.  As one speaker commented,
> > in too many churches fellowship ends at the coffee table rather then
> > reaching out into the community, with the result that many  churches are
> > stuck with a declining, aging membership.
> 
>         But isn't this really the message of life   ---   it ends in  *Death!*   Why be surprized
> when  *Anything*  dies   ---   an Individual, a Pet, an Organization   ---   even rocks in
> the lmountains disintegrate into dust?!?!   Grieve, yes, but Death is a part of living!

And here I agree with you.  Death is part of living.  It is a
continuum.  And those that don't adapt will die.  Ford came close to it
after Chevy started installing electric starters on cars. Peerless and
Pierce Arrow died because there was no room for luxury automobiles in
the depression, Packard died because of mismanagement.  

But isn't it so much nicer if Bob Brown can look down on us from where
he is today, and think, I started it all?


4.  And for those, Jim included who want to see 739 or 722 running

Last of all, I would like to run that West Penn 700 some day.  I have a
lot of fun running the unusual.  And I don't get a whole heck of a lot
of time with resistance braking schemes and cars with track brakes
controlled separately from the other brake scheme.  National Capital has
several European cars -- Graz, Berlin, Duesseldorf -- they're fun to run
because they required a standard of motoring competence undreamed of in
the US.  That's not saying I'm good at it.  I'm not.  They're damn
difficult beasts to run.  But I like trying. The last car I ran with a
dynamic brake scheme was London E1
class 1622 at Crich.  So if the 700 was there, I'd probably be one of
the first standing in line to prove I could handle it.  And the wooden
Harmony interurban would be great too! And I made a suggestion how we
could restore them ... by separating the restoration responsibility from
the museum operations responsibility, and using different funding
streams. Possibly even by using those different funding sources to pay
for restoration off site, where paid and non-paid staff don't conflict. 
Perhaps the reason that no one jumped on that idea so far is
that it means they need to help to find the money instead of spending
someone else's money. And once you have them done, remember that those
people with walking and climbing disabilities will not be able to board
them. By the time they are rebuilt (20 .. 30 ... 40 years from
now...could be 5 with the right funding campaign), you may be one of
those with such a handicap.  And it is damned hard
climbing up from the ballast on bad knees or new knees.  And in that
time, the direction of the museum in question could change several more
times, perhaps to diesel trains with smiley faces on front running on
the adjacent former Pennsy line.  There is every reason to believe there
will be no one
left that remembers PCC cars.  And those who knew the Siemens LRVs will
be fighting for money to keep one of them in service, or to restore one.
And unless someone from this age group finds the money, 3487 and West
Penn 832 may still be sitting in the shop waiting for a friend.